CHAPTER 67: ICE

A few seconds later, realizing his action, Gara awkwardly excused himself to the kitchen.

Madha was left behind with a goofy grin on his face... which he immediately turned toward Fian in silent triumph.

Fian’s eye twitched. Then, without a word, he turned and walked into Gara’s room. Madha’s brows furrowed.

When Gara returned, he was met with Madha’s serious gaze.

"Gara. That elf— does he sleep with you?"

Gara nodded. He wanted to explain that they only shared a room, not a bed, but that sounded like a boyfriend trying to justify himself. So he kept it to himself.

"You’re pregnant," Madha said firmly. "For your comfort, you should sleep alone. I’ll build another room for him."

"You’re going to—"

"I’ll go to my village and find bamboo or wooden planks to build a new room," Madha declared as he stood up.

"Wait!" Gara quickly stopped him. "I’ve got plenty of wood that could be turned into planks."

The wood had come from trees he’d chopped down using his Water Slash. Afterward, he used them to train precision and control over his ability. Even after taking some for firewood, there was still a good amount left.

Gara called Fian and explained Madha’s plan to Wina. She had no objections. In fact, she thought it was a great idea.

There was still time before lunch. With a combination of two Liners (well, technically three, though Fian’s awakening was still secret) and one elf skilled in woodworking, a simple new room—with an entrance only accessible from outside the house—was completed before lunch.

"The door’s from outside for now, Fian?" Gara explained. "Once we have more materials and time, we’ll remodel the bamboo wall so your room connects to the house properly."

Fian nodded.

Meanwhile, Madha looked extremely pleased with this arrangement.

After lunch, Madha had to leave. He didn’t have a good reason to stay longer, and besides, Gara wanted a nap.

Fian had already settled into his new room, which was little more than a patch of dirt. In fact, the entire floor of the house was just bare earth—no wooden planks, no stone tiles.

As long as it didn’t rain tonight, he’d manage to sleep there.

Unfortunately, Fian didn’t seem too comfortable in his new space. When Gara woke up from his nap, he found Fian standing silently at the doorway, staring at him.

"Holy—! What are you doing there?" Gara clutched his chest in shock.

Fian simply shook his head, expression blank, then turned and walked away.

Gara was truly baffled. Fian always appeared out of nowhere. Sure, he had the Ghost Walk Talent, but that didn’t mean he had to act like an actual ghost and scare people.

One of these days, he was going to go into labor just from being startled.

Later that afternoon, Gara went out to water the herbs in the yard. Fian was there too, once again moving without a sound.

When Gara looked up, Fian was already at the far edge of the yard, near the fence, holding something in his hand.

Gara squinted. His eyes widened.

He recognized it. It was the core of a Nerthalis flower.

"Drop that!" Gara shouted.

Fian tried to obey, but just as he moved, his hand froze. The fruit slipped from his grasp and hit the ground.

Gara rushed over, panic rising.

"No, no—this is bad! You could die if the freezing spreads and the toxin seeps into your pores!" he muttered frantically.

Fian, who had long considered death preferable to living, suddenly realized something—he didn’t want to die. Nor here and now. Not when he’d finally found a place that felt like it could be home.

For the first time in his life, the will to survive surged up from within him.

He focused all his attention on the ice spreading across his arm. His awareness locked onto the frozen patch.

And then, almost miraculously, the ice stopped spreading. It shattered.

Yet his arm was completely unharmed.

Gara stared, eyes round with shock. He instinctively splashed his water over Fian’s arm, just in case there was any lingering toxin.

"This isn’t enough," he said quickly. "You’ll still need the antidote. I’ll go ask my mom."

He spun on his heels to leave.

But froze mid-step. Slowly, stiff as a puppet, he turned back around.

"Wait a second, how did the ice break? Don’t tell me... you awakened an ice-type talent?"

As the thought sank in, Gara let out a shriek and started hopping with joy. "You awakened! You awakened, Fian! You’re safe!"

It wasn’t just that Fian had awakened. It was the specific Talent: Ice. That meant he now had natural resistance to the Nerthalis’ freezing poison.

"Quick, let’s check your Talent!"

Gara looked at him eagerly.

Fian still felt lost. The sweet-faced boy in front of him had just gone through a rollercoaster of emotions in the span of minutes. But somehow, Gara’s happiness was contagious.

He had no idea how to activate his talent. But he remembered seeing Liner do it once.

So, he mimicked the motion. Raising a hand toward the bare patch of ground.

Boom!

A sharp spike of ice burst up from the soil.

Fian stared, stunned. Gara cheered and grabbed his hand, bouncing up and down with excitement.

He’d just checked Fian’s status panel: what once read only [Ghost Walk] now said [Ghost Walk, Glacial Spike].

As Gara landed on a stray pebble, he stumbled. Fian caught him instinctively, pulling him into his arms.

And then, he smelled it again. That familiar scent. The scent of home.

Fian couldn’t remember what his real home looked like, or where it had been. But this scent remained.

And now, he was breathing it in from Gara.

Maybe... maybe from now on, home was Gara.

That night, Gara acted like a proud mother gushing over her child’s achievement. He excitedly told Wina how Fian had managed to awaken his powers.

"But I’ll still buy the ingredients for the Nerthalis antidote," Wina said, thoughtful. "Just in case there’s any poison residue left in Fian’s body."

She then turned to Fian. "Now that you’ve awakened as a Liner, you can leave."

...