Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 1031: Snow Mountain in the Blizzard

Early Sunday morning, the blonde girl was still asleep, but as usual, Shard, who woke up early, had already packed his belongings, ready to embark on a brand new adventure.

The new key obtained from Dr. Schneider corresponded to a year in the Fifth Era, but Shard didn’t seek anyone to identify it, as knowing the year wouldn’t help him anyway.

The cat, awakened by Shard getting up, seemed to want to follow him back in time this time. However, since this was the first time activating the new key, Shard was uncertain what would happen at that point in time, so he refused Mia.

Thus, it pitifully lay on the sofa watching Shard prepare to leave, its aggrieved expression as if Shard was going to abandon it.

"Don’t look at me with that expression, I’ll be back in three seconds."

Shard said to Mia, feeling that the cat was getting smarter.

He tightened the scarf around his neck, patted his thick cotton clothes, and then inserted the key into the keyhole of the side bedroom door:

"May the World Tree bless me in time."

Click~

He stepped into the White Mist Gate once again.

[Outlander, you have entered the "Time Corridor."]

[A message from the Ancient God "Father of the Infinite Tree":]

[Winter of Year 903 of the Fifth Era, Northern Continent, Silver Mountains.]

[Event: Snow Mountain Lost.]

[Duration: Forty minutes (1/3).]

"This time it’s not thirty minutes, but forty minutes? Back to the Northern Continent again? Hope Town - 1068, Forest of Thousand Trees - 3002, Horror Fortress - 1784, Night Manor - 3014, Valley of Dead Silence - 3024, Lost Lake - 5177, this time it’s 903..."

Shard stood in the white mist; Year 903 of the Fifth Era was the earliest year he had encountered in the Fifth Era. In this era, none of his acquaintances could possibly appear. Even the witch who awakened by listening to his knowledge in that toy store in Hope Town must not have been born yet.

"But what does ’Snow Mountain Lost’ mean..."

As expected, the voice in his ear continued:

[You have received additional information.]

[The figure of the Father of the Infinite Tree watches you.]

[The Ancient God of Time gives you a trial.]

[Assist the Deity ’Winter Maiden’ in escorting the Lost Person to the summit.]

[The Father of the Infinite Tree will reward you: Arcane Technique - Binding Light, Sorcery - Flying Blossom Spell.]

"This time, the reward is one Arcane Technique and one Sorcery? Not bad. But the Old God ’Winter Maiden’..."

Shard frowned slightly in the white mist. This deity was quite famous, arguably second only to the five True Gods in terms of notoriety. Even though she has departed, her reputation still surpasses that of most Evil Gods.

This is not because this Old God was extremely powerful, but because the power represented by this Old God is "winter." The Old God ’Winter Maiden,’ also known as the "God of Winter" and "Snow God," is worshiped and prayed to as a deity symbolizing the seasons, and this persists even a thousand years after the Old God’s departure. Even in the Year 1853 of the Sixth Era in the Far North Great Ice Cap region, her church and shrine can still be found, and her believers and Order are still active.

The Order of the Old God "Winter Maiden" is called the "Winter Choir." Although the Order itself is quite small in scale, it contains a Thirteen-Ring Sorcerer known as the "Winter Singer," who is a highly talented Circle Sorcerer. This Order, akin to the Pantanal Voodoo Society, only operates in specific areas; its mode of conduct is similar to the "Spiritual Practice Order," maintaining neutrality on most matters.

Shard heard of this Order because the "Winter Choir" has a good relationship with the Saint Byrons Integrated Academy, which is also located in the Far North. In the first-year academy general education, this organization was a key focus. If, in the future, a group of five traverses the Far North Great Ice Cap, enduring the cold in the polar day and night to enter the snowfield, they are most likely to be helped by this organization in times of danger.

"This adventure hasn’t even started, and it’s already linked to future times."

Shard thought silently and then took a step forward.

"Oh!"

As the white mist dissipated, he directly fell into the snow.

The Tree Father did not move Shard into the sky but let him land on the snow. However, the problem was that the snow on the ground was too thick, and Shard, unprepared, fell into the snow below the surface instantly, the snow layer even covering his shoulders:

"Where am I now?"

The extreme cold was quickly sapping Shard’s body heat as he struggled to crawl out of the snow. He looked up only to see a terrifyingly dark sky. The sky was not purely black like ink, with colorful traces flowing in that ink-blackness, as if an unseen, dreadful entity trembled high in this dark night.

The wind swept snowflakes across everything, but the surroundings were not without light sources. On the contrary, everything around was a light source. Both the snow and the snowflakes in the air emitted a holy silver-white glow, which allowed him to see that he seemed to be on a gentle slope somewhere in the Snow Mountain, surrounded entirely by a fine, pure white snow layer. When the Outlander was young, he was keen on leaving his footprints on such soft, flat snow layers, but now he wasn’t in the mood for such things:

"Silver-white snow? No wonder it’s called the Silver Mountains; I thought they produced silver here."

Towering peaks stood not far away in the night, with the undulating mountains stretching beyond sight. It was all immensely spectacular, but Shard had no time to admire the "scenery" of the snowy mountains; he felt his limbs were almost numb.

Given his physical condition and the thickness of his warm clothing, he shouldn’t lose temperature so severely in a short time. These snowflakes glowing with a silver-white light must have something wrong, just like other environmental issues in Time Corridor adventures.

It wasn’t easy to crawl out from such a thick layer of snow, and even if he did, without a good method, he would sink again. Fortunately, there was a large rock jutting from the snow not far away, and the shivering Shard used "Lagre’s Leap" to directly transfer onto the rock.

"The Silver Mountains" and Lost Lake were different; spatial powers were not prohibited here.

Although every time he arrived in past times, he would certainly find himself in a dangerous situation, this time’s environment was the worst. The passively shivering Shard crouched on the rock, looking around, trying to find traces of deities or mortals.

And as his eyes followed the gentle slope up to the ridge of the mountain, a crimson glimmer began to light up in the darkness beyond the ridge. A giant entity, taller than the mountain, was slowly approaching the ridge, melted into the darkness.

The gates of time seemed to open here, as the ancient evil object confined within the Great Snow Mountain was projecting its true form into the material world.

At that moment, Shard felt his entire spirit had frozen. He forced himself to look away, only to find that the power of the ancient Snow Mountain evil object did not allow him to do so. The power that ancient evil object wielded was the strongest Shard had ever witnessed in this world, aside from gods.

That gigantic being, which had perhaps existed in the Silver Mountains for aeons, seemed to have noticed him as well. But before Shard could attempt to escape, a figure appeared on the ridge.

It was a girl glowing with a pure white light, wearing a white robe, her silver hair floating in the wind and snowflakes, standing barefoot on the ridge. She stood with her back to Shard, facing the horrifying darkness beyond the ridge, and raised the white oak staff in her right hand high:

"Light Spell!"

The pure white light that burst from the staff’s tip illuminated part of the terrifying body in that darkness. The Snow Mountain’s evil object emitted a sound that even made the wind tremble, a sound like "Ang~".

As Shard felt blood drip from the corner of his mouth, the entity retreated into the light, but the snowflakes still flew, and the cold had not left this eerie mountain range.

Shard wiped the blood from his mouth, feeling he was probably hurt by that sound. Stunned, he watched the scene before him, for the first time discovering that someone else could use a "Light Spell" as skillfully as he could.

But he quickly realized why the other could display such astonishing power, as his senses, dull and numb from the cold, reminded Shard that he was observing a Deity.

The white-robed girl on the ridge turned around and also noticed Shard. However, the Deity did not approach him, but pointed downwards, then walked barefoot along the ridge, towards Shard’s left, in the direction of an upward slope, which was also the direction of the highest peak of this mountain range.

"Pointing downwards?"

Crouching on the large rock, Shard looked at the glowing snow around him. The Outlander’s knowledge from his hometown told him that anything capable of emitting light autonomously, without being in a stimulated state, was very dangerous, while knowledge from this world told him that autonomous luminous objects signified transcendence and mystery.

He scooped up a handful of the glowing snow with his hand, having to admit it was indeed beautiful:

"What is this?"

A whisper sounded in his ear:

[This is a handful of snow.]

"Mm... I know, I mean the elemental traces."

[All Four Elements are present, but very weak.]

"As long as it’s not poisonous."

Not long ago, he wondered if Mia would ever lick snow, and Shard never expected he would actually do so this soon. He opened his mouth, took a bite of the cold snow, the silver-white snowflakes melting in his mouth, sliding down his throat into his stomach.

The biting chill instantly stiffened Shard, and when he recovered from that numbness, he didn’t feel warmth but rather felt the cold intensify, yet he adapted to this coldness as well.

[Outlander, within half an hour, when you walk barefoot on the snow surface, you will not sink into the snow. When you communicate with people in the Snow Mountain environment, you can understand each other’s language.]

So Shard took off his shoes, jumping barefoot from the large rock:

"Oh!"

A penetrating chill surged from the soles of his feet to his entire body, but he was indeed standing on the snow surface.

He raised his arm to cover his face, slightly bent over. In the blizzard, Shard walked along the snow slope upwards, headed in the direction of that ridge.

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