In the end, it was decided that they would enter the Gate.
The duo knew better than to test their luck fighting against the Blood Bear.
In the best case scenario, they would escape into the Gate being heavily injured.
The worst case scenario was quite easy to imagine.
[ Let's go. ] Rein said
The duo entered the light inside the hollow of the tree, which was the Gate.
The moment Ciel came into contact with the soft radiant light, his vision distorted, and he felt a slight headache.
He felt as though he was travelling through space, before losing his senses completely.
After an unknown amount of time, he regained his consciousness in an unknown location.
'Cold… why the hell is it so damn cold?' Ciel slowly regained his senses, his teeth now chattering
He was shivering and his body was trembling by the cold breeze all around him.
He was laying on his stomach, and it seemed like Rein was on his back, still unconscious.
Ciel slowly opened his eyes and looked around. There was snow all around them, with huge ice structures that slightly resembled buildings around them.
The land was vast, and the ice was thick while not transparent at all, with snow everywhere. Under the snow on the ground was even more ice, as if Ciel was on a frozen lake.
The ice buildings looked to be some sort of living area, with holes acting as windows embedded all around the ice structures.
Some of the ice structures were 50 metres tall and thin, while others were 100 metres wide and short.
The sun was high in the sky, but the ice wasn't melting at all.
'Are there other people in here? This is not how a Gate is supposed to be like…'
'Maybe it's because this is a 4th Grade Gate… the records we saw were only of the 1st and 2nd grade.' He thought
Normally, once arriving inside a Gate, one would find themselves in a landscape where they would have to find and destroy the Forsaken Core of the Gate.
There would be Forsakened that defended the Forsaken Core.
However, in this Gate, there was no Forsakened or Forsaken Core anywhere in sight. It was simply too vast.
'This Gate is probably just too large to find something immediately. We'll have to wait and see.'
Ciel carried Rein on his back and went up to one of the tall ice structures.
At the base, there was an icy staircase covered in snow that went a few metres underground. At the bottom, there was a small wooden door that led inside.
Ciel knocked on the door, not really expecting any answer.
After a minute, he had enough of the freezing cold, and decided to enter.
'I'll need to do some work if we want to go outside again...'
He opened the door and looked inside. It looked like a normal hall, but with sturdy ice as the main building materials.
He closed the door behind him, and immediately felt the temperature increase.
Inside the hall was a large sofa made with a wooden base. The cushions were made up of an unknown material that was soft.
In the center of the hall, there was a blue carpet with a small table with chairs around it.
There was a staircase leading up, with strange looking plants in ice pots.
'The floor isn't slippery at all. What type of ice is this?' Ciel thought
He put Rein down on the sofa and studied the situation.
'A world of ice… the ice has strange properties, but is not a magical material like Eternal Stone.'
'How are we meant to find the Forsaken Core in this world? Normally, there would be a problem we need to solve or enemies we would have to defeat to reach the Forsaken Core.'
'This Gate is completely empty, with no sign of any Forsakened or Forsaken Core.'
'Also, we might die from hypothermia if we go outside. Even while inside here it's quite cold.' He thought
As he was thinking, a hand suddenly hit his shoulder.
Ciel jumped in shock, and quickly turned around with a frown.
"What are you thinking so hard about? Where are we? And... why the actual hell is it so cold in here?" Rein with a cunning smile
"… You finally woke up huh. Well, I have no clue where we are."
Ciel explained everything he knew about the situation that they were in to her.
"So… I guess we will find out soon enough. For now, lets check our rewards we got from earlier." Rein said
They had gained Spirit, and now had a Forsaken Core to feed to the Stone of Eternity.
"You really only care about that stuff. Well then, Let's go." Ciel said
"What else is there to care about?" She answered
They entered the Soul World, and checked the new changes.
"5% Spirit was gained… we are now at a total of 30% Spirit Charge."
"Killing two and a half Blood Forsakened only gave us this much… how are we even meant to get to Soul Tier 4 like this?" Rein said in a frustrated tone
They were now 30% stronger than a new Awakened Sorcerer.
If they reached 99% Spirit Charge, they would be that much stronger in terms of raw strength and abilities than a newly advanced Awakened Soul Sorcerer.
"We'll figure it out when we get there. Soul Tier 3 is still quite far away."
Ciel looked next to the Door of Void.
The Stone of Eternity had grown almost ten times the size it was previously.
'We have never fed it a Soul Tier 2 Core… it grew much larger than I expected.'
'We still have one more Soul Tier 3 Core to feed it aswell.' He thought
"Rein, help me out with dismantling the corpse…" He stopped midway
Rein was looking at him with an over exaggerated smile.
"I guess I'm fine…" He said reluctantly
Ciel separated the bear pelt from the meat before trying to butcher the meat to no avail.
'Damn, this blade is not gonna cut it. I guess now is the time to try making a blade from Eternal Stone.' He thought inwardly
He went up to the now large chunk of Eternal Stone. He then separated a katana from it.
At least that was what he tried. Instead, it just looked like a thick pole.
He slowly decreased its thickness, forming its shape into a katana. By the time he was done, it had already been over an hour.
Luckily, separating Eternal Stone took a negligible amount of Spirit Essence for him.
In the final product, the blade itself was blunt, but it was already sharper and much more durable than the katana he previously had.
The katana looked slightly deformed, but it was a huge upgrade from before
'I can't make it any better for now.' He thought
"You're finally done huh. You should make one for me as well." Rein said
"Are you going to help cutting-"
"I'll need it in battle. I'm not gonna be a butcher." She said without remorse
Inside, she wasn't used to asking others for favours.
'I'll pay him back later'
Ciel nodded with a inaudible sigh. He spent another hour separating Eternal Stone to create another katana.
After that, he started slicing the meat of the Blood Bear.
The new katana was way more efficient even though it was blunt.
Soon, he found the Forsaken Core, which was inside the heart. That was the place all Cores formed after the bodies owner perished.
He brought it towards the large chunk of Eternal Stone and pressed them against each other.
The Forsaken Core disappeared and the chunk of Eternal Stone had doubled in size.
'Why do I feel like hunting more Blood Forsakened…' He thought with a sigh
He knew he couldn't be careless. It was due to pure luck and good circumstances that let them kill the Blood Bear and Blood Serpent. One of the Blood Bears even survived.
'I can already feel the regeneration of Spirit Essence being way faster. Before I go back to the physical world, I should make a few more things.'
Rein had already left, saying she would explore the ice structure they were in.
The duo could still communicate mentally from the Soul World, so there were no problems in case of unexpected danger.
After a while, Ciel was ready to leave the Soul World and soon regained consciousness in his physical body.
He then summoned a set of crude winter gear made up of the Blood Bears pelt.
The gear consisted of a set shoes, gloves, pants, a jacket along with a beanie.
They were crude, but well made without any stench. They would allow the duo to go outside into the cold for a while without freezing to death.
Ciel had slight experience with making winter clothes.
Back on Prisma, when winter hit, everyone had to stay indoors. If one wanted to go out, they would need winter clothes, else they would slowly freeze to death.
Ciel spent time learning how to make these types of clothes for him and his sister.
Now that he was in a magical world, it was much easier to make them.
'Not bad. They won't hinder our movements in case of battle. I'll give Rein a pair when I see her.'
The only thing missing was it's aesthetics. But they were not in a position to complain about stuff like that.
[ Rein, where are you? I'm back. ] Ciel said
[ On the second floor. The rooms in these ice structures are awesome. It's like an ice palace in here. ] She replied
Ciel went up the staircase and reached the second floor.
There was a small corridor with two doors leading into a room each.
He opened the door to the left room, and looked inside.
The room was large, and had a luxurious bed in the corner. There was a wardrobe, with a table and desk nearby.
There was also a door leading to a bathroom on the side.
'What the hell… this room is worth more than any house available on Prisma.'
This level of a house interior design would be near impossible to find on Prisma. Even for royal families.
"I told you, didn't I? This place is like a hidden palace." Rein said from behind him
"You're not lying, this is better than anything on my old planet. Also, take these." Ciel gave her the winter gear that he made for her
"Thanks. It is quite cold." She smiled
Ciel nodded.
With nothing else to do, he entered the room and looked out of a window. The sun was setting.
'Is something going to happen at night? I have an ominous feeling…' He thought as he watched the sun set