Marien stomped her foot angrily and folded her hands over her chest. Her Spirit Armor dissipated. Imdiately, the wind blew in her face and pulled on the hems of her clothing.
"I don’t get it... But I will. Lead on, Frozen Balance!"
Reynard winced.
’Damn it! Well, now I can’t just leave her standing here! I wanted to get a mont to think without the wind...’
Reluctantly, Reynard followed Marien’s example and braced for the cold.
"Follow ," Frozen Balance said, flying to another distant tree.
Reynad and Marien did. They covered their faces with their hands as much as they could against the wind, but it was still freezing. Even with their physique, enhanced by magic above that of ordinary mortals, Reynard feared that they would get frostbite sooner or later.
The swishing of wind in their ears and the push of air in their mouths made it almost impossible to speak, so neither of the magi tried.
They pondered on the puzzle of Frozen Balance’s question on their own.
’Frost burns... Those are just another na for frostbite. The cold doesn’t actually burn! It’s a completely different state of matter,’ Reynard thought, rembering his school lessons in physics. ’No, I’m looking at it from a different perspective. From the point of magical science, both cold and fire are just elents of the world. Which still makes no sense.’
The wind made it hard to think and walk, but Reynard trudged on. Marien was just a step behind, stubbornly and bravely weathering the cold together with him.
She clearly was no closer to the answer.
Whenever Reynard and Marien got closer to Frozen Balance, the bird would fly to another perch. It continued on and on, and as Reynard’s thoughts went in circles, he realized that their with Marien’s path was moving them in circles, too.
’Why is this happening? What lesson is the bird trying to teach? What is the point of moving against the wind?’
Reynard wanted to stomp on the ground in frustration and cast Spirit Armor again. But Marien was still walking, and he couldn’t give up before her!
What he didn’t realize was that she was walking at him with the sa thoughts, thinking that it would hurt her pride as a magus to give up before Reynard did. She was a princess of her school, after all, she had to be a better magus than anyone else!
Both of the magi were shivering from the cold right now. Their gloves and hats barely protected their extremities from frostbite, and their bodies were perated with chill.
’If this continues much longer, we WILL have to take a break, or we will fall from hypothermia!’ Reynard thought, shivering. ’The blasted bird clearly doesn’t intend to stop until... until what? Probably until we finish our calcination. So far, we haven’t done much about it...’
Reynard closed his eyes, walking blindly forward as he focused on his mana. At first glance, it was clear that calcination in the current circumstances was near impossible! With each breath, cold air scalded his lungs and cooled his Inner Athanor.
Using Innate Fire, his vital force, for calcination would just kill him before it calcinated anything.
There were other fires: Natural Fire (physical heat), Unnatural Fire (created by magic), and Secret Fire. The latter was the rarest—Reynard only heard rumors about it as sothing that only Loremasters could co up with, thanks to their divine understanding.
As Reynard repeated these principles in his head, a sudden realization struck him.
’Could... Could the "cold" that Frozen Balance talks about be a Secret Fire? A principle that’s "obvious" to a Loremaster, but is a hard lesson to learn to Mortal magi like us... Well, unless Alia REALLY scamd us, it should be possible to understand. So I will!’
The revelation didn’t make Reynard any closer to actual understanding, though. He wondered if the bird’s words could just be taken literally.
’Using cold as the fire...’
On another step, Reynard took a deep breath. The ice wind scalded his airways and lungs, but instead of directing his aura and life force to fight against the chill, Reynard let it flow at full strength toward his Inner Athanor.
Imdiately, he felt a sharp pain, but it quickly went away.
With shaking hands, Reynard pulled a life-strengthening potion from his belt pocket. It was half frozen—Reynard felt chunks of ice as he drank it—but it still helped.
Marien watched him with concern, slowing down her steps so he could catch up with her.
He did, but as Reynard walked, he continued to bring cold to his Inner Athanor. The more he did so, the less pain he felt with each deep breath, but the heavier his every next step was.
’This is bad. This... This really feels like it kills ! Even with the potions,’ Reynard thought in alarm. ’My body feels less pain because the cold numbs the nerves! I already can barely feel my nose.’
Worst of all, he couldn’t say if this was having any effect.
By now, the black mana that was filling his Athanor has frozen solid. But it didn’t actually transform it as a completed refinent operation would.
The bird did not comnt on the progress of its students and flew away before Reynard or Marien could ask it any questions. If not for the wind, he could shout them at it, but...
’Two more breaths and this is it. Two more breaths, and Marien will have to pull away from here on a sled. At least she’s holding on better than I do, since she doesn’t do the sa silly exercise as I am.’
One...
Reynard stumbled and would’ve fallen if Marien hadn’t held him by the shoulder. He smiled gratefully at her, then determinedly made the next step and the next breath.
Two...
Reynard’s head swam. There was warmth, dangerous warmth spreading through his body. He stopped with his eyes closed, feeling like the wind would just carry him away.
Then he heard it.
Crack!
Inside his Inner Athanor.
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