Chapter 357: A Winter Wonderland
Coop braced himself, gripping the ship’s railing with as much strength as he could muster through his gloved hands. He had borrowed a full suit of winter clothes, anticipating that the frigid temperatures would be a bit too extreme for his regular apparel, but it seemed like no amount of preparation would have been enough. Even his hands had layers, with thin waterproof gloves beneath thicker fingerless mittens, yet somehow it didn’t seem to help keep the cold away. It was the type of bitter chill that pierced straight to the bone.
Coop squeezed his eyes shut and imagined himself on the western beach of Ghost Reef, dipping his toes in the bath-like warm waters in the middle of the day. The memory of that oppressive heat beating down on his shoulders but also rising up from the sand was only a tiny relief, but it was all he could reasonably do. The cold was abnormal, applying debuffs that implied he would already be on the verge of death without the presence of mana.
Lyriel had a tight hold on the shoulder of his hooded waterproof jacket, looking like a featureless bundle of heavily insulated cloth herself. She didn’t have a single inch of skin exposed since even her eyes were protected by her runed bandana, but he could hear her whispering in confusion about the uninhabitability of planet Earth.
“It doesn’t make sense… This system-forsaken world is accursed… I should have stayed with Malsteron…” She rambled to herself, muffled by the oversized neck warmer and face mask both covering her lips. “As soon as we disembark I will ignite my aura, resources be damned!” She mumbled, drawing a bit more of his attention with her determination.
Coop eyed her suspiciously, deciding that he shouldn’t let her cling so close once they arrived. He didn’t want to be caught in any magical backdraft the Avatar of the System generated in her desperate attempt to escape the cold. Then again, maybe staying a bit close would be an opportunity to gain some warmth as well. Being burned alive just to remember what it meant to be unfrozen was surprisingly tempting.
He watched as debuffs stacked and the system numerated their plight. Icy Chill simply increased its own duration, occasionally leveling itself up to a more detrimental tier, but Frostbite had several distinct stacks, implying that individual parts of Coop would receive damage once the debuff reached specific thresholds. It was similar enough to when he started experimenting with holding his breath that he had to rewire his concerns away from actually freezing to death and instead toward anticipating environmental penalties interpreted by mana. As long as his health and mana pools held, he believed he would be okay.
If he actually froze, it would be a crowd control effect. Frostbite would cause damage and provide lingering handicaps. Icy Chill was an exposure debuff that would apply various effects like Vulnerability, Movement Impairments, and even Accuracy Reductions. Coop was a little worried, but since they were all caused by the environment, he took solace in the fact that it was an even playing field. The potential enemies had been in the environment for even longer than they had been, so they would actually be at a disadvantage.
Unfortunately, their overall progress was slow, forcing them to linger in the harsh environment for longer than he would have liked. The heavily armored galleon smashed through sea ice in an effort to reach their destination, but judging by the shouts of the sailors, it was a struggle just to stay on course, let alone maintain their momentum. The ship lurched as ice crunched against the metal reinforced hull. The wooden planks creaked beneath their feet from the stress being applied by the collisions. As they shoved the ship forward the ratio of water to ice changed, and eventually the rough seas were gradually replaced by entire sheets of snow covered ice.
Doubt gnawed at Coop’s confidence as he heard Matt suggesting they turn back before it was too late. The season just wasn’t conducive to exploration. It was Dan, the anxiety-filled mana reader, of all people, who attempted to ease the other’s distress. He told Matt with confidence that Cap and Grizz had been through worse, and they would make sure they got through this, but Coop caught sight of the more experienced veterans exchanging a look that clearly revealed that this was extreme, even for them. They hadn’t expected their role as Marcus’s honor guard would turn into an Antarctic expedition in the dead of winter.
It was Mika, whose genuine laughter rose above the howling winds, that calmed the intensifying atmosphere, open jacket flapping as he faced forward. The penguin researcher was the only one with his full face still exposed, letting his beard be pulled by the wind. It had already grown to be three times the size it had started as, collecting frost from his breath as they ventured southward, but he seemed completely at ease with the freezing temperatures. It was more like a homecoming than an expedition, at least in his case.
According to Mika, the debuffs weren’t even applying to him yet, thanks to what he called acclimation, but sounded like a series of titles that he had stacked in the first months of the assimilation. The cold didn’t bother him or Matt, though in the latter’s case, he was hyper vigilant toward it anyway. He mumbled that he was afraid of losing his hair again, though Coop wasn’t sure if that was entirely due to stress or the cold.
Eventually, the ship’s forward momentum completely ceased. Massive chunks of broken ice had wedged themselves against the hull, making it seem like they had been riding a spaceship that crash-landed in the frozen wilderness. When Coop leaned over the side, he turned back to see a miles long path of rough waters, exactly as wide as the ship, carved into a solid white expanse.