The icy blue mist wrapped around System's body.

  He felt as if someone was speaking to him from the side, but the voice was so quiet that he couldn't hear it clearly.

  His body suddenly grew very still, and a few minutes ter, he inexplicably fell from the tree branch.

  ...

  After he woke up, System found that his [Frost Form] had deactivated at some point. When he checked the time in the [Tools Menu], he saw that half an hour had passed.

  Compared to when he'd formed his contract with Nellis, where it had seemed like he'd experienced a lot, but only a short time had passed in reality, this time, he felt like the time that had passed was very brief, but in fact, half an hour had gone by.

  System checked the video recording in the [Tools Menu] and found that the icy blue mist had only enveloped him for less than a minute. After that, he'd just been lying on the branch in a stupor.

  Once the mist had vanished, Nellis had sent him a mental message. When he hadn't responded for a long time, she'd taken the initiative to help him remove his [Frost Form].

  After [Frost Form] had been released, his body had lost its bance, and he'd fallen from the tree branch in a daze. He'd plunged directly into the snow, which was where he'd been been lying for more than twenty minutes.

  System checked the information on the [Tools Menu] in confusion, and found that something new had been added to [My Information]—[Winter Legion].

  ...

  [Winter Legion]: A special title given by Aura, the Lord of Gciers. The rate of health and energy recovery is significantly increased while in either the Lilt Mountains or Lilt Forest.

  The Will of Winter will never die.

  ...

  System recalled the quiet voice that he'd heard right before he'd lost consciousness. Now that he thought about it, that voice had been whispering the final line from the [Winter Legion] title's description.

  'The Will of Winter will never die...'

  However, the whispering voice couldn't be described with words, just like the Voice of the World that he'd heard during his metamorphoses. He could understand the general meaning of the words, but there was obviously a deeper meaning hidden in them as well.

  System was thinking while maneuvering his body out of the snow. Once out, he used his tentacles to brush the snow from his body.

  Snow would melt and become sticky due to some special attribute of his body if it stuck to him for a long time.

  Unlike most animals, insects didn't breathe through their mouths. They mostly breathed in air through countless tiny breathing holes in their abdomens.

  If System allowed this sticky melted snow to cover the breathing holes in his abdomen, to put it lightly, it would feel very uncomfortable.

  However, while he was cleaning off the snow, his antennae sensed some creature breathing right behind him.

  Turning his head, System suddenly saw the two-meter-tall giant goblin staring at him from behind. When the goblin saw System turn around, it fshed him an ugly smile.

  System could feel a very pleasant frost aura emanating from the goblin's body.

  Just like the way all ants from the same nest could clearly recognize their companions, System naturally knew that he and this giant goblin were members of the same organization.

  System now had a diamond-shaped icy blue pattern on his thorax, and he also saw the same pattern on the left side of the giant goblin's face.

  Whether it was their frosty auras or the symbols on their bodies, both proved that the two of them belonged to the Winter Legion and that they were under the Lord of Gciers' command.

  ...

  The giant goblin stretched out his big hand to pluck System from the snow pile, then pced System on his head.

  System habitually stretched out his tentacles to wrap around the giant goblin's head, and decided to use the tentacles' [Perception] ability to inspect the goblin's information.

  Perhaps, as they both belonged to the Winter Legion and had simir frost abilities, his tentacles could detect something.

  However, System stopped just as he finished wrapping his tentacles around the goblin's head. It was definitely not a good idea to make this mighty giant goblin want to mate.

  System unwrapped his tentacles and, under the giant goblin's confused gaze, quickly crawled down from his head.

  While System couldn't use his tentacles to investigate the giant goblin, he didn't mind using [Perception] on the leopard that had been frozen by the Lord of Gciers. Perhaps the frozen leopard could even be used as a possible food source.

  He crawled over to the leopard's frozen body and saw that the calm and peaceful expression in its eyes seemed to have frozen there due to the ice.

  However, the moment System stretched out his tentacles to touch the leopard, it colpsed and shattered into tiny fragments like grains of sand. The icy fragments didn't fall to the ground. Instead, they turned into tiny ice fkes and were blown away by the wind...

  All that remained was a five-centimeter-tall acorn that fell from mid-air into the snow.

  Unlike ordinary green acorns, while this acorn was also green, its surface had a faint golden luster.

  System tried using [Perception] on the acorn with his tentacles, but found that it was useless. His mandibles and [Corrosive Mucus] couldn't damage the acorn, either.

  An acorn that could survive an attack from the Lord of Gciers obviously had its extraordinary features.

  Although System gave up on investigating the acorn, his actions had obviously aroused the interest of the giant goblin.

  He grabbed the acorn out of System's tentacles. The goblin first squeezed the acorn with his hands, then bit it with his teeth, and finally swung his ice crystal axe to violently smash it, but none of the attempts were successful. He couldn't even leave a single mark on the acorn.

  Finally, the giant goblin shook his head and returned the acorn to System.

  ...

  System and the giant goblin didn't speak the same nguage, but with Nellis' help, he knew that the goblin seemed want to take him to the distant Lilt Mountains.

  However, when System shook his head continuously and waved his tentacles to refuse, the goblin gave up on his idea of taking System away.

  After waving goodbye, the goblin walked off in the direction of the Lilt Mountains.

  ...

  System had joined the Winter Legion under the Lord of Gciers without knowing why, but this legion was much looser than he'd imagined.

  No one gave him any instructions, and he didn't even need to do anything special. All he had to do was continue going along at his original pace.

  After the giant goblin left, System's life seemed to completely calm down.

  Not long after returning to the nest that night, the worker ant broke out of its pupa as System observed at the side. The little worker quickly ate a lot of food.

  Although the weather was cold, the worker wasn't particurly afraid. It walked out in the cold snow for a few minutes before its body started to stiffen up. After returning to the nest, the worker's stiff body soon returned to normal.

  System estimated that he'd be able to finish strengthening the ants' [Cold Resistance] in another two days. By then, the worker and the female could ignore the forest's extremely cold temperature.

  ...

  Two days quickly passed by.

  System successfully strengthened the [Cold Resistance] of the little worker and the pupating female to the limit, after which the two ants were no longer threatened by the severe cold of winter.

  System's wings had also grown out again after a day of rest, and the nutritious food he was eating had allowed all eighteen of his tentacles to grow to their limit of about thirty centimeters long.

  His body's health had finally recovered to 96%, nearly reaching its maximum value, and only his damaged eyes still needed a bit more time until they were fully regenerated.

  ...

  Another ten days passed, and System's damaged eyes were completely restored. At the same time, the female ant that System had strengthened with [Ability Enhancement] had successfully broken out of her pupa.

  System spent every day in a busy manner—searching for food, eating, raising ants, strengthening and transforming the female ant, and inspecting and strengthening the pupa that Shava had thus far been unable to break out of.

  There was no news about the Winter Legion that he'd joined, as if it had nothing to do with him at all.

  The only unusual thing was the leopard's golden acorn that System had picked up, which was shaking restlessly in a forgotten corner of the winter nest...

  That was it.

  Before he knew it, System had spent a peaceful six months in the snow-covered Lilt Forest.

  ....................................

  Author's Note:

  This chapter marks the end of the novel's first volume, which covers the beginning of System's journey after being reborn in Lilt Forest.