Icard couldn't tell how long he was unconscious. He simply woke up after what felt like a long while.
"Ugh" he groaned as he sat up. He looked at his body next. It had been completely defrosted.
"Huh? That was real?" He thought to himself, remembering the panel he saw before completely blacking out.
"It said Regelation. That's not something I get till the third floor..." He said to himself then it struck him again.
"Wait. How...did I..." He stuttered, trying to find words.
His confusion was, the fact the panel had appeared before him before he was integrated into the Frost Tower.
In his past life, he only began seeing system panels after Erient had integrated him and made him an incarnation. That was after passing his trials of course.
"You're awake" the blue lady said, standing not too far from him.
Icard jumped immediately, ready for a fight. Knowing his System was active, he was ready to pick a fight, and die fighting, at least.
[Snow Vine (level 1)]
Icard activated this skill and both of his hands turned white. His breath also became much chill and his tension from earlier faded.
"Haha" she laughed. "I was wondering why you would let yourself get stabbed like that. But then, you didn't know, did you?"
Icard realised. She was talking to him like he could do something about it. But then, how was he supposed to know.
He had tried using a low level skill much earlier but nothing happened.
But then, it made sense since he had regressed to a time before the systems had been distributed.
And so, how was he supposed to know? He simply didn't bother to try to use it again.
She kept mocking him but Icard wasn't up for any of that.
"Who are you?" he asked sedately.
She could see the severity in his gait now so she stopped laughing.
"Hmm. It seems you're ready to play"
"I'm not here to play. I'm here to do what I came to do" Icard replied.
"And what did you come to do?"
"It's none of your business if you don't belong here" Icard said then took a fighting stance. " I won't ask you again. Who are you?"
The blue lady scoffed.
"I think I might like you. Hehe" she chuckled and then disappeared again.
Icard was fully on guard this time but then, she didn't appear behind him this time. She went back to the top of the tower.
"Welcome, Icard" she said, her tone sounding much more formal as she addressed him from there.
"My name is Alyxara" she said. "I am a Herald of Erient, the Celestial"
'I thought so' Icard said inwardly.
"I didn't mean to startle you that much" she said and giggled again. "I really thought you would have done something about it"
"What are you doing here?" Icard asked again, not interested in any other thing she had to say.
"Hmm" she hummed, her eyes narrowing at Icard's boldness. Then she smirked.
"Do you waaaaant to play?" She asked, her demeanor changing back to what Icard had encountered at first.
Her presence became much heavier and radiated power. Enough to tell Icard that he was no match for her.
He took a step back, steeling his boldness and trying not to get intimidated by her mere presence. He didn't really want to fight but at the same time, he had to know.
"I told you...I'm not here to play" he said. "I'm just not going to let you stab me again without a fight"
"Ooohhh" she said, as though she understood Icard deeply, then stopped. Her intimidating presence dissipated.
"I was sent here by my master to wait for you" she answered. "As I told you, he cannot exist here anymore"
Seeing she wasn't planning on attacking him anymore, Icard cancelled his skill activation.
"So, I am representing my master here" she completed.
Icard exhaled relievedly.
"I see" he said. "So Erient is too busy huh"
"Don't address my master that way, Icard" Alyxara said, suddenly appearing close up to Icard this time.
He winced and stumbled back.
'She's too fast' he thought to himself, noticing just how far apart their statuses were.
Although she had just warned him, her expression was quite high-spirited still.
"Apart from completing the Frost Tower, I understand you achieved immortality before you regressed" she continued again. "You must have been quite powerful, going beyond the ranks of Heralds like me"
"Yeah" Icard said.
"And you traded your Celestial Essence just to return to this pitiful state? Hahaha!" She burst into laughter again.
Icard watched her dryly.
'Just who the hell is she?'
"Pardon my rudeness. My master did tell me you retained his incarnation even after you regressed--but this is hilarious. Hahaha!"
Icard's expression sharpened at that.
"I retained his incarnation?" Icard muttered. Alyxara had to calm herself first since she was laughing really hard.
"Ohh. You didn't look like you knew" she continued. "That's why you couldn't stop me back then"
She then sighed.
"Seeing my master didn't regress, the dimension of the Frost Tower didn't regress as well. Which means, the System still remembers your identity"
Icard's eyes widened.
"You don't mean--"
"Yes. It means that, in this space, your completion of the Frost Tower is still valid"
Icard took some time to absorb that information.
No wonder he was able to use the skill - Regelation - a skill that reversed damage by refreezing his body back into it's original shape.
Alyxara's attack froze his body so it was much easier to repair since his body was already frozen.
That skill was from the third floor. Not something he would have gotten anytime soon in his previous turn.
It slowly sank in.
"So, you mean--I still have everything I made here" Icard said. At that point, he could also understand why Alyxara kept talking about playing.
If he was weak, she wouldn't be so much interested in him or tease him that way or talk to him so freely.
It dawned on him much clearly now.
"I--am already SSS Rank?"