Chapter 1353 Shit! The world that materialized around Liam was harsh and unforgiving. The frozen landscape was barren, with ice spikes jutting out from the ground like daggers aiming for the sky. Visibility was low, with howling winds throwing up swirls of snow, creating a near-whiteout condition. Liam tightened his cloak around him, his breath visible in the frigid air. Despite the cold biting into his skin, his gaze was steady. As he scanned the horizon, his eyes adjusted to the harsh environment, picking out subtle movements and shadows in the distance. [System Notification: You have entered the domain of the Voidlings. Exercise caution.] A shiver ran down Liam's spine, but not from the cold. It was very rarely that the system itself issued a notification. He knew the Voidlings were notorious for their unpredictability and viciousness. They were creatures born from the void with the sole purpose of devouring everything alive as a sacrifice to the great void. However, there were also ways that one could somewhat easily escape their domain. He had plenty of experience dealing with these voidlings back in the tutorial. Liam only had to slightly nudge his ice elemental core that was churning rapidly in pure joy. His feet gently lifted off the ground and a shroud of icy winds enveloped him, completely hiding his presence amidst the blustering snow. A system map immediately popped out displaying a few landmarks here and there. As he had accepted the mission at the Eternal Sword Palace this map was something they had prepared for the job. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞 If the information displayed on the map was accurate then there was a frozen lake up north which was his destination. There was a frozen rock at the depth of the lake which was the material he needed to extract. While there were plenty of instructions about the world per se not much information was given about the treasure except for the fact that the treasure needed to be enclosed in an icy wall before placing it in a spatial artifact. Naturally there were chances that the item would be coveted by others and someone could simply claim the item and never bring it back to the Eternal Sword Palace. But they didn't seem to mind it so much. There were always others to retrieve it instead. To each their own. On the downside if the lake bottom was completely empty then Liam would have come here for no reason at all. This was something he had to accept. Deciding to go with how the dice rolls, Liam set his course toward the frozen lake, navigating through the biting winds and swirling snow with a practiced ease. His ice elemental core not only protected him from the harsh climate but also allowed him a degree of manipulation over the surrounding ice and snow, making his movement through the terrain less strenuous. Liam barely traveled for a few minutes before he came across the first group of voidlings. They were small almost invisible creatures with thin tendrils protruding out of them. The ones back in the tutorial battleground had a purple tint but now Liam could see that they need not always look like that. Perhaps the environment they were in affected their form to a large extent. These voidlings had an icy framework and even the tendrils looked like delicate ice fractals. Dozens of these voidlings were aimlessly wandering about, spread across a vast expanse of land. They looked like they were simply loitering about, not doing anything at all. But Liam could feel the surrounding energy slowly being sucked away. It was very minute but there were a lot of them so the change was borderline non-negligible if one paid proper attention to it. Liam paused before he decided to take a detour. Flying higher up to bypass the voidlings was out of the question since he could sense some sort of disturbance to the flow of air in front of him. So it was best to simply move around them without engaging them. Voidlings were nasty things with unique powers and more importantly they worked in groups. Huge ass groups. He really did not want to engage with one unless he needed to. As Liam maneuvered around the cluster of voidlings, he kept his senses alert for any change in their behavior. His ice core pulsed steadily, maintaining a thin veil of frost around him that camouflaged his presence against the snowy backdrop. This stealth approach was crucial, as any direct confrontation with the voidlings could potentially attract more of them, escalating the situation beyond control. To make matters worse, the terrain became increasingly treacherous as he progressed. The freeze turned abysmal and just after a couple of hours Liam could no longer bear it without rotating his dao seed. Though his energy was being consumed it was a good thing. He felt closer than ever with his ice seed. On the minus side it slowed him down further. Time quietly passed in this manner as Liam continued traversing the endless land in front of him taking a few more detours. However, all of a sudden he abruptly came to a stop. Up ahead of him there were voidlings. Not just a few dozens like before but hundreds perhaps even thousands of them. The intensity of these voidlings had suddenly spiked up. Liam had a bad feeling. He could feel the ice energy siphoned off at a significant rate from all around him. The amount of voidlings required to make something like this happen was astronomical, and indeed, as Liam peered through the swirling snow, the landscape seemed alive with their shifting forms. The voidlings congregated in a massive, writhing mass that seemed to pulse with a sinister rhythm. The sight was daunting, and Liam knew immediately that a direct encounter would be catastrophic. Each voidling might be small and manageable on its own, but in such numbers, they could easily overwhelm even someone several magnitudes more powerful than him. Liam let out a steadying breath and without any hesitation took a measured step back. He needed another detour, a bigger one this time. But just as he did so… one particular voidling, one of the ones closer to him shifted and then… "Shit!" All hell broke loose!