This was hot.
When he had first gained the Talent [Rapid Digestion], he hadn't felt anything this intense.
This time, though, as the Talent loaded, Gauss was standing in the biting winter wind, yet it felt as if he were in a furnace room. His entire body burned unbearably.
He could clearly sense a surging energy coursing through him, transforming his body.
His skin was the first to undergo subtle changes. An uncontrollable itch swept over him, and once it passed, his skin seemed tougher and denser, as if an invisible protective mesh had been woven through it.
Next, the heat began seeping inward. His organs, muscle fibers, and bones... all endured the scalding energy coursing through them.
From the inside out, then from the outside in, again and again.
"Mm."
Gauss grunted.
He breathed out.
His breath instantly condensed into a white cloud in the freezing air.
Although the transformation affected a wide area, it took effect quickly.
In fact, it lasted only a dozen or so breaths.
Alya, some distance away, hadn't noticed anything amiss. She only thought he was admiring the spell effect of the flames he had conjured after casting Burning Hands.
As the raging heat gradually subsided, finally becoming a gentler warmth that flowed through him, Gauss at last breathed a sigh of relief.
He opened his eyes.
A novel sensation unlike anything he had ever experienced filled his senses.
The world seemed different.
The most immediate and obvious change was that the cold had receded considerably.
Before, he had been toughing it out with his 8 Constitution. Now, the environment hadn't changed, and he wasn't wearing any extra clothes, yet the chill had diminished sharply.
Even the icy air entering his lungs gave him a refreshing sense of vitality.
His resistance to extreme cold