Ice Vapor Goddess

Chapter 102 Assimilation
“I think we can get back to the question of this thing.” Xiren pointed to the crystal on the table.

“Okay…sorry, I used to teach at the Burning World Tower, and I got a little carried away while we were talking.” Samantha smiled. “But if you’re in a hurry, you can send someone to investigate where hazelnut materials have appeared recently.”

"The hazel tree?" he asked. "Where's the nearest mouthpiece?"

“We don’t have that in the lab, but I can do it another way.” She took out a crystal and placed it in the center of a small magic circle. “What are you going to say?”

"Investigate everything about the hazel tree, keep the investigation as secret as possible, it's extremely urgent," Siron said.

Samantha nodded, first using some magic powder to spell out the words she wanted to say on the crystal, then placing some strange powders and ores on the magic circle, and even a silver shilling.

“Okay,” she said. “This line of text will appear on your secretary’s desk. Don’t worry, nobody usually uses this kind of thing, so it’s easy to check.”

Xilun gave a wry smile: "I hope so. By the way, why a hazel tree?"

"Simply put, hazel bark has an inhibitory effect on it. What you described earlier was 'it is usually hidden in the body and suddenly proliferates under certain conditions,' but it is not such a mild thing under normal circumstances."

Samantha casually picked up a rabbit carcass, cut it open, and bright red blood flowed out.

She tossed the ice crystal from the air, and it flew in an arc before landing in the wound.

In just a moment, it proliferated rapidly, spreading wildly with the blood, and then transformed into ice spikes that spread along the blood vessels and body until they pierced through the entire corpse.

A moment of silence fell over the scene.

“As you can see, it has a strong affinity with blood, and this is definitely not a form of demonization,” Samantha said.

"As mentioned earlier, the fundamental nature of magic in our world is 'wish fulfillment.' 'Magic transformation' is a process of converting living beings into fantastical creatures, and the resulting forms conform to our popular fantasies."

She pointed to the remains of the rabbit on the table: "This thing is also a magical artifact, but not one from our world."

"If the magic of 'wishing' is a peaceful and universal foundation, then the magic of this world is entirely composed of war and plunder."

"Although there is no definitive conclusion yet, I think its basis is [assimilation] - transforming everything into something of the same kind as them."

"Assimilation...?" Xiren pondered.

"Yes, that's why I said it looks like demonization, but not the kind of fantasy demonization we usually see in our world. It's more like a predatory and possessive form of assimilation."

Siren recalled the memory of what he felt from the frost giant Himir that day.

Those little ice people...humans? Spoils of war? Kin?

So they weren't originally ice people, but rather assimilated humans? Or were they their spoils of war?
An inexplicable conjecture arose in my mind.

So either there are humans in other worlds, or... this war started a long time ago?

Samantha then pulled out a piece of hazel bark: "In mysticism, hazel trees represent wisdom, but in folk traditions they are often used to drive away evil spirits, negative energy, and snakes. Legend has it that hanging hazel branches on doors or placing them by windows can protect the peace of the home."

She wrapped an ice crystal in cypress bark and placed it on the flesh of another rabbit. The ice crystal melted silently into its body without causing any abnormality.

Samantha shrugged: "I was just trying it out casually, but I didn't expect it to actually work. Perhaps those folk tales aren't just fiction; the evil spirits they represent are the very things we're facing now."

Xiren took a deep breath.

The shared ice crystals prove that the strange religion and the frost giants are inextricably linked.

But this is such a huge matter that once this speculation arises, countless questions will follow.

Did they establish contact with the frost giants? Or was it merely one-sided worship? When did they begin to learn about the frost giants? What was their relationship with the frost giants' kin?
"I have to go now." He slowly stood up. "Thank you for your help. If you have any further news, please contact me directly."

Samantha also got up and escorted him to the tower entrance.

Watching his figure once again shrouded in wind and snow, his brows seemingly perpetually furrowed, she suddenly said, "You won't regret it."

"Huh?" Xilun didn't know what she was talking about.

“I said,” she smiled slightly, “that you will never regret any care you show them.”

Xilun chuckled: "Why are you suddenly telling me all this?"

"It was just something I felt like saying," she said with a smile. "I remembered Percy telling me that although she was a bit confused when she was little, she could actually sense my emotions, my unspoken meanings, my attitude, and my concern. Children are more perceptive than their parents imagine."

“But I’ve never treated them like my children.” Xiren smiled and waved goodbye. “They look weak only because they can’t draw their weapons. Until then, I’ll take care of them.”

Samantha watched the bishop's black robes disappear into the distance, then suddenly felt snow fall on her neck, and shivered violently.
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"Hazelnut? Got it." The bearded man said in a low voice, pausing slightly as he passed the person in front of him.

"Be careful not to reveal this to people whose loyalty is uncertain," the other person whispered.

"Understood." The burly man passed him by as if they had just met in the alley and then walked past each other as if nothing had happened.

Before the clattering spinning machines, women passed messages amidst the swirling cotton fibers; in the bottomless mine shafts, miners, their skin tanned dark, climbed into their coworkers' tunnels to relay orders; in the livestock area, dairy workers received slips of paper and glanced at the few trees around them; in the reservoir area, brave boys climbed over flooded pipes and gathered in the damp open space.

On the streets, in factories, in pubs, and even in maintenance tunnels and sewers, people walk and talk silently, like an invisible net spreading silently from the city of Spese.

Like mycelium buried deep in the soil, they communicate, unite, and act little by little, expanding silently.

In a pub in the residential area, people came in one after another, whispering among themselves. Ms. Selena sat behind the bar, knitting a scarf with knitting needles. She was completely focused on the fabric in her hands, knitting faster and faster.

The sign of "Dead Dog Tavern" was blown up by the wind stirred up by people passing by. What a wind it was! It blew from who knows where, past the scorching steam pipes, past the deserted streets, stirring up coal dust and haze, stirring up cotton wool and sawdust, blowing past everyone's hair, and even reaching Ms. Selena's side, blowing the ball of yarn on the table to the ground.

“Mommy, it’s fallen,” little Ethel said, picking up the ball.

Ms. Selena looked at the open door: "Yes, it's going to fall."

(End of this chapter)