A shadow blurred, passing over corpses—most of which had either been brutally smashed into blood and gore or killed in a single piece of a weapon. In essence, only half of them looked as if they could have been done by the Hero of Heart, the other half could only have been completed by her companions.

"What a massacre," It muttered, flickering into a building which doors had been smashed open.

There, she came upon a crimson gem.

'Wow, she wasn't lying at all,' The figure thought as it circled the gem.

With all of the Goblins deader than dead, the final investigations into the mines owned by Black Lagoon proceeded smoothly and ended rather early in the morning.

A clunk rang on the counter and Claire stared at the pouch. She opened it then looked back up with puzzlement.

"There are more than 2 gold coins here."

"Yes. 2 gold coins for accomplishing the request, and 5 more for the Philosopher's Stone. Making a total of 700 silver coins."

"I was given extra for the stone?"

"Yes. They are valuable for beasts and demons, but even more so for humans. 'Consuming' one and willing it will increase the rank of a skill or one of your status plates. The higher the rank already is, the larger or more numerous a Philosopher's Stone is needed. You could have sold it yourself, but you left it there."

"So, the Guild stole my prize without notifying me that I could have taken it for myself?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

Clara was forthright in speaking. She hid nothing as she felt she had no reason to. There was a perpetual light smile on her face as she looked at the crass girl before her. She found it all a bit humorous.

"And how much is it worth?"

"Oh, with how big it was, maybe 50 gold coins. Certainly could leap an F ranked skill or plate to that of at least the C+ rank. Any higher a rank and it might only get it up a minor rank at most."

"So the adventure guild robbed me?"

"No, that's not too right, we gave you 5 gold coins."

". . ."

". . ."

"I see."

Claire left, grimacing slightly.

"What's next?" Alicia tilted her head when they came outside, to which Claire placed a hand on her shoulder.

"This."

She blinked her eyes as a world of ice came into view. All around her was snow. From the fluttering white in the air to the layers of it beneath her feet. She walked, her figure seemed to transcribe the landscape in the blink of an eye, the scenery blurred away, and she came upon a tower that reached the sky. Her sword would be somewhere in this realm, as well.

"Do you feel any coldness?"

"Hmm?"

Alicia thought for a bit and shook her head, her eyes curiously staring at the tower that had once imprisoned her.

'Interesting,' Claire turned to the girl and focused her attention.

The vampire still felt nothing and Claire could only applaud the she wore. Still, she did feel that unless she willed it, most people and things would be safe from the Glacial World, either way.

"Come," She tugged at the vampire and placed a hand on the tower.

A bright light later and the two disappeared.

The scenery changed to an icy blue as she tapped her feet on a crystal clear floor.

It was like a Paradox. She felt the tower still within her Glacial World, yet she was inside of the Tower itself. Either she was within something that was within her, or. . .

'My Glacial World is an entirely separate dimension that isn't restricted to being 'in me'?'

That was the most logical conclusion she came to.

[You could have simply wished to enter the tower from the outside world, you know?]

There came that ancient voice.

"I'll keep that in mind in the future."

She stared up.

"We would like to challenge the second floor, then."

Their bodies disappeared and they appeared on another floor. This one was similar in structure as the previous, save for a lonesome figure sitting with its legs crossed.

[This floor has 2 rewards: Unlocking the 'Home' floor, and the Glacial Globe. It's a relatively simple floor, but it should still be somewhat challenging. Good luck, disciple of mine.]

"Thank you, teacher, that has yet to teach me anything."

As soon as her voice fell, the figure stood up. It resembled the image of the Frozen Knight she had once met, except it was as small as her and lacked any armor or defining features. It merely took the shape of a human, faceless, and slender.

The air shuddered and rows of ice lined its front. It raised a hand, blue light dancing in its palms, and slapped them forward. The air whistled and spears of ice shot forward.

"Let me! Let me!"

Alicia leaped forward with the excitement she always felt for battle. She raised her fist as blood squirmed out and punched.

There was no contest.

Strings of blood as sharp as blades tore through the sky, cutting down each and every one of the attacks. The creature raised its head, it shifted a leg back and slammed the other onto the floor.

The crystal floor squirmed and morphed like a mirror. It rose into the air and rushed out like a wave as it became spikes. The red strings that rampaged the air did nothing to stop it and Alicia quickly flapped into a bat and flew back.

Yet, as she faced the attack, Claire chuckled and tapped her foot upon the ground. Whoever said she couldn't freeze what was already frozen?

Ice wallowed and in no time, the crystal-like spikes became nothing more than frozen sculptures.

She raised a hand. A spear of ice spun, gleaming like a mirror's surface as she forced the ice to sharpen and harden to its limits.

"Goodbye."

She threw it.

There was a spectacular boom that followed her attack.

The spear pierced forward and impaled the head of the Knight before it could even move its body.

It was fast, but her spear was faster, and in no time at all, it impaled into the ground. The creature shattered and crumbled, fluttering away into nothing more than specks of snow that soon disappeared as her spear clanked against the floor.

"Once again, trying to fight me with ice attacks. . .is suicidal," Claire muttered as she tapped the floor.

The ground squirmed back under her control as it reshaped to its normal crystal image.

[. . .did I make this floor too easy?]

"You don't say?"

[No no! I definitely do say! I made this floor hard! H A R D! For any normal person who's only good at ice magic but dammit, you're too good!]

"Not my problem," Claire didn't care about the ramblings of her Ghost Mentor or whatever he really was, she looked around, "Where's the reward?"

At those words, a ball of light fell down to her front and hovered there. She reached out both hands, and both she and Alicia tilted their head as they stared at it.

[Crystal Globe: Holds memories of locations the user has traveled to before. Allows the ability to teleport to those locations.]

The item was spherical and immensely clear, having the same luster as the pillar she stood within.

"It's called 'Glacial Globe' but this really has nothing to do with ice, doesn't it?"

"Hump hump," Alicia nodded, twice, "It's just a ball."

[It's an Ice Globe! I might have sapped some space magic into it, but don't you feel the coldness on your palms?]

"No, I do not."

[. . .right, you Ice Queen.]

She ignored his words and tugged at the orb before a frown crossed her lips.

"Why can't I move it?"

[The tower was made in conjecture with my old friend, Fren the Sage of Space. The globe uses the power of the tower—you need to be within it to use it.]

At a certain place high up in a certain differing dimension, a certain goddess glared at a certain well-dressed man, to which the person shrugged and sipped his wine. 'Fucking Whaler, that thing's broken,' She mouthed, mind twinkling in the thought of a counter Whale of herself.

[You've also unlocked the 'Home' floor, would you like to go to that?]

"Oh?" Claire raised a brow at that, releasing her hand from the crystal ball for a moment and nodding, "Yes, please."

They disappeared and appeared again within another floor.

"Whoa—." Alicia mouthed as she looked around.

There was a massive bed of fluffy white parked right next to a crystal wall. In front of that bed, the forward most wall was clear and see-through, showing the outside Glacial World of blowing white snow—a beautiful sight. Alicia has already jumped onto the bed in glee, and Claire made the decision to look around.

To the left of that bed was an area that appeared quite familiar to her, counters, and what she thought may be stoves. The design of it all was a cream-colored limestone. Next to that was a spiral stairway that led both up and down.

[This is technically 'one house' but it holds everything you can ever need. There's a kitchen—with some special 'boxes' Fren made along with the design of this floor—there's a bathhouse that has a pool, and there's a bathroom. . .don't ask why or how they work, they just do. There's also a lower and upper 'floor' to this place, which hold the living room, and added living quarters in that order. That wall over there can be made see-through or not as you wish.]

'Lazy writing.'

Oh for sure.

She looked and wondered why the design of the place reminded her so much of a New York apartment. Was the person named 'Fren' also a world hopper? It seemed logical if he really controlled Space.

"You once told me the tower could change its shape and size, right?"

[Yes, what of it?]

"Good. I'm going to plop it right down in Aclair. Though, I suppose, I would need to buy land first."

And that was her goal at the moment, buy a plot of land and place a house-shaped pillar upon it.

"Alice. . ."

"Let me sleep a bit~"

The vampire buried her head in the pillows as Claire rolled her eyes. Sometimes she seemed like a battle maniac, other times she was simply a puppy. She turned around and squinted, looking out into a vast expanse of fluttering snow and endless white.

'It really is a nice view. . .likely to become mundane soon enough,' She thought.

'I might be stuck in this world for now, but I'll make the most of it.'

She turned to see her companion already napping soundly. For a vampire that didn't need to sleep, she sure did enjoy that aspect of living.