Alexia

  I kind of wish I was able to identify it, but I couldn’t. When I tried, I didn’t get any result. Which probably means it’s too far away.

  So that’s a little annoying. But whatever.

  What I can do right now is try to figure out what the boss was. And I do just that over the course of the next few days of hunting. I try and try and try to think about what the monster could possibly be.

  But just seeing its slit blue eyes isn’t much to go off of.

  I let out another sigh as I continue teleporting down through the trench while slaughtering monsters along the way. And, of course, making sure to stay far away from the center of the trench. Because that boss does occasionally shoot out beams of pale blue energy that freezes everything they make contact with straight up the trench from the bottom.

  And I personally prefer not being turned into a reaper popsicle stick without the stick.

  Or with the stick, for that matter.

  My rather pointless inner monologue is interrupted when I see the eyes once again appear down below. Two massive slit blue eyes that look reptilian in nature. So without hesitation, I teleport into one of the tunnels and begin to hunt monsters in there instead. Letting the massive beam of pale blue shoot up the trench, freezing everything in its wake with ease.

  Out of curiosity, I go ahead and look at the leaderboards to see if anyone else has died. But no one has. Which makes sense, since I’m pretty sure the only reason Ignivara ended up dying permanently instead of just respawning was because Mom ate him.

  Although if I were saying that to someone else I would probably phrase that differently.

  Doesn’t really matter.

  My thoughts briefly turn back to what Mom meant about my reaching Ascendant Tier as I kill more monsters, but after a minute, I just shrug it off again and continue my hunting. Until I run into a hidden area again, that is. At which point I cut open and then enter said hidden area.

  [You have entered the Tier 5 Hidden Area, the Frozen River of the Lord of Icefall.]

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  Okay, it sounds like there could be a boss here.

  I tense up a little as I look around the area I end up in after passing through the rift. Just to find it to be nothing but a massive river. A frozen one at that.

  And I’m above ground in this hidden area. But just like the previous ones before it, I’ll return where the hidden area was.

  I glance back at the rift to see the tunnel still there through the sliced-open rift. Then I look back at the frozen river.

  There doesn’t seem to be anything that really stands out about the river if I’m being honest. And I don’t see anything beneath it.

  At this point this planet barely even feels cold to me anymore thanks to my Quantum Adaptation skill, so I can’t really tell if this place is colder than the planet outside of the hidden area or not. And I don’t sense even a single energy source within the ice of the frozen river.

  I frown for a moment before teleporting down to land on the icy river. But the second my feet touch the ice, frost begins to coat my boots. Which surprises the hell out of me. Considering how high my adaptation is to ice at this point.

  Interesting.

  I pull my fist back before slamming it into the ice, only for some medium sized cracks to appear instead of the ice shattering like I was expecting.

  Huh. This ice is incredibly strong.

  I teleport back before using numerous bolts of quantum energy to slam into the ice, eventually finally destroying it enough to move downwards a bit. At which point I teleport to the ground of the ice once more.

  But instead of just frost appearing on my boots, this time my boots completely begin to freeze to the ground. Proving just how freezing cold this ice is.

  I teleport away. Or try to, at least.

  To my even greater surprise, my boots don’t let me teleport away. Leaving me having to blast my own feet and the ice around them until the ice breaks and I can teleport away.

  At the very least I’m not bored anymore.

  I frown at the ice while trying to sense for any energy sources. And after failing to find any, I blast more of the ice to go deeper. But even after getting a few dozen feet deep, I still don’t sense any living creatures within the ice. Or even any undead ones.

  There’s just nothing in it.

  What I do find though is that it gets colder and colder the deeper I go. Meanwhile the ice gets harder and harder.

  Hmm. If I had to guess, I’d say that there’s most likely some sort of hidden item or something inside of the ice.

  That or there’s a dead boss lying dormant down there that’ll suddenly revive when I free it from the ice. But that is far less likely.

  Both because I want loot and because it just is.

  Of course, another possibility could also be that the hidden area has nothing to do with the river and I’m blasting away at it for no reason. Considering the ice and how it’s getting colder the deeper I go even after erasing the ice with my quantum magic though, that isn’t likely.

  At least, I hope it isn’t.

  Because that would be embarrassing. Just blasting away at a river of ice for hours – or however long I end up spending blasting away at it – all to find some random totem or something right next to the river.

  It would be like Astrid getting revenge on me without her having anything to do with it.

  So to make sure that doesn’t happen, I look around a little outside of the river first. Only to find nothing at all and end up going back to the hole I blasted in the river.

  Time to go river digging.

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