novelno Chapter 1272 Ice Elf
Chapter 1272 Ice Elf
About an hour later, Lin Yi looked at the unchanged environment around him and couldn't help but feel a headache coming on.
The snowfield was still the same snowfield, white stretching from the ground to the horizon. The gray-white clouds hung low, blocking the sunlight and leaving only a hazy halo.
The temperature was a bit lower than when it was transmitted, but the wind hadn't changed much, still at its usual slow pace. However, it was even colder, and I could feel the moisture in my nasal cavity freezing with every breath.
Lin Yi exhaled a puff of white mist and turned his gaze away from the distance.
He had been standing there for almost an hour. It wasn't that he didn't want to leave, but that he didn't know where to go.
The Void Tree's announcement clearly stated that the temperature in the edge of the Frigid Lands would drop rapidly, and the edge would continue to shrink towards the Peak Mountains. Participants needed to head towards the Peak Mountains as soon as possible.
However, the announcement did not specify the direction of the Peak Mountain Range, how to determine whether one is on the edge or in the center, or what to do if one gets lost.
There was only a vast expanse of white snowfield and gray-black trees bent under the weight of the snow.
Lin Yi crouched down and plunged his hands into the snow.
The snow was so deep that my arm barely reached my elbow before touching the ground.
The ground felt hard, like frozen soil; when I scratched it with my fingers, I only managed to scrape off some small pieces of ice.
He stood up, shook the snow off his hands, and glanced at the surrounding trees.
The trees were distributed without any pattern; some were dense, some sparse; some were tall, some short; some had severely twisted branches, while others were relatively straight.
Lin Yi withdrew his gaze, took out a bottle of water from his storage space, and took a sip.
The water was very cold, making my throat feel tight.
He put the water bottle back into his storage space and was about to randomly choose a direction to walk around when a snowball suddenly hit Lin Yi on the head.
The snowball wasn't big, about the size of a fist, and it didn't hit my head with much force, as if someone had just tossed it at me.
The snowball shattered, and tiny snowflakes slid down my hair, a few falling into my collar, the icy sensation spreading down my neck.
Lin Yi didn't pay any attention to it. After all, there were trees all around, and the snowball might have fallen from one of them. Moreover, his senses didn't give any warning, so Lin Yi didn't bother with it.
He raised his hand and patted the snow off his head, shaking out the snowflakes that had fallen into his collar, his gaze still sweeping across the distant snowfield.
But when the second snowball landed on Lin Yi's head, even the slow-witted Lin Yi realized that other creatures must have appeared around him.
Once could be considered a coincidence, but twice is definitely not a coincidence. If Lin Yi were really that slow-witted, he would have died in the lower-level world of the Samsara Paradise long ago.
The second snowball was a bit bigger than the first, and it hit the spot more accurately, right in the center of his head.
The broken snowflakes scattered in all directions along my hair, and the icy feeling was more pronounced than the first time.
Lin Yi didn't rush to pat the snow, but stood still, maintaining his previous posture, as if nothing had happened.
But his attention was completely focused on perception, extending outwards in circles from himself.
Lin Yi continued to expand his perception outwards, while simultaneously adjusting the precision of his perception to the highest level, not missing any minute energy fluctuations.
The wind is blowing, the snow is falling, and the trees are swaying slightly, but these are all normal physical phenomena, with no hidden traces of energy.
Until he extended his perception from the ground to mid-air.
There, at a height of about three meters above the ground, there is an extremely faint energy fluctuation.
The ripple was so subtle that it was almost imperceptible unless one was deliberately trying to catch it. It was like a feather floating in the air, without a fixed trajectory, simply moving slowly with the direction of the wind.
This translucent figure was entirely white, looking like a ghost, but Lin Yi could sense the extremely dense elemental power emanating from it.
The concentration of elemental power was unparalleled by any spellcaster he had ever seen, not in quantity, but in purity. The elemental power within a spellcaster, transformed through magical circuits, had acquired a personal imprint and was no longer the most original and pure elemental power.
But the elemental power on this semi-transparent figure is different. It has not undergone any transformation, nor has it been mixed with any impurities. It is the most primordial elemental power, like a clear spring just gushing out from the elemental plane.
In fact, this is not a ghost, but an ice spirit, a very rare energy being.
Her translucent white hair fluttered in the wind, and her tattered skirt hung down, obscuring whether she had feet or not.
Her body was translucent, allowing one to see the trees and snow behind her. However, this transparency was not the complete transparency of glass, but rather a semi-transparency that was somewhere between reality and illusion, like a thin piece of ice that allowed light to pass through but was not completely transparent.
Her long hair was also semi-transparent, with a lighter color at the ends, almost blending into the air, swaying gently in the wind like a wisp of smoke.
Normally, the physical form of energy beings is not fixed. They can constantly transform into different forms according to their own preferences. Therefore, the other party also transformed into this form according to its own preferences.
Seemingly noticing Lin Yi's gaze, the ice sprite shuddered in fright.
Her whole body trembled slightly at that moment, and her translucent outline quivered a few times, like a reflection on the water's surface ruffled by the wind.
She stepped back a short distance, not by walking, but by drifting her whole body backward, like a leaf blown away by the wind.
The tattered skirt fluttered slightly as it drifted, revealing empty air beneath. Sure enough, she had no feet. Her body from the waist down was just a wisp of translucent mist, without any solid structure.
However, the other party seemed to have thought of something again, and floated back to Lin Yi, looking at Lin Yi with an angry expression.
On that translucent face, the features were not clear but the outlines could be discerned. The eyes were ice blue, without pupils, only two faint blue lights flowing in the eye sockets.
Her eyebrows furrowed slightly, her lips pressed into a line, and her chin slightly raised. Her whole expression was full of dissatisfaction and grievance, like a child protesting against an adult.
Lin Yi looked at the Ice Elf's inexplicable behavior with a puzzled expression.
Although Lin Yi's charm value isn't a real attribute, he couldn't possibly end up like Su Xiao, being turned into an enemy unit the moment they met, unless the other party was a chaotic evil type. However, the ice elf in front of him didn't seem to be that kind of chaotic evil person at all.
With the title's bonus, the vast majority of non-hostile creatures will have at least a neutral to friendly initial attitude towards him.
Energy beings are more sensitive to charm than ordinary creatures because they rely more on intuition than rational judgment. If his charm is so low that it would make an ice sprite hostile, then the ice sprite should run away the moment it senses his presence, instead of staying to throw snowballs at him.
Unless she attacked him not because of his low charm rating, but for some other reason.
Just as Lin Yi was considering whether to take action, the Ice Elf suddenly spoke up.
"Why are you annoying guys back again?"
Her voice was soft, clear and cold with a hint of fragile tremor.
After hearing this, Lin Yi looked at the Ice Elf.
There's a lot hidden in what the other person said; there must be something about me that they've misunderstood.
He didn't rush to answer, but maintained his previous posture, looking calmly at the ice sprite.
The ice sprite waited a moment, and seeing that he didn't speak, the light in his ice-blue eyes flickered a few times, his lips pursed even tighter, and his pouty expression deepened.
She floated closer to Lin Yi, less than a meter away, her tattered skirt almost touching his clothes as she fluttered.
"You annoying guys, you come and go, you leave and come back, making a mess of this place, and then you just pack up and leave without caring about anything." The ice sprite's voice was a little louder than before, but still very soft, as if she were talking to herself or to Lin Yi.
Her fingers were intertwined in front of her, ten translucent fingers entwined together, with tiny ice crystals condensing and dissipating at the fingertips.
Lin Yi didn't interrupt her, but listened quietly.
His experience told him that in such situations, one should not rush to speak, but let the other party say what they want to say. The more they say, the more information they reveal.
The Ice Elf was clearly not the type to hide her emotions; every word and expression she uttered betrayed her inner thoughts.
"Don't you think this place is fun? Don't you think it's interesting to turn this place into this?" The ice elf's voice began to tremble slightly, and the light in her ice-blue eyes dimmed a little.
"Do you know how long it took us to restore this place to its former state? Do you know how many of our comrades died? You know nothing. All you know is that you can do whatever you want."
Upon hearing this, Lin Yi already had a general idea in mind.
The ice sprite regarded him as a member of a certain group, a group that had done something on this land in the past.
Lin Yi waited for the ice sprite to continue speaking, and the ice sprite did not disappoint him. After venting her anger, her emotions seemed to have calmed down a bit.
"When you came last time, you took many of our companions with you." The ice elf's voice lowered, as if recalling something unpleasant.
"They said they needed the cores of the Ice Spirits for research, that it wouldn't harm us, and that just one would be enough. Then they took more than a dozen. Do you know what happened to those companions whose cores were taken?"
Lin Yi didn't speak, but he knew the answer.
The core of energy beings is the foundation of their existence, equivalent to the human heart, brain, and soul.
A creature that loses its core energy will not die immediately, but it will gradually lose consciousness, form, and self, eventually dissipating into the air without leaving a trace.
That process wasn't instantaneous, but rather lengthy, long enough for them to clearly perceive themselves disappearing little by little.
The ice fairy lowered her head, her fingers no longer intertwined, but hanging down at her sides, her tattered skirt fluttering gently in the wind, making her look like a flower about to wither.
"They disappeared one by one. First, their consciousness became blurred, and they couldn't remember anything. Then their form became unstable, and their bodies became dim and flickering. Finally, they dissipated like mist, leaving nothing behind."
Looking at the ice sprite's semi-transparent face, Lin Yi suddenly found it somewhat laughable.
He was treated as a villain, and the kind of villain who did a lot of bad things but never felt that he had done anything wrong.
"Those people you're talking about have nothing to do with me."
The ice sprite paused, her icy blue eyes flickering as if trying to determine the truth of his words. She stared at Lin Yi for a few seconds, then shook her head, her tone clearly disbelieving.
"You're lying. You smell exactly like them. I'll never forget that awful scent."
Lin Yi looked at the ice sprite.
“I told you, I have nothing to do with them.”
The ice sprite remained silent for a moment, its icy blue eyes fixed on Lin Yi's face, as if it were re-evaluating him.
Her body floated forward a short distance, her tattered skirt almost touching Lin Yi's knees.
She bent down and brought her face very close to Lin Yi's, close enough that Lin Yi could see the tiny points of light in her eyes.
She stared at Lin Yi for several seconds, then straightened up and took a step back.
“Your eyes are different from theirs. Their eyes are empty, there’s nothing in them. There’s something in your eyes, though I can’t tell what it is, but at least they’re not empty.”
Upon hearing this, Lin Yi seemed to understand that the other party had come into contact with someone corrupted by the power of the abyss, and that the person was in very poor condition, with their consciousness on the verge of being destroyed.
“A long, long time ago, this place wasn’t like this. Back then, it was beautiful, with flowers, grass, rivers, all kinds of animals and plants, and many people lived here. They built many beautiful houses, constructed many wide roads, and planted many beautiful trees. This place was once one of the most prosperous places in the world.”
"However, some people always like to have nothing better to do than think they can control everything, that they are smarter than others, and that they will never make mistakes. They discovered something down there, something very powerful and dangerous. Some people said not to touch it, that it was a power that humans could not control. But those people wouldn't listen. They thought those people were jealous of them and afraid that they would become stronger."
"They opened a passage, and then it was all over."
Upon hearing this, Lin Yi had already made his judgment.
In the void, every so often someone will try to open a passage to the abyss, attempting to draw power from it.
Some of these people wanted to become stronger, some wanted to achieve immortality, and some wanted to resurrect the dead. Their reasons were different, but the result was the same.
"The moment the passage opened, darkness surged out from within." The ice sprite's voice began to tremble, and the light in her ice-blue eyes flickered violently.
"Those fools sacrificed their lives to atone for their sins, turning this area into a land of perpetual ice and snow."
"After they died, the ice element remained here. Gradually, the ice element increased and became more concentrated, and eventually it became me."
Lin Yi looked at her without saying a word.
"I am the last ice sprite born on this land." Her voice was soft, carrying an indescribable sense of pride and loneliness. "After me, no new ice sprites appeared, perhaps because the ice elements on this land were no longer pure enough."
Lin Yi was silent for a moment, then asked.
"You're talking about 'you guys,' aren't you just one person?"
The ice sprite lowered its head, and the light in its icy blue eyes dimmed slightly.
"It wasn't like that before. I used to have many companions. Sometimes we would fly together to very high places to see the sunlight above the clouds. The sunlight there was beautiful, golden and warm on our skin."
Her voice grew softer and softer.
"Later, the passage opened, and darkness poured out. More of our companions disappeared in the darkness. Not because they were taken away, but because they used their strength to fight against the darkness, and when their strength was used up, they vanished."
"So when I sensed the power within you, I got angry."
The ice sprite raised its head and looked at Lin Yi.
“I thought you were one of those annoying guys. I thought you were trying to hurt us again. So I threw snowballs at you.”
Lin Yi looked into her eyes, his tone indifferent.
"Why don't you run? You can't beat me."
The ice sprite tilted its head, a serious expression appearing on its semi-transparent face.
“Because I can’t let you run amok here. This is our home. Although many of our companions are gone, this is still our home. I can’t let you destroy it again.”
Lin Yi remained silent for a few seconds, then took something out of his storage space, held it in his palm, and handed it to the Ice Elf.
The ice sprite looked down and saw a soul crystal (medium).
Soul crystals are pure energy crystals, containing no elemental properties, and can be absorbed by any energy-based organism.
For energy beings like ice sprites, soul crystals are the best food and supplement.
The ice sprite's eyes lit up, the light of the soul crystal reflected in its icy blue pupils, and its expression changed from bewilderment to surprise, and from surprise to longing.
She reached out her hand, her semi-transparent fingers hovering above the soul crystal for a few seconds before retracting them. She looked up at Lin Yi, her tone clearly wary.
Aren't you a bad person?
What do you think?
The ice sprite tilted its head and thought for a moment, then shook its head.
“I don’t know. You have that nasty aura about you, but your eyes aren’t empty. You have so many different powers, unlike them who only have one. You’re giving this back to me; bad people wouldn’t give me this.”
She reached out and took the soul crystal from Lin Yi's palm.
The moment her translucent fingers touched the soul crystal, the light on the crystal's surface flashed brightly for a moment, then began to slowly merge into her fingertips.
The ice sprite closed its eyes, and an almost intoxicated expression appeared on its translucent face, like the satisfaction of someone drinking the first sip of hot soup in the dead of winter.
As the last ray of light merged into her body, she opened her eyes. Her ice-blue eyes were much brighter than before, and the light spots in her pupils were more dense, like twinkling stars in the night sky.
Her body was also more solid than before, and there was a layer of fine ice crystals on the edge of her skirt.
"What are you looking at?"
"Find a direction," Lin Yi said. "I'm going to the Peak Mountain Range."
The ice sprite tilted its head and looked at Lin Yi.
"The Peak Mountains, it's very, very far away, in the very center. Why do you want to go there?"
"Contest."
The ice sprite didn't seem to understand what the competition meant, but she didn't ask.
She floated in front of Lin Yi, raised her hand, and pointed in a certain direction in the distance.
"Over there. Keep going, cross this snowfield, and climb over a few mountains, and you'll see the Peak Mountain Range."
Lin Yi looked in the direction the ice sprite was pointing and nodded.
He strode forward, his boots crunching on the snow, the sound particularly clear in the silent snowfield.
The ice sprite floated behind him, maintaining a distance of about two meters, its tattered skirt fluttering gently in the wind.
She didn't speak, but simply followed quietly, her icy blue eyes fixed on Lin Yi's back, the light in her pupils flickering slowly.
After walking about several dozen meters, Lin Yi stopped and looked back at the Ice Elf.
"Why are you following me?"
The ice sprite also stopped, hovering about half a meter above the snow, tilting its head to look at Lin Yi, its tone carrying a hint of matter-of-fact.
"Aren't you going to the Peak Mountains? I want to go see them too. I've been here for too long, and I want to see what the outside world has become."
Lin Yi looked at her for two seconds, neither saying yes nor no, but simply turned around and continued walking forward.
The ice sprite's eyes lit up, and a faint smile appeared on its translucent face.
She quickened her pace and floated to Lin Yi's side, walking alongside him. Her tattered skirt fluttered gently in the wind, and tiny ice crystals condensed and dissipated at the ends of her hair.
"What's your name?" the ice sprite asked.
"Just call me Doctor."
“Doctor,” the ice sprite repeated, seemingly trying to memorize the pronunciation. “That name is strange. What’s my name? I don’t have one. My friends used to call me Hey, or that ice sprite. Would you like to give me a name?”
Lin Yi glanced at her.
"You name it."
The ice sprite tilted its head and thought for a moment, then shook its head.
"I don't know. I've never seen the outside world, and I don't know what things are called. You've seen a lot of things outside, so can you help me come up with a name?"
Lin Yi walked a few steps and then spoke.
"Snow, you shall be called Snow."
"Snow? I like that name." (End of Chapter)