Eternal Winter's Reign - Book 2 - Chapter 19 - Father (Patreon)

                                                                Alexander North

Terminal? Do you know what the ability does?

|Negative.|

In that case, I climb to my feet, stretch a bit, and immediately take off into a sprint through the former-nest. And thanks to my ability to sense the frozen ones, it doesn’t take me all that long to find one. Especially when some of them are still fleeing from the nest itself.

The frozen one in question is just a small bear with the energy of a Tier 1, so I grab it by the neck and then draw my claws across its arm just to test out what it does.

To my surprise though, nothing actually happens.

I frown and tilt my head slightly before pursing my lips and tossing the bear against the wall. Then I raise my hands to my face and close my eyes, sensing for the energy in it.

The energy… feels reactive. Almost like I can move it on my own. But only like a muscle. Only in set ways.

So I open my eyes and turn my attention back to the bear, which is slowly trying to crawl away. And I swipe my claws through the air while trying to ‘flex’ that energy muscle I sensed.

Then five arcs of cold energy shoot out of my claws, one arc per claw. The arcs fly through the air until they reach the bear and carve into it, tearing bloody furrows into its flesh nearly a foot deep, only for those wounds to then completely freeze over.

Interesting…

That took a lot of energy to do though. I wouldn’t have had enough energy for it after that battle if my energy wasn’t partially refilled by consuming that crystal.

Looks like I finally have a ranged attack.

I can’t help but smile at that, only to shake my head, glance at the now-dead bear once more, and begin heading back to the base.

Now that the nest is dealt with, I need to go back to the base to report what I’ve learned about nests as a whole. Because I’m pretty sure the Doctor will want to know about it.

Then I can head back out again to find more nests.

After all, more abilities are always nice.

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It doesn’t take me long before I find myself back at the base, and the guards immediately let me through the gate. And to my surprise, they all look rather respectful now without any of the fear they had before. But what’s more confusing to me than that is that they all are giving me some sort of look of… pity?

I wonder what that’s about?

No one says anything, instead just giving me a polite and respectful nod of their heads or simply waiving, so I just walk through the base feeling confused.

At least, until I find myself being tackled in the middle of the hallways by a certain girl as she shouts, “Dad!”

I stare down at the girl latching onto me as if her life depended on it for several seconds, unsure of what to say. Then I sense a source of heat energy – a nice side effect of being able to sense energy in general – approaching me from down the hall, where I find Cynthia walking over here with an amused smile on her face.

“Um… Alexia?” I ask, more than a little confused. “You know I’m not your…”

I trail off when Alexia looks up at me with tears in her eyes before burying her face in my chest again and tightening her hug, the twelve-year-old standing an entire head and a half shorter than me.

Damnit.

|Hypothesis confirmed.|

Shut up.

|It is also hypothesized that should you reject the girl she will be horridly upset.|

I let out a sigh at that before hugging Alexia back and sending a look asking for help from Cynthia. But my cousin just chuckles and walks past while patting me on the shoulder once.

Not helpful.

|Question. Why is the user against adopting a child?|

That question gives me pause for a second.

Why am I against it?

I frown while glancing down at the girl who still isn’t letting me go. And at this point, probably won’t let me go until I agree with her.

First time I’ve seen her throw a tantrum like this.

But… I guess the reason I’m against it is because I don’t think I’d make a good parent. I’m too detached. Not to mention that I’m going around fighting all the time, so…

|May this unit state an observation it has made?|

I blink in surprise before shrugging slightly, making Alexia stiffen up a little when she feels it.

Sure. Go ahead.

|The child doesn’t seem to care about your given reason.|

That answer leaves me stunned for a second as I look down at Alexia again.

Guess you’re right about that.

I look around the hall to find more than a few guards and inhabitants of the base walking by with clearly amused looks in their eyes. But none of them stop, instead just passing by without a word.

Eventually I let out a sigh and pat Alexia once on the back before wrapping my arms around her and saying, “Alright.”

And she immediately begins crying at that, making me even more confused until I notice that the people passing by us are all smiling brightly.

Guess they’re happy tears?

|User Alexander’s hypothesis is most likely correct based on the evidence.|

Yeah.

We end up standing in the middle of the hallway for several minutes, Alexia apparently refusing to let go as she starts fussing at me about my going out alone and stuff until eventually saying that it’s fine in the end. All of which leaves me rather confused since I honestly can’t tell if she’s against it or for it now, but she said it’s fine so it’s fine.

After that, I hear the Doctor’s voice echoing through the hall, “If you’re done bonding with young miss Alexia North, would you mind giving me an update about the nests, Second Lieutenant?”

I glance at her with a look of confusion on my face.

Wait, since when did Alexia’s name change to Alexia North?

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