The Guardian

Chapter 233: Getting the Reward

How long have we been here?

We do not know.

The darkness is sinister and gives the impression that it wants to devour us.

Swallowing our hope, our desires, and our lives, but we will not give up.

We have left many behind and lost a lot more, but we will not give up.

Their suffering will be the reward of our freedom.

But no matter what anyone else says about not being reckless, we cannot stop.

I don’t want to be swallowed by the darkness, I’m not going to be swallowed by the darkness and I’m not going to wait to be rescued... I want to escape and I’m going to do it.

I’m going to pave my way to freedom, even if I have to abandon everyone else.

There is only one goal in front of me and I am willing to do anything to achieve it.

Even abandoning them and risking my life or anyone else’s.

******

Clémentine took a deep breath as she looked off into the distance.

The tall white mountains of the Himalayan ranges stretched into the distance, reaching great heights and sometimes merging with the clouds.

How high were those mountains?

That question was troublesome to answer, as there were extremely tall mountains that were surely over ten thousand meters high and others of equal size.

Where was Everest?

That question came to Clémentine, but it was quickly answered when in the distance she could see that mountain that was bigger than the others.

Its peak was white, hard to tell if it was snow or already ice, but Clémentine had no desire to try to climb it or fly to the top.

The winds were cold down here and it was impossible to tell how cold the peak was.

Adding to the ice element, which was surely dense, and the elementals or magical beasts that might be encountered, then it was more dangerous than before.

Looking away, she could see the capital of Nepal, Kathmandu.

An ancient city that was characterized by its temples and that after the ‘Great Cataclysm’ suffered quite a lot because the Himalayan Mountain Range was beginning to extend, which caused earthquakes that destroyed part of the city.

Today, because the mountain ranges extended into Tibet, covering much of western China, and did not extend into Nepal and the northern part of India, the city regained some life.

India had united with the government of Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, forming a great nation in which they prioritized nature as their whole.

Perhaps because of their culture, their beliefs, or the tenacity of their people, they adapted to environments of this kind.

Clémentine traveled to Kathmandu from India and had seen cities covered by forests like the tourist images she had sometimes seen.

Most of India was covered by forests that spread in the middle of the cities and in her time it was a tragedy, but they turned that tragedy into a miracle and adapted.

Some high forest cities replicated the engineering of the Terra nova elves, managing to create tree houses and even buildings.

Using nature magic was a priority, which led them to adapt to nature.

In Nepal, the earth element was dense, which led to earthquakes after the ‘Great Cataclysm’ or mountains growing and mountain ranges spreading.

However, now earth mages could stop earthquakes using powerful artifacts, complex magical formations, and, in the case of powerful individuals, magic.

Magical energy overthrew all physical rules and made it seem as if everything humans learned throughout their history was a lie, but Terra nova opened their minds, making it possible for humanity to adapt with greater speed.

Now Clémentine was enjoying this environment.

She could feel the high density of magical energy despite being a psionic, but on the other hand, the mountain she was on could feel calm.

It was a rather large and green mountain, with small streams running down the mountain towards the base.

She could felt peace and tranquility at a glance, but this was not all.

“I think it’s time,” Clémentine muttered, looking at her holographic watch.

In this place, she had a signal, but if she kept climbing the mountain, she knew there was something that would completely disconnect the signal.

Basically, it would disconnect her from the world, but she was prepared.

She sent her last messages to the group where her companions, Alice and Aurora, were, along with Akira and Cithrel’s group.

It was the group with whom she met for dinner at Christmas and with whom she had shared most of her academic year.

They were her classmates and friends with whom she had fun and, in a sense, suffered alongside.

If she were, to be honest, she found it hard to disconnect from the world, as it was like disconnecting from her classmates, and the problem was that she didn’t know how long it would last either.

Still, it was what she had to do.

They called her a perfect student. However, Clémentine knew she was not perfect, she had flaws and strengths like everyone else, but above all, she had her own goals that she wanted to achieve.

She entered the academy to become a heroine against her father’s and brother’s opinions and then she realized the reality and the cruelty, but she also realized what was important.

And that was strength... She needed strength to protect her peers, to help those she desired, and she needed strength to move forward on every issue that held her back.

Her father had realized that was what she was looking for and that was why since she finished her internship mid-year he had left her to pursue her goal, even though he preferred her to join the church rather than be a heroine.

Strength was the most important part of achieving any goal, and it was for such a reason that she was here.

“...” Giving a smile at the group’s comments, she chuckled softly at the last few.

“Push yourself! We’ll be waiting for you here, no matter how long you delay.” –TheSimplicityOfLife

It was a simple farewell from Aurora, who had seen her slight anxiety and was now cheering her on.

Being psionic meant training her mind and increasing her mental strength, meditating was the most common means and, according to her father, it took time.

Just as a swordsman or fighter used magical energy to strengthen their body, or a mage needed to increase their source of magical energy, they had to train their mind.

In that sense, it was best to distance themselves from everything and just focus on their goal, meditating behind ‘closed doors’.

However, that meant separating himself from her companions and acquaintances, and to some extent losing her relationship with them... That happened with her father and brother, who, when they were not fulfilling their duties, were meditating apart from everything.

She had a certain fear of losing her friendships.

That was why in the mission ‘Assault’ she ended up with that fighter who sought to hurt her friends without hesitation, without feeling uncomfortable or thinking too much about taking a life... Simply, because she was afraid of losing her friends, losing the people close to her.

Now, even though she knew she had to train, she feared that distancing that time without contact could cause.

Was it childish?

Perhaps, but now seeing that message, she realized that Aurora had perhaps sensed her fears.

After all, it was Clémentine herself who had invited them to get together for Christmas.

“I’ll pay for dinner on your way out.” –AliceSacredChips.

Her expression only quivered more when she saw Alice’s response... That young woman distanced herself from everyone and seemed indifferent to interacting, but deep down inside, in a way, she was someone who was attached to people.

It was in her own way, and in a small way, but there she was.

Saying goodbye again, Clémentine took a deep breath and lifted herself up, using her telekinesis to advance up the mountain.

It didn’t take her too long to feel that she was crossing a powerful barrier and from one moment to the next; the place changed from feeling a large amount of magical energy to a place with a dense amount of psionic energy.

All connections to the outside world seemed to be completely severed, and that included magical and technological communication.

Then, the higher she rose with greater force using her ability, she reached the great peak and could see a giant pagoda, along with smaller ones.

That tall multi-story building gave a very strong oriental feeling, but it also released an ancient presence.

Clémentine, as she saw different people meditating in small gardens, realized that this place was going to be where she would stay.

She didn’t know for how long, though.

******

Érica flew around the area and then stopped, looking at the map.

One good thing about traveling through a desolate place was that the holographic clock could still communicate and connect to the internet.

Therefore, she could look at the map and use her GPS to avoid getting lost.

Now she was in the Argentinean lands, in the province of ‘Mendoza’, deep into the mountain range.

Cosmos Portals did not exist in all cities, and many of them were still under construction in the big cities.

Only a few years ago, Emperor Victor unified South America and that meant that not long ago, the region had stabilized.

Before, the portals were in the major cities and that was because of the investment risk that South American countries had, but now it was different.

Érica had to travel from the nearest area where there was a portal which was the province of Córdoba and then she took a plane to get to the area... Now only with her GPS, she was traveling through the mountains.

The soft wind was hitting her body, and Érica took a deep breath, enjoying the wind and the cold.

Here she felt like she could cast spells with greater speed and her body felt reinvigorated.

The density of magical energy was very high and also the ice element was predominant.

Looking at the map again, she flew forward.

She had risen quite high and as an ice mage she was resistant to the cold, but the breeze when flying fast was quite strong.

That was why her barrier was active.

The other reason was that she was traveling to the middle of nowhere!

Érica didn’t know what her random reward was about and didn’t say much to herself.

While she had an idea thanks to the fact that the others had already gone to get their random rewards, there was no doubt that it was weird.

She couldn’t look for information on the subject either, because they literally reported nothing.

Still, she continued.

Her barrier would prevent a surprise attack and she was already an A-Rank, so she had some confidence.

Adding that the random reward was coming from the tournament authorities, then everything could be reliable.

Traveling at high speed, Érica took to the skies, observing and enjoying the beautiful scenery of these lands.

She was at the base of the mountain range and although she had climbed some hills and small mountains, she could still see the emblematic white of the majestic mountains.

The further she went, the more snow fell.

Érica stopped as she noticed a snowstorm approaching with some force, which was at odds with this sunny day.

A storm that felt natural, and the problem was that such naturalness gave a feeling of strangeness and more so when the magical weather report mentioned that it was going to be a sunny day.

Snowflakes began to fly and Érica didn’t hesitate too long to move.

Using a spell to protect herself, the snowflakes and cold was repelled by a small armor of ice that formed around her.

Since it was her own spell, it didn’t feel cold and no matter how many snowflakes hit her, it only strengthened the armor.

Adding that she was flying using a magic artifact, she didn’t have to worry about the weight of the armor or low mobility.

She continued, and the storm strengthened as the snow hit with a greater force leading to her descending.

This time Érica prepared another spell extending a small dome from her wand and with it in her hand, she continued to move forward as she walked.

The cold winds were hitting that small translucent dome of ice and she felt the force of the wind was complicating her journey.

She had come prepared, so walking through the snow and rocks was not so problematic.

In her daily training, she had a bit of exercise before devoting herself to her control in magic and learning spells, so while her condition was not extraordinary, it was better than other mages.

Following the path, soon the snow became so dense that she seemed to have entered some kind of storm.

Everything was white before her eyes and it was so frightening that, at one point, the white seemed not to move... As if she had been buried under the snow.

Her dome avoided being crushed by the snow, but she continued in earnest to follow the direction of where the meeting point was.

Then, in a moment, as she took a step, the snow fell and Érica’s expression trembled.

She had reached the middle of a cave without realizing it and ahead was a long path where, at the end, was a huge ice door.

As she turned back, looking for the entrance, she only noticed that snow had covered the entire path she came from.

She was swallowed by the snow completely and was moved to another place, without her noticing it.

Her wand holding the dome released a glow as the dome hardened, crystallizing the air with a layer of ice.

“You don’t need to mutter spells...”

A voice sounded from the opposite direction of the ice door and when Érica turned, she could see the snow melting away, leaving a white deer in view.

His eyes were a shade of blue like two ice crystals, the fur was white, and if one looked closely, then one would notice that the fur was made up of small snowflakes.

That was...

“Gliss?” Érica hesitated at the sight of that white deer.

“Oh, you remember me.” Murmured the white deer walking softly.

That was the ice elemental Gliss who helped her train after mid-year practices and that individual, in a way, was the one who helped her rise through the ranks.

“Sorry for bringing you in like that, but we don’t normally let others in easily,” Said the white stag and walking forward, he looked at Érica who was stunned and ordered. “Follow me. You will get your reward here.”

Érica obeyed, concentrating on the cave.

This place was not completely dark and now she realized that they were by crystals shining glued to the cave wall.

Approaching the ice door, Érica couldn’t help but take a deep breath as she saw how thick and detailed that ice creation was, and at the same time, as she was impressed by the details, she could feel the barriers etched inside.

Then Gliss opened the entrance by tapping the floor with her paw.

The door opened, revealing a light overhead, and Érica just froze.

In her vision was exposed a city of ice... Ice roads, houses of different ice styles, even small ice caves, all in white and ice blue.

Among them were some mages, elementalists, and beast tamers, but most of its inhabitants were the elementalists and ice-type magical beasts.

The place was large and deep in the earth and at the top was a ‘white sun’ that gave a warm feeling, as if it was under the real sun.

“This will be the place where you will train,” Gliss revealed earnestly, and raising his head, he announced. “The City of Ice.”

Érica was speechless... She didn’t know something like this could exist.

******

The door opened and Liam, who was sitting in the living room, looked at the entrance.

“Are you back already?” Liam asked as he saw Aurora and Alice walk in.

Alice was noticeable with a rather cheerful smile, and Aurora seemed infected by her friend’s happiness.

“Yes, replenishing our supplies is expensive as usual,” Aurora replied with a smile.

Liam nodded in agreement.

The supplies they were talking about were not only the potions that could be created en masse or by experienced alchemists, but also the scrolls that contained spells.

The scrolls needed a specific material to be engraved, then not only needed the tools and knowledge of the spell, but it also needed more resources and in the end an expert able to create it... That meant that they could not be designed en masse and had a high value.

Those healing scrolls they bought always came at a high cost, as they stored spells comparable to those cast by an S-rank healer.

“I also replenished my stock of chips!” Alice revealed, nodding in high spirits.

Liam’s expression didn’t change, he just gave a smile.

She could look like a happy child after her mother bought her some toys, but he would not laugh, knowing how serious she was about her favorite snacks.

Liam was about to brag about his drone purchase when his expression changed.

In his mind, his AI passed him information about the message that had arrived, and seeing the look on Aurora’s face, he muttered. “I guess you’ll have to spend that stock soon.”

Seeing the serious look, he continued.

“They’ve already defined the meeting to talk about the goblin raid.”