Have you ever lived in a house-shaped igloo? I have, and it's not as good as I thought it would be, I mean, I've spent at least a day on this thing you know? And it turns out, the only room I will use in the end is the main one, while the others are just there for storage.

  Obviously it isn't a big deal, I mean, more space means more areas for me to dump stuff in, and I've been practicing different runes using wood so I can use the other rooms as a trash bin. If I ever needed to pick up one of my previous successes— and I use this term loosely. — then I can just go and get it.

  As I was planning this little expedition, it never crossed my mind that I had to chop down wood like a mad man in order to innovate the runic language I'm developing. It is good practice though, and I think I've gotten a few skills doing it, ones beside [Wood Cutting].

  Good thing that everything else has been accounted for really, water, clothes, and food? There's plenty of it here, and I can always eat animals if I'm desperate enough, I wouldn't mind getting the [Flaying] and [Gutting] skills, they can be pretty useful outside of mincing corpses.

  Maybe? I'm not sure. There's a good chance that I can be more accurate when hitting organs thanks to the [Gutting] skill though, it doesn't hurt me to actually get the skill so I'm more than willing to bet on that chance.

  Not that it's a priority, I just know I'll get it once I start hunting things, which I won't, I have other priorities right now.

  Currently, I'm working on getting the third and last class I planned on before winter struck: which is a type of tracker class. Whatever works, right as long as I have one.

  Given the option to pick though, I think I would want a magical tracker class, which I'm pretty I can get through the leyline. I'm already searching for the mender's cloak anyway so I am technically tracking things already. Maybe I will be able to get the sub class once I find the cloak fully, until then, I'll have to be satisfied with a non magical winter coat.

  Throwing it on just felt right as well, the leather lining the interior mixed with the wool at the center and the thick fur on the outside keeps me perfectly warm. All the layers together may make the cloak heavy, but I barely notice the weight thanks to my stats and passives.

  Man, if I wasn't wearing a fully decked out adventurer's gear I think I might even enjoy the winter.

  Speaking of that, enchanting the leather armor has faced a few problems, mostly thanks to my inexperience with protective runes and similar magic. Once I learn how to do it, I'll start working on it.

  As for deciding what kind of enchantments I want on my armor, I think making it protect me better is the ideal way to go about this? Giving the boots enchantments that can boost my movement will be the exception I think, everything else will just be tougher and also have impact absorption or something like that.

  My feet stopped moving and I looked up, the mender's cottage sits in front of me, everything about it mostly untouched. In the end, I never got to ask Wardcruncha about the function of this thing, he was too busy and talking about it so openly in the store will only make other adventurers know of the dungeon's existence.

  The dome shaped house sticks out like a sore thumb in the snowy landscape and it's clear that there is something hiding here. The lack of canopy and undergrowth only emphasized things, and it made an otherwise strange yet normal bump on the ground into a glaringly obvious oddity, anyone who will come across this thing will immediately notice it.

  Walking towards it, I pressed a hand against the wall and sensed the magic running through the building. My eyes also catch sight of the veins of mana pulsing across the building, like a constantly beating heart.

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  For a while now, I've wondered just what the cottages were used for, their purpose is obviously beyond my own understanding of them and that the mender built these for a reason. The fact that the cottages are all built near or on top of important landmarks supports my theory.

  Obviously they act as a safehouse of sorts, and is that the answer I am looking for? No, of course not, if they're just a safe house then there shouldn't be a need to put so much equipment inside the cottages— most of them are things you can find in a lab too. — so that's obviously not the full story.

  Leaving the cottage is my only option right now, if I want to understand them, I need to keep them intact. Messing with them might even ruin some kind of ancient system that the mender set up.

  When I got back to my igloo, I went ahead and continued chipping down more wood. Because it's winter, these things are wet and cannot be used as fire wood, if you're a normal person.

  For me, I can just cast [Cryonize] and then be done with it, freeze drying wood to make firewood was a stroke of genius on my part, and if I wasn't capable of magic, I wouldn't try something this stupid.

  Most of this wood will be used for my studies, all the undesirable trash that I throw away will finally be used as firewood. Man, I'm so efficient at pinching resources.

  After cutting up the wood, I carry all of it back to my room, throw some into the burning hearth, and then sit down to continue working on my runes.

  I've been living like this ever since I got here, adhering to a strict schedule that rarely changes, the times that it does is during harsh blizzards where I have no choice but to stay inside and keep myself warm, whenever that happens, I practice how to cook.

  Cooking...

  The carving stops for a moment, my movements ceasing as my mind wanders back to my family. How long have I been staying here again? I've only slept twice as far as I'm aware so maybe two days? Determining how much time passed from that can sometimes be wrong though so my own estimate might not even be accurate.

  Squashing the temptation to rush back and see how my family is doing took a lot from me and I reluctantly let go of my current project to lean back against my chair, head dropping back like it was the heaviest thing in the world.

  "They're doing okay." I tell myself, my eyes catching the mist escaping my mouth with each word. They disappear in mere seconds, not enough time to appreciate them. "No one will realistically mess with them, and even if they do, the pier and even Ifira's family will come to help, there's no way in hell someone is stupid enough to try anything."

  And it's not like I make enemies left and right either, there shouldn't be so many people who actively hate me in Ghorise, right? Everything is going to be fine!

  ...

  Nadoson stared at the man sitting across the table, Nogjaf Aldalama, the chief, is the type of man who revels in the little bit of power he holds. He had an arrogant air to him despite being both physically and mentally weak, and no, the expensive— by Flotol's standard, the leather vest and pants he's wearing is expensive. — clothes he's wearing barely hides his flaws. If anything, it only amplifies them.

  His son, Karuiz, has tried to resist and tell him that his plan will go nowhere even though this is what he wanted a few weeks ago. What a stupid boy, now that the annoyance is gone he suddenly gets cold feet? Pathetic. Nadoson couldn't believe he raised a coward.

  To his right, Folsan Oshnon is sitting still, his presence blending amongst the two of them with eerie calmness. The robes that he's wearing are thin, barely enough to protect against the cold, and the hearth has run cold, yet it didn't seem to phase the old man.

  The head priest had barely moved a muscle ever since the meeting, his gaze fixed on the conjured image of Rontress Owelline. Nadoson had paid a pretty penny to get that one from an adventurer.

  The girl is their main target but since beating her in a straight fight is almost impossible, the three of them have resorted to scheming instead. Funnily enough, for all her competency and intellect, Rontress doesn't know much about politics and ruling.

  "Well then, shall we start discussing what we should do with the trouble maker?" Folsan started the meeting, his smile slightly unhinged. "The little lass has taken my interest for so long that I can't think of anything else but her. Yet she continues to elude me."

  "Rontress shouldn't be the one that we are discussing." Nogjaf shook his head. "Let's talk about her family, Nadoson, you said that you attacked them earlier?"

  He nodded, "not them, instead, I struck at their body guards, I wanted to get a feel for how strong they are." When the others nodded, he began to smile. "They're not that strong and I alone will be enough to deal with them."

  "Good."

  "That's expected."

  Folsan and Nogjaf said at the same time.