A Winter Wolf's fur was like fine snow at the start of winter: cool, soft, and crystalline, without a trace of impurity.
Living year-round on the highland Snow Plains, they wore their ice-white coats as natural camouflage.
Even when dirt and blood stained her fur in battle, a gentle wipe with damp gauze lifted the grime right off her mane. It was remarkably easy to clean.
He had accepted her as a traveling companion. Just as he set aside time after every battle to maintain his weapons and equipment,
Xia Nan did not mind taking a little more time to clean the mud from Fanny's fur.
Of course, he had to admit something else: that ice-white coat felt wonderful to the touch.
It was fine and dense, yet every strand lay distinct, like the silken hair in shampoo advertisements from his previous life. His fingers glided through it almost without resistance.
The surface of her coat was pleasantly cool, but beneath it he could feel her warm body. Pressing a little harder, he could even make out the firm, supple contours of her muscles through the soft underfur.
"Mm..."
Fanny let out an involuntary whimper of pleasure.
Eyes half-closed, she rubbed her head affectionately against Xia Nan's thigh.
By then, everyone had returned from the forest to Ice Tree Village.
Banshees were creatures whose danger depended on knowing how to counter them. They had resistance across the board and a lethal shriek, but with time to prepare, a party of Elite Adventurers averaging Profession Levels 3 and 4 could handle one without too much difficulty.
The fight in the cave had proved as much.
But the surroundings had worked against them.
No one had expected a Banshee inside the Goblin Nest. At the end of the fight, she had floated