Noah's POV
It had been three days.
Three days since Lyra sat in silence on that frozen cliff, her eyes shut, legs crossed, a faint layer of frost covering her like a veil of snow-kissed serenity. She hadn't moved an inch, hadn't eaten, hadn't said a word. Only her mana stirred—subtle, yet constant, like a heartbeat beneath the glacier.
Scarlett and Layla had asked me more than once to check on her.
I didn't want to interrupt her. Not when I could feel it—that she was close to something important.
Instead, I used my Domain every few hours, letting it gently sweep across her presence. Her vitals were stable. Her mana was, in fact, growing more refined with each passing hour.
Any ordinary person would've had their bones frozen and shattered by now.
But Lyra…
Lyra wasn't ordinary.
There was something hidden in her status. Something not even she seemed aware of.
A hidden class.
Her system hadn't revealed it yet, but I'd seen glimpses of it when I once connected to her mana in a spar—an icy resonance that transcended mere elemental affinity. Her potential was immense. Perhaps even above mine in that particular path.
And now… she was evolving.
Layla nudged me with her elbow, grumbling.
"Noah, I'm hungry. Can we eat something already?"
I glanced at her.
We'd been delaying our meals, waiting for Lyra to come back to us. Hoping she would snap out of her trance and say something, anything.
But she didn't.
So instead, we just sipped hot water or ate cup noodles under the starry sky, huddled together around weak magical fire, pretending the cold wasn't creeping in.
"You can eat if you're that hungry," I told Layla.
She sighed dramatically and walked back toward the carriage, muttering about starvation and how I was the worst travel companion ever.
Honestly, the carriage was the best purchase I'd ever made.
Despite the brutal winds and below-zero temperatures, it remained warm and unaffected. A high-tier enchantment. Worth every gold coin.
Scarlett's summoned shadow wolves kept a perimeter around us—guarding, sniffing, watching. She didn't say much these days. Just watched Lyra quietly, her expression unreadable.
I turned my attention back to the glacier.
Three days.
That was a long time.
I activated my system and whispered mentally:
"Eva… can you scan the ice? Is there anyone still alive inside?"
My domain had shown me corpses—many, buried deep within the glacier, frozen in time.
But to detect someone still alive—that required precise mana control.
Something beyond my current skill.
[Host, that will cost you 100 CP.]
"Every damn time," I muttered. "Fine. You robber. Just do it."
[Beginning life-detection scan…]
I waited, my breath forming clouds in the cold. The wind howled softly. Each minute passed like an hour.
And then—
[Host. I found a source of life.]
I straightened. "Where? Is it her mother?"
[The body is present, but the life signal is not from the body itself… It's coming from an object on her neck.]
"On her neck… Is it a pendant? Like Lyra's?"
[Possibly. I can't confirm visually from this range, but given the positioning, it's likely.]
I hesitated.
"If the life is coming from the pendant… does that mean the body's dead?"
[No. The body is preserved. Frozen in perfect stasis. But the mana in the pendant—the source of that life—is slowly fading.]
So it was holding on.
Keeping her from death.
Like a last flickering candle in a dark tomb.
I was about to ask another question when Scarlett's voice cut through the silence.
"Noah. Look—"
I turned sharply, eyes snapping toward Lyra.
And then I saw it.
The ice mana around her had begun to stir.
No… not stir.
Swirl.
Like a vortex.
Mana gathered in massive quantities, forming snowflakes suspended mid-air, spinning slowly, glowing faintly in blue. The entire glacier reacted as if it recognized her—responded to her.
And at the center of it all… the pendant.
It floated from her palm, its blue glow intensifying.
Then—
A brilliant light burst forth from the pendant and surged directly into her forehead.
"LYRA!"
We rushed toward her, my heart pounding.
The moment the light touched her, her body trembled—and then fell.
Collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.
I reached her first, catching her just before her head hit the snow. Her skin was cold but her breath was steady.
Her mana… had changed.
Not chaotic. Not weak.
It was calm.
Complete.
Scarlett knelt beside me, her voice trembling.
"Is she…?"
"She's okay," I said quickly, brushing snow from Lyra's cheeks. "She's just unconscious."
Layla joined us, holding a blanket. Her teasing grin was gone—replaced by quiet awe.
I looked at Lyra, her expression peaceful.
Something had changed within her.
She had awakened.
Not just power…
But purpose.
To be continued…