My lungs emptied as a deep breath I have been holding escapes my mouth, the mist that came out could have been a cloud all on its own really. So many hours of tireless work has led to my biggest work yet, and to sum it up, the whole thing is basically just one giant container.

  Walls upon walls of layered ice, each one taking me hours to make— the main reason for this would be because it takes a while for ice to meld together and create a larger wall. — and between the walls is a bunch of icicles protruding from the ground, which I made by hand. Stabbing each of them in the ground was painful, arduous, and only possible because of my newest passive.

  The entire thing is basically one huge circle and at its center sits the second part of my teleportation trap, the "room" so to say, to the "entrance" that I placed outside of the dungeon.

  Surrounding it is a series of traps that can debuff, contain, and outright kill anything that passes through them. I have been tinkering with an activation rune for a while now and this is the first time they will be used, fortunately, I only have one intended target for my trap so the activation requirement is only "ferret" in Pricorian, or the closest word to it, which I found to be mustelid.

  In total, the entire thing spans around half a dozen meters and takes over a good portion of the forest, requiring me to flatten the ground, uproot countless bushes, and chop down a few trees. The entire process is as tiresome and annoying as it sounds.

  After everything, from the back breaking work in the harsh winter to the tedious planning process, I'd say that it's worth it in the end.

  With this, I will be able to contain the same ferret that almost killed me and force it out of the dungeon's influence, I will let myself get exposed to its mental effects and increase my [Mental Resistance] while also slowly killing the damn thing. I'm not a sadist, and not so insane that I forget dungeon monsters can't feel pain but I just need an outlet for my frustrations you know?

  That stupid ferret almost killed me and it's about time I get payback for it, even if it's in the pettiest way imaginable. Trapping it and leaving it in the cold soothes my ego as well, so there's that.

  Now, all I need to do is to actually lead the ferret to the trap and watch as it gets teleported to its new home!

  With an excited grin— and one that made me feel somewhat self conscious, enough that I'm actively wondering how it would look on the outside. — I leave the trap and run for the dungeon entrance.

  Once there, I stand in front of the teleportation circle, taking deep breaths to mentally prepare myself for what's about to come.

  Look, I know I was eagerly bragging about torturing this mindless dungeon monster but I'm still traumatized from our first encounter, stepping forward is like trying to jump off a cliff, my body simply refuses to move and any attempt at doing it just makes me reflexively back down.

  The trauma is so bad that I'm starting to physically shake, and I know it's not because of the cold.

  "Calm down," I tell myself, the effectiveness of the pep talk is fairly nonexistent unfortunately. I'm still scared, and a few words of encouragement won't change that. This won't stop me from trying, "it's just some dungeon monster, haha."

  The laughter only made me wince, I know it's forced, it came from me personally after all.

  "We were planning on killing these things, remember?" Who's we again? I kinda forgot, myself? Why am I subjecting myself to this kind of pain?

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  A burst of genuine yet manic laughter came out from the depths of my throat, I keel over and laugh until I start coughing. My fingers brush through my hair, pushing away the hood of my cloak and causing it to fall to my shoulders, I'm starting to feel lightheaded.

  Hm... Is that the solution? To become light headed from the cold? If that happens then I'm basically never going to be scared right? The only caveat is that I may accidentally fall down during the escape and get killed!

  Sounds easy enough! It's a great plan even.

  My arms cross my chest and my eyes state the dungeon entrance with defiance, where did this stupid tower come from anyway? Did it spawn with the dungeon? God I hope not! That implies there's something out there making these things on purpose!

  Right, guess I'm feeling woozy now, is it time for me to take a step forward? No? Fuck it.

  Boot prints mark the snow as I move forward, my eyes focused on the gaping dungeon entrance ahead of me, vigilant of any ferret shaped creature that may pop out. Where is it? Is that stupid thing still not here?

  Before I knew it, my hips turned and I started sprinting backwards. I barely caught sight of it just now but I can tell that it's gotten out because my mind is already reeling. And it is doing so badly.

  The effects of its mind control have gone from bad to worse. I assume this is thanks to the cold freezing my brain, which isn't a good idea in hindsight.

  There's no time for regrets! I scream internally as I rush past the portal, goddamnit, why was I having second thoughts when I was halfway through the finish line? Hell, I was basically touching it when I started regretting my decision.

  Proof of this is the popping sound that entered my ears moments after I passed the portal, the spell I placed there activated and that means the ferret is now trapped. It cannot be activated by anything else, only ferrets. And possibly other mustelids.

  Badgers do exist in this world by the way, and they're a whole lot tankier than their earth counterparts. Larger too, some of them eat groups of poisonous insects without hesitation.

  "Good thing they aren't close to where I'm living huh?" Maddened laughter followed my words. "Man, I'm so lucky..."

  Pain shot through my arm before I blacked out fully, the haziness in my mind clears for a brief moment and the black spots in the corner of my vision disappear, then I realize that I just pinched my forearm.

  Forcing myself to stand up was a test of will power more than anything, I encouraged myself by internally repeating that I need to survive, that I need to go back to the igloo and recover so that I can finally see that stupid rat stuck in a cage. Are ferrets rats?

  That's not irrelevant to my current situation right?

  Ah god, my mind is starting to wonder and I have a feeling it will only get worse. I need to go back.

  By some miracle, I did reach my igloo and safely got under the warmth of my hearth, recovery allowed me to realize for the second time that I was close to death. That ferret really liked pushing me to the edge of my mortal life huh? Will there ever be a time where I encounter it without almost dying?

  No? Incorrect. The answer is yes, when I get out of here, I will visit its new home and stare at it from outside of its cage. I will think the ferret is cute and that is exactly what we both want, I won't move to free it though.

  Half an hour later, I find myself staring at the newly captured monster. It tries to bite away at the cage but no matter how hard it tries, it doesn't work, despite looking like they are made of wood, the bars don't break.

  That right there? That's the power of transmutation in effect, I'm happy to see that all my training so far wasn't for nothing.

  Chains bind the ferret's feet as well, the lines bolted to the frozen floor using transmutation. If welding can effectively hold an elephant down, then transmuting the chain so that it's literally part of the ground is even more effective. The ferret can struggle all it wants, it will never break out.

  I hold my head and cough out a mouthful of blood, the headache makes itself known afterwards. The mind control works fast huh? I stare at the ferret and start thinking that it's the cutest thing in the world.

  My eyes drift downward, to the now transformed magic circle, the runes no longer depict marks which function as a receiver for a teleportation and instead have become a weakening spell that keeps the ferret physically inert.

  Like a wolf whose fangs have been cut, the ferret is now harmless. Or it should be, every bite it gives to the bars of the cage still leave behind marks and indents, something that shouldn't be possible.

  Well whatever, I got my ferret, it's starting to affect me mentally, and now it's time for me to grow my [Mental Resistance] passive.