Return to Shrek Academy, Growing Closer to the Ice Empress

Shrek Academy.

It was time for students to register for the new semester.

Chi Hong returned to the Dormitory.

The Ice Empress's petite phantom floated in the air, taking in her surroundings.

"Human, so you're a student at Shrek Academy."

As a Soul Beast with exceptionally strong Inner Focus, she could move about as a phantom. No one else could see her.

Chi Hong said helplessly,

"I told you to call me by my name. You weren't nearly this proud when you were begging for mercy."

"You! Hmph. I'll never acknowledge someone who throws his borrowed power around like you do."

The Ice Empress's face hardened, and she gave a cold snort.

Chi Hong's expression turned serious.

"I know you feel humiliated right now, Ice Empress. But you've become my Soul Beast, and you can't escape on your own. Our lives are linked now. Helping me means helping yourself. There's no need to keep hating me."

"Hmph."

The Ice Empress turned her face away without a word.

Deep down, she knew Chi Hong was right. But she needed time to come to terms with it. She certainly couldn't accept her new place so quickly.

"Then don't blame me."

Chi Hong sighed and drove the Ice Pillar Plate's energy deep into the Ice Empress's body.

"Mmm!!"

The Ice Empress trembled and let out a soft cry.

She stared in disbelief at the changes within her. Her Ultimate Ice was growing stronger.

For one brief instant, she felt as though her ice could freeze time and space itself.

Without a doubt, that was the realm of the Gods.

She couldn't help losing herself in the wondrous sensation.

Just as she was about to close her eyes and savor it, the power abruptly cut off.

The Ice Empress opened her eyes, confusion written all over them. "Why did it stop?"

"Want more? Then do you understand what you need to do?"

Chi Hong watched her quietly.

The Ice Empress lowered her head and said in surprise,

"That was the power of the Ice Pillar Plate. You're just a mortal, yet you really can draw on the Ice Law within it."

Chi Hong clicked his tongue.

"I told you it was mine to begin with. You're the thief."

Hearing that, the Ice Empress finally realized Chi Hong had been telling the truth.

But the Ice Pillar Plate had fallen into the Far North a century ago, belonging to no one. She and the Snow Empress had guarded it ever since.

How could she simply let this human take it away?

Yet after a hundred years of study, neither she nor the Snow Empress could match what he achieved with a crook of his finger.

A weak Soul Grandmaster had become the master of a Deity's treasure.

At the thought, the Ice Empress's pupils contracted.

"Could you be a reborn God King?"

Chi Hong raised an eyebrow and accepted the claim without hesitation.

"Of course. But a mere God King hardly captures who I am. I'm the reincarnation of the Creator God! My name is—Arceus."

"Arceus."

The Ice Empress silently searched her memory for the name. She had never heard it in her four hundred thousand years of life, but a God as great as the Creator God had departed at the dawn of creation. It was only natural that she hadn't heard of him.

She was shaken, but the sight of Chi Hong looking so pleased with himself made her unwilling to let him gloat.

The Ice Empress said with disdain,

"Pah. As if you could be the reincarnation of the Creator God. If you really were the Creator God in your past life, this world must be a complete mess."

Chi Hong shook his head.

"Believe me or don't. Do you want to feel the Ice Pillar Plate's power again? If you do, behave yourself."

"You!"

The Ice Empress gritted her teeth. She hated being threatened, but the power of the Ice Law was so tempting she could hardly resist it.

A true powerhouse knew when to bend. She would make him pay for this later.

The Ice Empress forced a smile.

"Chi... Chi Hong, could you help me cultivate again?"

Chi Hong nodded approvingly.

"Not bad. That's progress. I'll reward you with another turn."

The way he praised her like a child nearly made the Ice Empress punch him.

Then Chi Hong sent another stream of energy from the Ice Pillar Plate into her body.

"Mmm~ o(￣▽￣)o"

The Ice Empress made a blissful sound, her face turning adorably sweet—a far cry from the look of disgust she usually gave Chi Hong.

Both expressions had their own charm, though.

[Ice Empress affinity +1]

[Ice Empress affinity +1]

As Chi Hong continued pouring energy into her, the Ice Empress's affinity rose little by little. Soon, though, it reached a limit.

"That's enough. Time for the second stage."

Chi Hong decisively stopped the flow.

The Ice Empress opened her eyes in a daze. The icy aura around her had grown much stronger.

She couldn't stop thinking about what she had just experienced. She had never known growing stronger could be so easy.

This time, Chi Hong summoned the Ice Empress's true body.

The Ice Pillar Plate concealed her presence within the Dormitory, so no one else could sense her.

The moment the green-haired girl with twin ponytails appeared, the room's temperature dropped.

The Ice Empress frowned.

"Hey, Chi Hong, why did you summon my true body? The smell of you humans is awful. I don't want to stay in a place full of humans. And why did you stop?"

Chi Hong smiled.

"Because the Ice Pillar Plate's power can only do so much when channeled through the mind. If you want me to help you grow stronger, we'll need physical contact."

"Hah? Physical contact?" The Ice Empress's aura grew colder. She glared at Chi Hong, struggling to contain her anger. "What are you planning to do to me, you pervert?"

Chi Hong sat cross-legged on the bed and said calmly,

"What else? Cultivate, of course. The best way to channel the plate's power is to press our palms together. Come on, get on the bed."

The Ice Empress froze for a moment. So she had misunderstood. Still, she couldn't shake the feeling that he had phrased it that way on purpose to make her obey.

She snorted, then quietly sat cross-legged on the bed and pressed her palms against Chi Hong's.

The moment their palms touched, the Ice Empress felt warmth against her skin. She didn't dislike it. On the contrary, it felt pleasant.

So this was human skin. It felt nothing like that of her kin or the Snow Empress.

Having lived in the Far North all her life, she was used to her kin feeling either hard or icy cold.

She had never touched warm human skin before. It felt... different.

After that initial warmth, a vast surge of fierce ice power poured from Chi Hong's palms.

Her eyes widened. It nearly overwhelmed her into unconsciousness.

Fortunately, she was receiving it through her true body. Her phantom would never have endured it.

So he wasn't lying to me.

With that thought, the Ice Empress's opinion of Chi Hong softened a little.

Maybe he really is a good person.

[Ice Empress affinity +2]

[Ice Empress affinity +2]

[Ice Empress affinity has reached 20 (stranger)]

[You have mastered Ultimate Ice, Ice Empress's Pincers, and Ice Empress Protection.]