Babel

While Linnaeus and Ryuuna were cooped up in their respective hovels, a group of nine entities could be found sitting around a circular table. Each was vaguely humanoid in build but, at a glance, it was very apparent they were more animalistic than the vast majority of sentient creatures calling Lumen home.The largest of these entities looked like a lanky lemur, complete with large ears and a tail. However, even whilst seated, its height was more than 3m and, rather than walk around baring its body, it had elected to wear a very prim and proper business suit. Though it had a face almost indistinguishable from an actual lemur, the golden monocle on its left eye and its neatly groomed tuft of hair gave it a distinctly uncanny vibe.Seated alongside the humanoid lemur were its comrades, each having distinctly humanoid body structures dominated by the features of a bat, cat, fox, dog, sheep, tanuki, loris, and a sloth. They were all wearing formal attire, much like the lemur, while three of the nine even had on cocktail dresses that sharply contrasted their animalistic features.Among the three female figures, the one with the features of a slot used her long nail to tap on a tiny bubble, one of an incalculable number floating above the table. She had an amused expression on her face that caught the attention of the female fox and male cat to her left. They preceded her in the ordering of chairs around the table, placing her at the third seat leading up to the tall lemur.With a sly smile of her own, the fox woman asked, "Quo'aa, did you find something interesting~?" as she reached out to tap on the tiny bubble. In response to this, the sloth woman, Quo'aa, lightly swat the fox woman's hand away as she stated, "Mind the matters of your own Floor, Feena. These little ones are my responsibility now."Feena barred her teeth in mock aggression after hearing Quo'aa's words before flicking the sloth-woman's face with her nimble tail and snatching the bubble. This caused the cat-man at the side to snicker in amusement while Quo'aa, with Feena's tail still in her face, just blew away the offending appendage with a slightly annoyed look on her face.Since he was only separated from her by the cat-man, the lemur humanoid looked to his right and stated in a high-pitched tone that belied his seriousness, "Feena, do not interfere in the matters of other Floor Guardians."Hearing her senior Guardian's words, Feena poked her tongue out playfully before saying, "Don't be such a stickler, Ringo. I'm not breaking any rules by taking a peek. Besides, it isn't like the challenge on my Floor needs close scrutiny."In response to Feena's words, Ringo rolled his eyes before releasing a tired sigh. She wasn't actually breaking any rules so, while he wanted to reprimand her, there was ultimately no reason to. If they weren't allowed some small amount of freedom, most Floor Guardians would have lost their mind millennia ago. Since it was troublesome finding a replacement Guardian, he could tolerate a bit of selfishness on behalf of his junior members.Seeing Ringo's reaction, Feena gave a victory sign with her right hand before turning her attention to the scene visible within the bubble. Despite its small size, this tiny bubble showed the scene of nearly every Fledgling participating in a given test all at once. As Floor Guardians, they could handle seeing the world through thousands of different perspectives simultaneously so it was a simple matter for her to view an additional nine.Seated to the left of Feena, the cat-like man mused, "Tell me what you see, Feena. I'm curious." while trying to sneak the tiny bubble for himself. Unfortunately for him, Quo'aa snatched it away while her companion was distracted, causing Feena to snap her teeth aggressively while the cat-man began to laugh once again.Quo'aa just snorted toward the two before shielding the bubble in her hands and taking a closer look for herself. There, she could see Linnaeus, Ryuuna, and seven other Fledglings all fighting to be the last group on the Third Floor. Though she normally didn't care all that much, Quo'aa was a little interested in the two Love Birds that had been toyed with by Feena. She rarely showed any emotion on her face but Quo'aa actually liked drama quite a bit, especially of the romantic variety.Feena knew Quo'aa'a nature well as, for the last 7,319 years, they had been neighbors around the table. It was because she liked to tease others, Quo'aa included, that she had given the Love Bird Titles to Linnaeus and Ryuuna. Thus, seeing who Quu'aa was spying upon, Feena began to snicker before asking, "Are they having a lover's quarrel~? Ushishishishi~"Hearing Feena's question, Quo'aa gave her a side-long glance before answering, "That little Dwelf is quite violent. She had a disagreement with the little Hybrid so she beat him up before running off into the wasteland. After that, the Hybrid ran in the opposite direction and now they are both slowly freezing to death due to their obstinance...young love is quite complicated, umu."Feena immediately burst out laughing when she heard Quo'aa's words as the whole reason she had made Linnaeus and Ryuuna Love Birds was due to their contrasting, yet similar, natures. She knew it would cause them to be at odds with each other but, with very few ways to entertain herself, Feena didn't mind putting them through an extra trial or two. If they were able to overcome their personal differences and work together, the Love Bird Title was actually extremely useful.Tired of being left out of the loop, the cat-man lay his head down dejectedly on the table, his face forming a pout as he said, "You girls...don't do this to me. Aren't we friends? I want to see what is so interesting..."Ringo, seated to the cat-man's left, nudged the pouting Guardian in the side with his elbow before saying, "Don't slack off, Servalan. The challenge of the First Floor is one of the most important. If I review your work and find you made any mistakes..."With the nudge to his side being less than gentle, Servalan's body jolted before his expression became even dourer as he said, "Boss, even you want to bully me? Just because I'm the newest Guardian...*sniffle*..."Not convinced by Servalan's act, Ringo gave him a hard look that caused the cat-like Guardian to release a sigh before he began focusing on his own work. At any given moment, they had to view a total of 1000 groups of Fledglings so he couldn't really slack off for too long. As Ringo had pointed out, it was very important to organize the Fledglings and evaluate them on the First Floor as it could seriously disrupt future challenges.What most people didn't know, even among the Eight Heavenly Families, was that the Guardians changed the rules slightly to level the playing field. Though they proactively rewarded those who put in an earnest effort to climb higher, they also intervened to give weaker Fledglings a chance. If they didn't do this, only those with combat-oriented Blessings would have any chance to reach the higher floors.By observing every Fledgling in their charge, the Guardians would do things like alter the terrain to put obstacles between weaker and stronger Fledglings, assign Titles that would help foster attribute growth, and even manipulate the match-ups in some of the challenges that pitted Fledglings against each other. This was how Linnaeus ended up against the Rank 1 Fledgling as, after seeing how he used his [Barrier] Magic on the First Floor, they knew it would be next to impossible for the Rank 1 to hunt him down. As a result, Linnaeus' chances at survival were increased while the pressure he would experience gave him a stronger drive to become stronger.Though unexpected occurrences happened all the time, this was largely due to the Luck and Karma of the individual Fledglings. Those with higher Luck were favored by the Akashic System, even within the Tower. This meant they would get more drops from monsters and, without their knowledge, they might even avoid a potentially dangerous situation purely by happenstance.After Luck, Karma was the attribute that most heavily influenced a person's fate. It was one of the hidden attributes of the Akashic System that directly weighed the motivations of a person against their actions. This would cause the to accrue positive and negative karma which, quite literally, had an influence on their Fate. Those who had higher positive Karma tended to have more fortuitous encounters while those with higher negative Karma often experienced sudden misfortune.Regardless of whether your Karma was positive or negative, you could overcome your Fate if you had high enough attributes and strong enough willpower. This meant that even 'evil' people could grow stronger, often without any upper limits. Though they would find themselves pitted against those with high positive Karma, this was just another way in which the Tower and the Akashic System promoted the growth of each individual.Linnaeus wasn't aware of it, but his Karma had almost equal values of positive and negative Karma as, while he never really wanted to kill people, he had accumulated quite the body count. If not for his charity toward other Street Urchins, as he would sometimes hand out food and rescue those who were being beaten too roughly, he would have accumulated much more negative Karma.Because it was very rare for a person to have almost equal amounts of positive and negative Karma, Linnaeus was a curious existence to the Floor Guardians who had observed him. Not only was he one of the few Fledglings that didn't actually care about climbing the Tower, but his contrary nature was interesting to observe.Feena had been especially taken with Linnaeus and, due to sheer boredom, she liked to push the boundaries when it came to interfering with her challenges. Thus, when she had the chance to mess with him and Ryuuna, she simply couldn't resist the temptation. Her only regret being unable to watch the drama unfold directly but, as there were interesting Fledglings in every batch, she would soon forget he even existed.This was the same for every Guardian and, unless there was a truly exceptional Fledgling, they would soon forget them in the vast, seemingly infinite stream, of other Fledglings. There were an average of 48,000,000 Fledglings entering the Tower every day so it was very rare for any of them to leave a strong impression on Guardians who had witnessed nearly two-hundred trillion Fledglings during their service as Floor Guardians. For those like Ringo, who had held his position for more than 20,000 years, he had seen double that amount.The only Fledglings that were truly memorable were those who had been given the title of Daredevil and Frontier Explorer. These individuals usually left quite an impact on other Fledglings during their climb while the latter consisted of the top 100 Rankers in the entire Tower. Since the Tower was like a massive filter, the number of people on higher Floors exponentially decreased so, in the example of the 106th Floor's Guardian, they only had to keep track of a total of three individuals.Once a group of Fledglings reached the 10th Floor, they would be given two ranks, one showing how they matched up to people in their same groupings while the other showed their overall rank in the entire Tower. Currently, there were close to 13 trillion people actively climbing the Tower while, on the Floors where communities had settled in, the population skyrocketed to nearly thirty trillion. This made it exceptionally difficult to stand out so, for the time being, Linnaeus had no idea how lucky he was to have the attention of two Floor Guardians...at least for a short while.

If not for the Akashic System displaying the time and the number of days that had passed, Linnaeus would not have been able to determine how long he had been in his current state.Not only had night become a permanant fixture on the Third Floor, but the temperature continued its steady decline to almost incomprehensible levels. Now, if he failed to replace his [Barrier] before the previous one ran out, it was like having a bucket of the coldest imaginable water wash over him, chilling him to the bone and causing a painful ache throughout his entire body.Linnaeus genuinely believed he would have lost his sense of self if not for the constant notifications from the system. The cold gave him an overwhelming urge to simply fall asleep and accept the chill completely. If not for the period pings of experience indicating growth in his [Pain Tolerance] and [Cold Resistance], Linnaeus would have already given in to the encroaching darkness.At this point, Linnaeus knew that his outburst and decision to leave the cave had been exceptionally foolish but, as his impending death made his resolution stronger, he took solace in the thought that his final interaction with another person was standing his ground. He didn't know if there was such a thing as life after death or reincarnation but, if there was, Linnaeus swore he would try harder in his next life...if possible, he would like to be reborn as someone inside the megacity and, if fate allowed it, he wanted to be able to protect his sister once again...These were the last thoughts that crossed Linnaeus' mind as, in spite of the gentle bells sounding in his mind, the encroaching darkness finally overpowered his will to remain awake. It was already the afternoon of the nineteenth day so he had been fighting against his body freezing completely for the better part of three days...---Due to having created an underground den with a curved chute for an entrance, one of the survival techniques she had learned, Ryuuna was faring much better than Linnaeus. Though it was still very cold, warm air was less dense than cold air so, by creating a den where the hot air couldn't easily escape through the chute, she was able to gradually heat up the interior to just above freezing. As a result, the interior was very damp, causing a cloud of humidity to be present as Ryuuna did her best to move her body periodically to further warm her small abode.Over the last few days, Ryuuna's biggest stress factor had been her hunger but, as her body could process raw meat without too many detrimental effects, she had managed to survive, albeit with a perpetual grimace on her face. Though she had also reflected on her past interactions with Linnaeus, she refused to believe she was in the wrong as just the thought of apologizing to him made her feel nauseous.Currently, Ryuun had a piece of venison in her mouth as she tugged at the durable tendons in an effort to extricate the piece of flesh for consumption. It had a foul and gamey taste but, compared to starving, it was the more tolerable alternative.Just as she managed to tear away the piece of flesh, Ryuuna's expression turned blank as her mouth hung slightly agape. The piece of meat she had struggled to pull away fell to the ground as, in the periphery of her vision, something that had been present for nearly three weeks had now vanished. At the same time, the number of Fledglings on the Floor dropped from 5 down to 4, causing Ryuuna to pause for several seconds in abject confusion.When she finally realized the implications of what had happened, Ryuuna began to feel very anxious as she erupted from the ground like a geyser and bolted toward the east. Linnaeus hadn't moved at all for the last few days so she had approximated his position and knew roughly how long it would be able to reach him.Ryuuna had been intending to let Linnaeus suffer for a bit before showing up when he was near death to save him. With his name suddenly disappearing from the Party, she began to feel more anxious than she had expected, causing her to move like a golden meteor through the blizzard that had descended upon the land...After nearly two hours of running at her highest speed, Ryuun reached a large canyon that seemed to extend downward indefinitely. She had no way of knowing that Linnaeus had holed himself up in a hollow at the side of the cliff so Ryuuna released a feral cry before shouting, "You stupid piece of shit! Did you really throw yourself off the cliff just to spite me!? You...you...you...!"For Linnaeus' name to vanish from the Party without his health being anywhere near critical levels, Ryuuna could only assume he had died instantly. If he threw himself off the cliff and didn't try to protect himself, the only fate that awaited him was death.Feeling anxiety and anger unlike anything she had ever experienced, Ryuuna began tearing apart the landscape, uprooting trees and destroying boulders. She had spent the last few days thinking about how to get even with Linnaeus but, despite her initial anger, she never intended to torture or kill him. His growth and earnest mentality made him one of the few people she could reasonably trust in the Tower so, until they reached the 10th Floor, she had intended to remain in the same Party.Before she realized it, Ryuuna's vision had been obscured by a layer of tears that turned into small ice crystals dotting her eyelashes. Her Health had also started to reduce considerably from overusing her Blessing so, after punching a large boulder with enough force to fracture it into several hundred pieces, she turned her head skyward and said, "I give up...take me to the next Floor..."If Linnaeus had been present, he would have noticed that the fierce light in Ryuuna's eyes had all but vanished at this point. Her golden irises now look pale and dull, much like some of the less fortunate women he had encountered in the slums. Then, as if she had never existed from the start, Ryuuna's body vanished like a fading afterimage. The only thing that remained to indicate her presence was a massive section of upturned forest and several fractured boulders...---With Ryuuna's departure from the Third Floor, the remaining three Fledglings received a notice from the Floor Guardian that they were the last Party. Their Party consisted of a large man with a muscular body and two comparably smaller females. They had holed themselves up in a cave but, rather than sealing it, they left the mouth of the cave open while unhesitantly maintaining a small bonfire. This wasn't enough to stave off the entirety of the cold, however, so, when they were resting, the trio had used each others' body heat to stay warm.After receiving the notification, the man released a loud bellow before laughing enthusiastically. As for the two girls, the younger of the two rolled her eyes while her older, far more mature companion, decided to join the burly man by releasing a peal of bell-like laughter. Then, much like Ryuuna, they also moved on the Fourth Floor after accepting their rewards from the Floor Guardian.The moment the final Party had left, a rather magical sight began to play out on the Third Floor as the snowfall began to literally reverse, much like the flames from the bonfire. As if time itself was flowing in reverse, the logs began to lose their charred state before the fire ultimately extinguished, leaving behind green tender that, shortly thereafter, vanished.Several hundred kilometers away from the cave, in the area previously devasted by Ryuuna, the innocent boulders quickly reformed while the uprooted trees once again found purchase in the permafrost. As time passed, this process seemed to speed up considerably until, less than an hour later, the light of day had returned to the Third Floor. With it, lush greenery once again dominated the terrain as, at several locations throughout the forest, blobs of pure energy began to coalesce before solidifying into the shape of Goblins, Slimes, Horned Rabbits, and Tyrant Mountain Bears.Following the formation of the monsters, each corpse belonging to a fallen Fledgling began to dissolve away into dust. Immediately after they faded away, all signs of their existence faded along with them, including supplies and equipment that had been left behind. Then, as the final part of this process, a total of 519 ripples appeared at various locations throughout the Third Floor before a new group of Fledglings began their survival challenge.Regardless of how much damage the Floors sustained, it would always be completely undone at the end of each challenge. This was known simply as a Reset, an Administrative Function that only those with the title of Floor Guardian had the authority to carry out.To prevent people from staying in the Tower indefinitely, building a civilization and limiting the chances other Fledglings would prosper, a Reset would periodically be conducted on even the safe Floors. Though the cycle varied for each Floor, with the 10th taking place every 1,000 years, it still forced those who wanted to consolidate power to move toward progressively higher Floors to avoid being 'erased' during the Reset. Only by passing through one of the connecting Floors was a person able to avoid the process of being annihilated and, after a Reset, they were unable to backtrack from that moment onward.Nobody knew exactly what happened if your body was erased during a reset but it was commonly believed that you were absorbed by the Tower as nutrients. There was even a prominent faction that believed the Tower was a living organism that baited people into its body with the promise of power. They believed the Tower refined its prey, granting them unbelievable power in order to make them taste better. Though this seemed outlandish, the fact that nobody had ever managed to reach the top had allowed them to build a sizeable faction among those naturally born within the Tower.As for what really happened when a person died within the Tower, this largely depended on a variety of different factors. If they died as a result of combat, implying their body had been destroyed or, at the very least, damaged beyond repair, they would, in fact, become nutrients for the Tower. It would absorb their Souls into itself, refining the excess energy and destroying the Ego of the person. This would erase everything that represented a person, including their name, memories, status, and even Blessing. After the fact, their Soul would be expelled from the Tower, allowing it to wander aimlessly until finding a new vessel in the form of a developing zygote.This was not the only outcome for a person who had died within the Tower, however, as there were sometimes extenuating circumstances and unique situations that led to a person's death. In most of these situations, the Floor Guardians themselves had made some kind of mistake while, in the less likely scenario, the person had died as a result of an unforeseen variable. Since the Creator of the Tower had documented an incalculable number of anomalies over the course of endless eternities, they had implemented a system where a person could redeem themselves if their willpower and fate were strong enough.Though most people knew of the Tower that pierced into the Heavens, extending far beyond any means of observation, only the Guardians knew of the second Tower that descended deep into the planar world. While the former was known as the Tower of Heaven, the latter was known as the Crucible of Souls, a place where those who had lost their lives due to unexpected circumstances had a second chance at life. It was the dominion of Tenebrae, the Lord of Darkness, one of the principal entities that governed the Tower.Unlike the scenic environments found in the Tower of Heaven, the Crucible of Souls was a dark and chaotic domain where only pain and suffering awaited those fighting for a second chance at life. It was a hellish place that few could survive for more than a week, while even fewer would ever be able to rise up and begin their climb anew. Though it only had eight Floors in total, each would test the willpower of its challengers to the limit. After all, without the proper conviction, you simply did not deserve a second chance at life.It was here, in a dark abyss filled with fire and brimstone, the Crucible of Souls' Eighth Floor, that a frail figure with pale-blue hair slammed hard into the ground. Their body, covered in a layer of ice, began to thaw rapidly as a pained groan escaped their pale lips. At the same time, their hair began to lose its color, turning progressively whiter until it was almost indiscernible from its former color. Then, after tears of blood poured from their closed eyes, the figure awoke with a start, eyes glimmering like red rubies as their lungs strained desperately to draw in foul and pungent air...

Linnaeus knew that Ryuuna would take exception to his words but, as it concerned the principle he had lived by his entire life, he couldn't just swallow his words and remain silent. He did not consider himself a prideful person but, after everything that happened, he knew he would head down a dark path if he gave in to the whims of others just to avoid pain.For several seconds after his outburst, Ryuuna glared at him, her expression growing progressively darker as pale-golden energy began to form around her fists. Despite this, Linnaeus didn't retract his statement as, no matter how angry she was, Ryuuna couldn't cripple or kill him while they were in the same Party. She would have to wait upwards of twenty-four hours to attack him if she wanted to avoid being cursed by the Akashic System. There was a very high chance she would beat him but, having grown up as a Street Urchin, beatings were more familiar to him than eating.Ryuuna's fury eventually reached the critical level and, though there was a lot she wanted to say, the urge to pummel Linnaeus was too strong for her to resist. She had spent her whole life suppressing herself so, after entering the Tower, she swore to never tolerate slights against her. Even if she knew there was some truth to Linnaeus' words, she still believed he was a fool so she refused to apologize for her abrasive remarks.Despite her fury, Ryuuna stopped channeling her aura into her fists as she charged forward like a phantom and slammed her palm against his chest. Without her [Aura Pulse], his barrier prevented him from being knocked backward but this was her intent. She used this shock mitigation to string together several attacks all at once, fueled by her growing frustrations.Linnaeus realized what Ryuuna was doing from the moment his body wasn't sent flying backward. Even then, he decided to stand his ground without moving from his spot. Though he was quite a bit shorter than most, he was nearly a full head taller than Ryuuna. This allowed him to look down at her with a resolute light flashing across his eyes, despite making no attempts to defend himself.Just as Linnaeus' barrier began to fracture and flicker, Ryuuna cocked back her fist in a telegraphed manner as she shouted, "Don't you look at me like that you bastard...!" Following this outburst, her seemingly powerless fist barreled toward the barrier with just enough force to shatter it. She wasn't foolish enough to violate the laws of the Akashic System so, holding back as much as possible, she began to thrash Linnaeus' body like a ragdoll until his health neared the Critical Health threshold.With Linnaeus making no effort to defend himself, Ryuuna was growing increasingly frustrated as a very strong urge to tear his eyes out began to well up inside her. His obstinance actually reminded her a lot of herself, as she was no stranger to beatings, so beating him caused a variety of conflicting emotions that she could only channel into anger and indignation.By the time Ryuuna had finished with him, Linnaeus' eyes had swollen up considerably as a constant stream of blood flowed from his nostrils. In spite of this, he continued to glare at her, their golden eyes fixed on each other as a myriad of emotions were silently communicated between them.Despite the fact she hadn't really exerted herself all that much, Ryuuna was breathing heavily after her violent tirade. She felt like her mind had ants crawling over its surface as an overwhelming desire to break something had seeded itself in her heart. Since she couldn't break the resolve of the boy in front of her, she turned on her heels and, speeding up with a pale-golden aura around her, slammed into the collapsed rubble of the cave like a high-speed projectile.With the pressure and heat differential between the cave and the outside, a backdraft was formed as a result of Ryuuna's furious charge. Much of the heat that had built up inside vanished in a matter of minutes as a potent chill settled within.Even when Ryuuna had disappeared for several minutes, Linnaeus continued to watch the entrance of the cave in silence. He knew what she was trying to do so, while the cold certainly contributed, his body was shaking from rage and frustration.By leaving him alone in the cave, Ryuuna had practically given him a death sentence, circumventing the laws of the Akashic System by exploiting a common loophole. He could chase after her, but this would likely just further incentivize her to evade him until he was in a near-death state. There was no way he could keep up with her speed so she would be able to toy with him at her leisure, deciding his life and death as she pleased.Despite knowing this, Linnaeus didn't regret his decision so, after recuperating his Health and SP, he wrapped his body in a dense layer of fur-covered pelts before venturing out himself. The night was now pitch-dark, without any light to guide him along his path. As for the temperature, it was so cold that he had to nearly solidify his [Barrier Aura] just to resist it. This caused his SP to constantly drain but he refused to just stay holed up in the cave hoping that Ryuuna returned.With the awareness provided to them by their Party, Linnaeus and Ryuuna continued to move away from each other. The latter had paused for a moment when he first began moving in the opposite direction but, moments later, her speed increased once again until her presence was like trying to suss out the light of a single candle several hundred kilometers away.Fortunately, other than a few Frost Slimes, Linnaeus' path of retreat had been relatively safe. Only the elements were slowing his progress, as a thick layer of snow now blanketed the area, but Linnaeus tolerated the biting chill until he reached a familiar canyon.Though there was a very strong wind flowing through the canyon, which now seemed like an endless abyss, Linnaeus wasted no time in leaping down after finding the location of his former abode. With his [Barrier] Magic, he was able to form a few steps while his [Barrier Aura] blocked the strong winds. This allowed him to keep his balance and, after a few hectic moments, Linnaeus reached the hollow that had served as his home prior to seeking out Ryuuna.There were still furs lining the walls of the hollow but, due to the constant exposure, they had frozen solid. Linnaeus tried to pry some of them away but, having no luck, he ultimately just spread out an extra layer of furs before using his [Barrier] to seal off the hollow. This produced a small amount of light but, considering how few Fledglings remained, he doubted there were any foolish enough to be wandering around like him and Ryuuna.It was practically impossible to do anything about the cold but, by staying awake and periodically eating warm rations, Linnaeus was able to tolerate the perpetual chill that felt like daggers stabbing into his bones. If not for the fact that the Green Gel could temporarily remove the Hypothermia and Fever afflictions, he likely would have turned into a frozen status by the end of the first night.---Unlike Linnaeus, whose survival knowledge was largely based on his personal experiences, Ryuuna had received a proper education while attending school in the Megacity. Though she had rarely ever seen snow, she knew it had insulating properties so, after traveling far enough that she could hardly sense Linnaeus, she wasted no time in creating a burrow in a large hill of snow.It would have been better to make an igloo, a hemispherical structure formed of compact ice and snow, but her body was already so cold that she couldn't feel her fingers and toes. She wanted to complain to whatever entity designed the bodysuits as, for whatever reason, they did not cover the hands and feet at all. As a result, the pinky toe on her left foot had started to blacken slightly so she was forced to cut it off after digging several meters through the snow and permafrost below.Frostbite was a troublesome affliction but, with the regeneration provided by her high Constitution, it wouldn't take long for the toe to grow back completely. She just needed to keep her health above 50%, something that was relatively easy considering she regenerated more nearly 750 per minute. It also helped that she had the [Abnormal Status Resistance] Skill as, even if she got afflicted with Fever and Hypothermia, they would fade away after a few minutes.Even if she didn't have the means to treat Hypothermia, however, Ryuuna wasn't too worried as her regeneration would still be enough to fight off the effects of the cold. Hypothermia only reduced a person's mobility and health regeneration by half, so she still regenerated around 375 per minute during the brief moments it took hold of her.At this point, Ryuuna was determined to just wait out Linnaeus until he either died or came running to her once again. She knew her actions were more than a little petty but this was the only way she could deal with her frustrations at the time. Now, even though she wanted to return, her pride would not allow her to do so. She would rather deal with the biting cold than lower her head and apologize to someone, especially when she felt he was just as much to blame as she was...While steeling her resolve and using what few supplies she had to form a cocoon of sorts, Ryuuna's nose turned sour when her stomach suddenly grumbled. She had eaten just a few hours prior but, after running such a long distance, she was suddenly hungry once again. Unfortunately, all she had on hand were a few pieces of frozen meat stored away in her Inventory for emergency situations.Unlike Linnaeus, Ryuuna rarely went long periods of time without eating as her Blessing required her to expend Health as a resource. Since she exerted her body an arduous amount, she generally ate up to five meals a day, interspaced by small snacks here and there. Now, due to her haste, she was left without any real food to subsist upon. This caused Ryuuna to form a deep frown and, even though it was her own decision to abandon Linnaeus, she couldn't help blame him for hoarding all their food.Ryuuna conveniently overlooked the fact she had forced Linnaeus to use up some of his SP just to keep her meals warm. Being angry made her at least feel warmer so, while periodically stretching to increase blood flow to her extremities, she continued to brood and blame Linnaeus for her current predicament. If he somehow managed to survive this Floor, she swore to get even with him the next time they met. At the very least, he would need to prepare her a feast or she would pummel him until his face looked like a pig...---While curled up in a ball of furs, Linnaeus suddenly sneezed hard as a dribble of snot escaped his reddened nose. Almost immediately thereafter, the small trail of fluid froze solid so he had to break it free before burying his face into the slowly freezing furs. This was a miserable experience for him but, as it reminded him a lot of his first winter after leaving the orphanage, it wasn't intolerable.Linnaeus kept himself focused by glaring at the information panel like it was his sworn enemy. There were only 9 Fledglings remaining by the morning of the sixteenth day so, if he was patient, he would be able to reach the Fourth Floor without having to chase after Ryuuna. He knew this was what she wanted to he refused to give her the satisfaction of seeing him in a desperate state. Fortunately, he had all their food and supplies so, whenever he felt especially frustrated, Linnaeus could pull out a skewer of seasoned meat before engorging himself with a petulant sneer on his face...

Chapter 31: Observer