Eternal Winter's Reign - Book 2 - Chapter 27 - New Ability (Patreon)

Alexander North

After I finish absorbing all of the frozen ones outside of the base, I head inside and meet up with the doctor with the crystal still held carefully under my arm. And she immediately has me follow her to the research center of the base, where I hand the crystal to the researchers there. But for some reason I just can’t bring myself to leave the crystal.

Which ends up with me giving my report to the doctor as we sit here watching over the researchers while they work. And they really are working quickly.

The corner of my lips quirk upwards slightly at that.

Guess the doctor is probably pushing them to hurry up. That or they’re just moving faster because their boss is here.

My report ends up being rather dry though, considering how I sat still for several hours while waiting on the crystal. Then me and the doctor end up waiting a couple hours in silence just watching the examination of the crystal.

Her probably here to keep an eye on me and them while I’m here to make sure they don’t damage it. Because I won’t exactly be happy if they do that.

Fortunately for them, they all play it safe, and I end up getting my crystal back after three hours of them examining it. Which is rather surprising since I expected them to keep it for longer.

The researcher who hands it back to me seems to see through my thoughts as he says, “There wasn’t much we could do to study the object, so we decided to put off further study until we have a better understanding of cold energy.” He turns to the doctor to address her instead. “What we were able to learn about it is that it’s giving off a special frequency that seems to attract frozen ones, and that it is a massive container for cold energy.”

So they weren’t able to tell how pure the cold energy was? Interesting.

“Thank you for your work, Fredrick,” the doctor says with a nod of her head. Then she turns to me and adds, “You can absorb it now if that’s what you want. I have more to discuss with the researchers.”

I give her a military salute and begin to walk away, only to pause when she calls out, “Oh, right. There’s one more thing, second lieutenant.”

So I turn back around again, only to quickly catch something she throws at me. Then I raise it to my face before blinking in surprise.

What I find in my hand is a new emblem for my armor. One designating me as a first lieutenant.

“With my authority as a lieutenant colonel, I am granting you an emergency promotion to first lieutenant,” she says with a grin on her face. “I’m expecting great things from you, First Lieutenant Alexander North.”

I stare at her for a few seconds before changing the emblem on my damaged armor and giving her another salute.

Then I walk away without a word.

Some people would be thankful for that, but honestly? I couldn’t care less.

Not like my rank matters right now. Not when the universe is quite literally in the middle of an apocalypse.

I’m also pretty sure that I know why she gave me the promotion, other than the fact that I am actually earning it.

She’s not the type to care about rank at this time though. Meaning that she likely has ulterior motives for it.

Meaning she wants to butter me up to get me to stay.

Doesn’t matter to me though. I’m staying so long as Cynthia and Alexia are here.

Anyways, I quickly go pay Alexia a visit, just to let her know that I’m back. And after a quick hug, I head off to my room and sit on the center of the floor with the crystal in my lap.

Okay. Time to absorb this thing.

I lean down to bite it, only to find the thing suddenly turning into pure cold energy and entering my body without me needing to eat it.

Convenient benefit of the crystal being complete.

Just like the last time, my claws shoot out and begin to glow. But unlike last time, the glow quickly fades as a light frost begins to emit from my claws. As if my claws are freezing the moisture in the air around them simply from being out.

I frown slightly before raising my hand and turning it back and forth.

Definitely a much shorter process with less discomfort when I absorb it all at once, I’ll say that much at least.

After studying my claws, which have begun to glow brighter than they were before. And I’m starting to wonder if all of these crystals are going to give me abilities related to my claws.

That thought aside though, I lower my hand to touch my claws on the ground, following which the ground immediately begins to freeze. Not just frost over, but freeze.

Guess my claws now freeze what they touch.

Which means I now have the ability to slowly freeze anything I touch, to quickly freeze anything I cut with my claws, and to throw arcs of cold energy at things.

I purse my lips for a second before shrugging.

That’s not bad. Could’ve been worse.

And it could help, considering that it’ll give me extra damage when using my claws. Something I do a lot these days thanks to the pointlessness of using actual weapons now.

Not to mention the cost efficiency, considering how they end up frozen.

I stand up from where I was sitting, only to realize that the claws on my feet are freezing my boots. So I quickly retract them with a frown.

That’ll get annoying.

I raise my gaze to glance at Snow, who is sleeping in the corner of my room. Then I turn to the bed, deciding to get some rest myself.

Since I haven’t gotten all that much since waking up from my coma.

And the moment I hit the bed, my eyes droop close, and consciousness leaves me.

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