Ch.167Frozen Planet (3)

“…Dad, are you not busy today?”

“Today, this dad has prepared to take our cutie to a special place.”

“A special place?”

“Yes. We’re going to mom’s filming location.”

“Wow! Really? But mom said not to come.”

“This time, let’s throw a surprise party for mom. What do you think?”

“Hehe, that sounds fun! I want to go!”

“Someone help me! My child is trapped under the car!”

“The engine is on fire, it’s dangerous! Step back!”

“■■! No!”

“If only you hadn’t taken him that day, this wouldn’t have happened!”

“Is that what you’re saying to me? Do you know who’s paying for the expensive medical bills?”

“Huh, medical bills? You don’t even care about the child.”

“Waaah! Teacher! I want to change seats! This kid smells!”

“Hey, doesn’t something smell weird around here?”

“Ugh. There goes the burn monster.”

“■■, how can you miss so much school just because you’re not feeling well? Instead of just expecting understanding from your friends, don’t you think you need to change yourself first?”

“Shit, did I just see a monster?”

“Me too. Wow, I thought today was Halloween or something.”

“Poor thing. If I became like that, I’d rather bite my tongue and die.”

Poor thing.

Disgusting.

Why live?

Monster.

Monster.

–

“Grr?”

As I opened my eyes, I was greeted by slightly cool and humid air. As my dormant senses activated, I could feel the lukewarm liquid flowing on the floor.

‘A dream.’

Since falling into this world, I rarely dreamed. At most, I might have had visions when evolving or using the transcendence system.

‘Is it because of the memories I saw recently?’

The childhood memories I saw when advancing to transcendence level 2.

The days I spent in intensive care because of burns. A past I didn’t want to remember.

‘Sigh.’

I had forgotten about it recently, but recalling things from the real world makes me feel uneasy.

Ascended, the stage after Adult.

I’m not certain, but if I reach Ascended, there’s a high possibility I’ll be given a means to leave this world.

I’m not the only one who thinks so. According to Sky Mother, players who came before me had similar goals.

‘Though they all failed.’

As a result of the failure, the number one player died, and the rest split up to find new goals. That seed of conflict has led to the current situation.

‘An ending, huh.’

If even the number one player couldn’t clear it, I can’t imagine how difficult it must be.

In the original game, Ascended was notorious for its murderous difficulty. Unlike other evolution stages, Ascended wasn’t just about fulfilling all conditions.

The final battle. There’s a final test given by the being who holds the secret of the world, and you must pass that test to ascend. There were AMorph players who met the ascension conditions, but I was the only one who succeeded.

‘If it were the same difficulty as the game, other players would have cleared it first.’

The fact that they couldn’t means there are variables I don’t know about.

But I don’t intend to give up. I’m the one who became an AMorph ranker when everyone said it was impossible. If higher rankers failed, I just need to prepare better than they did.

‘However….’

I raised my body slightly.

The ones near me stirred. No. 26, Adhigh Orr, and Sky Mother were all sleeping together in the underground space that had turned into a shallow swamp.

‘What will happen to this place if I leave?’

Setting aside the cause or process of my falling into this world.

I don’t think this world will disappear or collapse if I vanish. It’s too far removed to be considered a virtual game world. It would be more appropriate to see this as something new with a form similar to the universe of Space Survival.

All the experiences I’ve had have substance. That fact troubles me.

‘I would really miss those guys if we parted.’

The longer I stay in this world, the deeper my emotions grow. Sky Mother, who arrived about 10 years earlier than me, even got married.

What I feel for them may not be love, but it’s definitely deep affection. A special feeling I haven’t had since childhood.

‘…Plus, there are things I worry about.’

Would No. 26 and Adhigh Orr be okay without me?

Honestly, I have mixed feelings—hoping they’ll be fine, but also hoping they won’t.

The former is a kind of pure wish that they live out their given lifespans to the fullest.

The latter, on the other hand….

‘Is a twisted desire.’

A dirty feeling of wanting them to know I’m gone, to be sad, to remember me, and to feel lonely.

‘Tsk.’

It’s still a long way to Ascended, and I’m already having useless thoughts.

Thanks to that damn dream, I’m fully awake and feeling uneasy, so I might as well do some work.

‘The nest temperature still seems a bit cold, doesn’t it?’

The underground space, once just dirt and ice, was transformed into a completely different environment by my touch. It was thanks to two nest-related traits: ‘Swamp Formation’ and ‘Environmental Dominator’.

Both were traits I acquired while traversing swamplands before advancing to transcendence level 2.

‘Both were useless traits in the game, but now they’re being used like this.’

Swamp Formation, as the name suggests, creates a swamp in the nest. It’s difficult to use alone and needs to be combined with traits that spread poison or germs to be somewhat useful.

It can be used like when I spread space bacteria in the sewers of the T&C Special Trade Center. Of course, in the game, with powerful healing techniques and equipment, it’s hard to show that level of impact.

‘At least Swamp Formation could be used to apply debuffs.’

Environmental Dominator, despite its grand name, wasn’t very helpful in the game.

‘Its effect overlaps with the nest.’

The effect of this trait is to change the environment above the nest as I wish. It’s useless for an AMorph who can manipulate the surrounding environment through the nest.

An AMorph’s nest has the effect of creating an environment beneficial for the AMorph’s survival. It has beneficial effects like increasing healing power or replenishing lost energy.

On the other hand, Environmental Dominator doesn’t provide much benefit except for changing temperature or surrounding scenery.

‘I never thought such a trait would be used like this.’

I kept it just in case it could be used as transcendence material like the psychic organ, but it ended up being used in an unexpected way.

Thanks to Environmental Dominator, the nest’s temperature was maintained at a level that felt cool. The ceiling and walls were covered with the nest’s mucus to prevent melting.

And the swamp laid on top of it. If light could reach here, you would see steam rising above the swamp.

‘Heat emission and Swamp Formation. I must be the first person to use these together.’

Lying on the swamp that formed above the nest and slowly emitting heat turned it into a literal mud hot spring. Thanks to this, Adhigh Orr and Sky Mother, who are sensitive to cold, could sleep comfortably.

‘Come to think of it, like the psychic organ, my unused traits are being rediscovered one by one.’

I thought no AMorph player had played as diversely as I did, but I should reconsider.

I still have much to learn.

With that thought, I adjusted the temperature I was emitting. As the heat generated from my body increased, the swamp’s temperature rose accordingly.

“Big one? What are you doing?”

[Zz zz zz zzzz (Sorry. I woke you up)]

Perhaps sensing my movement through the flow of the water, No. 26 sent a wave. I stopped emitting heat and reached out to stroke him.

[Zzzz zz z (Don’t worry and go back to sleep)]

“Big one not sleepy? Then I’ll help you sleep!”

Before I could decline, he tightly hugged my head with his large body.

No. 26, who had become a 10m-sized balloon, was less than half my size, but he was more than adequate as a pillow.

‘This is a strange sensation.’

Until now, he had climbed onto my head, but I had never climbed onto him.

Maybe it’s thanks to his body maintaining a moderately cool temperature.

“Big one, sleep well.”

Feeling an inexplicable comfort, I closed my eyes.

–

The Noble Capitals of Megacorp have colonial planets throughout the universe.

Some planets are strategic points coveted by other forces, while others are lesser-known places.

House Yugin also possesses numerous planets. This is to obtain materials necessary for genetic modification or Hulk Mutant production.

Among these planets, there is one without a name.

It’s a planet discovered by Akira Yujin during his personal exploration, not recorded on ship maps shared by multiple forces.

On this planet without even a name, there is Gallergorn’s Nest, home of the space dragon.

That frozen planet was the only source of Gallergorn genes.

However, since not a single Gallergorn is non-ferocious, entering the planet meant risking one’s life. It was such a harsh place that if 100 people entered, barely one might come out.

Danger and preciousness.

For these two reasons, the location of this planet is known only to a select few within House Yugin.

And Siheyon Yujin was one of those few who knew the planet’s location.

After all, she couldn’t not know the source of the Gallergorn genes in her body.

But the reason she knows how dangerous this place is isn’t just because of the genes.

She is the only Noble Capital besides Akira Yujin who has personally visited this place.

Because she once stole Gallergorn eggs and captured a mutant Blue Gallergorn from this planet.

At that time, her forces suffered tremendous damage from pursuing Gallergorns.

Although she is a clone now, she retains most of the original’s memories. She knows well how terrifying an angry Gallergorn can be.

That’s why she never thought she would come back here.

Yet now, she has set foot again on this planet where Gallergorns live.

“…It’s gone.”

Siheyon, wearing her exclusive powered suit, White Maiden, slowly rose from the snow. People hiding around her heard her words and got up one by one.

Since regular powered suits could have their power sources freeze instantly, her subordinates wore specially made suits.

White as snow and thick enough to resemble spacesuits, these powered suits are equipment used for exploring volcanic planets or, like now, ice planets. Besides that, communication equipment, weapons they carry, and everything else has been specially treated to prevent freezing.

Lila Chamberlain, who like others had applied camouflage coating to make her exterior white, approached Siheyon.

“The Gallergorns seem quite diligent. Do they usually roam around like that?”

“No. They don’t. They mostly stay in their nests except when hunting.”

All the crew members who landed on the planet had to quickly hide because of the White Gallergorn that suddenly appeared.

“It’s fortunate the flagship didn’t land. Otherwise, our exploration would have ended right there three days ago.”

The day Siheyon’s flagship arrived at the nameless planet was three days ago.

As Lila said, instead of landing on the planet with her flagship, Siheyon entered via transport ship.

The massive flagship would be easily detected by Gallergorns, and there might be situations requiring external support, so she deliberately made that choice.

Looking at the situation, that judgment proved beneficial.

‘Strange. They don’t usually roam around like that.’

While Gallergorns are the top predators on this planet, there are numerous creatures with strength comparable to theirs. White Gallergorns have the duty to protect the nest from powerful enemies.

Frequently leaving the nest when not hunting was clearly abnormal behavior.

“Captain Nern. You said you buried the artifact in that mountain range?”

“Yes, but let me see the map for a moment.”

Siheyon handed a small computer pad to Nern, a middle-aged Cult with yak horns.

The former captain of the Imperial Mothership “Judge of Damos08,” who lost his ship and subordinates to a being called “Three-Headed Demon,” came to this planet for revenge.

Unusually skilled for a Cult in handling human tools, he marked a red dot on a point in the mountain range displayed on the map.

“I buried it here.”

“That’s quite a distance.”

“But going this way will save more time.”

“I don’t recommend going in that direction. The White Gallergorn might fly over again.”

Both Nern and Lila had valid points.

“Why don’t we cross that plain instead? It doesn’t seem like it would take too long.”

“That’s difficult. There’s a dangerous monster in the ‘Ice Sheet Plains’.”

Underground in the place Lila pointed to with her mechanical hand lives a very powerful beast. The last time she was here, about 100 of her soldiers died because of it.

They didn’t die fighting Gallergorns, but because of a completely unexpected entity, making it impossible to forget the loss of so many subordinates.

‘If it’s still alive, going that way is dangerous.’

“We have no choice. Even if we have to take a detour, we’ll go the safer route.”

Although Siheyon doesn’t have much time, if she fails here, Minseok on the flagship will no longer trust her.

‘I still need his trust.’

Taking her eyes off the map, she glared at what lay ahead.

A black barrier stretching beyond the horizon. In one of the peaks of that mountain range lies the artifact she’s looking for.