Aimless Ascension

Chapter 243  236 Ice Age (3)

Gale awoke to find a body clinging to him, sadly, it wasn't the woman he wanted. Vale, who was in the middle of them, was nowhere to be seen, so in his place, Ai clung to him to get a bit of warmth.

She was still sleeping, her breathing slow and quiet, with a faint redness on her face.

Gale sat up and found her small figure rising up with him, the way she clung onto him. He checked on her temperature to find it decreased, though still wasn't normal.

Gale cast a radiance healing spell on her, as Ai stirred over him, her grip softening. Gale rested her on the ground and sat straighter when a snort came into his ears.

He found Wang Li moving up from her spot.

"So have you thought about it?" Gale asked her, joining her on the way out of the igloo.

Wang Li glared at him accusingly and remained silent.

"No pressure," Gale said after her.

The two of them got out of the igloo to find a new corpse of a colossal ice bear just a few paces away from them. Vale stood atop of it, clearly showing it was his doing. This trial was really going to be easy with Vale.

As if finding them coming out, the hound woofed in delight and leapt over the body. He came straight to Gale, as if asking for a reward for his deed.

Gale caressed Vale, stooping down. "Who's a good boy? Who's?"

"Woof!"

Ai woke up half an hour later, and by that point, they had breakfast prepared, the same old roasted meat and hot water. Vale ate the largest part of the roasted meat, even though he liked to eat raw meats on most occasions. He was intuitively aware that the raw meats of these creatures weren't good for his health.

"So now that we finished breakfast," Gale said, standing up. The mist barely cleared up in the meantime, as a chilly wind blew constantly from the south. "I think we should start thinking about completing this trial."

Both of the women nodded as Gale continued. "Currently, we have two purposes. First, collecting 100 copper cores shouldn't be a problem with Vale."

"Woof!" Vale agreed too.

"He can find the temple too," Gale said, "but I think the trial would lose its purpose if we leave everything to Vale."

"What do you propose, then?" Wang Li asked.

"We should make finding the temple our main priority," Gale said, "which means a lot of scouting work in the cold. I think Vale and I are best for the job."

Wang Li snorted. "Instead of Vale doing everything, you're proposing you two do everything?" she said. "That won't be losing the purpose of the trial?"

Gale met her gaze and sighed. She had a logic behind her statement, but then again, both Ai and Wang Li were support class, not to mention he had no idea of their fighting capabilities.

"Fine by me," Gale said after a thought, remembering Ai's vision where all of them came safe out of this trial till the third one. "So from now on, two of us will stick here, while the other two scouts for the temple. And we'll decide by lottery who will be the scouts. Any disagreement?"

Getting no complaints, Gale continued. "Since Ai is sick, she's out of the contest by the rules."

"I'm better," Ai interjected immediately. "I can safely say my expertise will be greatly helpful."

"Yes," Gale agreed. "But after you get better."

Ai turned to Wang for her to voice out her complaints, but contrary to her belief, the innkeeper exactly had the same thing in mind as Gale. In the end, Ai could only pout in her grieving.

"That leaves the three of us then," Wang Li said. "How do you want to go on with this?"

"Obviously with the Rock-paper-scissor," Gale answered as if he was ready for it.

"What!? Is it something of your world?"

Gale nodded. "It's a straightforward game to solve disagreements. Vale already knows the rule, so only you need to learn. Don't worry, it's easy."

It took Gale a couple of minutes, and a few demo games to explain the whole rules of Rock-paper-scissor.

"Then we'll begin now," Gale said as both of them draw their palms forward. "If you win, you'll be one of the scouts."

Wang Li was completely focused as they drew their palm for game, unfortunately for her, even with the restriction played on Gale's body and spirit his mind worked first enough to beat a newbie like her. Gale simply adjusted his palm to Stone, finding she was going for scissors.

"Who do I feel like I have been cheated?" Wang Li grumbled, but she could only swallow the regret now.

"Okay, it is decided I'll be one of the scouts," Gale said. "The other one will be decided between you and Vale."

Wang Li shrugged as Vale came up for his match. It turned out Wang Li wasn't half bad as she beat the hound who had trouble between discerning stone and paper. Well, that was how Gale used to beat Vale on the game most of the time.

The hound's demeanour changed visibly to more sadness. Wang Li caressed him, rubbing her face with his.

"Next time, Vale," she said in an adorable tone as if treating a baby, which Vale was. "You stay here and protect our home."

"Woof!" Vale barked, his spirit-lifting. He crept away after Wang Li rested her embrace and started circling around like a stout soldier on duty.

"Our home?" Gale said after Wang Li, shooting a meaningful look.

The innkeeper snorted and went to prepare for the task ahead of them. Gale had prepared a few daggers and machetes with the animals' bones to arm themselves up, and with purified animal fur to shield against the cold.

Within five minutes or so they were prepared to leave.

"Which direction should we go?"

"South," Gale answered her, as he was prepared for it. "The win is coming from that direction, I think it's easy to discern that we'll find the temple southwards.