It was now the latter part of the winter, and the said season was nearing its end.

For the past weeks since the Magic Frostbite appeared, the said phenomenon didn't change for once, and it in fact, extended towards a part of the Monarch Forest.

This happening started to alarm the Regional Bishop himself, and was even paid attention by the Archbishop stationed in the Trigurniburg Kingdom and by the central government too.

They had never expected that such a Magic Frostbite that would cover the whole Horizon Mountain and the nearby regions would stretch towards to even the inner region of the Monarch Forest.

In history, only ten Magic Frostbite as big as this has ever occurred, and they mostly had a considerably large time interval between them.

...

The door of the shop opened and Allen walked inside the building. He removed his snow covered jacket and placed it on the counter.

Anna yawned and said, "This cold really makes me want to sleep."

Everyday, since the past few weeks, she would go to Allen's shop to do three things: Firstly, she would check if the pill she ordered was done; secondly, she would ask about James' condition; lastly, whenever she's bored, she would go observe Little Salad as if she's a hungry vegetarian.

She looked at Allen and asked, "Is James all right?"

"Don't worry, his condition didn't get worse.", he replied.

However, Anna was still dismayed as it also meant that Allen couldn't do anything about James' situation.

"Is there any way for him to get back to normal?", she asked.

"There is an object which can probably help him, but it's too rare."

"Oh."

"Also, your Adept Mana Stabilizing Pill is going to finish forming earlier than I thought, maybe before winter ends.", Allen added.

"Alright!", she replied. She didn't need it anymore, but because it was already ordered, it would be rude not to claim it.

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"Sir Alchemist Morgan, did your apprentice come back yet?" Anna asked.

Allen: "Who? I don't have any apprentice."

"I mean Edwin, did he come back yet?" Anna asked her question again, this time straightly asking of Edwin.

"No, it will be his choice if he wants to return." Allen replied back.

After informing the adept about her pill, Allen then went upstairs to his bedroom.

When he entered his bedroom, he approached the wall, and pulled out a part of it.

There was actually a secret drawer!

In it, there were six pieces of small, faintly glowing, golden crystals. If somebody knew what the crystals were, they would be surprised that they were the rare Soul Shards!

"To use or not to use?", Allen asked himself.

***

Inside a room in a hotel in the Eastern Horizon City.

There were several men gathered around a table. As soon as another man walked in, they all sat down quietly.

The new person said to them, "Let's start planning the sabotage."

***

Somewhere else...

A blinding light hit the eyes of its owner as they were slowly opened.

He felt a warm feeling, a feeling that he last felt a long period of time ago. It was relaxing, giving him a feeling that he was lying down on the gra.s.s while the sun midly shone down on the lands.

His eyes adjusted afterwards, and he noticed that he was inside a room.

The room was mostly made out of fine rocks that couldn't even be seen in most luxurious inns and hotels.

There were branches of trees growing out of them that were sticking out of the wall, yet, it was as if they actually served as a decoration rather than being unpleasant on the eyes. There was also a single window where light entered the room.

"Where am I?", the boy muttered, who was none other than Edwin.

After which, he recalled that he suddenly sensed the painful burning sensation in his chest that spreaded throughout his body before he fainted in the forest after the demonic bear was killed.

After remembering, he tried to sit up but wasn't able to. He couldn't move most of his body, even his arms nor feet, though he could still turn his head and eyes around.

He then noticed that he wasn't wearing the white robe anymore, he was only wearing his suppose to be undergarments which were a s.h.i.+rt and leather pants.

Panic washed over him as he searched for his robe in the room, which he saw that it was on a stand near the door. He tried to channel some internal energy onto his eyes to enhance his sight, but he found out that he was devoid of the said energy.

In addition to that, his body also lacked mana, so he tried to absorb some from the air, but he realized that he couldn't obtain any of the said energy too.

In the end, he just narrowed his eyes and saw that the codex was still in the robe, then he relaxed and heave a sigh of relief.

Tiredness started to invade him and he yawned unconsciously. He resisted in response, but he only got sleepier and sleepier.

"No!", he shouted repeatedly, but he was only in fact muttering.

Soon, his eyes closed and he started sleeping again.

...

As consciousness slowly came back to him, his eyes narrowly opened.

Now, there was a lamp that lit up the whole room, as if there were hundreds of them inside the object on top of a table.

No light came from the window anymore, signaling that it was already night.

Feeling that he can slightly move his arms and hands, he tried to lift them up.

"Eeeek... you're already awake?!", a voice screeched in surprise.

He dropped his arm to the bed and turned his head towards the source of the voice and saw a young elven girl with gray pupils.

The young elf turned around to hide her face from Edwin and asked herself in panic, "What should I do? What should I do?"

"Can you... help me sit up?", Edwin weakly asked.

Swallowing her nervousness, she turned back around and helped Edwin sit up with the wall where the bed was sticking to to support his back.

"Where am I?", he asked.

However, the elven girl didn't answer and hurriedly left the room.

"So much for a conversation.", Edwin grumbled.

Some time later, the door opened again and another figure whose pupils were green came with the little elf.

The newly-arrived person was none other than the elf that framed him.

"Where am I?", Edwin asked, albeit with a bit of a serious tone, but one could still sense a hint of weakness on it.

"In my house.", the elven lady said.

"Why can't I move my body?"

She looked towards the little elf and said, "You go explain it."

"Okay!", the little elf nodded in response.

"You see, Mr. Human, when you were brought to me, your condition was so bad to the point that your heart stopped beating! Luckily, with my great talent, I got to revive your heart.", the elven girl cheekily said.

"So here's your heart now.", suddenly, the little elf showed a human heart to Edwin, frightening him as his eyes widened.

-badump-

"Did it just beat?!", Edwin asked frantically as if he couldn't feel weakness any longer, making him almost faint afterwards.

"Zoe!", the elven lady glared at the little elven girl, who was Zoe.

"I'm only joking.", the little elf rolled her eyes and hid the heart.

Zoe coughed and continued, "You were inflicted with a... hmm, what are the right words? Ah yes! A gut-wrenching, bone crus.h.i.+ng, deadly poison that spread throughout your body. You almost died and most of your blood became green, so I had to drain most of it from your system, and that is why you can't move most of your body parts right now."

After a pause, she added, "If you are a magician, you won't be able to absorb mana, because the pathway of the said energies are still blocked due to the remains of the poison. Plus, your body isn't able to produce internal energy for now because it is still too weak after getting inflicted by the poison.

"You had 80% chance of dying, but because I was talented, you're still alive now! Hehehe." Zoe chuckled, "But I wonder, how did you even get that poison?", She then curiously asked with innocent eyes.

"I... don't know.", Edwin said.

"Then... what was the last thing that you consumed?", Zoe questioned.

"A healing pill.", the boy replied.

"May I see it?"

"Can you get my satchel?", he requested.

The elven lady took the satchel from behind Edwin's robes and gave it to him.

He searched the satchel and took out a jar with pills occupying less than a quarter of it.

Without asking Edwin, Zoe unceremoniously s.n.a.t.c.hed it from the former's hand, "This will take a few hours, I'll be right back." She then left the room.

Just right after Zoe left, Edwin's stomach rumbled and he felt extreme hunger.

"How long have I haven't been eating?", he held his stomach while his hands were twitching.

Without saying anything, the elven lady left the room, but immediately came back with a small plate of leaves and pa.s.sed it to Edwin.

"Here, eat these, they're the only kind of food I have for now.", she said. "They are more delicious than they look."

"Thank you." Edwin accepted them and placed it on the bed.

The elven lady was about to leave the room when Edwin added, "Thank you for also saving me."

"Mhm.", she nodded then exited the room.