Chapter 117: Snowy’s evolution.

Gilby’s eyes bulged as a stray spore floated right toward his face. "Wait, so what actually happens if your intentions are not pure_"

Before he could finish his sentence, the spore drifted straight into his open mouth.

Gilby’s eyes rolled back, and he stopped moving. At first glance, he might have seemed merely paused, resting mid descent, gathering strength. But the slackness of his arms told another story. His body was swaying slowly in one place. Had the climbing gear not been coiled around his waist tightly, her would have fallen to the ice lake floor.

"Gilby!" Tessi gasped. But within seconds, more spores drifted into her nose, and she went limp, dangling next to him. Hunter, Zyra, and the beasts all collapsed one by one, their consciousnesses fading into pitch blackness.

When Zyra finally opened her eyes, her head was pounding. She groaned, shaking the frost out of her hair. One by one, the others were groaning and sitting up. Gilby was the last to wake, immediately slapping his own cheeks and pinching his arms.

"I’m alive!" Gilby cried out in relief.

They looked around. They were no longer dangling on climbing ropes. They were standing in a bizarre, enclosed ice chamber. The walls were smooth like mirrors, and protruding from the ice were hundreds of pale, glass-like hands. It looked like a graveyard of frozen, reaching arms.

"Beauty..." Zyra whispered, her skin crawling. "How did we get here? Are those... the fungus?"

[I teleported you. And no, host, those are not the fungus. But they will reveal themselves if you go closer.]

Zyra took a deep breath, stepped up to the nearest glass hand, and gently touched it.

With a soft, chiming sound, the frozen fingers slowly unfolded. Nestled in the center of the palm were small, glowing, yellowish mushrooms.

"The frost heart fungus!" Zyra gasped.

Without wasting a second, she began plucking them as fast as she could. Half went into her bag pack, and the other half she immediately sent straight into her Beast Dominion.

Inside the domain, her Snowy sniffed the air. Sensing the incredibly pure ice energy, the ant clamored to be let out. Beauty released it without warning Zyra. The ant rushed forward and happily took a big bite out of one of the yellowish mushrooms.

Zyra watched closely, holding her breath to see what kind of power-up her little pet would get.

Instead, the snow ant shivered, its little legs buckled, and it collapsed.

"Oh no!" Zyra gasped. "Was I supposed to mix it with something?"

Sensing Zyra’s panic, Tessi rushed over and pressed her hands on Snowy. "Don’t die, little buddy!"

"Beauty! Is it dead?!" Zyra cried out in her head.

Beauty’s voice was completely calm, counting down like a launch pad computer. [One... two... three...]

On ’three,’ the snow ant’s body suddenly snapped straight. A blinding blue light exploded from its tiny frame.

The ant began to swell. It grew bigger and bigger until it was the size of two giant, glazed donuts. Soft, beautiful frost hairs sprouted all over its body. Its six fragile legs hardened into sharp, crystalline spears that easily cracked the solid ice beneath it. Its eyes turned a milky, pale white, and its abdomen swelled to an enormous size, pulsing with a deep, radiant blue energy. Thick, jagged ice armor grew over its back, and its face developed fearsome, scissor-like mandibles. To top it all off, a pair of frozen, crown-like antlers burst from its head, gently releasing a cloud of glowing snow spores into the air.

In Zyra’s mind, the screen flashed to life with a celebratory trumpet fanfare.

[Ding! Congratulations! Your Snow Ant has evolved into the: GLACIER QUEEN ANT! (The spores she releases can heal ice-type beasts but are highly toxic to enemies. Note: The Queen Ant is currently pregnant.)]

[Rewards Granted:

5,000 Resonance Points

650 Unassigned Stat Points

Attribute Boost: +5% to all base statistics

Item Acquired: Invisible Armor - Grade 1

Special Event: Free shopping from the System Shop for the next 6 hours]

Zyra’s eyes went completely round. "YES!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, punching the air.

Tessi, Hunter, and Gilby jumped back, staring at her like she had lost her mind. They thought she was just incredibly hyped about the ant’s new look.

"Uh, Zyra? It’s cool that it’s big now, but are you okay?" Gilby asked, taking a step back.

But the system wasn’t done yet.

[Ding! Your Resonance Level with Snowy has reached 40%!]

[New ability Unlocked: Wisdom. You can now understand some beast languages.]

Zyra couldn’t contain herself. "YES! OH MY GOD, YES!" she cheered, practically doing a victory jig. Her stat screen flashed in her vision, numbers rolling up like a slot machine hitting the jackpot. Six hours of free shopping! She was going to absolutely ruin the system’s inventory.

But then, the reality of their situation crawled back in. She looked around the sealed ice chamber. There were no doors. No holes. Just solid, thick ice.

"Okay, awesome evolution aside..." Gilby muttered, patting the walls. "How do we actually get out of here? We’re kind of boxed in."

Before panic could set in, Snowy stepped forward. Suddenly, she began to run in a circle around the group.

"Snowy? What are you doing?" Zyra asked.

Snowy picked up speed. Within seconds, she was a blur of white fur. The speed increased exponentially_ spinning faster and faster until she looked like a blinding ring of pure light. A massive, howling vortex of wind whipped up around them, pulling their hair and clothes.

"Whoaaaa! What is happening?!" Gilby screamed, clutching his head.

"Hold on to something!" Tessi shrieked, squeezing her eyes shut.

The world spun, the light grew blinding, and with a sudden, silent pop, they vanished from the icy tomb.

The wind instantly stopped. The freezing, suffocating air of the under-ocean cavern was replaced by a fresh, crisp breeze.

Gilby blinked, looking down at his feet. They were standing on solid dirt. He looked up and saw the stone archway towering over them. "We are home."

"Wait..." Tessi whispered, looking around in utter shock. "This is... the Beast Valley gate? How?"

They were back. Safe, sound, and completely out of the frozen wild lands, standing right at the entrance of the valley.

Zyra looked at her team, then down at her newly evolved Glacier Queen Ant, and finally at her system clock ticking down her six hours of free shopping. A slow, mischievous grin spread across her face.

"Well, guys," Zyra said, popping her knuckles. "We survived. Thanks for the assists and I look forward to more fruitful trips like this. For now, I have some serious shopping to do." She opened the gates and rushed inside, as if she was afraid, they would stop her.

And she was right, because they chased after her, screaming her name as the gates shut behind them. She needed to explain how the ant had brought them home.