Contrary to my expectation, I quickly found a secluded cave. Much like what I had lived in for my first months, it was more of a hole in the mountainside than an actual cave. Still, it was a little bit larger, just enough to make for a comfortable temporary home. With the ground slanted upwards, no snow had fallen in. It was still very cold, though. I decided to solve that issue with my heating plate. It took a bit of mana but not as much as to be risky. At least for the time, I was trying to rest it would be a wonderful way to improve my comfort.

I decided to get my first rest then and there. It was still a few hours until sunset but I had used over three-quarters of my mana. Pouring a little of what was left into my artefact I got ready to restore my energies and calm down my racing heart.

The experience of dropping without anything to slow me down had been exhilarating. It had also completely smashed my metal form. Thinking back on my idea shortly after I saw the impact site, I might have been a bit stupid. Even if I managed to steer my drop without slowing down much, I would be extremely vulnerable after landing. It was only possible to use if I knew I could kill my target and there was nothing else threatening me after. And with all the practice needed to make sure I could target my fall, the effort seemed not worth it. If I improved my destruction mana attacks, I might find more devastating attacks without putting myself in danger.

An hour or two after nightfall, I was finally rested enough to move out again. Of course, I made sure to store my heating plate and have a meal from my storage.

The nightly mountains were not very spectacular by themselves but with the soft shine of the moon lighting up the fresh snow and frozen trees, I had an amazing view of the valleys and flanks. No movement from anything living was around the wasteland Stormbringer had left behind. Only fine wisps of red and white mana seeped out of cracks in the dirt. It was quite literally magical. It looked like tiny grounded auroras forming a badly constructed spiderweb all over the land.

I rose and checked on the surrounding valleys and sure enough, there was more mana. Though it dropped off quickly, soon marking the end of the devastation. It was much easier to see the width of the trail at night.

Dropping again, I got ready to observe the wisps of mana more closely. They had increased a little from what I had seen when I first inspected the ground a few days ago. Most mana now reached about half a metre above the ground, thirty centimetres of that often covered in snow. Pushing the white powder aside, I saw the cracks were starting to close. White crystals of order mana were forming on the edges and where two cracks met, life mana combined to larger clumps. I was careful not to touch them since this had to be the reason for the land regaining its life. It absolutely made sense that life mana would be responsible for it.

The order mana might just repair the broken earth and stone though I was wondering why it was not earth in that case. There had to be something more to it. What it was, eluded me at this time.

I kept watching for most of the night and got a little rest around morning before returning. The place was healing progressively faster with order and life mana replacing the ice mana brought by the magical blizzard. I found the shrubs around me to return to life as well which got me curious. So I flew back the way I came until finding trees in the trail of destruction. Careful inspection told me they were regaining their life slowly as well. Most of them at least. A few had cracked on outright shattered and were no longer able to be restored. Where would their replacements come from? Would there even be some? I was very curious as to how long they had survived. Were these trees here before Stormbringer’s summer pass or had they grown after? If it was the latter, how? Was the life mana something special that only existed on this path the dragon took? Was that why he was flying here? Or was it a side effect of whatever magic he used?

I should make sure to inspect the area before he would come by again. I should have done that before he passed by this time. What was I thinking? Ah, well. No use crying over spilt beans. I just had to check in a few months again.

My research and observation continued for another week before I started to notice any major changes. By then, the wisps of mana were starting to fade and the order crystals had been absorbed by the earth. Glass had started to shape around them. Animals had also started to move into the area. Most of them were just normal wildlife but a few spotted signs of mana enrichment. [Identify] showed most of them were reaching the end of their lifespan. While I did not know how long every animal lived in the wild, I was pretty sure ten years was already quite old for most species, especially the rodents and birds. Larger mammals had a few more years on their backs but they were the exception. The weather simply was not able to sustain them with everything still frozen. Though besides the one pack of wolves nothing even ventured into the devastation. I spotted a herd of goats at the edge but they kept to places where there was still living plants beneath the snow.

It had not snowed again since Stormbringer passed by but with how cold it was there still was a layer over ten centimetres thick covering everything. It made it a little difficult to keep observing one and the same spot. I had to defend the grass I uncovered for observation against any vegetarians seeking to eat.

Speaking of, the grass was regaining life rapidly. Most of it was no longer infused with ice mana at all and simply frozen from the temperature. Most trees were also starting to regain their colour. Soon, I would be able to sit on branches again without breaking them. Maybe another week at most and life would have returned completely.

That week turned out to be plagued by annoyances. More and more wildlife was looking to gain power from the vis crystals still around everywhere. The snow had fully receded as well. It could not have been as cold as I felt all the time. How else would it have melted? The strangest part was that it did not melt. It simply disappeared. My best guess was evaporation. Maybe along with the ice mana dissipating, the snow could no longer hold and simply sublimated. That somewhat made sense since I saw the life and order mana push away from the ground but the air was still filled with ice vis. I could not get my head around the temperature being below freezing but snow simply disappearing. For now, I simply wrote it down in my notebook and continued my observation.

The biggest problem really was the wildlife. Not that there was any risk for me but I was still bothered by other raptors. An eagle and a flock of crows took offence at my presence on back to back days, severely hampering my research by manner of distraction. As I returned to the cleared area I had been observing, the grass had been nibbled away by the same goats I had seen the week before. I used [Intimidating Screech] in my anger and the animals shot off in a panic which made me feel a little better. I still had to clear a new spot for observation.

I had not even gotten any levels since I did not kill any of them. I simply did not want to pursue the birds when I had business to attend to.

By the third week, the weather had fully stabilized. The ice mana in the air was gone and it had returned to near-zero temperatures. I knew because on day 18 snow started to fall. There was no longer any life or order mana seeping out from below and every last vis crystal had been harvested for power. None of them had reached a reasonable size so I had not taken any for myself. The wildlife had calmed down as well and turned in for the actual winter. It was almost like Stormbringer had flipped a switch to turn the world cold and it did not manage to flip it back on its own. It probably would come another few months but I was not planning on just sitting here for that long. I decided on one more week before looking for a cave while moving towards Roguk’s village.

The end of the fourth week was here. I was surprised by my own patience with how little had been happening. I was simply enjoying myself being an owl. I hunted twice a day for some fresh food, which was actually somewhat challenging with the snow and how little everything alive moved around. That must have been the reason for getting another level in [Assassin]. I put the point into Intelligence, bringing it to 42. Sadly, that did not help me find an answer to any of my questions. I did find two of my Skills having levelled, though. Both [Sneak] and [Owl Stomach] had reached level six.

Maybe I should try to find a way to push my level a little harder. Or work on some of my Skills sitting at a Breakpoint. I had to admit, my Class called for action that I currently could not easily get. Just challenging myself to hunt difficult food would bring me up there at some point unless I got myself killed. That was honestly not very improbable. My shifted form was a second life of sorts but I needed it prepared before a fight. And while my evolution had said my self was stored in my core, I still was not sure how that worked. If my whole body was destroyed but my core kept whole, what would happen to me? Maybe I should investigate, but how? I needed some way of restoring my body no matter how broken it was. That did not sound like the kind of thing a level 60 [Assassin] could pull off. Not even a level 30 Sgiathan Dorcha Owl would have a much better chance.

For now, I moved towards the goblin village. I knew the general direction but I was not delusional. It was likely I could only find it after leaving the mountains behind and retracing my steps from the valley I had used to enter the area. And with my real body shifted outside, I might even feel capable enough to investigate the edge of the forest.