The Sword of Eternal Ice

Upon reaching the closest city to Belleria called Wiltpine, she asked the first Adventurer she met.

"I could not hear the rules for the bestowal of the Spiritform; may I know what the knights said?" Veil came up with an excuse to find out the situation here.

The man turned around slightly surprised, he then answered, "They said that we must pull out a Magic Weapon sword or something…"

"I see, thank you for your time." Veil immediately proved her theory correct.

It seems like the whole continent would only choose a single person to receive a Spiritform this time around.

If multiple cities are issued the same challenge and multiple people from different cities succeeded, then who would they give the Spiritform to?

That is the only aspect she could not think of in case that her initial theory is inaccurate.

For the remaining days, she spent 5 days here in Wiltpine's library to research the Rosalia.

She could not discover a single hint or clue related to the sword, even the words Eternal Ice are nowhere to be found within the books.

She then went back to Belleria for the last day to spend the remaining time in unlocking her magic circuits, she must absolutely be the one to pull out that sword and receive the Spiritform.

Veil remained in pure silence is she manipulates the mist of mana leaking out from the atmosphere; she inhaled deeply while absorbing the strands of mana slowly.

She immediately felt the cool and soothing touch of the mana flowing inside her body, through her hands, her legs, her head, flowing back and forth.

As she feels the circulation of mana flowing to her arm, she threw her fist straight into the air.

Shoo!

A small gust of wind coming from the force of her fist shot forward, she now more or less applied the strengthening effect of mana.

With this, she would have a greater chance in winning the Spiritform and finally become an Adventurer.

With her current strength, she measured herself as only at most, a low level Adventurer.

However, if she receives the Spiritform, she believed she could even evolve into a Hero since her massive experience from her past life especially in controlling mana would be extremely helpful.

This is why Spiritforms have increased the number of Heroes, although majority of the Heroes that reached that title is only due to Spiritforms.

They are also weaker than their past counterparts, since in the past, being extremely powerful is not enough to be called a Hero.

[…]

When the day of the competition arrives, various leaders of guilds and Adventurer teams leading their own representatives in each city started moving towards their own gathering venues.

The knights divided into the whole continent then informed each city that they would travel to the Mount Scarfrost, one of the coldest places in the entire Terra.

The body of the Mount Scarfrost is not necessarily as tall as other mountains, however, the snow in the surrounding forests and even Scarfrost city have never stopped.

It means that all year round, until the world exists, snow would never stop falling: an eternal winter.

As various vehicles powered by magic crystals carried more than a couple dozen each, everyone set out towards Scarfrost city.

They would not immediately begin the event without meeting first at Scarfrost; this is to ensure everyone would be present together before setting out to the temple holding the Rosalia.

As the knights tell the stories regarding the mysterious temple and how it was discovered by an Adventurer team when they were clearing a dungeon near the Mount Scarfrost.

The members of that Adventurer team did not dare enter the temple; they only checked the massive doors and the mossy surroundings hidden in a cavern.

The capital's knights were then informed to investigate the temple, it was then hypothesized that this temple existed for about 238 years already, the slight changes in the land terrain just pushed it upwards.

Humanity would not have seen such a temple if it were not for the ever-occurring terraforms.

The cavern was already guarded by the capital's knights who were deployed to Scarfrost city, to ensure that the temple will be available for access all the time.

These knights are the strongest Adventurers of the capital; they work under the King's order, which means they have the ability to traverse the temple, in which they did.

When they charted the entire temple to draw a map, they discovered only empty rooms inside, all except the last room: where a sword is stabbed on a box-shaped object made out of unknown materials.

The knights tried to pull out the sword, however, to no avail.

After a few weeks, they visited the temple again, but with weapon experts and researchers, discovering the identity of the sword, the Rosalia.

The smith that stumbled upon a weapon fragment had recast it into a brand new weapon, unknowingly; he made a Magic Weapon due to its abnormal and volatile state.

The said smith since long disappeared after throwing away the weapon on an ocean, which then ended up in this temple.

[…]

Everyone finally met up on the Scarfrost city, counting only the participants, about 27 are competing for the Spiritform.

Some participants were still accompanied by their own leaders, whilst some are lone individuals like Veil.

After a dozen minutes of travel, they finally reached the said cavern with a massive mouth.

The vehicle that carried all the participants and an official to spectate the competition stationed outside the cavern.

"I am Weismann, a direct subordinate to the King, who shall partake in this competition as the spectator and to authorize the winner to receive both the Spiritform and the sword." The robed official introduced himself.

Weismann who is leading the pack then re-explained the details of this competition; he claimed that whoever pulled out the sword would also take it home.

Shock and excitement filled the hearts of the participants, if they could wield this Magic Weapon, they would reach unimaginable levels.

Sooner, they spread out on the room with the sword, standing with their own leaders while some lone participants found their own corners.

"Due to the nature of this new competition, the order on who to attempt first is extremely important, not too early or not too late, so you could both learn your competitor's techniques or take the chance to bring home the sword before somebody else could." Weismann smiled as he pulled out a memory crystal.

This memory crystal simulates a simple battle inside the participant's respective minds, if they could clear the battle faster, they would take a higher spot.

This is not just a competition for speed, but rather, strategy.

They must take the opportunity to rank within the middle of the whole pack, because if they take a high spot, they would attempt first without prior knowledge, however, if they are too late, someone might steal their opportunity to take the sword.

Everyone participating then proceeded to touch the fist-sized memory crystal floating above Weismann's palm.

Vuooosh!

As each of the participants warped into the simulated state, Veil followed suit shortly.

Inside the simulated battle, 10 Ogres with wooden clubs would fight the participants; this is also a test of strength and abilities.

Veil stayed vigilant as this is her first battle in her new body, she must not charge blindly and brute force everything on her way.

She did not make her move until one of the Ogres entered her melee range, she could only afford a basic longsword with her hard-earned money.

She must not carelessly swing it around and break it against the tough Ogres.

Boom! Swing!

Cracks appeared under the Ogre's stomp as it swung its club towards Veil's cranium.

Veil evaded and maneuvered easily without entering the other Ogre's range.

Her feet moved with great precision without losing her balance as she lightly dashed to circle around the Ogre.

Splatter! Thud.

She hit the Ogre's joints as it powerlessly dropped its wooden club, now that she disarmed one of the Ogres, she must finish this one as soon as possible.

The Ogre stumped angrily, shaking the ground with great shockwaves.

Veil jumped to avoid the crumbling rocks that may trap her feet and circled around the Ogre again.

Stab stab!

She stabbed her longsword forward two times in the same point in the Ogre's nape.

The Ogre powerlessly slammed itself into another Ogre in a domino effect; Veil took advantage of the temporary window to finish of the stumbling Ogre.

Splash!

With that, she finished off two Ogres cleanly.

[…]

One of the Adventurers with a tanned skin brutally massacred the Ogres with his bare fist; he would strangle them to death and smash their faces into an unrecognizable state.

If you observe the corpses closely, you would not imagine that they are Ogres.

This man deliberately finished the Ogres to take the first spot despite everyone else taking their own strategies.

After less than half an hour, everyone finished the simulation as the memory crystal disappeared from Weismann's palm.

"Well done Adventurers! Now, for those of you who reached this phase, you may form a line from first to last, while those who failed please exit the temple and return to the city." Weismann clapped before gesturing towards the sword.

The sword sports an aquamarine color on the blade with a white handle; a blue rose in a form of ice is wrapping the middle of the arm guards: it is a truly mesmerizing weapon, a beauty and a masterpiece.

Among the 27 initial participants, only 16 passed, they could not survive the onslaught of the Ogres.

"If you are prepared, stand in front of the sword and declare your name as you begin your attempt." Weismann informed the participants.

"I am Surtur and I shall now take this sword as mine!" The tanned Adventurer's muscle bulged and grabbed the sword.

His muscles bulged as he unleashed his mana on the room.

Other participants here are most, average level Adventurers, but this man is clearly above them by the oppressive mana alone.

The sword slightly slid up, showing signs of being pulled out; however, the sword repelled Surtur's mana before it instantly gets cancelled out.

Vuoosh!

The oppressive sensation dissipated as silence returned to the room, Surtur showed a disappointed and angry look.

In fact, he was said to be overqualified in this competition, since he deliberately locked his mana to look as weak as the other participants.

He and his leader's goal were to take the Magic Weapon home and take over their city.

However, now that he failed, that goal turned into a fever dream.

Veil ranked 15th among the participants, she had to take her time taking down the Ogres to avoid being hit, additionally, she progressed very slow due to her sword not working all the time against the Ogres' skin.

After every participant before her has failed, it is finally her turn, she stood before the beautiful sword, glimmering slightly and various ice type mana swirling gently around.

"My name is Runa." Veil introduced herself as her body's identity before grabbing the handle.

When she felt the perfect rhythm of mana circulate in her hands, she released some of it and grabbed the sword.

"!!!"

Veil felt a terrifying sensation when she touched the handle, her strength draining out, and her knees wanting to tear apart and melt on the ground.

Despite the situation, she tried pulling the sword gently.

Shikkk.

She felt it move and slide up easily; however, she did not continue pulling it out, her instinct was warning her that she must avoid the sword.

[…]

She walked away while observing the last to take the attempt.

"I am known as Verglas the Blackfrost King! No one among you who dares trespass my temple shall leave alive!!!" The last Adventurer's body exploded as his real identity is exposed.

A 4-meter crowned monster wearing a full dark-blue armor by the name of Verglas was disguised as an Adventurer.

It seems like he infested one of the Adventurers who took part in the simulation and has taken over their body.

That Adventurer succeeded inside for winning over the Ogres, however, his consciousness was not able to return back to his original body.

Now, he would slowly drift into eternity, without ever being able to return.

"I shall send you all to your deaths!" Verglas lifted the sword and sneered.

Skill: Frostwave Dash!

His body turned into a gust of wind with ice spikes crashing everywhere while he charged towards Surtur, the closest one to pull out his sword.

Shik! Shik! Shik! Splatter!

The other Adventurers that got hit by the ice spikes fell down on the floor without their lives.

Veil jumped around and tumbled to dodge the ice spikes flying in her direction.

Surtur grinned as he similarly charged towards the enemy.

Boom!

Surtur was able to receive Verglas' charge and was contesting with strength.

Surtur tightened his hold of Verglas' hands as he squeezed really hard.

However, just when he thought he was winning, Verglas' opened his mouth and a blue beam of light shot out.

When the blue beam hit Surtur, he was instantly turned into an ice sculpture, showing no chance to recover anymore.

Verglas then stabbed the Rosalia on frozen Surtur's head, turning him into fine powder.