The convenience of flight, even when merely hovering slightly above the ground, couldn''t be overstated, and I found it strangely pleasant. Good thing I was planning on staying up here for an extended period, as I felt reluctant to be permanently grounded when returning to Kaerlin. Hopefully, I could have enough fun with wings to get it out of my system.


    ''Reaching Gold-rank, retrieving my core from the dwarves, and then... perhaps, just perhaps, I could risk revealing my true self to someone I trust?'' I mused uncertainly.


    If it didn''t work out, I could abandon Syl, the adventuring elf persona, but I didn''t want to risk burning that bridge until I extracted the benefits I had already lined up for myself.


    ''If I make monster friends, they risk getting hunted down. Not to mention, they supposedly go crazy if they evolve too much. Ideally, I''d find another experiment, like Odark, just more likeminded.''


    While I pondered, I kept myself busy by working on my [Ice Magic]; it felt extremely weird to be solo casting after growing so used to always having my [Sub-Cores] to always give a little bit of help. Rather than spam casting [Icicle] repeatedly, my approach was to try to convert as many of my other spells into their icy counterpart and confirm if discovering a spell gave bonus experience.


    I started with [Water Magic] since I knew there was some compatibility between the two elements. It was easy enough to begin replacing [Water Whip], and I soon found myself with an icy version. Giving it a swing and realizing how impractical it was, the whip''s flexibility was the point, and having a frozen rigid version was stupid. Perhaps modifying it to create a different weapon would lead to something, but I was a spellcaster, and even if an ice greatsword sounded cool, why would I do that?


    I started working on [Bubble] next; this made more sense as I was sure an icy version would offer a more defensive solution from the reinforced solidity. It would be much more disposable than the original spell, as I knew it would lose the ability to allow outward passage. While working on this customization, I paused with a thought, rather than replacing the Water mana, couldn''t I corrupt it with Ice?


    I started to trickle some Ice mana into the spell, and slowly, like dyeing cloth, the Ice mana began to bleed into the Water, corrupting and transfiguring it to match. I smiled with satisfaction and wondered if any other elements would have such a convenience.


    ''Who knew my little fun with freezing water back then would result in this.''


    I promptly cast the spell, targeting a flower for the first cast. The way it materialized was visually appealing; a floating icy point apparated and then permeated outwards, encapsulating into a fully formed dome.


    Satisfied, I stopped moving and cast it upon myself.


    <Spell [Ice Dome] discovered.>


    ''Guess I wasn''t the first to think of this idea either.''


    That reminded me I hadn''t cast the rather useless ice whip twice to get the discovery. So I cast the spell again, even though I''d likely never use it again.


    <Spell [Create: Ice Whip] discovered.>


    ''Wow... I don''t like that. Why bother adding create to the name? Feels really redundant.'' I grumbled and smashed the ice whip against the dome, causing the whip to shatter.


    ''I bet whoever did this claimed all the weapons for consistency...'' I paused and smirked, ''What if I can find one they didn''t get, then give it a different name convention, ha!''


    While it was a little petty, going through all the ice weapon spells would probably give decent experience. But first, I needed to get out of the frozen dome.


    When I moved inside it, the unmistakable difference to [Bubble] was that it didn''t move around with me. Forming a reinforced tendril, I slammed it against the ice and was quite impressed with its robustness. Activating [Acid Slime], I melted an impromptu doorway and inspected the larger dome from the outside. I liked what I saw, although I''d likely make some minor modifications and turn it into a half-dome to prevent trapping myself inside.


    Since I was getting distracted by spells, I decided to stop advancing towards the lake to settle my curiosity. I immediately began to work on creating the other ice weapons, starting with the easily malleable original water spell before converting it to ice. I had to start with the rapier; I had expected it to be an easy win over spell names but was sadly let down when I saw the notification.


    <Spell [Create: Ice Blade] discovered.>


    ''Ugh. I bet all swords will fall under this.'' I thought bitterly and confirmed it by creating a dagger, shortsword, and even greatsword out of ice with no further notifications.


    Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    As I continued to go through the weapon catalog, I was extremely excited to get a soft confirmation that discovering spells likely gave bonus experience.


    <Spell [Create: Ice Spear] discovered.>


    <[Ice Magic LV 3] spell [Chill] learned.>


    ''[Chill], huh... So, the complete opposite of [Heat]. I''ll have to learn to modify my spells with this on my own.''


    <Spell [Create: Ice Hammer] discovered.>


    <Spell [Create: Ice Bow] discovered.>


    ''Damn, whoever created these spells was far too thorough... Why would you even make a bow? It doesn''t even function.'' I grumbled. Pulling on the string caused it to snap immediately.


    ''I guess I should stop complaining; experience is experience, and I guess it would be a neat campfire trick.''


    With my curiosity settled and calling a partial ceasefire on the spell name war, I continued traveling. I hadn''t even noticed I was still partially floating off the ground this entire time, and I hoped it was passively earning me further experience.


    This time, the lake had no pegasus drinking from it, and I got to take a closer look at it. Unlike the frog pond, the water was crystal clear, reminding me almost of the water generated from spells or my daily slime wastage. Trying to see through the watery blur, I thought I spotted something settled at the bottom of the lake, but I decided the ruins looked much more appealing to explore for now.


    Despite being lost to the passage of time, the stonework still seemed in decent condition, albeit absolutely covered in moss. I would have expected more weather damage, but [Mana Conception] revealed tiny traces of mana within the stonework. Whoever had built this had clearly spent a lot of effort trying to make it last as long as possible.


    None of my various senses could detect anything nearby, so I was mostly at ease while I searched through the rubble. My lack of architectural knowledge meant I was mostly just going from the largest structure to the next, as their vague shapes meant nothing to me.


    More frustratingly, there wasn''t really anything to discover. The most notable thing I found, aside from more rock and vines, was that the entire area had a lot of feathers, and quite a few of the stones had what looked like scratch marks. I had compared the feathers to the pegasus and griffin, but it matched neither, and [Dissection] classified them as worthless.


    While exploring the remains of what I assumed was a toppled tower, I noted that the staircase abruptly ended. I removed some of the rubble by shifting it with [Arcane Hand] and tossing it into a pile. What I uncovered was a partially collapsed stairwell heading downwards.


    "Well, if any treasure or secrets are left, I bet it''d be down there," I said with a grin.


    I started heading down, easily overcoming the tight squeezes with a little bit of acid. It went further down than expected but eventually opened into an absolutely decrepit room. Some furniture had completely rotted away, the tables spilling their contents, and the only intact table was one made of stone with many empty vials and bottles. I saw another room ahead but decided to pocket what I could recover.


    "Definitely gives some underground secret laboratory vibe," I commented, picking through the table scraps to see if anything remained.


    Approaching the next room, I peeked inside and saw what could only be described as a torture room. It had stone slabs with metal restraints, various sharp tools covered in grime, and what looked like large stone basins, their insides stained in a dark reddish brown.


    "Okay, so add evil mad scientist to the mix." I chuckled nervously.


    I approached what looked like a large steel box with a small window and started to take a peek inside when a gnarled hand reached out and tried to claw my face off. I hadn''t seen it coming, so it did make contact but failed to penetrate my [Arcane Armor], the magical second skin briefly becoming visible at the point of contact.


    "Ha! Nice try, creep!" I mocked, feeling a little happy about all my preparations paying off.


    Whatever was in the box made a long, hollow moan and started banging against its prison.


    "Sounds like a zombie... But worse?" I questioned aloud.


    When the greyish-black arm reached out again through the bars, I quickly threw out an [Identify], realizing I''d need to do it manually for now. The result confused and shocked me.


    <Dudley; Ghoul LV 2; Farmer LV 21.>


    "Since when do monsters have names and classes?" I wondered, "Are you an experiment?"


    The only response I got back was more moaning and banging against its prison.


    "No, you can''t be, Gramps made it sound like the experiment thing was recent...ish?" I pointed out, more to myself than the screaming undead, "So I guess that can only mean you used to be a human before turning into... This."


    Unfortunately, the wailing monster gave me no answers, and the only way I was going to find out more was to let it out and devour it. Pointing a finger toward the locks on the metal box, I fired a little [Acid Slime] at each of them and waited for the creature to escape. Since I had the time to prepare while it broke free, I cast two [Icicle] spells and held them both, slowly empowering them.


    "I feel like my [Sub-Cores] deserve a raise... Doing this by myself really sucks." I chuckled.


    "Well, after the barrage of [Arcane Bolt] spells, I''m surprised that didn''t happen earlier," I commented and was about to start working towards a third [Icicle] when the metal box burst open.


    The starved ghoul was a haunting sight, its emaciated frame barely held together by tattered, soiled farmer''s clothes. Its sunken eyes burned with an insatiable hunger, and its bony fingers twitched as it reached out, seeking sustenance. The ghoul''s pallid skin clung tightly to its skeletal form, accentuating every protruding rib and joint. Its gaunt face bore a perpetual grimace, with lips drawn back to reveal yellowed, jagged teeth.


    "Shit! That''s hideous!" I cursed in surprise and launched both [Icicle] spells at it; one pierced directly into its chest while it barely dodged the other.


    It then let out an ear-piercing shriek echoing throughout the underground. Before it lowered itself into a pouncing position, I heard the distant sound of more metal banging.