Free Web NovelChapter 1048: Chapter 457: Ice Magic and Ice Sculpture
In the snow-covered Charon Forest, Laine and Veronica came to visit Teresa’s Wizard Tower.
Unlike Veronica, Teresa’s Wizard Tower is more a small manor centered on the Wizard Tower than a standalone tower. It is a summer resort, cold in winter and cool in summer. The warm winds from the south are blocked by hills, while the cold winds from the north can reach directly. A dormitory building has been constructed within the manor, and the Wizard Tower currently has six floors completed. Obviously, Teresa does not like living with the apprentices; she prefers to use her Wizard Tower as a school building and workshop.
In the freezing cold, apprentices of Ice Magic, dressed in blue and white robes, came before Laine and others. Most of the apprentices were blonde with blue eyes, and because it was winter, the time when their Mana was strongest, they were particularly spirited in their greetings.
The interior decoration of the Wizard Tower uniformly adopts the most typical Kislev style. Teresa uses white stone and marble to build her Wizard Tower, designed with a pale beige color scheme as the base tone. Deep walnut colors contrast strongly with the larger volume divisions. The use of dark suede sofas and walnut furniture highlights the texture, while decorative items matched with postmodern natural home furnishings of the Nature Element complement the space’s cultured and elegant atmosphere, bringing a sense of calm and grace to the overall space.
Once inside the Wizard Tower, Laine discovered the luxurious wooden structure interior. Teresa has an extremely high standard for her Wizard Tower, with every corner meticulously repaired. Seeing Teresa bring Laine and Veronica in, Emma, the apprentice personally taught by Teresa, approached the group: "Teacher, you’re back?"
"Yes, I’m back. You go rest." Teresa hung her own white bear fur cape on the coat rack, gesturing for Emma to leave, then pointed to the long sofa chair: "Sit, Laine, this is my home and yours too, no need to be formal, Veronica... If you don’t want to be frozen in ice, you should shut your mouth."
"Hmph, we can have a duel, right now. Let me see if our Little Princess Jialan has made any progress?" Despite not being in good condition, Veronica went on aggressively: "Come on, take out your Magic Staff! Don’t think you can beat me just because you’re in your Wizard Tower... um!"
Laine simply covered Veronica’s mouth; he didn’t want to start a fight right away: "Alright, Veronica, calm down. Teresa clearly has a reason for calling us."
Today, the Jialan Witch was wearing a cream white princess skirting chiffon shirt with lace ruffles and a black straight skirt. Veronica cast a malicious glare at Laine, then glared angrily at Teresa. The Jialan Witch knew her chances were slim given the season and being within Teresa’s Wizard Tower, but she still had to make a stand.
"Yes, I have some matters to discuss... Come here, Laine, and Veronica." Teresa signaled for Laine and Veronica to follow her.
Descending together, the Wizard Tower has a basement, equally exquisitely decorated. Teresa’s high heel rhinoceros leather boots, Laine’s boots, and Veronica’s high heels made a clatter on the stairs. Laine asked in a low voice: "Teresa, what’s the problem?"
"Look at this." Teresa signaled Laine to look ahead.
Before the three was a beautiful ice sculpture.
Indeed, it was an ice sculpture. A pretty girl in a Wizard Apprentice robe was frozen in solid ice, her eyes closed, seemingly devoid of life.
"Pfft~ You’re showing us this? My goodness, Trovik, every year the number of Wizard Apprentices failing in practice is countless, and there are no less than a hundred such ice sculptures in the Celestial Vault Castle." Veronica mocked incessantly, her sweet face and beautiful apricot eyes full of sarcasm: "Don’t tell me this is your first encounter with such a situation."
Laine nodded, as Veronica said, the practice of Magic is exceedingly difficult. To master Magic is a painful and complicated process for humans, and once the process fails, the outcome is terrifying.
For example, a Flame Element apprentice will explode into ashes, a Light Element apprentice will disintegrate in light, a Beast Element will directly turn into Beastman, and an Alchemy Element will become a metal statue.
Similarly for Ice Element, if an Ice Magic apprentice fails to practice, she will turn into an ice sculpture due to the cold entering her body.
"But this Ice Magic apprentice didn’t become an ice sculpture due to practice failure," Teresa shook her head repeatedly, pressing her hand on the ice sculpture’s surface and looking at the girl trapped inside: "She merely had a dream."
"A dream?"
"She dreamt of Queen Miska, who wanted to tell her something, but Queen Miska’s voice was drowned by the laughter and curses of the Evil Gods, after which Queen Miska disappeared into darkness." Teresa frowned: "Shortly after explaining, she became like this and passed away."
"Queen Miska..." Laine frowned.
Queen Miska was the first Tsarina of Kislev and the most powerful Ice Witch, without exception.
Speaking of Queen Miska, it must be noted she was the founder of the Kislev Kingdom. This kingdom was established by outsiders, originally flourishing on the Kurgan Steppe. But as the Chaos Invasion and Corruption intensified, Queen Miska received an Oracle. The Bear God Erson told her and her tribe that they must migrate. Thus, she and her tribe migrated to this side of the World’s Roof Mountain Range, and together with the Ugoer people, established the Kislev Kingdom through wars and alliances.
Queen Miska is also known as the "Ice Queen" and "Frost Witch" because of her formidable personal martial valor and terrifying ice magic.
After the founding of the Kislev Kingdom, the queen declared that she had a major mission that required her to leave, claiming to have seen visions of a dreadful future. She led her elite troops and vanished into the northern Chaos Wasteland, proclaiming that when her people needed her for redemption, she would return.
Frighteningly, Queen Miska never fulfilled her promise. During the Great Holy War, when Kislev was on the brink of destruction and fleeing south, she did not appear.
So why would this wizard apprentice claim to hear Queen Miska’s voice?
Why would she turn into an ice sculpture after hearing Queen Miska’s voice, with cold permeating her body?
Laine pondered for a while and couldn’t provide an answer, so he turned his gaze to Veronica: "What do you think, Veronica?"
"I don’t know, Queen Miska’s power is undeniable, but the Chaos Wasteland..." Veronica’s expression became serious as the Jialan Witch recalled her knowledge, shaking her head repeatedly: "Queen Miska founded Kislev nearly a thousand years ago. Due to the devastation of the Great Holy War, there are very few records of that era. Historians can only speculate that Queen Miska likely attempted to lead her army to the Chaos Wasteland to try to close the Ancient Saint’s teleportation gate, and without a doubt, she failed."
"How can someone who failed to close the teleportation gate almost a thousand years ago possibly be able to communicate something through dreams to this wizard apprentice now?" Teresa continued, the female sorcerer’s face full of confusion: "Some kind of... omen, or is this a complete and utter deception?"
The atmosphere in the basement was rigid. Laine looked at the girl inside the ice sculpture; he tried extending his hand to destroy the ice sculpture, but Teresa instinctively wanted to stop Laine’s actions and was held back by Veronica.
"What are you doing? Even if Laine can melt the ice sculpture, that apprentice..." Teresa forcefully freed herself from Veronica’s hand, showing an angry expression on the female sorcerer’s cold and beautiful face. Due to her change in mood, the surrounding frost accelerated its rotation around her.
"So what’s the use?" Veronica retorted, the Jialan Witch said softly, "Let him understand how fragile we are, how difficult it is to reach this point so he will cherish us more! We’ve all given a lot to follow in his footsteps; our sacrifices must make him aware that men can’t be grateful just through blind devotion! You might be moved by your own sacrifice, but he doesn’t understand, and everything equals zero!"
"..." Teresa’s gaze dimmed, and the female sorcerer nodded.
Laine didn’t notice the conversation between Teresa and Veronica; a platinum-colored spiritual flame appeared on his hand, attempting to melt the ice sculpture and retrieve the wizard apprentice inside.
The ice sculpture gradually melted.
Laine’s expression transitioned from solemn to surprised, and finally to pale.
Not only did the ice sculpture melt, but also the wizard apprentice inside. Her beautiful silhouette melted together with the ice sculpture, leaving Laine’s hands able to grasp only melted snow water, slipping through his fingers.
Everything before him vanished like a bubble, leaving nothing but emptiness.
"A wizard who fails to master magic can’t and won’t be saved." Veronica slowly walked behind Laine: "Do you know why at Celestial Vault Castle, those ice sculptures aren’t collected, nor taken to burial after melting? Because that’s the only proof that those ice witches ever existed in this world."
"This might just be a caster’s final destination: stop practicing magic, and the body will gradually be eroded by magic, or strive hard and run the risk of ending up like this or being corrupted by chaos." Veronica spoke softly: "That’s why sometimes it’s not that we adore luxurious lifestyles out of intolerable hedonism, it’s because at any moment we could become what you see before you, leaving nothing behind."
"...Sorry." Laine was somewhat saddened by this, he gave Veronica a hug: "I didn’t know... I mean I’ll cherish you all, I swear~"
The man’s reaction was exactly what the witch wanted; Veronica acted as if she accepted Laine’s hug sweetly, indicating she accepted.
Ha~ Men! Veronica’s face lit up with a triumphant smile, secretly making a "V" sign behind Laine’s back towards Teresa: Mission accomplished! Affection up, up! frёewebnoѵēl.com
Teresa, irritated, crossed her arms, responding to Veronica’s provocation with her gaze: Hurry up! Now it’s my turn!
