''Two?'' Eldrian turned to his second brain as he struggled to keep the cold at bay. His mana draining as though he had opened floodgates. Yet, he could feel the cold prating into his body. The air in his lungs was already frozen.


    Luckily, his enhanced Chosen body could survive for a while without air, but this also drained his stamina and health. In a few minutes, he would be lightheaded, and doing anything would be impossible.


    The only reason the rest of him was yet to be frozen was because of the mana he was circting through his body.


    ''This isn''t looking good. I don''t think it is absolute zero, but it isn''t far from it.'' Came Two''s reply.


    ''Any ideas how we can survive?'' Naturally, Eldrian had immediately canceled his aura''s power after stopping the needle. Luckily, he had managed that—unlike that one time in his mansion.


    The original tree trunk, however, had not simply disappeared when he recalled the power as best he could. And from it, more and more air froze. This was now just the aftereffects. The entire stage a massive crystal of frozen air.


    Naturally, in the process of the air freezing, a vacuum had been formed on the stage. And as air came to fill the vacuum, it froze too. Causing the area to increase, albeit at a slower rate than water would freeze.


    ''We''re not getting out of here through force,'' Two replied, ''and waiting it out isn''t an option either. We will run out of mana long before. You''re already tapping into the mana soul to keep enough mana flowing through our body to counter the cold.''


    ''You''re saying we need to get out of here in another way?'' Eldrian had two ideas. The first was a surefire way. He could teleport to Ceph, though the Alicorn would have to ept the request.


    Eldrian was certain Ceph would ept the request should he make it, but that would most certainly result in his loss in the duel.


    ''You''re still worried about the duel!?'' Two rebuked.


    ''Well yeah, using this fort is the most ideal since it is close to Kynigo but far enough to not cause coteral damage. If we are to try other locations, the distance to Kynigo would be a bit much.''


    ''Seriously?! We can just use the yer''s teleportation!''


    ''Yeah, but it has an entire day cooldown,'' Eldrian countered


    ''Since you''re not nning on taking the safe route... Blinking?''


    ''Yeah...''


    A slight pause before a roar echoed in Eldrian''s mind. ''ARE YOU INSANE!?''


    ''Not so loud,'' Eldrian grumbled, already busy forming the spell—well, the runes for the item he had been nning to make for Jen, and himself, altered to work as a spell in his mind.


    ''This isn''t something a Tier 5 should be capable of!'' Two roared, though he got to work refining the runic circuit as best he could.


    ''I know, which is why I am constructing it in our mind space,'' Eldrian replied, having dived into his mind space to get to work. Keeping only a deep enough connection with his body to maintain the temperature regtion.


    ''If this goes south, you know we''ll die.''


    ''The body will most certainly be torn apart, yeah... I''m sure we will be fine.'' Eldrian paused only for a second. He was sure their soul would be unaffected should they fail. Yes, he was most sure...


    ''Have you decided the location to form the other half?'' Two asked.


    The ns they had for the item was for it to teleport to a set location—where a magic circle would be drawn as a guide. Without it, this would bepletely impossible.


    ''I was thinking about where everyone met up.''


    ''A kilometer... We''ll need around two thousand mana. Currently already spent over five thousand.''


    ''Which simply means we need to hurry. Can you finish this?'' Eldrian asked, aplex design currently floating next to the valley where Two had set up his library after the entire world creation fiasco.


    ''Yeah, get to work on forming the magic circle.''


    Nodding, Eldrian dived back into his body. Only to realize he couldn''t expand his mageia to the location he wanted, and that meant he couldn''t form the runes. Sighing, he tested how far he could expand it.


    The ice, luckily, showed no resistance. In fact, it acted as a conduit for his will. Reaching the edge of the now two hundred meter crystal took nearly no mental effort.


    ''Let''s make it around here.'' Noting that everyone was looking at him, Eldrian needed to hide his magic circle from Levana. If she was kind, she might allow him to finish it, but she had no obligation.


    Getting to work, Eldrian started with the ''beacon'' circle. First, he focused on the synchronization part to ensure he would end up at the location. Then he started forming the supplementary runes that technically should lower the strain on the body and the mana cost.


    Almost four hundred meters from the stage, behind a ratherrge tree, a magic circle started forming in the air. After a few minutes, it wasplete. And Eldrian was running low on mana. Another minute or two and he would not have the mana toplete the teleportation.


    ''Ready?'' Eldrian asked his trusty partner.


    ''As I can be,'' Two replied. And with that, Eldrian filled the runes in his mind with mana, and the distant magic circle.


    Noticing the flow of mana suddenly shooting out from the stage towards a lone tree, everyone understood something was about to happen. Though no one would voice their guess.


    After all, it wasmon knowledge that blink teleportation was limited to Tier 7 or higher. Yet, everyone seemed toe to this same conclusion.


    Though, technically, what Eldrian was doing was point-to-point teleportation. Only in his own design. Hence, why it took a few seconds for everything to finish.


    "Aren''t you going to foil his ns?" Sofiera asked upon noticing that the vampire was not rushing to the location where mana was gathering. A very substantial amount at that.


    "How on Gaia does he still have so much mana?" Levana asked instead of answering.


    She had considered tampering with the mana flow or erecting a mana canceling barrier around the crystal. However, she did not want to win the duel. Her ideal was a draw, and if she had to win, she did not want to win with such underhanded methods that might cause Eldrian to hate her.


    Since learning how close he was with the gods, her goal was to separate on as good terms as possible.


    "I actually have no clue." Sofiera admitted. "Despite having fought you and using a massive quantity of mana in the duel, it appears that the mana flowing through his body has not lessened."


    Levana nodded. She had noticed this too. Eldrian''s body still shone with the same quantity of mana, even trapped within that crystal. In fact, the shine was much brighter since he was evidently using his mana tobat the cold.


    And now, he sent what appeared to be a quantity close to half the mana flowing through him to that tree. Yet, the mana flowing through him did not dip. Just where did ite from?


    "Do you think I can actually win?" The vampire asked, her tone shocking Sofiera, who had been slowlying to find the vampire a decent person. Perhaps not a good person, but not a bad one either. Sofiera almost felt like Levana was simr to Jade.


    "You certainly pushed him to his limits. He normally avoids using his auras, though he does want the fort precisely to train their use."


    "Auras?!"


    "Oh, looks like it is about to happen!" Vivian''s announcement robbed Levana from her confirmation.


    AN: Remember to vote andment if you are enjoying the story.