Sion was currently standing atop a mountain. There were traces of snow around him, but nothing compared to the forest behind him.
From above, he could see a city in the distance. It was surrounded by black stone walls, and on top of the walls, he could see remnants of ice and snow. This showed that this region was still cold, even though it was less than one percent of the forest.
Two large dirt roads led to the side entrances of the city. In the direction he was facing, there were no entrances, so he would have to head towards one.
Sion made up his mind and began to descend the mountain towards the left entrance.
After another two hours of running, he reached one of them. He was still a little far from the city. The area where he was standing was empty, only footprints on the ground were visible, either from people or horse-drawn carriages.
Sion then headed toward the city entrance.
He quickly reached the gate. At the entrance, there was a small line of five people, with a guard on each side wearing black armor and swords hanging from their waists.
As soon as they heard footsteps approaching, they looked back.
Sion immediately attracted attention when he reached the end of the line.
Some paid attention to his clothes, which were really strange, just a beast skin still with bloodstains. In his right hand he carried another piece, which seemed to have something wrapped in it.
But that didn't matter so much to them. What really caught everyone's attention was his youthful appearance, his face unlike anything they had ever seen before.
His skin was absurdly pale, but in an unnatural way, in a way they had never seen before. His crystal-blue eyes were like ice crystals. His hair was straight and black with a few white strands.
He was extremely handsome, even too much so, but it still felt strange to look at him, especially when they fixed their gaze on his forehead for just a few seconds.
In the center of Sion's forehead, a snowflake mark like a tattoo was engraved. The mark glowed with a faint blue light that exuded a cold energy that Sion had never seen or noticed before.
In fact, he still had no idea what he looked like in this new body.
Sion looked back at the people, heavily clothed and almost all armed in some way. As he looked into the eyes of the people who stared at him like an exotic animal, the same reaction came from all of them. Sion realized that quickly when they looked in the direction of his eyes, they all reacted the same way.
'Tsk. Am I somehow ugly or scary?' Sion thought after seeing the people in line instantly avert their gaze with strange expressions when they looked at his face.
The line soon moved forward, and Sion just watched the people enter, and quickly it was his turn. Only he remained outside the city.
Sion then heard a voice coming from the guard furthest away from him.
"I'm going to take a piss, and I'll be right back. There's only one person left, so it's fine. You take care of it."
After saying that, the guard entered the city before disappearing from Sion's view.
Then he approached the remaining guard.
"Five copper coins to enter the city of Coldri," the guard said, looking at Sion, who immediately frowned.
"I don't have any money on me. Is there another way?" Sion asked, looking at the guard, who narrowed his eyes as he put his hand on the sword at his waist.
Sion saw the guard's action, and his expression closed even more.
"What do you think you're doing?" Sion asked suddenly in a cold voice, and the guard instantly stopped what he was saying. Not because of Sion's words, but because as soon as he decided to expel this beggar, he saw the snowflake on his forehead glow with a dangerous light.
He felt a slight, invisible pressure that could easily break, but it was something he instinctively knew he shouldn't make things difficult for Sion. After years of guarding the city entrance, he had seen countless people and developed a kind of danger sensor. This situation had happened before, and he already understood. There are people who, even if they seem weak, are better left alone.
Sion, seeing the guard frozen and then dropping his sword like the others, thought of a solution.
"Here, will this do?" Sion said, opening the makeshift bag where the bear meat was stored. The meat was in perfect condition and still slightly frozen. Since leaving the forest, he had constantly kept it frozen with his energy so it wouldn't spoil.
"Yes, just this part will do. Welcome to the city of Coldri," said the guard after taking a small piece of meat.
This wasn't really allowed, but the guard was alone, so no one would see, and he decided not to make things difficult for Sion.
Sion then entered the city.
The main street was quiet, most people wearing heavier clothes for the cold. Almost all of them were black.
In addition, Sion noticed that everyone was armed.
The architecture of the city was simple, based on black stones and white wood. Sion soon began to see a few shops, among them, two large stores, one on each side of the street, caught his attention.
Their architecture was completely different from the city, looking much more luxurious.
Sion saw a metal sign above one of the stores with letters he had never seen before, but they seemed to be written in a perfect and eye-catching way, and for some reason he could understand perfectly what was written.
"Golden Hall…"
Sion stopped in front of the store entrance when he suddenly saw a young woman coming out at the same time.
As soon as she saw his face, she seemed to be startled for some reason, putting Sion on guard.
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Mei Li and the other three had arrived in the city a few hours ago.
The three went directly to the mansion of the city's ruler, where the external elder of their sect was living. Upon arriving, Deacon Fei and the elder began to talk about what had happened. Deacon Fei said that the three were free to walk around the city, but they had to return in six hours.
Mei Li separated from the Ji brothers and began to explore the city. In fact, there was not much for her to see here. She had seen many cities countless times larger than this one; it was like being in the countryside.
But after an hour of exploring the city, she found a familiar store that she had been to in other cities.
"So there's also a Golden Hall branch here, I hope they have something interesting." Mei Li was intrigued and quickly entered the store.
After looking at the merchandise, she bought only one thing and put it in a small brown bag at her waist.
Then she decided to leave the store, satisfied. It was then, as soon as she passed through the door, that she saw someone who made her body freeze for a moment, taking a step back.
Their eyes met. Mei Li remembered the boy she saw facing the bear in the frozen forest. Her gaze fell on the mark on his forehead, and at that moment, she felt her eyes burn. But she didn't look away, for some reason, she couldn't.
****************************
Sion also continued to stare at her, mainly because she seemed to be frightened of him and also because she was the only person who didn't look away after a few seconds.
The two continued to stare at each other, their minds filled with thoughts. Sion then suddenly noticed that Mei Li's eyes seemed to be changing color slightly as she looked at him.
'What's going on?'
His thoughts were interrupted when an angry male voice came from behind him.
"WHY ARE YOU STANDING THERE BLOCKING THE WAY, YOU BEGGAR?"
"MOVE, GET OUT OF THE WAY! I DON'T HAVE ALL DAY LIKE YO-
said the man as he raised his hand toward the beggar in front of him, trying to push him away. But as soon as his hand touched Sion's arm, he couldn't complete his sentence when a pain greater than anything he had ever felt arose in his hand. In an instant, his hand froze completely inside.
"AAAAAAAHHH, MY HAND, MY HAND, MURDERER, CALL THE GUARDS, QUICK, CALL A DOCTOR!!"
Sion didn't even have time to think about what was happening before the situation escalated absurdly.
'What the hell?'
Sion thought as he saw a middle-aged man in luxurious clothes writhing on the floor in pain, his hand completely purple and quickly turning black. A cold energy familiar to Sion emanated from the man's hand.
The man's screams of pain and cries soon caused a small commotion, and curious onlookers and four guards from the Golden Hall appeared around Sion and the man on the floor.
"System, what happened?"
'Ding!'
[Racial passive ability (Snow Skin): Direct hostile contact with the host will be automatically frozen.]
"This is interesting…" Sion said aloud with a crooked smile, not caring much about the man suffering on the ground.
"ARREST HIM, HE ATTACKED ME, QUICK, WHAT ARE YOU DOING STILL STANDING THERE?" The man shouted with hatred at the Golden Hall guards as he looked at Sion furiously.
The guards felt a slight revulsion upon hearing the man's voice giving orders to them, but knowing his identity as a frequent customer, they decided to stay on his side.
As the four guards were about to move, a calm female voice rang out.
"Stop immediately!"
The guards, as well as everyone else, looked toward the entrance of the Golden Hall, where a beautiful young girl with light brown hair and green eyes was slowly walking out.
Before any of the guards could say anything to her, she took a small plaque out of her small brown bag at her waist and quickly held it up for everyone to see.
The guards immediately recognized it, as did some people.
"WHAT? WHY DID YOU STOP? ARREST HIM NOW!" The man on the ground shouted again only to be kicked in the arm by one of the guards with his injured hand.
The man screamed even louder in pain, not understanding why the guard did that.
"I, Mei Li, of the Silent Mountain sect, saw what happened. This man tried to touch the young man first, and the young man only acted in self-defense."
The guards, after hearing Mei Li's words, imagined exactly what had happened here. The guards immediately gave up on arresting Sion.
Sion, who until then had only been observing the situation, looked at Mei Li in surprise, who with just one word had resolved the situation. He had thought he was going to become a criminal on his first day in this city.
He then looked at the man lying on the ground. As soon as the man saw Sion's gaze on him, his hatred ceased as terror quickly arose, not knowing why Sion was starting to approach him.
"GET OUT, GET OUT, MONSTER!" The man screamed, but Sion didn't even bother.
As soon as he got close to the man, the icy energy in the man's hand stirred, causing him to scream even louder and almost faint. But before that happened, Sion pulled that energy toward him with his mind in the same way he controlled the snow in the forest.
From inside the man's hand, countless needles, practically invisible, shot out quickly toward Sion, then turned into small snowflakes, which were absorbed back into the palm of his hand.
The man couldn't take it anymore and fainted and was soon taken away by one of the people around him.
Seeing that the commotion was over, everyone around left, but not before taking one last look at Sion with various thoughts and murmurs.