In the middle of an extremely cold snowy desert, where pine trees grew far apart from one another:
Ichigo's body lay weak, blood pouring from his shoulder.
The blood that had spilled suddenly coagulated, then rose and returned to his body.
Some of the blood became threads, while the rest formed flesh and needles.
A short while later, the wound closed, healed without leaving so much as a trace.
Ichigo then opened his eyes and watched the unused blood from the healing process be absorbed into the white snow.
He stood up abruptly, startling the small creatures that had been watching him.
Ichigo walked slowly.
To the eyes of the small creatures watching him, Ichigo's movements looked like those of a zombie crossing a snowfield.
On top of that, Ichigo's blank stare added to the unsettling impression he left on them.
Until they fled in a panic without Ichigo even noticing.
Ichigo was faintly aware that something had been watching him at that moment.
But he did not manage to see what kind of creature it was.
He then began to examine many things around him: touching the snow, looking at the sky, observing several small animals hiding among the snow, and even touching the trunk of a pine tree.
After doing so, he reached a conclusion.
"This must be the territory of the Marine Kingdom."
So, what exactly is the Marine Kingdom?
It is a kingdom that is the territory of the descendants of the great water spirit.
Their physical traits include hair as blue as the ocean, and in the past they had slightly darker skin, much like most descendants of the great fire spirit.
Their original form was even that of a mermaid.
However, after the death of Yuki White, the weather across many planets became erratic, as the negative energy of the small spirits and fairies no longer had anyone to purify it.
Just as the Winter kingdom, which was once an island with a cold climate matching its name, has now become perpetual spring, so too has Marine, which was once a continent with many islands housing thousands of natural springs and a tropical climate, become an eternal winter.
Yuki White was not merely a guardian of dimensions. She was an idol capable of absorbing negative energy and emotions through deception.
Ichigo stroked and patted the trunk of a pine tree.
"This wood seems suitable for building a temporary shelter." He looked up at the tall tree.
Ichigo then removed one of his gloves and placed his bare hand around the trunk.
The part he touched turned black and began to decay, causing the tree to sway.
Ichigo looked up at the tree and estimated the angle at which it would fall.
He stepped out of the way, and the tree eventually came down with a clean cut, though slightly blackened at the edge.
Using this method, he began to shape the wood.
For many days he built the shelter using this technique. Where the blackened, decayed parts of the wood appeared, he would press his hand against them and found that those sections became extremely sticky, strong enough to serve as adhesive to bind pieces of wood together into a house. During those same days he also ate several petals of the Bloody Mary flower, as well as meat from animals such as two-horned rabbits that he hunted.
Several times Ichigo had no choice but to take shelter behind a pile of wood, wrapped in a white fur coat from an animal he had hunted, when blizzards struck. During those times, Ichigo's hair color returned to its original shade.
"Has the effect worn off?" Ichigo touched his hair then and there.
"That's useful for camouflage." He thought.
Until finally, two months later, the temporary shelter was complete.
Inside were a fireplace, several furs and animal hides, a bed, and other necessities.
It was fully equipped to serve as a temporary home.
He then rested in the soft bed he had made himself.
The next day he began hunting for a food supply, preparing clean water, and felling trees located nearly dozens of kilometers away to use as fuel for the fireplace.
This routine continued until, without him realizing it, five years had passed since he had parted ways with the elf village.
As was Ichigo's usual morning routine, he would hunt several animals to stock food for the week.
He brought fishing equipment and two buckets to go fishing at an oasis near his temporary shelter.
One bucket for fish, the other for clean water.
He then picked up a shovel, as a blizzard had come the night before, and when he pushed the door, it felt heavier than usual.
He opened the door with all his strength.
Sure enough, a pile of snow reaching up to his head had accumulated in front.
Ichigo lifted the shovel he had brought and began carving a path, then steps to get outside.
Walking on top of the thick accumulated snow, he tapped a section of it with one foot.
The pile did not collapse. It was a truly dense and compact mass.
Ichigo determined that the surrounding area was safe enough for him to travel.
The journey to the nearest oasis began.
He carried a leather bag containing his fishing equipment on his back.
Along the way, passing through several pine trees, he detected creatures watching him.
But Ichigo appeared entirely unbothered by them and simply kept walking, until he reached the oasis.
At the oasis, Ichigo carved a hole using a spear made from animal bones and a saw to shape the dense layer of ice into a circle.
He submerged one of the buckets to collect water, and afterward Ichigo scratched his finger with the tip of the spear until it bled, then dripped that blood into the hole he had made.
Ichigo then set up his fishing equipment and lowered the hook into the hole.
Once the preparation was complete, he sat down on a folding chair of his own making.
Despite his instincts telling him something was watching him, he remained seated in complete calm.
Something about that baffled the small creatures that were watching.
Several hours passed. The second bucket was now full of fish. It was time for Ichigo to head back to his temporary shelter.
On the way back, he was watched by the mysterious small creatures once again.
Ichigo suddenly stopped in his tracks, startling the small creatures so much that they stumbled and stamped their feet. The sound of that stamp was more than enough for Ichigo to identify what kind of creatures had been watching him all this time.
"Small creatures, are they." Said Ichigo, his breath visible as steam in the extreme cold.
Ichigo then calmly continued on his way, having confirmed that the creatures following him posed no danger.
He arrived home.
He arranged the fish he had caught by spreading them out on the snow for natural preservation, then cleaned the bucket and filtered the water for drinking.
After that, Ichigo began cutting some of his supply of firewood blocks and throwing them into the fireplace.
One fish was cleaned and skewered on a stripped pine branch, to be made into grilled fish.
Ichigo ate the fish once it was evenly cooked over the fire.
After finishing his meal, Ichigo exercised and trained his martial arts skills for several hours, until he did not even notice that night had fallen.
Ichigo looked at the window, which showed that the sky had gone dark. He closed the door and went to sleep.
A beautiful night, wasn't it?
Even for the mysterious small creatures who had been watching Ichigo for so long, they broke in while he was sleeping.
TO BE CONTINUED