À l’académie des loups-garous, Riley obtient un ours brun et survit à un apocalypse glacé. Après un reset temporel, il scelle un pacte de sang avec le renard blanc Léo et montre un grand pouvoir de cultivation. Il vainc Victoria, mène ses compagnons contre des mutants et bâtit une communauté solide.
#Apocalypse #Bêtes #LoupsGarous #MondeFictif #Survie #ResetTemporel #Mutants #Cultivation #Pouvoir #Victoria #RenardBlanc #Léo
#Apocalypse #Bêtes #LoupsGarous #MondeFictif #Survie #ResetTemporel #Mutants #Cultivation #Pouvoir #Victoria #RenardBlanc #Léo
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Court métrageTranscription
00:00On the first day of school, the teachers handed out magical animals based on grades.
00:04Valedictorian and class president Victoria didn't even hesitate.
00:07She walked straight up and grabbed the SSS tier white fox.
00:11I was dead last in the class rankings.
00:13I got assigned a single F tier brown bear.
00:16Then the ice apocalypse hit.
00:17Because I'd bonded with the brown bear, I shared its innate ability.
00:20Cold resistance.
00:22Victoria's white fox never had the chance to grow.
00:24On day one of the apocalypse, it freezes to death.
00:27That wasn't the worst part.
00:28Fueled by jealousy, Victoria rallied the others and jumped me.
00:31They killed my bear.
00:32Then they roasted steaks right in front of me, while they ate.
00:35I was so overwhelmed with grievance and died.
00:38When I opened my eyes again, I was back.
00:40Back to the day they handed out magical animals.
00:43As the dead last student of the werewolf academy, I was always picked last.
00:46And sure enough, the only magical animal left was the brown bear.
00:50I was reaching for it when Victoria suddenly shouted from across the room.
00:54Wait!
00:54She sprinted over, clutching a small white fox kit.
00:57And shoved it into my arms without a word.
00:59Then she picked up the brown bear from her crate.
01:02You take the white fox.
01:04I want the brown bear.
01:05The entire classroom went silent.
01:08Even Mr. Harris, our homeroom teacher, frowned.
01:10Everyone knew the white fox had the purest bloodline of any familiar in this batch.
01:14Its ancient lineage concentration was 80%.
01:16The brown bear's was barely 20% and it was considered a low-tier species.
01:20Mr. Harris leaned forward.
01:23Victoria, choosing your bonded animal isn't something to joke about.
01:26This determines your ceiling for the rest of your life.
01:30Sir, Riley needs this white fox more than I do.
01:33My grades are strong.
01:35I can train fast no matter what magical animal I bond with.
01:39But Riley's talent for cultivation is average.
01:42If she's also stuck with a low-blood brown bear, her future is basically over.
01:49The class erupted in applause.
01:51Mr. Harris nodded approvingly.
01:53You are kind.
01:55A pure and selfless heart will carry you further than any familiar ever could.
02:00Then he turned to me and frowned.
02:03Why are you just standing there?
02:05Thank you, Victoria.
02:06I blinked.
02:07I held the white fox kit out toward her.
02:10It's fine.
02:11You don't have to swap.
02:12I actually kind of like the bear.
02:14Victoria pulled the brown bear closer to her chest.
02:16She looked at me the way someone looks when they've been wronged.
02:20You don't have to test me.
02:23I genuinely want to trade.
02:25I'm serious.
02:27Keep it.
02:29Before I could finish, something sharp bit down on the web of my right hand.
02:34I looked down.
02:35The white fox kit had bitten me.
02:38Then the fox pressed its tiny tongue against my skin and licked it clean.
02:42The fox had initiated a blood pact with me.
02:46So Riley wasn't being noble after all.
02:48She said she didn't want the white fox, but she went and bloodpasted it the second she got the chance.
02:52She was just scared Victoria would take it back.
02:54Never seen someone play both sides that hard before.
02:57After the blood pact locked in, the white fox went drowsy and fell asleep in my arms.
03:01I sat there, listening to the whispers and feeling my face go red.
03:05They didn't know the truth.
03:07I genuinely didn't want this fox.
03:10Because I knew something none of them did.
03:12In two weeks, this beautiful, high-bloodline white fox was going to be completely useless.
03:19Well, almost none of them knew.
03:21Victoria knew too.
03:22The moment she gave up the white fox and fought me for the brown bear, I understood.
03:25She'd been reborn, just like me.
03:28I stared at the bear tucked against Victoria's chest.
03:31I'd been so close to it in my past life.
03:34We'd trusted each other completely.
03:36Now, Victoria had taken it.
03:38I could deal with losing the cold resistance.
03:40What I couldn't stand was thinking about whether the bear would be fed properly.
03:44Whether it would be treated well.
03:45I was staring at it when the bear slowly turned its head and put my eyes.
03:49Then it blinked.
03:51Ounce.
03:52Twice.
03:53Not once.
03:54Not three times.
03:55Twice.
03:56My chest lit up.
03:58Two blinks was a signal.
04:00A code we'd created together in our past life.
04:02The bear was using it now to tell me...
04:04It remembered.
04:06It had been reborn, too.
04:08I was still exchanging glances with the bear when something warm and soft wrapped around my fingertip.
04:13I looked down.
04:14My white fox had woken up.
04:16I'm not useless.
04:17The voice was haughty.
04:19Also undeniably baby soft.
04:21And stop staring at that chunky little lowlife.
04:24I poked the fox gently.
04:26Are you talking?
04:27The white fox gave an imperious little sniff and rolled over in my arms.
04:31I thought about what to call it.
04:33White fox felt too generic.
04:35Little fox felt too soft.
04:37I was going to call it...
04:38Your Highness.
04:39My name is Leo.
04:41It announced.
04:42You can call me your highnesses if you want.
04:44I flicked his forehead.
04:46Who taught you to be this dramatic?
04:48Up front, Mr. Harris was explaining how to draw binding circles on the board.
04:53Most bonds were initiated by humans, since magical animals were naturally proud creatures.
04:58Young kids were gentler than adults, but it was still extremely rare for a familiar to seek out a bond
05:05on its own.
05:06Everyone began attempting their leaps.
05:08Everyone except me, since I'd already been forcibly claimed by a fox.
05:13Leo, I said quietly, why did you bond with me?
05:18I didn't like that other girl.
05:20She smells.
05:21Smells?
05:23I kept my voice low.
05:25Victoria is literally the most popular girl in school.
05:28Half the guys here would say she smells amazing.
05:31Those guys are blind, Leo said flatly.
05:35Achoo!
05:36They can't see the rod underneath.
05:39And me?
05:40Leo buried his nose in my sleeve.
05:43Its voice came out slightly strangled.
05:45You're fine.
05:46You're kind of sweet.
05:48I started scratching under Leo's chin while the class droned on.
05:53White fox fur had a reputation, and it delivered.
05:57Impossibly soft, dense like a cloud.
05:59I scratched his ears, squeezed his belly, and eventually couldn't help reaching for his tail.
06:06They say you should never touch a fox's tail.
06:09But Leo was basically a kid, so the usual rules didn't apply.
06:13The moment my hand settled on the tail, Leo went completely rigid.
06:18Through the white fur, I could see its skin flush faintly pink.
06:22Stop it!
06:23What is wrong with you?
06:25It sounded exactly like someone who'd just been caught off guard, and was deeply, mortifyingly flustered.
06:31I pulled my hand back, keeping my expression neutral.
06:35Calm down.
06:36You've got a very active imagination.
06:38Leo's eyes welled up immediately.
06:40He snapped his head away and refused to look at me.
06:43Across the room, Victoria successfully completed her binding circle.
06:47A flash of pleasure crossed her face.
06:50She directed it toward the bear.
06:52The circle activated, spinning fast around the bear.
06:55Inside the light, the bear quietly reached out and made two small adjustments to the formation.
07:01The standard equal bond shifted, without a sound, into a master-servant bond.
07:07The bear was the master.
07:09Victoria was the servant.
07:10It was a technique we'd discovered together in a ruin, years ago, in another life.
07:15The bear was now using it to put a leash on Victoria.
07:19The bear caught my eye across the room, satisfied, proud of itself.
07:24Under the table, I gave it a thumbs up.
07:27You are so manipulative, Leo muttered into my ribs.
07:31I was pinching her soft, borderline boneless little cheek.
07:35Me?
07:36How?
07:37You touched my tail and then stared at that chunky lowlife for five whole minutes.
07:43You were making eyes at it.
07:45Leo's voice was escalating toward genuine grievance.
07:48I added another item to my mental description of it, prone to completely unhinged jealousy.
07:55After class ended, Mr. Harris handed out cultivation supplies.
07:59One week's worth per student.
08:01I kept a single mana crystal for myself.
08:04I fed everything else to Leo.
08:07Nineteen crystals.
08:08Leo crunched through them like chips.
08:11We hadn't even left the classroom.
08:12The class watched in disbelief.
08:15Is she serious?
08:17That's a week's worth of cultivation resources?
08:19And she just fed all of it to the fox?
08:21Did she even listen in class?
08:22Magic animals have slow growth cycles.
08:25You're not supposed to rush them.
08:26The mana crystals are supposed to be for her own cultivation.
08:29The white fox bound with her for nothing.
08:31Some students should take note.
08:34Mana crystal applications are limited.
08:37The school won't give you more if you waste them.
08:39He was clearly talking about me.
08:41I smiled pleasantly.
08:42Understood, sir.
08:44Honestly, in my past life, I'd always been generous with the bear.
08:47Most students kept a 4 to 1 ratio for themselves.
08:50I split everything 50-50.
08:52Equals deserved equal shares.
08:54But this?
08:55Nineteen for Leo.
08:57One for me.
08:58This was something else entirely.
09:00It wasn't generosity.
09:02It was self-preservation.
09:04Because Leo and I had a blood pact.
09:06A standard equal bond meant one partner's death didn't affect the other.
09:09A blood pact was different.
09:10If Leo freezes to death on day one of the apocalypse, the same way the white fox died in my
09:14Past life, I died too.
09:16Leo's survival wasn't kindness.
09:18It was my only chance to live.
09:20The mana crystals were an investment in not dying.
09:23After class, students scattered to train on their own.
09:26I carried Leo toward the exit, and Victoria stepped half in front of me.
09:30I know you've been reborn too, she said.
09:33This time, the cold resistance belongs to me.
09:37Then I hope you enjoy it.
09:39You and your useless little fox can look forward to freezing on day one.
09:43I gave you a chance to be useful to me.
09:45You threw it away.
09:46Leo peeled open one eye from inside my arms, completely unimpressed.
09:53Victoria's composition shattered instantly.
09:56She stumbled backward.
10:00What is wrong with you?
10:01Get that disgusting thing away from me!
10:03I turned and walked away, barely holding in a laugh.
10:06The mana crystal problem was serious, though.
10:08I needed a massive supply, and I needed it fast.
10:11I was thinking about it, absently pulling at Leo's fur, when I remembered.
10:15Before the ice apocalypse hit in my past life, a news outlet had exposed a small mana vein.
10:21Based on timing, nobody should have found it yet.
10:25When I reached the rough coordinates I'd memorized, Victoria was already there.
10:32She'd brought 20-plus workers, and they were already mining the vein.
10:36I stood at the outer edge and watched them haul out crystal after crystal.
10:41Leo pressed his nose to the window.
10:44I covered Leo's eyes.
10:45Low-quality crystals here.
10:47Let's go find something better.
10:49Then, from somewhere inside my head, a voice crackled to life.
10:53I stopped walking.
10:55Sis, is that you?
10:57You can do telepathy now.
10:59Victoria spent serious resources on me.
11:02I can project thoughts directly.
11:05Sis, take Leo and find somewhere to rest.
11:08Once they're done mining and clear out, I'll call you back.
11:12I finished the mental exchange and came back to the present moment.
11:15A very large, very imperious fox face was approximately two inches from my nose.
11:22Leo had both front paws planted on my shoulders.
11:26What were you doing just now?
11:28You were mentally cheating on me.
11:30I grabbed it by the scruff and I squeezed one soft cheek by way of reprimand.
11:35Leo, watch your voice.
11:37I'm not wrong.
11:39I can smell the bear on your thorns.
11:41Was that the chunky low knife?
11:43I raised an eyebrow.
11:44Sharp nose.
11:45For your information, Leo continued voice climbing.
11:48When a white fox makes a blood pact with someone, that person is their bonded maid.
11:52For life.
11:54You can't have secret meetings with a brown bear.
11:57Yeah, you're a child.
11:59Do you even know what to partner means?
12:01Leo's eyes immediately filled with tears that refused to actually fall.
12:04It waved its tiny paws in what appeared to be an angry, thrashing, swimming motion.
12:09I leaned forward and stuck my tongue out at it.
12:11A small, damp nose pressed against my cheek.
12:14Before I could react, the culprit had already retreated, voice very small.
12:19I kissed you.
12:20That means you're mine now.
12:21Nobody else is allowed to kiss you there.
12:24Leo had just made a move on me.
12:26A very small, very smug, very baby-toothed move.
12:29I pulled myself together and went to find somewhere to wait.
12:32I reclined in the car with the air conditioning running,
12:35watching a nature documentary on the center screen.
12:37The documentary put me to sleep almost immediately.
12:41When I woke up, it was dark.
12:45Right on cue, the bear's voice appeared in my head.
12:48Sis, come now.
12:50They're gone.
12:51Leo was staring up at me, suspicious and accusatory.
12:55My conscience flickered.
12:56This was exactly the energy of someone who'd just been caught.
13:00We were just talking.
13:01I'm not listening.
13:02I'm not talking to you for the rest of the day.
13:05Just as the bear had said, the area was empty.
13:08All that remained was a concealment formation to hide the vein's location.
13:11The bear deactivated it from inside and poked its head out.
13:16Sis, over here!
13:17It had grown enough to speak clearly.
13:20The white fox in my arms took one look at the bear and immediately bared its teeth.
13:24Leo's going through a phase.
13:27The bear took the lead.
13:28That thing is a fake, nice snake in the grass.
13:31Get your hand off me.
13:33I'm going to bite it.
13:34I am biting it today.
13:36Riley, don't hold me back.
13:37It went on like that for a while.
13:40I didn't address it.
13:41I looked at the bear.
13:43Its aura drifted quietly around it, steady and calm.
13:47I released Leo and let him jump to the ground.
13:49Leo hit the dirt, spun around, and stared at me.
13:53Its expression said it had not expected me to actually let go.
13:56It shuffled forward at approximately the speed of a very indignant caterpillar.
14:01Every few steps, he looked back at me.
14:03On his fourth look back, he hesitated.
14:06You're not stopping me?
14:08What if your little buddy actually gets hurt?
14:11I glanced at the bear's aura.
14:14After absorbing a solid haul of mana crystals,
14:16it was running at easily 50 times Leo's current output.
14:20Whether Leo would be the one doing the hurting was very much an overpush.
14:25It's fine.
14:26Show me what you've got.
14:28If you win, you'll have my full and undivided attention forever.
14:33Leo glanced at the bear, felt the weight of that aura,
14:36thought about it very carefully.
14:39Slowly, reluctantly, he walked back and sat down next to my feet.
14:43Fine.
14:44You showed good remorse this time.
14:46I'll let the secret meeting go.
14:49But don't let it happen again.
14:50Inside the vein, the bear had divided the crystal stockpile into three piles.
14:55One very small pile for itself,
14:58a medium small pile,
14:59and a pile roughly the size of a small hill.
15:03Leo's eyes went green, literally luminous.
15:06This is all I need, sis.
15:08A voice in my head.
15:09Okay, that chunky thing is definitely not in two.
15:13Sis, this one's for your cultivation.
15:16And that one's for my little sibling.
15:18The bear pointed to the medium pile and the mountain.
15:21Riley, it does not have feelings for you.
15:23I have been worried for nothing.
15:25Run everything through the romance filter, don't you?
15:28I do not.
15:29I flicked Leo on the forehead.
15:31I said simply,
15:32mana crystals.
15:33Leo went quiet and well-behaved immediately.
15:36If we take all of this,
15:38won't Victoria figure out it was you?
15:41She does everything I say right now.
15:44Full compliance.
15:46Victoria stared at the hollowed-out vein
15:48with all the color drained from her face.
15:50Did you use all of it?
15:52You used every single crystal?
15:54The bear sat on its haunches,
15:55eyes wide and guileless.
15:57Under the rules of its master-servant bond,
15:59it only had to give basic responses.
16:02The truth was not required.
16:03I don't know.
16:04I was asleep all night.
16:05Maybe the vein just ran dry on its own?
16:08Victoria shook with rage.
16:09She brought her entire crew back
16:12and tore the cave apart.
16:13Not a single crystal shard remained.
16:16She stared at the bear for a long time.
16:18Something felt wrong.
16:19She could tell.
16:20But the bond formation read completely normal.
16:22The bear's cultivation aura showed no irregularity.
16:25She had no choice but to swallow it.
16:28Useless, she snapped.
16:29I just left you for a moment.
16:31and you couldn't even hold off a bunch of stones.
16:33The bear let its ears droop.
16:35Internally, it was ecstatic.
16:37It sent a message to me.
16:38Sis?
16:39She tried to hit me just now.
16:41The bonds punished her for it.
16:43Hidden in the brush nearby,
16:45I pressed my face into Leo's fur to muffle my laughter.
16:49Good.
16:49She tried to steal from us.
16:50The traitor earned it.
16:51I tugged one of its ears.
16:53Don't call the bear that.
16:54It's our teammate.
16:56It looked away, but its tail quietly curled around my wrist, warm and soft and completely involuntary.
17:02Once Victoria and her crew were gone, we slipped into the cellar.
17:06The bear had already bundled the crystal stockpile with vines.
17:09multiple bundles, organized and ready.
17:12Sis, these should keep the little one fed for a while.
17:16Leo's eyes locked on the pile and didn't move, and started crunching.
17:20The sound echoed through the cave like someone eating gravel.
17:23We loaded the crystals into the car.
17:25They filled most of the trunk.
17:26The bear couldn't come with us.
17:28It had to stay and keep up the performance.
17:29Before we left, he said,
17:31Sis, the apocalypse is ten days out.
17:33Stock up on supplies.
17:35Be careful.
17:36Don't let her spot the cracks in your act.
17:40The bear grinned in its easy, unbothered way.
17:43She does whatever I tell her.
17:44We're fine.
17:45We drove back.
17:46Leo sat in the passenger seat with a crystal in both paws, crunching contentedly,
17:50like a squirrel that had found an entire winter's worth of food in one afternoon.
17:56Mmm.
17:57Watching it, I thought about the bear in my past life,
18:00always saving the best of everything for me.
18:03The shape of that care was different now, but the feeling was the same.
18:07Back in the city, I skipped my apartment and went straight to the largest supermarket ever.
18:11I loaded two carts with everything useful.
18:14Compressed ration bars, canned goods, bottled water, instant food.
18:21Leo rode in the cart, pointing,
18:23More of those chocolate ones and the meat jerky.
18:25The spiced kind.
18:27I loaded both.
18:28The store staff watched me with visible unease.
18:30I didn't slow down.
18:32In ten days, none of this would matter to them anyway.
18:34Beyond food and water,
18:36I grabbed thermal underlayers,
18:38sleeping bags
18:39flashlights,
18:39batteries,
18:40lighters,
18:41a few sharp kitchen knives
18:42a hand axe,
18:43anything with practical value in sustained sub-zero conditions.
18:47Two full carts.
18:48I drove home to my apartment and spent an hour hauling everything upstairs.
18:52The living room,
18:52the bedroom,
18:53the balcony.
18:54All of it stacked floor to ceiling.
18:56Leo sprawled across a pile of chocolate bars.
18:58Its tail swayed slowly.
19:00I collapsed onto the couch.
19:02completely winded.
19:05Not bad.
19:06You actually know how to shop.
19:09These are retina-phone-ly
19:11our survival supplies.
19:13Over the next several days,
19:14I took Leo to different locations every day
19:16and kept stocking up.
19:18The pharmacy.
19:19Cold medicine.
19:20Fever reducers.
19:21Antibiotics.
19:22Bandages.
19:23Antiseptic.
19:24The outdoor supply store.
19:25A tent.
19:26Climbing rope.
19:27Anti-slip boots.
19:28A hardware store for gas canisters and basic tools.
19:32My apartment ran out of space.
19:33I rented the unit next door and the one upstairs.
19:36Both became storage.
19:38Victoria texted a few times,
19:40cheerful and fake
19:41asking how I was doing.
19:43Casually mentioning that her brown bear
19:45had broken through to tier two.
19:47I feel her three word replies.
19:49I already knew.
19:51Everything the bear showed her was deliberate.
19:54Every breakthrough was calculated theater,
19:56designed to keep her compliant.
19:58Leo's growth was outpacing everything I'd projected.
20:02It ate crystals, slept,
20:03and woke up noticeably larger each time.
20:06It had started out the size of a kitten.
20:08Now it was halfway to the size of a medium dog.
20:11It's fur had deepened to a white so pure it was almost blinding.
20:16And it's eyes had shifted from pale to a vivid, saturated crimson.
20:21The kind of beauty that made it hard to look away.
20:23It's cultivation aura was also deepening fast.
20:27Something close to tier three was stirring at the edges.
20:30I was combing through Leo's fur when he went still.
20:34Something's happening.
20:37In my bloodline, there's pressure building.
20:40My pulse jumped.
20:42The white fox in my past life had never awakened any ability at all.
20:46He died before he had the chance.
20:49Was this what happened when you gave a white fox proper resources and a blood pact?
20:53An early awakening?
20:55Don't force it, I said quietly.
20:58Let it come on its own.
21:00Leo closed his eyes.
21:01A soft white light kindled across its fur.
21:04The mana crystals around it began losing their glow, all that energy continuously pouring into Leo's body.
21:11A small spiral of concentrated mana formed around it, rotating slowly.
21:17Its fur stood up along its spine.
21:19Its tail filled out further, the individual hairs catching the light like fiber optic threads.
21:25An hour has passed.
21:26The light faded.
21:28Leo opened his eyes, and there was something new in them.
21:32I woke up.
21:32What did you get?
21:34Leo tilted his chin up, tail flicking with casual superiority.
21:38A small, perfectly formed spike of ice materialized from empty air and dropped to the floor with a clean, crystalline
21:46tap.
21:47Ice manipulation and void storage.
21:50I stared.
21:51Ice manipulation.
21:53In an ice apocalypse, an ice affinity ability wasn't just useful.
21:58It was like being native to the environment everyone else was trying to survive.
22:02And void storage.
22:04One of the rarest abilities in existence.
22:07In my past life, people with spatial abilities could name their price at any base.
22:12Every faction wanted them.
22:15Leo, I said, and pulled him into a hug.
22:17I kissed the top of his head without thinking.
22:20Leo's ears went crimson.
22:22Its entire body locked up for half a second.
22:25Then it twisted away, deeply offended.
22:28Stop doing that.
22:31Its tail, however, had already wrapped around my wrist again.
22:34The same involuntary habit.
22:37I smiled and squeezed his cheek.
22:39My little highness is absolutely terrifying.
22:43We're going to be fine out there.
22:45Leo made a dismissive sound and climbed back into my lap to resume eating crystals.
22:50Three days out of the apocalypse, the temperature had already started dropping.
22:55Daytime lows were hitting negative 15.
22:58People on the street moved quickly, buried in their puffer coats.
23:01News coverage was starting to pick up on the anomalous cold snaps.
23:06Experts offered competing theories.
23:08Extreme weather pattern.
23:10Greenhouse rebound effect.
23:12Nobody said what was actually happening.
23:15Nobody saw what was coming.
23:17Victoria called.
23:19She sounded casual and then deliberately didn't.
23:22Riley, my bear just hit tier three peak.
23:25Almost to tier four.
23:26I'll be able to take care of myself once things get rough.
23:29A pause was pointed out.
23:31How about you?
23:32Has your little fox even hit tier one yet?
23:36It's fine, tier three, roughly.
23:40Silence on the other end, then a short, dismissive laugh.
23:44Riley, you don't have to make things up.
23:46White fox maturation timelines are long.
23:49There's no world where it's already tier three.
23:52Another pause.
23:53Look, if things get too hard, you can come to me.
23:56You can work for me.
23:58I'll keep you alive.
23:59I hung up.
24:01Leo was lying next to me, expression flat.
24:04She thinks tier three peak is impressive.
24:06It said.
24:08When I hit tier four, I could end her with one peak.
24:11I scratched behind her ear.
24:13Don't get careless.
24:15Victoria is reckless, but her family has real reach.
24:18When the apocalypse hits, she'll have numbers.
24:20We play it smart.
24:22Leo pressed his nose down onto his paws, still eating crystals.
24:25Those last three days, I didn't go out.
24:29I stayed home with Leo, and we trained together.
24:31Leo had already gotten a solid handle on his boy's storage.
24:35The space inside wasn't enormous, roughly the size of a basketball court, but more than sufficient for supplies.
24:41We loaded the majority of what I'd stockpiled into the board.
24:44My own cultivation was moving faster than I'd expected.
24:48The blood pack shared mana flow between us, and with the crystals on top of that, I'd pushed to tier
24:53two mid-level.
24:54Not close to Leo or the bear, but solidly mid-range for a human practitioner.
24:59The night before the apocalypse, the temperature had already dropped to negative 30.
25:04Outside, the snow came in heavy, diagonal sheets, and the wind sounded like something screaming.
25:10I stood at the window and looked at the city disappearing under white.
25:13In my past life, I had been so afraid, so completely alone.
25:18This time, I had the bear, and I had Leo.
25:21That was enough.
25:22Leo came and pressed against my leg.
25:25Its head reached my hip now.
25:27Stop stressing.
25:28It said.
25:29I'm here.
25:31Nobody touches you.
25:32I crouched down and pulled it close.
25:34I know.
25:34We're going to make it.
25:36The bear checked in through telepathy.
25:38Sis, Victoria and her people have retreated to her family's underground facility.
25:43Good supplies, good infrastructure.
25:45I've already made some adjustments down there.
25:48We'll figure out what that means once the apocalypse hits.
25:51Good work.
25:52Stay safe.
25:53I didn't sleep.
25:54When morning came, the world outside had ended.
25:57Negative 50 degrees.
25:59The window panes had cracked from the cold.
26:01Ice flowers blooming across the glass.
26:03Outside, cars had frozen into sculptures.
26:06People who had been caught in the streets were down and still.
26:09The power grid was gone.
26:10Communication networks were gone.
26:12The city was silent.
26:13The ice apocalypse had arrived.
26:15I layered on everything I had, pulled on my hat and gloves, held Leo against my chest, and walked out
26:20of the apartment.
26:21The wind hits my face like something solid.
26:24A burning cold that cuts through even the layers.
26:26But Leo and I both had cultivation auras as a buffer.
26:29Leo's ice manipulation shaved off another layer of the cold on top of that.
26:33We could bear it.
26:34The streets were a wreck.
26:35Abandoned vehicles everywhere.
26:37Frozen bodies half buried in the drifts.
26:39Mutant beasts prowled the snow between the cars.
26:42Eyes sharp and predatory.
26:44Tracking us as we passed.
26:45The apocalypse had done something to the wildlife.
26:47The extreme cold triggered genetic shifts, and what came out the other side was faster, meaner, and far more adapted
26:55to the temperature than anything that had existed before.
26:57Leo dropped out of my arms.
26:59Its body expanded in one smooth motion, doubling in size.
27:03The white fur settled, dense and wind-resistant.
27:06Its eyes locked onto the nearest creature with the calm of something that had already decided the outcome.
27:11You're looking at my person.
27:13Bad call.
27:14Its tail swept sideways.
27:15Six ice spikes launched simultaneously.
27:19They punched through the throats of the closest mutants before any of them could react.
27:23The bodies dropped and were still.
27:24Completely ridiculous.
27:26Completely dramatic.
27:27Completely reliable.
27:28We moved toward the city center.
27:29That was where the survivor base was.
27:31In my past life, the government had organized several large-scale shelters in the weeks after the apocalypse hit.
27:37The central base was the biggest and the safest.
27:40Two hours on foot.
27:41Then the base appeared through the blizzard.
27:43A ring of steel walls rising over ten meters.
27:47Soldiers posted on the upper walkways with rifles, scanning the perimeter.
27:51A crowd of survivors was already lined up at the gate.
27:54We joined the line.
27:55The couple ahead of us had a baby pressed to the woman's chest.
27:58The baby was crying.
28:00The woman's face was hollow.
28:01The man looked like he hadn't slept in days.
28:04The woman said to the soldier at the checkpoint.
28:06She hasn't eaten in three days.
28:08The soldier's expression didn't move.
28:10Entry requires a resource payment.
28:13Ten pounds of food, five bottles of water, or one warm garment.
28:17No exceptions.
28:18The man's voice cracked.
28:20Everything we had was taken by a mutant pack.
28:23We have nothing left.
28:26Please.
28:27Policy is policy.
28:28The woman started crying.
28:30The baby cried loudly.
28:32I'd been there before.
28:33I knew what it felt like when every door was shut and there was nothing left to bargain with.
28:38I reached into my pack and pulled out two cans and a water bottle.
28:42I held them out to the couple.
28:44Use these for your entry fee.
28:46They turned around.
28:47The woman looked at me.
28:48You're a good person.
28:50You're a good...
28:51I smiled and didn't say anything.
28:53Leo made an irritated noise beside me.
28:55You're going to keep doing this, aren't you?
28:58Helping complete strangers.
29:00We might need a stranger's help someday, too.
29:03Leo said nothing more.
29:04But it didn't argue.
29:06When we reached the checkpoint, the soldier looked at Leo and went away.
29:10Handed over five pounds of rations.
29:13Is that enough?
29:14The soldier checked it.
29:15Nodded.
29:16You can go in.
29:17We were almost through the gate when a familiar voice called from behind us.
29:22Riley!
29:23I turned.
29:24Victoria was pushing through the crowd, surrounded by a cluster of people, with the brown bear walking calmly at her
29:30side.
29:30She was wearing an expensive puffer coat, her face perfectly composed and confident.
29:35Her group had weapons.
29:36I didn't expect you to make it this far.
29:38She looked at me over with a slow, deliberate appraisal.
29:41I guess that fox of yours isn't completely decorative.
29:44Leo's fur went electric.
29:46Its body expanded, hackles lifting, lips pulling back.
29:49Say that again.
29:50Victoria took a step back without meaning to, then collected herself and shifted behind the bear.
29:55The bear stepped forward and positioned itself between them.
29:58It glanced at me.
29:59Its expression said,
30:01I know.
30:01I tried to stop her.
30:03She wouldn't listen.
30:04I looked back at it and gave a small signal.
30:06Not now.
30:07Too many people.
30:08What happens to us in there has nothing to do with you.
30:11I said, and pulled Leo toward the gate.
30:13Hold on.
30:14Victoria's voice sharpened.
30:15Riley, you think a tier three fox is enough to hold any ground in there?
30:19Bear? This base runs on strength.
30:21My bear is tier four.
30:22That makes me the top of the food chain here.
30:24You have two options.
30:25Fall in line and work under me, or I make sure you can't move in this base without running into
30:29a wall.
30:30The crowd around the gate had started paying attention.
30:32Tier four was rare in the early apocalypse.
30:34People recognized what that meant.
30:36I let the moment sit for exactly one breath.
30:39Then, I looked at Leo.
30:41Leo understood without being told.
30:43Its cultivation aura detonated outward.
30:45Tier four pressure rolled across the gate plaza like a physical force.
30:49The snowflake still drifting in the air simply stopped moving.
30:53The cold deepened noticeably.
30:55Several people stumbled back.
30:57Victoria's face lost its color.
30:59That's...
31:00That's not possible.
31:01How is your fox already tier four?
31:04Leo tilted his chin up to a frankly insufferable angle.
31:07You assumed your bear was the ceiling, embarrassing the stake.
31:11The bear thing that moment to release its own tier four aura alongside Leo's.
31:16Two tier four signatures layered together.
31:18The crowd scattered back from the gate, half of them barely staying upright.
31:22Victoria stood there, mouth open, staring between Leo and the bear.
31:27The bear, which was supposed to be hers, aligned with the girl she'd been trying to humiliate.
31:32She tried to form words, couldn't find them.
31:34I walked through the gate with Leo and the bear on either side of me, and left Victoria and her
31:40group at the entrance with whatever was left of the impression she'd tried to make.
31:43Inside, we were brought to a registration desk.
31:46Name, cultivation tier, magical animal.
31:48The soldier processing our forms looked at Leo's tier four listing, then at the bear's, and spent a long time
31:54saying nothing.
31:55Then the professionalism kicked back in, somewhat overcorrected.
31:59Ms. Riley, with two tier four familities you qualify for our highest tier accommodations.
32:03We'd like to offer you a room in the VIP wing.
32:05Independent room, heating system, full resource allocation.
32:09That works.
32:09Can I get an additional room for my companion?
32:11Of course.
32:12Absolutely.
32:13Right away.
32:13The soldier escorted us to the VIP wing.
32:16It was its own building, near the center of the base.
32:18Inside, functioning radiators, hot water, a private bathroom, a small kitchen, a sitting area.
32:24The soldier handed me a key card and stepped back with the careful deference usually reserved for people who could
32:29level buildings.
32:30I opened my room and started pulling supplies out of Leo's void storage, organized the space, stacked what we needed.
32:36Leo jumped onto the couch and stretched his full length, tail hanging off the edge.
32:41Finally, that walk was miserable.
32:44The bear appeared in the doorway, eyes warm.
32:46Victoria and her group got assigned to general housing.
32:50Leave her alone.
32:51Let's rest and get our bearings.
32:52Over the following days, we mapped the base.
32:55Around 5,000 survivors.
32:57The majority were civilians with no cultivation and no magical animals.
33:01A small fraction had some level of training and bonded mates.
33:04The base ran has a strict allocation system.
33:07Resources distributed by contribution level and cultivation tier.
33:10Victoria established herself quickly.
33:12The tier 4 bear was enough to pull in followers.
33:15And she assembled a decent sized crew within the first week.
33:18She used them to push people around.
33:19The kind of entitlement that survives context changes because it was never really about context.
33:25One afternoon in the base cafeteria, she walked in with her group and found us eating.
33:29You have some nerve.
33:31These rations are for people who actually contribute, not passengers who coast on the strength of their magic animal.
33:36Leo set down his jerky strip.
33:37Her eyes went flat.
33:39Repeat that.
33:39Victoria was visibly unnerved, but committed.
33:42I called you a passenger.
33:44Your fox got lucky hitting tier 4.
33:45That doesn't make you anything special.
33:47I set my chopsticks down, stood up, and said,
33:49Then let's settle it.
33:50If you win, I don't set foot in this cafeteria again.
33:53If I win, you leave the base and stop terrorizing everyone in it.
33:58Victoria's expression lit up.
34:00She'd wanted this for days.
34:02Deal!
34:03Don't cry when you lose.
34:04People crowded in from three directions.
34:07We moved to the training yard.
34:08Victoria summoned the bear in front of me, arms crossed, smiling.
34:12You go first.
34:13I'll be generous.
34:14I looked at Leo.
34:15Show her, little highness.
34:17Leo expanded to full size.
34:19The tier 4 will have hit the yard with a drop of weight.
34:23It launched itself at Victoria's fear.
34:25The bear rawr and put it head on.
34:28Ice spikes against bear claws.
34:30The impact sounds concussive.
34:33The training yard floor spider webbing with cracks from the force.
34:37But Victoria's bear had no real combat death.
34:40Leo did.
34:41And beyond experience, Leo's ice affinity directly countered the bear's earring.
34:47Crossed against Taurus.
34:49Leo controlled the pace of the entire fight on the first exchange.
34:53Victoria screamed from the sidelines.
34:56Hit harder!
34:57Kill it!
34:58The bear tried.
34:59It was already falling back.
35:01Leo moved faster than it could track, the ice in the air responding to Leo like an extension
35:07of its own body.
35:08One massive tail strike caught the bear square and launched it across the wall.
35:13It landed hard.
35:15Blood in the snow.
35:16It didn't get back up.
35:18Leo landed, turned, and looked at Victoria with no expression.
35:22Anything else?
35:23Victoria stared at the bear on the ground.
35:26Her composition had completely disintegrated.
35:29Possible!
35:30My bear can't lose!
35:32I walked up to her.
35:34You made a bet.
35:35Honor it.
35:36Take your people and go.
35:38Victoria looked at the crowd around her.
35:41At every face watching.
35:42At every person she'd pushed around for the past week.
35:46Her expression went through several colors.
35:49Then, she grabbed the injured bear and walked.
35:51The base watched her leave.
35:54That night, the bear came back on his own.
35:56He stopped at the edge of our shelter and looked at me.
35:59Victoria hadn't wanted it.
36:01She'd only ever wanted to win.
36:03I let it.
36:04With Victoria gone, things settled quickly.
36:07Our position in the base became something people organized around instead of something
36:11they resented.
36:12Survivors approached us.
36:13A lot of them.
36:14I didn't take everyone.
36:15I looked for people with usable skills and genuine character.
36:18Eventually, we had a small, functional team.
36:21We ran daily operations.
36:23Resource runs outside the walls.
36:25Mutant beast hunts.
36:26Leo's ice control and void storage were decisive in both.
36:29The bear handled direct engagement.
36:31I coordinated and covered flanks.
36:33The team filled in around us and learned quickly.
36:36Mutant beasts had energy cores in their bodies.
36:39Dense, crystallized patterns.
36:41Both the cultivation resource and the base's functional currency.
36:44We found supply caches that others had missed.
36:47Brought back more cores than any other team.
36:50Leo's tiered had to climb through.
36:51Tier 5 arrived quickly.
36:53Its ice domain expanded.
36:55Able to delete an entire zone.
36:57Slowing enemy movement and attack ships inside the base.
37:00The void storage grew larger.
37:02The bear made Tier 5, too.
37:04My own cultivation reached a Tier 4 mid-level.
37:06Then, the temperature dropped again.
37:09Negative 80.
37:10More levels.
37:11Stronger levels.
37:11Reports from other databases.
37:13Some had been overrun.
37:14Others had collapsed from starvation.
37:17The pressure on our base was built on.
37:19The mutant waves that clawed within the target.
37:21And the other team became the base's first line of defense.
37:25During one of the large-scale defense operations,
37:28something came out of the storm that stopped everyone in combat.
37:31A Tier 6 mutant snowball.
37:34Massive.
37:34White fur and yellow eyes.
37:37Perfectly advanced in the desert.
37:38In a way that suggests the cold is no longer its environment, but its element.
37:43It hits the outer wall with speed.
37:45And punched straight through the defense line.
37:48Soldiers scattered.
37:49The walkway section nearest the bridge was cleared in seconds.
37:53This is bad.
37:54My stomach dropped.
37:56A Tier 6 in the forest was something we hadn't planned for.
38:00Leo and the bear exchanged one look.
38:02Both moved at the same time.
38:04Leo drove ice spikes into the wolf's path and froze his legs to the ground.
38:08The bear closed the gap and brought both forefights down hard.
38:12The wolf broke the ice restrains faster than either of them had anticipated.
38:16Lunged sideways and locked its jaws on the bear's shoulder.
38:20The bear's blood hits the snow.
38:22Bear!
38:23My voice came out louder than I meant it to.
38:25Leo saw the blood and something shifted.
38:28The temperature around it dropped independently of the ambient cold.
38:32It called up a full ice sword.
38:34The biggest construct I'd seen it produce.
38:36It brought it down directly.
38:38The wolf released the bear and came up to the sword head over.
38:42A defensive blood flaring white around his body.
38:45The collision detonated.
38:47The shockwave threw every soldier within 20 meters off their feet.
38:51The wolf had taken a serious wound.
38:54Deep enough that blood was running continuously into the snow.
38:57But it was still moving.
38:58And now, it was furious.
39:00It wheeled and drove at Leo.
39:03I made the call.
39:04Letting this drag on wasn't an option.
39:06Every additional exchange cost us.
39:08I reached into my pack.
39:10Pulled out the hand axe.
39:11I ran my cultivation through my arms until I could feel it pushing at my joint.
39:15And I threw the ax directly at the wolf's left eye.
39:19It hadn't expected a human to engage at that point.
39:22It turned too late.
39:23The axe connected.
39:24The wolf screamed.
39:25A sound that rolled across the base walls and thrashed his head violently.
39:30Leo took the opening.
39:32Ice sword straight down and clean.
39:34The wolf's body settled into the snow and went still.
39:37We stood there for a moment, breathing.
39:39The bear's shoulder wound was deep.
39:41I had the antiseptic and bandages out before anyone else moved.
39:45Leo was on the ground, sides heaving.
39:47Cultivation reserves nearly empty.
39:49Sis?
39:50Leo said, lifting his head toward the wolf's remains.
39:53That core is going to be something.
39:56I extracted it.
39:57It was the size of a closed fist.
39:59Tier 6, enough concentrated energy inside to push Leo's cultivation to a level we hadn't projected for months.
40:06Back at the base gate, the facility director was waiting to receive us personally.
40:11Without us, the wolf would have been through the walls and into the civilian sectors.
40:14Leo spent the next several days absorbing the tier 6 core.
40:18Tier 6 came continuously, and with it, Leo's isomane became something else entirely.
40:22Inside the field, it could now project.
40:24Every enemy was running at a fraction of normal capacity.
40:27Movement slowed.
40:28Attack force dropped sharply.
40:30The cold inside the field was a different kind of cold from the ambient apocalypse temperature.
40:35It had intent behind it.
40:37The bear's wound closed, and its cultivation pushed to tier 6 as well.
40:41Its defensive strength reached a point where smaller mutants couldn't break through even without active effort.
40:45My own cultivation crossed into tier 4 peak during that same stretch.
40:49Not comparable to either of them, but functional enough to contribute real value in a fight.
40:54We were the strongest team in the base.
40:56People come looking for us constantly.
40:58I kept filtering.
40:59The ones I added were worth adding.
41:01The mutant incursions kept escalating.
41:03Tier 6 became the new baseline outside the walls instead of the exception.
41:07Other survivor bases sent messages when they still could, and those messages grew more desperate.
41:12Some stopped coming altogether.
41:14We started ranging further out on our supply runs, into the deeper city where higher tier mutants had settled,
41:18and where the ruins held things worth finding.
41:21That was how we found the ancient ruin.
41:23The structure shouldn't have been there.
41:25It predated everything around it by what felt like centuries.
41:28The architecture didn't match anything currently in use.
41:31The interior was layered with old formation arrays, pressure-sensitive trap zones,
41:35and guardian beasts that hadn't been active in a long time, but had woken up when we came in.
41:40We moved carefully.
41:42Some of the traps caught us anyway.
41:43The guardians were tough, a different kind of tough, from the mutants outside.
41:47Older, more deliberate, less wild.
41:50We took losses in terms of supplies and time, and a few team members needed serious recovery afterward.
41:56But we came out the other side.
41:58Deep in the ruin, past the densest section of guardian formations, we found two things.
42:02A cultivation manual, ice system, high grade.
42:06Title: Frost God Codex.
42:08And a sword.
42:10Ice-forged, single-edged.
42:11The blade holding a sustained cold that made the air around it visible.
42:15Bound to an ice practitioner.
42:17Both were meant for Leo.
42:18After Leo absorbed the Frost God Codex and bonded the ice sword, his cultivation moved faster than I could track.
42:25Tier VII arrived within days.
42:27Its ice manipulation had crossed from skilled into something that felt more like fluency with a fundamental force.
42:33It could project a full glacier construct now.
42:36Hold it.
42:36Shape it.
42:37Move it.
42:38In combat, it summoned a faint reflection of something vast and cold above itself.
42:42A presence that made enemies hesitate before they understood why.
42:46The bear found a high-grade Earth system manual in the same chamber.
42:49Earth Warden Codex.
42:51Tier VII followed shortly after.
42:53Its defensive capability became nearly absolute at close range.
42:57The ground responded to it in ways that were useful in ways we were still discovering.
43:01My own cultivation, drawing on the dense ambient energy inside the ruin, broke through to Tier V mid-level.
43:08We left the ruin carrying more than we'd expected to find and returned to the base to prepare for the
43:12next phase.
43:13Because we had decided.
43:15We were done staying in one place.
43:17Before we left, we distributed the base's stored supplies to the civilians.
43:21The ones who couldn't fight, who had no familiarity, who had survived this far by nothing except luck and stubbornness.
43:27We left them what we could.
43:29Then, we loaded our team into a convoy of modified SUVs.
43:32Every vehicle packed with supplies and equipment and driven out.
43:36The road was what the apocalypse had made of it.
43:38Stripped vehicles, frozen terrain, weather that shifted from brutal to catastrophic and back without warning.
43:45Mutants on every major route.
43:47Survivors in varying states of desperation allowed to live.
43:50We didn't run from any of them.
43:51Leo's ice domain covered a wide enough radius to make the convoy defensible on the moon.
43:56The bear took point in the lead vehicle's cargo bed.
43:58Our team had developed into something cohesive.
44:01People knew their roles, executed them, adjusted without needing to be managed.
44:05The enemies that came at us found out quickly that the cost wasn't worth it.
44:09We drove through city after city.
44:11In each one, we looked for survivors.
44:13We pulled out the ones who could be helped, assessed the ones who wanted to join us,
44:17turned away the ones who were dangerous.
44:19The convoy grew.
44:20Dozens became hundreds.
44:22We found our location in a valley that sat inside a mountain green.
44:25Flat ground in the center, multiple resource nodes within range,
44:29defensible perimeter with natural geographic support on three sides.
44:32We built steel and stone for the outer wall,
44:36formation arrays adapted from techniques we found across our travels,
44:39running along every section.
44:41Armories, a cultivation training area,
44:43a medical facility,
44:45storage warehouses with rotation schedules,
44:47a residential district laid out for actual human habitation,
44:51not just survival stacking.
44:53The system we ran.
44:54You contributed, you received.
44:56Roles were assigned based on skill and inclination.
44:59Resources were distributed based on what you did with your time.
45:02The ratio was transparent and applied to everyone equally, including us.
45:07We formed a dedicated hunting team and a dedicated exploration team.
45:11The hunters ran operations against the mutant populations in our range,
45:15bringing back cores and raw materials.
45:17The explorers ranged out to ruins, dead city blocks, and resource points,
45:21returning with supplies and occasionally something significant.
45:24As the base grew, so did its reach.
45:27The name spread outward through whatever communication network still existed in the apocalypse.
45:32Survivor channels, word of mouth, other bases making contact.
45:36People arrived in groups, sometimes in large groups.
45:39We took the ones worth taking and built the capacity to house and integrate them.
45:44The base became something that people talked about in terms of whether it was real.
45:48A place in the ice apocalypse where the structure didn't collapse under pressure.
45:53Where you ate if you contributed.
45:55Where the walls held.
45:56Victoria dropped off the map entirely after leaving her home space.
46:00Some accounts said she hadn't survived the weeks that followed.
46:03Others said she'd found another faction to attach herself to and was someone else's problem.
46:08Neither version concerns us particularly.
46:11Whatever happened to her happened somewhere that wasn't our business anymore.
46:15I stood on the wall one evening, looking down over the base.
46:18The light was wrong for the apocalypse.
46:21Too warm.
46:21Coming from the fires and the lanterns and the lit windows of the residential block.
46:26People were moving in the streets.
46:28Talking.
46:29Working.
46:29A few were laughing.
46:32Which still felt strange every time I heard it out here.
46:35Leo pressed his flank against my leg.
46:37It had grown into something that came up past my waist now.
46:41And its fur in the firelight looked less white than the lights.
46:45The way fresh snow looks in the dark.
46:47The bear stood a few meters down the wall.
46:49Watching the same scene.
46:51Ears relaxed.
46:52Easy posture.
46:53In my past life, I had lost everything.
46:56I had survived the early apocalypse alone.
46:59Holding on to a bear I loved.
47:01And even that had been taken from me before the end.
47:03And this time, I had come back with the memory of all of it.
47:07Every mistake.
47:09Every moment I had been too slow or too trusting or too unprepared.
47:13I had used all of it.
47:14And what I had now, I had built from it.
47:17There was Leo, who had crashed into my life by biting my hand and never really let go.
47:21There was Leo, who was absurd and dramatic and thin-skinned about everything and completely, unflinchingly there when it mattered.
47:28There was the bear, who had recognized me across a classroom in another life and blinked twice to tell me
47:34he remembered.
47:34And had then spent the next months doing what it always did.
47:38Watching my back without being asked.
47:40There was a base full of people who were alive because we had gotten to them in time.
47:44Or because we'd built something worth surviving inside.
47:47The ice apocalypse was still out there.
47:49The cold hadn't broken.
47:51The mutants kept evolving.
47:53There were still ruins we hadn't opened and threats we hadn't identified.
47:57And territory we hadn't mapped.
47:59But I had stopped counting the days until things got better.
48:02And started measuring what we were building.
48:04The world was still frozen.
48:06We were still standing in it.
48:07And we were going to keep standing.
48:09We were still standing.
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