About ten ters away from Han Yu, a river flowed freely, its surface unfrozen and crystal clear, water rushing over smooth stones with a cheerful sound completely at odds with the frozen wilderness beyond.
Han Yu stared.
Then he looked down at himself.
He froze again.
"…Why is there no snow here?" he muttered slowly.
A second later, another thought hit him.
"…Why am I warm?"
The Harrow Mountains were freezing. He should have been shivering, teeth chattering, breath fogging the air.
Instead, he felt comfortably warm, almost cozy.
Suspicion crept in.
Han Yu lowered his gaze further.
His eyes widened.
"…Wait."
He looked again.
"…Wait."
He slapped his chest.
Bare skin.
He looked down fully.
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing... Well other than his little dragon, nothing.
The silence shattered.
"WHY AM I NAKED!?"
Han Yu sprang to his feet with a shout that echoed across the clearing, spinning in place as if expecting soone to leap out of the snow and accuse him of indecency. His hands flew instinctively to cover himself as his face burned hotter than any fla he had ever conjured.
"What happened!? Did I get robbed!? Did so insane beast strip !? Did I sleepwalk through a nightmare!?"
His panic escalated rapidly as he scrambled around, eyes scanning the ground.
Then he saw it.
Chitterfang.
The small beast lay sprawled beside his leg, having fallen down. He completely hairless, pink, and glowing faintly with red veins visible beneath its skin.
Han Yu's mind blanked.
He stared.
Then scread.
"CHITTERFANG!?"
He dropped to his knees and scooped the creature up, holding it at arm's length with a horrified expression.
"WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU!? WHY ARE YOU NAKED!? WHY DO YOU LOOK LIKE A BOILED DUMPLING!?"
Chitterfang stirred weakly, squeaking faintly before curling into a tiny ball, apparently unconcerned with its new, highly disturbing appearance.
Han Yu swallowed hard.
"…You better be okay," he muttered shakily.
Then realization struck him again.
"WAIT."
He glanced down at himself once more.
"…WHY AM I ALSO NAKED!?"
His head snapped around as if the mountains themselves might answer him.
"I DID NOT SIGN UP FOR THIS!"
Heart pounding, Han Yu scrambled for his spatial storage pouches, half expecting them to be gone. Relief flooded him the instant his fingers brushed against familiar fabric lying beside him on the ground.
"Phew!" He sagged. "Okay, not robbed. That's sothing."
He quickly pulled out a spare set of thick clothes and dressed with frantic urgency, layering everything properly before finally exhaling. Only after he was fully clothed again did he feel his dignity return to sothing resembling intact.
He sat back down and took a breath.
"…Alright," he said slowly. "Let's review."
He gestured vaguely at the barren clearing.
"No snow."
He gestured at the river.
"Unfrozen water."
He pointed at Chitterfang.
"Naked rat. Almost a Molerat now."
He pointed at himself.
"Naked . Forrly."
Han Yu rubbed his face.
"This is officially worse than the ti I woke up buried under three feet of snow with a Frost Hill Wolf licking my face."
He closed his eyes and searched inward.
There it was.
The tiny fla.
It was still there, smaller now, reduced to a faint spark, but undeniably real. It pulsed gently, radiating warmth through his body, keeping the cold at bay as if it were nothing more than a mild inconvenience.
Han Yu pressed a hand to his abdon.
"…So this is your doing," he murmured.
The spark flickered faintly as if responding to him.
He looked around one last ti at the hundred ter circle of lted land, the scorched trees, the evaporated snow, and the peacefully flowing river.
A shaky laugh escaped him.
"I survive Wyverns, evil spirits, cursed cold mountains, and freezing rivers," Han Yu said to the empty air. "But in the end, it's spontaneous combustion that gets my clothes."
Chitterfang squeaked softly, as if agreeing.
Han Yu glanced at the hairless rodent and sighed.
"…We're never telling anyone about this."
Han Yu stood there for a long mont, breathing slowly, forcing his racing thoughts to settle.
He was alive.
That alone already placed this outco well above average for anything involving the Harrow Mountains.
He looked down at himself once more, tugged at the sleeves of his freshly donned clothes, then glanced at Chitterfang, who was curled comfortably against his chest like nothing extraordinary had happened at all.
"…Alright," Han Yu muttered. "Let's establish the important facts first."
He raised a finger.
"I am alive."
Another finger.
"You are alive."
A third finger, directed at Chitterfang.
"You are naked, hairless, and look like a plucked roast rodent."
Chitterfang squeaked softly, one pink paw twitching.
"…But alive," Han Yu added quickly. "Which is the most important part."
That reassurance allowed the tension in his chest to finally loosen. His shoulders sagged, and he let out a slow breath he did not realize he had been holding since waking up.
Only then did he allow himself to truly examine the rat.
Chitterfang's appearance was still deeply unsettling.
Its fur was completely gone, leaving behind smooth pink skin that looked almost translucent.
Faint, glowing veins appeared beneath the surface from ti to ti, pulsing softly with a warm orange-red light before fading again. It looked less like a rodent now and more like so strange alchemical specin that had escaped from a laboratory.
Han Yu frowned.
"This is… not normal," he said quietly.
He extended his spirit sense and gently probed Chitterfang's body, careful not to alarm it. What he felt made his brows knit together.
Fire energy.
Pure, dense fire energy flowed through the small creature's ridians, circulating naturally as if it belonged there. It was not chaotic, nor was it damaging Chitterfang's body. On the contrary, the energy felt stable, almost harmonious.
And it was unmistakably familiar.
"…That's the sa energy," Han Yu murmured. "The sa fla as mine."
The realization sent a faint chill through him that had nothing to do with temperature.
He turned his perception inward and confird it again. The tiny spark within his own body responded faintly, as if acknowledging its kin.
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