Ice Mark Child, Primordial Frost Whale! The Ancient Creature Closest to Mythic Tier
The interplay of light and shadow.
A familiar sense of spatial alternation.
A gloomy and icy aura swept over me, like stepping barefoot into an ancient Ice River without warning.
Ronan felt a struggling force between his fingers and instinctively tightened his grip.
"Snap—"
Yet it crushed something with ease.
He squinted, shook off the remaining ice shards from between his fingers, stretched out his demonic body, pushed aside the layers of cold air around him, and rushed towards a rapidly flashing dark blue ball of light in front of him.
The Dark Red Threads formed from the Spirit Force stretched out rapidly, but were stopped by an unprecedentedly powerful freezing force just before they approached the ball of light. Their speed gradually slowed down, and finally stopped completely. They were even frozen one by one, covered with white frost, and eventually shattered.
Ronan's eyes flashed as he moved straight toward the ball of light.
The liquid life-giving sphere inside the body vibrated, the Blue Snail in the Fifteen-Layered Spiral Palace hummed, and the blood flowed, producing a sound like the waves crashing against the rocks.
More crimson light surged from every broken bloodstain on Ronan's body, crackling and connecting to form a surging crimson lightning.
The terrifying freezing power in the air was like invisible and thick ice walls, constantly pressing towards him from all directions.
The crimson veins scattered around Ronan's body suddenly contracted, propelled by the power of the [[Instinctive Grip]] rules.
"Click-click-click—"
Ronan stretched his arms outwards, causing the Dead Sea to surge and forcefully push away the omnipresent and terrifying freezing power.
"Buzz—"
The dense, Dark Red Aspiration Threads emitted a strange trembling sound, and the void was instantly split into countless pieces by the strange power surging from the Dead Sea. Ronan's figure suddenly disappeared.
When it reappeared, it was expressionless, and it fiercely clawed at the deep blue ball of light.
"Boom!"
The collision of the two forces of law unleashed a violent energy shockwave. Countless ice shards struck Ronan with a crackling sound, melting instantly and turning into wisps of water vapor that rose upwards like smoke.
Ronan stood calmly in place, his blood-red hair dancing, watching Elsa reappear in the distance.
The extremely dense ice-type energy particles in this space greatly enhanced the power of Ice Magic. The woman in front of him was smarter than he had imagined. Taking advantage of the change in space, Ronan broke free from his grasp in a moment of slight mental distraction.
Then it seemed that it unleashed some even more powerful magical ability, even more powerful than when it activated its Elemental Spirit True Body.
At this moment, Elsa was forming hand seals, and one after another, Elemental Spirit Crystal appeared around her like dazzling stars. Then, they slowly stacked together and condensed into an extremely dazzling ball of light, which Elsa slowly swallowed into her mouth.
As this action was completed, Elsa's aura surged wildly upwards, and almost endless ice energy converged on her. Intricate patterns, resembling cracks or ice flowers, began to appear on her near-perfect face.
"An eight-star elemental spirit's innate ability?"
Ronan's eyes flashed, and he spoke in a low voice.
He had heard Alazan mention that the Eight Stars of the Elemental Spirit might generate a unique talent ability, which was the condensation of one's own accumulation and could be considered a "reward" from heaven and earth.
This is also the fundamental reason why there is such a huge difference in strength and potential between a Yuanling who has reached the eighth star and a wizard below the eighth star.
In an era when the Nine Stars Supreme Elemental Spirit has become extinct, a wizard who can condense an Eight-Star Primordial Spirit is undoubtedly the king among his peers!
Elsa's elemental spirit rank is eight stars, so she obviously possesses this talent and power. She had previously misjudged Ronan's strength and was unexpectedly defeated by Ronan.
Now that she had found an opportunity, she immediately revealed the true power of an eight-star elemental spirit. This was the first time Ronan had fought against a genius of this elemental spirit rank. Even with the [Innocent Body] activated, he could feel a slight sense of threat from Elsa.
"You seem to know quite a lot."
Elsa looked at Ronan, her radiance growing ever brighter, her hair and long dress fluttering without wind, and even her voice becoming ethereal and otherworldly, like the chorus of countless people standing in a glacial canyon.
Elsa raised her right hand slightly, and a magical wave emanated from her. Immediately, huge, prism-like ice crystals appeared between the two of them. These ice crystals blocked Ronan's vision and even his mental power. In his perception, Elsa's figure seemed to become distant and elusive.
Clearly, having suffered a setback from Ronan's terrifying close-quarters combat skills, Elsa began to consciously maintain a sufficient casting distance from Ronan.
Ronan looked at Elsa in front of him and suddenly exited the state of [Innocent Body].
"Now that we're already here, let's think about how to find the Ice Emperor Inheritance first, then we can fight."
Ronan slowly put on his robe and calmly said, "Activating a Yuanling talent must consume a lot of energy."
Elsa remained expressionless, but a slight glint flickered in her beautiful eyes, as if she had been moved by Ronan's words.
Ronan ignored her and began to look around.
After the Ice Ring marks on him and Elsa were combined, they were forcibly teleported into this unfamiliar Secret Realm Space.
Only now has he had time to properly examine his surroundings.
—Icefield.
Beneath his feet lay an extremely vast, boundless, and endless ice field.
Nineteen pure white suns hung in the sky, along with countless frozen auroras.
Tiny particles of ice dust are suspended in the air, and no changes in airflow or light can be felt.
Everything seemed to stand still, as if we had arrived at a place forgotten by time.
Ronan squinted as he surveyed the vast, desolate world. His knowledge of the Ice Ring and the Ice Emperor came entirely from Soraya of White Stone Fortress, but it was clear that Soraya did not know much about this ancient heritage.
This is one of the reasons why he chose to temporarily truce with Elsa.
Elsa, born into the Frost Leader and clearly aiming for the Ice Emperor Inheritance, should know far more than he does.
Ronan closed his eyes, and a faint sensation came from the Ice Ring mark deep within his soul, as if something in a very distant direction was calling him to go there.
He turned his head and met Elsa's gaze.
The opponent had already withdrawn from the battle and concealed his aura. It seemed that after careful consideration, he had finally agreed to Ronan's suggestion to temporarily cease hostilities.
The two of them started walking in the same direction as if by unspoken agreement.
Elsa always kept a certain distance from Ronan.
Nineteen frozen suns hung high in the sky, like the unchanging frozen aurora borealis. On the boundless ice plain, two tiny figures, as small as grains of sand, moved forward one after the other.
Ronan initially tried to fly, but gradually he discovered that no matter how fast he flew, the speed seemed no different from walking.
Unable to distance himself from Elsa, who was measuring the snow with her footsteps like a devout pilgrim, he simply set down and began to stroll along as well.
In the vast expanse of heaven and earth, there was no sound except the soft rustling of footsteps in the snow.
I don't know how long I walked.
"Wrong!"
Ronan suddenly stopped, looked around, and frowned deeply.
He had been consciously keeping track of time in his mind. They had been walking on the ice field for at least three months, but the scenery around them had never changed. It was as if the two of them were trapped in the same place, going around in circles.
The call from the depths of his soul, brought by the Ice Ring Mark, has never changed, remaining in a state of near-absence.
"Don't you sense something's wrong?"
Ronan called out to Elsa in the distance.
The latter seemed not to hear him at all, maintaining a solemn and dignified expression as he walked forward step by step.
"Has the trial for Ice Emperor Inheritance begun?"
Ronan gazed thoughtfully into the distance.
He didn't know when he lost contact with Alazan, and he couldn't even enter the Mist Space.
It seems that he has no choice but to continue down this path.
"I don't feel thirsty, nor do I feel any loss of energy."
If this really is a test, Ronan felt he had a pretty good idea of what it would entail.
His eyes flickered, he took a light breath, and continued walking forward.
One day, two days, three days.
January, February, March.
One year, two years, three years.
The vast ice field seemed to have no end. Ronan kept counting the time, but he couldn't feel the passage of time.
In the endless journey, loneliness and despair with no end in sight gradually eroded Ronan's will like ice floes on the sea.
Even though he knew very well that this was a test he had to go through before meeting the lineage, Ronan, with his unwavering will, sometimes felt an overwhelming sense of bewilderment as he looked at the unchanging road ahead.
Loneliness easily breeds distracting thoughts, and memories surge forth like rumination.
Ronan's advantage is probably that, thanks to his many times practicing with the Spirit Heart Amber, he can ruminate on far more memories than the average wizard.
At first, he kept track of time, but later his concept of time gradually became blurred.
At some point, Elsa, who had been walking ahead of him, suddenly turned around and began to turn back the way they had come.
Ronan approached and found that Elsa was muttering something incoherently, her eyes completely unfocused, and she was clearly on the verge of a mental breakdown.
Ronan hesitated for a moment, but ultimately decided to stop Elsa, knock her unconscious, and carry her on his back as they continued forward.
It's not that he's particularly kind.
Instead, during this long period of torment and despair, having someone by his side was far better than being alone.
Even if it's a "corpse" that can't communicate.
With Elsa no longer in sight, the feeling of loneliness grew even stronger.
Even the most vivid memories eventually fade, and loneliness, like an invisible wind, constantly dims the bright memories in Ronan's mind.
Ronan stopped.
Sometimes you can stay in one place for a very long time.
He carried Elsa on his back, looking up at the Nineteen White Suns and countless frozen auroras in the sky, staring at them for a long time.
Then, at some point, you suddenly realize what's happening and continue moving forward.
When all he could recall was the unchanging white ice field, Ronan began to write his name on the snow with every step he took.
This was the only way he could keep himself from forgetting his name.
Because there are too many things he has forgotten.
For example, who is the person he is carrying on his back?
For example, what exactly is his purpose in being in this place?
For example, he keeps walking, but where is he going?
During this long journey, Ronan found an unprecedented and profound peace of mind.
When he had completely forgotten even his own name, Ronan came to a complete stop.
He sat down on the snow, closed his eyes, and began to think.
In a daze, he seemed to merge with the ice field beneath him, and then the light above his head began to change.
All the frozen aurora borealis began to flow, Nineteen White Suns rose and set in succession.
His consciousness extended infinitely.
Digging through the thick snow, Ronan saw figures frozen in the ice, representing various races, dressed in ancient clothing, with ice roses growing from their chests, mouths, and eyes.
On the icy plains, a colossal beast gallops, emitting a desolate and distant roar.
The rugged and steep glaciers stretch out in an endless range, and upon closer inspection, they resemble a huge, broken ice cap.
Billions of frozen weapons were forged into Snow Field with blades pointing upwards. A giant, his eyes bleeding, knelt on the ground, tearing open his own chest, his white ribs supporting a colossal throne.
Before Ronan could even get a good look at the person sitting on the throne...
Suddenly.
Then all the sights vanished.
He opened his eyes and found that nothing had changed; everything was still the same.
Wrong.
It seems there have been some changes.
On the once flat ice field, a small black dot has appeared out of nowhere.
Ronan squinted and stared at the black dot for a long time.
An impulse, seemingly out of nowhere, pulled him up from the ground and led him toward the location of the black dot.
One step at a time.
Ronan kept getting closer to the black dot.
They gradually came to see that it was a huge throne made of countless ice crystal thorns.
A person was sitting on the throne.
He wore a shattered crown and a rotten royal robe, with a broken ice crystal longsword stuck at his feet.
He was almost completely connected to the throne, with icy thorns piercing through his body and growing back.
His face was covered in wrinkles, his fingers were covered in bluish-black spots, his eye bags were so heavy that his eyes were almost invisible, his head was slightly drooping, and his crown seemed to be about to slip off at any moment.
Ronan stood in front of this man, staring intently at him, his eyes flashing with confusion and contemplation.
After a very long time, Ronan finally spoke.
"You"
He then realized that his voice was so hoarse that he could barely remember many of the syllables.
"So old."
"Puff--"
Ronan seemed to hear a sneer from the person sitting on the throne before him.
A voice whispered in his ear.
Do you think you're still young?
The old, frail man slumped over the armrest of the throne, and with a slow, deliberate flick of one finger, a shimmering silver ice mirror appeared before Ronan.
Ronan looked into the mirror and saw an old man standing there, his body hunched over, his hair like dry grass, his face full of wrinkles. His eyes were cloudy, like muddy water full of impurities. A pair of withered and thin arms were tightly wrapped around his neck. A woman, who was also old and almost bald, was curled up on his back.
Ronan stared blankly at the person in the mirror, the person who could barely open his eyes, and spoke again.
Do you remember who you are?
"I"
Ronan opened his mouth instinctively, but couldn't utter a single word.
Countless years have washed away all his memories of the past, leaving his mind blank, just like the icy plains before him.
"Snap—"
Just then, a long crack suddenly appeared on the mirror in front of them.
In an instant, the memories of trekking across the ice plains over thousands of years were rapidly compressed into a thin line. The memories were awakened by a force, and the scenes were recolored and began to come alive.
Frozen memories resurfaced, and Ronan gradually recalled everything about himself.
The people inside the shattered ice mirror also began to rapidly shed their aged and decaying shells, becoming young again.
When the last shard of ice mirror fell, Ronan was completely young again.
He looked down at his hands, which had regained their fair and slender appearance, and then at the person on the throne before him; everything seemed self-evident.
A violent struggle came from behind him, and Elsa staggered toward the person on the throne, finally falling to her knees at his feet, her expression agitated, her lips trembling, as if she wanted to say something.
But the next moment, a frail, swollen finger gently touched his brow.
"Buzz—"
In an instant, a drop of blood, crimson tinged with icy blue, silently seeped into Elsa's brow.
A force instantly enveloped Elsa.
A terrifying chill surged up and condensed into a magnificent and majestic frost dragon above Elsa's head.
Ronan watched as Elsa was enveloped in a large cocoon of heavy bloodline power, his eyes flashing.
Within the power of this bloodline, he could clearly sense the strange fluctuations that had occurred when he successfully deduced the bloodline of the Ancient Frost Multiheaded Dragon.
"Ancient bloodline"
Ronan pursed his lips slightly, but said nothing.
At that moment, the man sitting on the throne of thorns spoke to him once again.
Would you like to hear my story?
Ronan calmly bowed in greeting.
"It would be my great honor."
With a soft laugh, a young, tall, and energetic figure rose from the throne, while the old and frail body seemed to have been completely "dead," as if its soul had been ripped away.
A man appeared before Ronan.
He had blue-gold eyes and frosty hair as beautiful as Ronan's.
He was not handsome, but he possessed a tremendous charm that transcended time and remained eternal.
He stood beside Ronan, side by side, and spoke to him like an old friend.
"The Edasrui, a tribe that lives in the far north Frozen Earth."
In the Aoling Language, it means 'Ice Mark Child'.
"Aoling Language?"
Ronan blinked and looked at the man in front of him.
The man chuckled and explained, "That was a language used by the gods in ancient times. After the gods withdrew, the Aoling Language was gradually abandoned and forgotten."
As he spoke, the man raised his hand and gently stroked the empty space in front of him.
In an instant, Ronan saw the unchanging ice field before him being gently turned over by the man's hand, like a page of a thick, ancient book.
A new scene unfolded before him.
He saw even more ancient ice fields, and undulating glaciers, and people dressed in strange clothes, exuding wildness and ruggedness, running back and forth between huge igloos.
Animal skin banners embroidered with ice marks fluttered in the wind and snow.
The man led Ronan forward, and the two walked step by step into this ancient and wild tribe. Everything around them seemed so real, but everyone ignored them.
Ronan looked back and saw that Elsa, who was receiving the bloodline inheritance, had been buried by the howling snow and could no longer be seen.
The man led Ronan through one igloo after another, a hint of reminiscence in his eyes.
"On a night when the blizzard had stopped, the starlight was so serene and dazzling."
The sky above quickly turned from day to night, and countless stars appeared. The man spoke in a low voice as he casually pushed open the door of an igloo in front of him.
A loud baby's cry rang in Ronan's ears. Ronan saw a young couple looking at a newborn baby with joy on their faces.
"A young Edasrui couple welcomed their seventh child, whom they named Chaguskona."
Whale Eater.
That is, me.
The man spoke softly, Ronan exhaled gently.
Even though he had guessed the man's identity a thousand times in his mind, Ronan still couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement when he finally confirmed that the man was the legendary Ice Emperor Chaguskona.
The man stood beside the young couple, gazing gently at the family surrounded by happiness and joy.
Do you know why they gave me this name?
The man looked at Ronan, Ronan shook his head.
"In the icy plains, whale meat has always been the most prized delicacy, reserved only for the highest-ranking members of the tribe."
The man spoke slowly, "They hope I can be someone who enjoys whale meat forever... What a beautiful and simple expectation."
As the man sighed, the scene before him began to change rapidly.
Ronan watched as the infant in his swaddling clothes grew rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye. Time flowed by, and he ran, played, and frolicked on the snow and ice, carefree, until he grew into a tall and strong young man.
"Waaah—"
A desolate horn sounded across the Snow Field.
People gathered from all directions, as if they were about to hold an extremely grand sacrificial ceremony.
Ronan and the man stood outside the crowd like bystanders, quietly watching everything unfold.
Ronan spotted a young Chaguskona in the crowd, his face covered in red and black paint, looking incredibly excited.
"In the ancient traditions of Edasrui, every Ice Mark Child must hunt an Ice Beast alone on their eighteenth birthday to prove their adulthood."
The man was also looking at his younger self. He squinted and said softly to Ronan, "My father was one of the most outstanding hunters in the tribe. Every one of his sons inherited his excellent hunting talent, including me."
"In this ceremony, the more precious and powerful the Snow Field Ice Beast captured, the more it proves the hunter's excellence."
"Since my name is Chaguskona, I naturally hope to hunt a whale!"
Ronan heard the man say in a low voice, "Moreover, it can't be an ordinary whale; it has to be a top-tier whale that is enormous and very old!"
Ronan saw the young Chaguskona, whose eyes gleamed with a dazzling light—a burgeoning confidence and ambition.
The boy, carrying a homemade spear and bow and arrows, ventured alone into the vast Snow Field, the sun and moon rising and setting overhead.
"I've traveled almost all over the ice field and searched countless places."
"I encountered one whale after another, but they were all very different from what I had imagined."
"A long time had passed, well past the deadline set by the hunting ceremony, but I didn't care about that anymore. I just wanted to find the perfect prey and bring it back."
"I searched for a long time, but I still couldn't achieve my goal."
Until one day.
"I accidentally wandered into a completely unfamiliar sea area."
"Whoosh—"
As the man narrated, a strange sea, its azure waters tinged with gold, Ronan's view.
Chaguskona, now a young man, stood motionless at the edge of the boundless sea, seemingly equally awestruck by its mystery and beauty.
This magical sea is so pure and tranquil, as if it possesses some indescribable Magic Power, deeply attracting everyone who sees it.
Just as Ronan was immersed in this vast tranquility and mystery, suddenly...
The azure sea before us suddenly rose upwards, the water level rising wildly, as if an invisible giant hand was forcefully lifting the entire ocean from below.
Young Chaguskona was in shock and panic, and at the same time, Ronan heard the man speak softly in his ear.
"I've finally met him."
"It."
As "it" fell, a dazzling white expanse rose rapidly from beneath the sea, boundless and filling Ronan's entire field of vision.
Everything in the world was completely obscured by this dazzling whiteness.
Ronan was completely lost in this endless expanse of white snow, and the man's voice in his ear suddenly became passionate and high-pitched, as if it were a reminder of some years when he was full of vigor.
"I've spent almost half my life chasing after it."
"All my hardships stemmed from it, and all my glories arose from it as well."
"I finally completed that hunt."
The man's voice suddenly dropped rapidly, becoming calm, with a hint of emotion and regret.
"But by then, the tribe had already ceased to exist."
Ronan forced himself to look away from the dazzling whiteness that was still rapidly rising upwards, turned to the man beside him, and murmured, "So... what exactly is it?"
"Primordial Frost Whale".
The man looked at him with gentle eyes and said softly, "An ancient creature that has survived from the Mythological Era to the present day, and is probably one of the closest to being a true mythical being in this world."
Primordial Frost Whale!
In an instant, Ronan's mind and spirit were shaken violently. His entire being, even his soul, seemed to have been struck and pierced by something enormous and magnificent.
He only just realized it.
The azure sea he had just seen was probably one of the eyes of the Primordial Frost Whale, and the dazzling white that kept rising endlessly was probably the Primordial Frost Whale's enormous ancient body.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, future chapters should be longer, and even major updates will be concentrated in a single chapter.