- 2 hours ago
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Short filmTranscript
00:04On the first day of school, the teachers handed out magical animals based on grades.
00:09Valedictorian and class president Victoria didn't even hesitate.
00:12She walked straight up and grabbed the SSS tier white fox.
00:16I was dead last in the class rankings.
00:18I got assigned a single F tier brown bear.
00:21Then the ice apocalypse hit.
00:22Because I'd bonded with the brown bear, I shared its innate ability.
00:26Cold resistance.
00:27Victoria's white fox never had the chance to grow.
00:29On day one of the apocalypse, it froze to death.
00:32That wasn't the worst part.
00:33Fueled by jealousy, Victoria rallied the others and jumped me.
00:37They killed my bear.
00:38Then they roasted steaks right in front of me, while they ate.
00:41I was so overwhelmed with grief and died.
00:43When I opened my eyes again, I was back.
00:46Back to the day they handed out magical animals.
00:48As the dead last student of the werewolf academy, I was always picked last.
00:52And sure enough, the only magical animal left was the brown bear.
00:55I was reaching for it when Victoria suddenly shouted from across the room.
00:59Wait!
01:00She sprinted over, clutching a small white fox kit, and shoved it into my arms without a word.
01:05Then she picked up the brown bear from its crate.
01:07You take the white fox.
01:09I want the brown bear.
01:11The entire classroom went silent.
01:13Even Mr. Harris, our homeroom teacher, frowned.
01:16Everyone knew the white fox had the purest bloodline of any familiar in this batch.
01:20Its ancient lineage concentration was 80%.
01:22The brown bear's was barely 20, and it was considered a low-tier species.
01:27Mr. Harris leaned forward.
01:29Victoria, choosing your bonded animal isn't something to joke about.
01:32This determines your ceiling for the rest of your life.
01:36Sir, Riley needs this white fox more than I do.
01:40My grades are strong.
01:41I can train fast no matter what magical animal I bond with.
01:45But Riley's talent for cultivation is average.
01:49If she's also stuck with a low-blood-blood brown bear, her future is basically over.
01:55The class erupted in applause.
01:58Mr. Harris nodded approvingly.
02:00You are kind.
02:01A pure and selfless heart will carry you further than any familiar ever could.
02:07Then he turned to me and frowned.
02:10Why are you just standing there?
02:11Thank Victoria.
02:13I blinked.
02:13I held the white fox kit out toward her.
02:17It's fine.
02:18You don't have to swap.
02:19I actually kind of like the bear.
02:20Victoria pulled the brown bear closer to her chest.
02:24She looked at me the way someone looks when they've been wronged.
02:27You don't have to test me.
02:29I genuinely want to trade.
02:32I'm serious.
02:34Keep it.
02:36Before I could finish, something sharp bit down on the web of my right hand.
02:41I looked down.
02:42The white fox kit had bitten me.
02:45Then the fox pressed its tiny tongue against my skin and licked it clean.
02:50The fox had initiated a blood pact with me.
02:53So Riley wasn't being noble after all.
02:55She said she didn't want the white fox, but she went and blood pasted it the second she got the
02:59chance.
02:59She was just scared Victoria would take it back.
03:01Never seen someone play both sides that hard before.
03:04After the blood pact locked in, the white fox went drowsy and fell asleep in my arms.
03:08I sat there, listening to the whispers and feeling my face go red.
03:13They didn't know the truth.
03:14I genuinely did not want this fox.
03:17Because I knew something none of them did.
03:20In two weeks, this beautiful, high-bloodline white fox was going to be completely useless.
03:27Well, almost none of them knew.
03:29Victoria knew, too.
03:30The moment she gave up the white fox and fought me for the brown bear, I understood.
03:34She'd been reborn, just like me.
03:36I stared at the bear tucked against Victoria's chest.
03:39I'd been so close to it in my past life.
03:42We'd trusted each other completely.
03:44Now, Victoria had taken it.
03:46I could deal with losing the cold resistance.
03:48What I couldn't stand was thinking about whether the bear would be fed properly.
03:52Whether it would be treated well.
03:54I was staring at it when the bear slowly turned its head and met my eyes.
03:58Then it blinked.
03:59Once.
04:00Twice.
04:01Not once.
04:02Not three times.
04:04Twice.
04:05My chest lit up.
04:06Two blinks was a signal.
04:08A code we'd created together in our past life.
04:11The bear was using it now to tell me...
04:13It remembered.
04:14It had been reborn, too.
04:16I was still exchanging glances with the bear when something warm and soft wrapped around
04:20my fingertip.
04:21I looked down.
04:23My white fox had woken up.
04:24I'm not useless.
04:26The voice was haughty.
04:28Also undeniably baby soft.
04:30And stop staring at that chunky little lowlife.
04:33I poked the fox gently.
04:35Are you talking?
04:36The white fox gave an imperious little sniff and rolled over in my arms.
04:40I thought about what to call it.
04:42White fox felt too generic.
04:44Little fox felt too soft.
04:45I was going to call it...
04:47Your Highness.
04:48My name is Leo.
04:50It announced.
04:51You can call me Your Highnesses if you want.
04:54I flicked its forehead.
04:55Who taught you to be this dramatic?
04:58Up front, Mr. Harris was explaining how to draw binding circles on the board.
05:02Most bonds were initiated by humans, since magical animals were naturally proud creatures.
05:08Young kits were gentler than adults, but it was still extremely rare for a familiar
05:13to seek out a bond on its own.
05:15Everyone began attempting their bonds.
05:18Everyone except me, since I'd already been forcibly claimed by a fox.
05:23Leo, I said quietly, why did you bond with me?
05:27I didn't like that other girl.
05:30She smells.
05:31Smells?
05:32I kept my voice low.
05:35Victoria is literally the most popular girl in school.
05:38Half the guys here would say she smells amazing.
05:42Those guys are blind.
05:44Leo said flatly.
05:45Achoo!
05:45They can't see the rod underneath.
05:49And me?
05:50Leo buried its nose in my sleeve.
05:53Its voice came out slightly strangled.
05:55You're fine.
05:56You're kind of sweet.
05:59I started scratching under Leo's chin while the class droned on.
06:03White fox fur had a reputation, and it delivered.
06:07Impossibly soft, dense like a cloud.
06:09I scratched its ears, squeezed its belly, and eventually couldn't help reaching for its tail.
06:16They say you should never touch a fox's tail.
06:19But Leo was basically a kid, so the usual rules didn't apply.
06:24The moment my hands settled on the tail, Leo went completely rigid.
06:29Through the white fur, I could see its skin flush faintly pink.
06:33Stop it!
06:34What is wrong with you?
06:35It sounded exactly like someone who'd just been caught off guard, and was deeply, mortifyingly
06:41flustered.
06:42I pulled my hand back, keeping my expression neutral.
06:46Calm down.
06:47You've got a very active imagination.
06:49Leo's eyes welled up immediately.
06:51It snapped its head away and refused to look at me.
06:54Across the room, Victoria successfully completed her binding circle.
06:58A flash of pleasure crossed her face.
07:01She directed it toward the bear.
07:03The circle activated, spinning fast around the bear.
07:07Inside the light, the bear quietly reached out and made two small adjustments to the formation.
07:12The standard equal bond shifted, without a sound, into a master-servant bond.
07:18The bear was the master.
07:20Victoria was the servant.
07:22It was a technique we'd discovered together in a ruin, years ago in another life.
07:27The bear was now using it to put a leash on Victoria.
07:30The bear caught my eye across the room, satisfied, proud of itself.
07:36Under the table, I gave it a thumbs up.
07:39You are so manipulative.
07:41Leo muttered into my ribs.
07:43I was pinching its soft, borderline boneless little cheek.
07:47Me?
07:48How?
07:49You touched my tail, and then stared at that chunky lowlife for five whole minutes.
07:55You were making eyes at it.
07:57Leo's voice was escalating toward genuine grievance.
08:00I added another item to my mental description of it.
08:04Prone to completely unhinged jealousy.
08:07After class ended, Mr. Harris handed out cultivation supplies.
08:11One week's worth per student.
08:14I kept a single mana crystal for myself.
08:16I fed everything else to Leo.
08:19Nineteen crystals.
08:21Leo crunched through them like chips.
08:23We hadn't even left the classroom.
08:25The class watched in disbelief.
08:28Is she serious?
08:29That's a week's worth of cultivation resources, and she just fed all of it to the fox?
08:34Did she even listen in class?
08:35Magic animals have slow growth cycles.
08:37You're not supposed to rush them.
08:39The mana crystals are supposed to be for her own cultivation.
08:41The white fox bonded with her for nothing.
08:44Some students should note,
08:47mana crystal applications are limited.
08:49The school won't give you more if you waste them.
08:52He was clearly talking about me.
08:54I smiled pleasantly.
08:56Understood, sir.
08:57Honestly, in my past life, I'd always been generous with the bear.
09:00Most students kept a 4 to 1 ratio for themselves.
09:03I split everything 50-50.
09:06Equals deserved equal shares.
09:07But this?
09:08Nineteen for Leo.
09:10One for me.
09:11This was something else entirely.
09:13It wasn't generosity.
09:15It was self-preservation.
09:17Because Leo and I had a blood pact.
09:19A standard equal bond meant one partner's death didn't affect the other.
09:22A blood pact was different.
09:24If Leo froze to death on day one of the apocalypse,
09:26the same way the white fox died in my past life, I died too.
09:29Leo's survival wasn't kindness.
09:31It was my only chance to live.
09:34The mana crystals were an investment in not dying.
09:37After class, students scattered to train on their own.
09:40I carried Leo toward the exit, and Victoria stepped half in front of me.
09:44I know you've been reborn too, she said.
09:47This time, the cold resistance belongs to me.
09:51Then I hope you enjoy it.
09:53You and your useless little fox can look forward to freezing on day one.
09:57I gave you a chance to be useful to me.
09:59You threw it away.
10:00Leo peeled open one eye from inside my arms, completely unimpressed.
10:08Victoria's composure shattered instantly.
10:10She stumbled backward.
10:14What is wrong with you?
10:15Get that disgusting thing away from me!
10:18I turned and walked away, barely holding in a laugh.
10:20The mana crystal problem was serious, though.
10:23I needed a massive supply, and I needed it fast.
10:26I was thinking about it, absently pulling at Leo's fur, when I remembered.
10:30Before the ice apocalypse hit in my past life, a news outlet had exposed a small mana vein.
10:35Based on timing, nobody should have found it yet.
10:39When I reached the rough coordinates I'd memorized, Victoria was already there.
10:47She'd brought 20-plus workers, and they were already my main vein.
10:51I stood at the outer edge and watched them haul out crystal after crystal.
10:56Leo pressed its nose to the window.
10:58I covered Leo's eyes.
11:00Low-quality crystals here.
11:02Let's go find something better.
11:04Then, from somewhere inside my head, a voice crackled to life.
11:08I stopped walking.
11:10Sis, is that you?
11:12You can do telepathy now.
11:15Victoria spent serious resources on me.
11:17I can project thoughts directly.
11:20Sis, take Leo and find somewhere to rest.
11:24Once they're done mining and clear out, I'll call you back.
11:27I finished the mental exchange and came back to the present moment.
11:31A very large, very imperious fox face was approximately two inches from my nose.
11:37Leo had both front paws planted on my shoulders.
11:41What were you doing just now?
11:44You were mentally cheating on me.
11:46I grabbed it by the scruff and I squeezed one soft cheek by way of reprimand.
11:51Leo, watch your voculary.
11:53I'm not wrong.
11:55I can smell the bear on your thorns.
11:57Was that the chunky low knife?
11:59I raised an eyebrow.
12:00Sharp nose.
12:01For your information.
12:03Leo continued, voice climbing.
12:04When a white fox makes a blood pact with someone, that person is their bonded maid.
12:08For life.
12:10You can't have secret meetings with a brown bear.
12:14Yeah, you're a child.
12:15Do you even know what partner means?
12:17Leo's eyes immediately filled with tears that refused to actually fall.
12:20It waved its tiny paws in what appeared to be an angry, thrashing, swimming motion.
12:25I leaned forward and stuck my tongue out at it, a small damp nose pressed against my cheek.
12:31Before I could react, the culprit had already retreated, voice very small.
12:36I kissed you.
12:37That means you're mine now.
12:38Nobody else is allowed to kiss you there.
12:40Leo had just made a move on me.
12:42A very small, very smug, very baby-toothed move.
12:46I pulled myself together and went to find somewhere to wait.
12:49I reclined in the car with the air conditioning running, watching a nature documentary on the
12:53center screen.
12:54The documentary put me to sleep almost immediately.
12:58When I woke up, it was dark.
13:02Right on cue, the bear's voice appeared in my head.
13:05Sis, come now.
13:07They're gone.
13:08Leo was staring up at me, suspicious and accusatory.
13:12My conscience flickered.
13:13This was exactly the energy of someone who'd just been caught.
13:17We were just talking.
13:19I'm not listening.
13:20I'm not talking to you for the rest of the day.
13:22Just as the bear had said, the area was empty.
13:25All that remained was a concealment formation to hide the vein's location.
13:29The bear deactivated it from inside and poked its head out.
13:33Sis, over here.
13:35It had grown enough to speak through.
13:37The white fox in my arms took one look at the bear and immediately bared its teeth.
13:42Leo's going through a phase.
13:44The bear took the lead.
13:46That thing is a fake, nice snake in the grass.
13:49Get your hand off me.
13:50I'm going to bite it.
13:52I am biting it today.
13:53Riley, don't hold me back.
13:56It went on like that for a while.
13:58I didn't address it.
13:59I looked at the bear.
14:01Its aura drifted quietly around it, steady and calm.
14:04I released Leo and let it jump to the ground.
14:07Leo hit the dirt, spun around and stared at me.
14:11Its expression said it had not expected me to actually let go.
14:14It shuffled forward at approximately the speed of a very indignant caterpillar.
14:19Every few steps, it looked back at me.
14:21On its fourth look back, it hesitated.
14:24You're not stopping me?
14:26What if your little buddy gets actually hurt?
14:30I glanced at the bear's aura.
14:32After absorbing a solid hall of mana crystals, it was running at easily 50 times Leo's current output.
14:39Whether Leo would be the one doing the hurting was very much an overmatch.
14:43It's fine.
14:45Show me what you've got.
14:47If you win, you'll have my full and undivided attention forever.
14:51Leo glanced at the bear, felt the weight of that aura, thought about it very carefully.
14:57Slowly, reluctantly, it walked back and sat down next to my feet.
15:02Fine.
15:03You showed good remorse this time.
15:05I'll let the secret meeting go.
15:08But don't let it happen again.
15:10Inside the vein, the bear had divided the crystal stockpile into three piles.
15:15One very small pile for itself, a medium small pile, and a pile roughly the size of a small hill.
15:22Leo's eyes went green, literally luminous.
15:25This is all I need, sis.
15:27A voice in my head.
15:29Okay, that chunky thing is definitely not in two.
15:33Sis, this one's for your cultivation.
15:36And that one's for my little sibling.
15:38The bear pointed to the medium pile and the mountain.
15:40Riley, it does not have feelings for you.
15:43I have been worried for nothing.
15:45Run everything through the romance filter, don't you?
15:47I do not.
15:48I flicked Leo on the forehead.
15:50I said simply,
15:52Mana crystals.
15:53Leo went quiet and well-behaved immediately.
15:56If we take all of this, won't Victoria figure out it was you?
16:00She does everything I say right now.
16:04Full compliance.
16:05Victoria stared at the hollowed-out vein with all the color drained from her face.
16:10You used all of it?
16:12You used every single crystal?
16:14The bear sat on its haunches, eyes wide and guileless.
16:17Under the rules of its master-servant bond, it only had to give basic responses.
16:22The truth was not required.
16:24I don't know.
16:25I was asleep all night.
16:26Maybe the vein just ran dry on its own?
16:28Victoria shook with rage.
16:30She brought her entire crew back and tore the cave apart.
16:34Not a single crystal shard remained.
16:36She stared at the bear for a long time.
16:39Something felt wrong.
16:40She could tell.
16:41But the bond formation read completely normal.
16:43The bear's cultivation aura showed no irregularity.
16:46She had no choice but to swallow it.
16:48Useless, she snapped.
16:50I just left you for a moment.
16:52And you couldn't even hold off a bunch of stones.
16:54The bear let its ears droop.
16:56Internally, it was ecstatic.
16:58It sent a message to me.
16:59Sis, she tried to hit me just now.
17:02The bonds punished her for it.
17:04Hidden in the brush nearby, I pressed my face into Leo's fur to muffle my laughter.
17:10Good.
17:10She tried to steal from us.
17:12The traitor earned it.
17:13I tugged one of its ears.
17:14Don't call the bear that.
17:15It's our teammate.
17:17It looked away.
17:18But its tail quietly curled around my wrist.
17:21Warm and soft and completely involuntary.
17:24Once Victoria and her crew were gone, we slipped into the cave.
17:28The bear had already bundled the crystal stockpile with vines.
17:31Multiple bundles.
17:32Organized and ready.
17:34Sis, these should keep the little one fed for a while.
17:38Leo's eyes locked on the pile and did not move, and started crunching.
17:42The sound echoed through the cave like someone eating gravel.
17:45We loaded the crystals into the car.
17:47They filled most of the trunk.
17:48The bear couldn't come with us.
17:50It had to stay and keep up the performance.
17:52Before we left, it said,
17:53Sis, the apocalypse is ten days out.
17:55Stock up on supplies.
17:56Guys, be careful.
17:58Don't let her spot the cracks in your act.
18:02The bear grinned in its easy, unbothered way.
18:05She does whatever I tell her.
18:06We're fine.
18:07We drove back.
18:08Leo sat in the passenger seat with a crystal in both paws, crunching contentedly.
18:13Like a squirrel that had found an entire winter's worth of food in one afternoon.
18:19Watching it, I thought about the bear in my past life, always saving the best of everything
18:25for me.
18:25The shape of that care was different now, but the feeling was the same.
18:29Back in the city, I skipped my apartment and went straight to the largest supermarket
18:33I loaded two carts with everything useful.
18:37Compressed ration bars, canned goods, bottled water, instant food.
18:43Leo rode in the cart, pointing.
18:45More of those chocolate ones.
18:47And the meat jerky, the spiced kind.
18:49I loaded both.
18:51The store staff watched me with visible unease.
18:53I didn't slow down.
18:54In ten days, none of this would matter to them anyway.
18:57Beyond food and water, I grabbed thermal underlayers, sleeping bags, flashlights, batteries,
19:03lighters, a few sharp kitchen knives, a hand axe, anything with practical value in
19:08sustained sub-zero conditions.
19:10Two full carts.
19:11I drove home to my apartment and spent an hour hauling everything upstairs.
19:14The living room, the bedroom, the balcony.
19:17All of it stacked floor to ceiling.
19:19Leo sprawled across a pile of chocolate bars.
19:21Its tail swayed slowly.
19:23I collapsed onto the couch, completely winded.
19:36The next several days, I took Leo to different locations every day and kept stocking up.
19:41The pharmacy, cold medicine, fever reducers, antibiotics, bandages, antiseptic.
19:47The outdoor supply store, a tent, climbing rope, anti-slip boots.
19:52A hardware store for gas canisters and basic tools.
19:55My apartment ran out of space.
19:57I rented the unit next door and the one upstairs.
20:00Both became storage.
20:02Victoria texted a few times, cheerful and fake, asking how I was doing, casually mentioning
20:08that her brown bear had broken through to tier two.
20:11I sent her three-word replies.
20:13I already knew.
20:15Everything the bear showed her was deliberate.
20:18Every breakthrough was calculated theater, designed to keep her compliant.
20:23Leo's growth was outpacing everything I'd projected.
20:26It ate crystals, slept, and woke up noticeably larger each time.
20:30It had started out the size of a kitten.
20:33Now it was halfway to the size of a medium dog.
20:36Its fur had deepened to a white so pure it was almost blinding.
20:41And its eyes had shifted from pale to a vivid, saturated crimson.
20:45The kind of beauty that made it hard to look away.
20:49Its cultivation aura was also deepening fast.
20:52Something close to tier three was stirring at the edges.
20:55I was combing through Leo's fur when it went still.
20:58Something's happening.
21:02In my bloodline, there's pressure building.
21:05My pulse jumped.
21:07The white fox in my past life had never awakened any ability at all.
21:11It died before it had the chance.
21:14Was this what happened when you gave a white fox proper resources and a blood pact?
21:18An early awakening?
21:20Don't force it, I said quietly.
21:23Let it come on its own.
21:25Leo closed its eyes.
21:27A soft, white light kindled across its fur.
21:29The mana crystals around it began losing their glow.
21:33All that energy pouring steadily into Leo's body.
21:36A small spiral of concentrated mana formed around it, rotating slowly.
21:42Its fur stood up along its spine.
21:44Its tail filled out further.
21:46The individual hairs catching the light like fiber optic threads.
21:50An hour passed.
21:52The light faded.
21:54Leo opened its eyes, and there was something new in them.
21:57I awakened.
21:59What did you get?
22:00Leo tilted its chin up, tail flicking with casual superiority.
22:04A small, perfectly formed spike of ice materialized from empty air and dropped to the floor with a clean, crystalline
22:12tap.
22:13Ice manipulation and void storage.
22:16I stared.
22:17Ice manipulation.
22:19In an ice apocalypse, an ice affinity ability wasn't just useful.
22:24It was like being native to the environment everyone else was trying to survive.
22:28And void storage.
22:30One of the rarest abilities in existence.
22:33In my past life, people with spatial abilities could name their price at any base.
22:39Every faction wanted them.
22:41Leo, I said, and pulled it into a hug.
22:44I kissed the top of its head without thinking.
22:47Leo's ears went crimson.
22:49Its entire body locked up for half a second.
22:52Then it twisted away, deeply offended.
22:55Stop doing that.
22:57Its tail, however, had already wrapped around my wrist again.
23:01The same involuntary habit.
23:04I smiled and squeezed its cheek.
23:06My little highness is absolutely terrifying.
23:10We're going to be fine out there.
23:12Leo made a dismissive sound and climbed back into my lap to resume eating crystals.
23:17Three days out from the apocalypse, the temperature had already started dropping.
23:22Daytime lows were hitting negative 15.
23:24People on the street moved fast, buried in their puffer coats.
23:29News coverage was starting to pick up on the anomalous cold snaps.
23:33Experts offered competing theories.
23:36Extreme weather pattern.
23:37Greenhouse rebound effect.
23:39Nobody said what was actually happening.
23:42Nobody saw what was coming.
23:45Victoria called.
23:46She sounded casual and then deliberately didn't.
23:49Riley, my bear just hit tier three peak.
23:52Almost to tier four.
23:53I'll be able to take care of myself once things get rough.
23:57A pause.
23:58Pointed.
23:59How about you?
24:00Has your little fox even hit tier one yet?
24:04It's fine.
24:05Tier three, roughly.
24:07Silence on the other end.
24:09Then a short, dismissive laugh.
24:12Riley, you don't have to make things up.
24:14White fox maturation timelines are long.
24:17There's no world where it's already tier three.
24:20Another pause.
24:21Look, if things get too hard, you can come to me.
24:24You can work for me.
24:26I'll keep you alive.
24:27I hung up.
24:29Leo was lying next to me, expression flat.
24:32She thinks tier three peak is impressive.
24:35It said.
24:36When I hit tier four, I could end her or one.
24:39I scratched behind its ear.
24:42Don't get careless.
24:43Victoria is reckless, but her family has real reach.
24:46When the apocalypse hits, she'll have numbers.
24:49We play it smart.
24:50Leo pressed its nose down onto its paws, still eating crystals.
24:54Those last three days, I didn't go out.
24:57I stayed home with Leo, and we trained together.
25:00Leo had already gotten a solid handle on his boy's storage.
25:03The space inside wasn't enormous, roughly the size of a basketball board, but more than sufficient for supplies.
25:10We loaded the majority of what I'd stockpiled into the board.
25:13My own cultivation was moving faster than I'd expected.
25:16The blood pack shared mana flow between us, and with the crystals on top of that, I'd pushed to tier
25:22two mid-level.
25:23Not close to Leo or the air, but solidly mid-range for a human practitioner.
25:28The night before the apocalypse, the temperature had already dropped to negative 30.
25:33Outside, the snow came in heavy, diagonal sheets, and the wind sounded like something screaming.
25:39I stood at the window and looked at the city disappearing under white.
25:43In my past life, I had been so afraid, so completely alone.
25:48This time, I had the bear, and I had Leo.
25:51That was enough.
25:52Leo came and pressed against my leg.
25:54Its head reached my hip now.
25:56Stop stressing.
25:58It's head.
25:59I'm here.
26:00Nobody touches you.
26:01I crouched down and pulled it close.
26:03I know.
26:04We're going to make it.
26:06The bear checked in through telepathy.
26:07Sis, Victoria, and her people have retreated to her family's underground facility.
26:13Good supplies, good infrastructure.
26:15I've already made some adjustments down there.
26:17We'll figure out what that means once the apocalypse hits.
26:21Good work.
26:22Stay safe.
26:23I didn't sleep.
26:24When morning came, the world outside had ended.
26:27Negative 50 degrees.
26:29The window panes had cracked from the cold.
26:31Ice flowers blooming across the glass.
26:33Outside, cars had frozen into sculptures.
26:36People who had been caught in the streets were down and still.
26:39The power grid was gone.
26:40Communication networks were gone.
26:42The city was silent.
26:43The ice apocalypse had arrived.
26:45I layered on everything I had, pulled on my hat and gloves, held Leo against my chest, and walked out
26:51of the apartment.
26:52The wind hit my face like something solid.
26:54A burning cold that cut through even the layers.
26:57But Leo and I both had cultivation auras as a buffer.
26:59Leo's ice manipulation shaved off another layer of the cold on top of that.
27:04We could bear it.
27:05The streets were a wreck.
27:06Abandoned vehicles everywhere.
27:08Frozen bodies half buried in the drifts.
27:10Mutant beasts prowled the snow between the cars.
27:13Eyes sharp and predatory, tracking us as we passed.
27:16The apocalypse had done something to the wildlife.
27:19The extreme cold triggered genetic shifts.
27:21And what came out the other side was faster, meaner, and far more adapted to the temperature than anything that
27:27had existed before.
27:28Leo dropped out of my arms.
27:30Its body expanded in one smooth motion, doubling in size.
27:34The white fur settled, dense and wind-resistant.
27:37Its eyes locked onto the nearest creature with the calm of something that had already decided the outcome.
27:42You're looking at my person.
27:44Bad call.
27:45Its tail swept sideways.
27:47Six ice spikes launched simultaneously.
27:49They punched through the throats of the closest mutants before any of them could react.
27:54The bodies dropped and were still.
27:56Completely ridiculous.
27:57Completely dramatic.
27:58Completely reliable.
27:59We moved toward the city center.
28:01That was where the survivor base was.
28:02In my past life, the government had organized several large-scale shelters in the weeks after the apocalypse hit.
28:08The central base was the biggest and the safest.
28:11Two hours on foot.
28:13Then the base appeared through the blizzard.
28:15A ring of steel walls rising over ten meters.
28:18Soldiers posted on the upper walkways with rifles, scanning the perimeter.
28:23A crowd of survivors was already queued at the gate.
28:26We joined the line.
28:27The couple ahead of us had a baby pressed to the woman's chest.
28:30The baby was crying.
28:32The woman's face was hollow.
28:33The man looked like he hadn't slept in days.
28:36The woman said to the soldier at the checkpoint.
28:38She hasn't eaten in three days.
28:40The soldier's expression didn't move.
28:42Entry requires a resource payment.
28:45Ten pounds of food, five bottles of water, or one warm garment.
28:49No exceptions.
28:50The man's voice cracked.
28:52Everything we had was taken by a mutant pack.
28:55We have nothing left.
28:58Please.
28:59Policy is policy.
29:00The woman started crying.
29:03The baby cried loud.
29:04I'd been there before.
29:06I knew what it felt like when every door was shut and there was nothing left to bargain with.
29:11I reached into my pack and pulled out two cans and a water bottle.
29:14I held them out to the couple.
29:16Use these for your entry fee.
29:18They turned around.
29:20The woman looked at me.
29:21You're a good person.
29:23You're a good...
29:23I smiled and didn't say anything.
29:26Leo made an irritated noise beside me.
29:28You're going to keep doing this, aren't you?
29:31Helping complete strangers.
29:33We might need a stranger's help someday, too.
29:36Leo said nothing more.
29:37But it didn't argue.
29:39When we reached the checkpoint, the soldier looked at Leo and went wary.
29:43Handed over five pounds of rations.
29:46Is that enough?
29:47The soldier checked it.
29:48Nodded.
29:49You can go in.
29:50We were almost through the gate when a familiar voice called from behind us.
29:55Riley!
29:56I turned.
29:57Victoria was pushing through the crowd, surrounded by a cluster of people, with the brown bear walking calmly at her
30:03side.
30:04She was wearing an expensive puffer coat, her face perfectly composed and confident.
30:08Her group had weapons.
30:10I didn't expect you to make it this far.
30:12She looked me over with a slow, deliberate appraisal.
30:14I guess that fox of yours isn't completely decorative.
30:18Leo's fur went a left.
30:19Its body expanded, hackles lifting, lips pulling back.
30:23Say that again.
30:24Victoria took a step back without meaning to.
30:26Then she collected herself and shifted behind the bear.
30:29The bear stepped forward and positioned itself between them.
30:32It glanced at me.
30:33Its expression said,
30:34I know.
30:35I tried to stop her.
30:36She wouldn't listen.
30:38I looked back at it and gave a small signal.
30:40Not now.
30:41Too many people.
30:42What happens to us in there has nothing to do with you.
30:45I said and pulled Leo toward the gate.
30:47Hold on.
30:48Victoria's voice sharpened.
30:49Riley, you think a tier three fox is enough to hold any ground in there?
30:53This base runs on strength.
30:55My bear is tier four.
30:56That makes me the top of the food chain here.
30:58You have two options.
30:59Fall in line and work under me, or I make sure you can't move in this base without running
31:03into a wall.
31:04The crowd around the gate had started paying attention.
31:06Tier four was rare in the early apocalypse.
31:09People recognized what that meant.
31:11I let the moment sit for exactly one breath.
31:14Then, I looked at Leo.
31:15Leo understood without being told.
31:17Its cultivation aura detonated outward.
31:20Tier four pressure rolled across the gate plaza like a physical force.
31:24The snowflakes still drifting in the air simply stopped moving.
31:28The cold deepened noticeably.
31:30Several people stumbled back.
31:32Victoria's face lost its color.
31:34That's not possible.
31:36How is your fox already tier four?
31:38Leo tilted its chin up to a frankly insufferable angle.
31:42You assumed your bear was the ceiling, embarrassing the stake.
31:46The bear chose that moment to release its own tier four aura alongside Leo's.
31:51Two tier four signatures layered together.
31:53The crowd scattered back from the gate, half of them barely staying upright.
31:58Victoria stood there, mouth open, staring between Leo and the bear.
32:02The bear, which was supposed to be hers, aligned with the girl she'd been trying to humiliate.
32:08She tried to form words, couldn't find them.
32:10I walked through the gate with Leo and the bear on either side of me and left Victoria and her
32:15group at the entrance with whatever was left of the impression she'd tried to make.
32:19Inside, we were brought to a registration desk.
32:21Name, cultivation tier, magical animal.
32:24The soldier processing our forms looked at Leo's tier four listing, then at the bears, and spent a long moment
32:29saying nothing.
32:30Then, the professionalism kicked back in, somewhat overcorrected.
32:35Ms. Riley, with two tier four familities, you qualify for our highest tier accommodations.
32:39We'd like to offer you a room in the VIP wing.
32:41Independent room, heating system, full resource allocation.
32:44That works.
32:45Can I get an additional room for my companion?
32:47Of course.
32:48Absolutely.
32:49Right away.
32:49The soldier escorted us to the VIP wing.
32:52It was its own building, near the center of the base.
32:54Inside, functioning radiators, hot water, a private bathroom, a small kitchen, a sitting area.
33:00The soldier handed me a key card and stepped back with the careful deference usually reserved for people who could
33:06level buildings.
33:06I opened my room and started pulling supplies out of Leo's void storage.
33:10Organized the space, stacked what we needed.
33:13Leo jumped onto the couch and stretched its full length, tail hanging off the edge.
33:17Finally, that walk was miserable.
33:20The bear appeared in the doorway, eyes warm.
33:23Victoria and her group got assigned to general housing.
33:27Leave her alone.
33:28Let's rest and get our bearings.
33:30Over the following days, we mapped the base.
33:32Around 5,000 survivors.
33:34The majority were civilians with no cultivation ability and no magical animal.
33:38A small fraction had some level of training and bonded mates.
33:41The base ran a strict allocation system.
33:44Resources distributed by contribution level and cultivation tier.
33:47Victoria established herself quickly.
33:49The tier 4 bear was enough to pull in followers.
33:52And she assembled a decent sized crew within the first week.
33:55She used them to push people around.
33:57The kind of entitlement that survives context changes because it was never really about context.
34:02One afternoon in the base cafeteria, she walked in with her group and found us eating.
34:06You have some nerve.
34:08These rations are for people who actually contribute.
34:11Not passengers who coast on the strength of their magic animal.
34:13Leo sat down its jerky strip.
34:15Its eyes went flat.
34:16Repeat that.
34:17Victoria was visibly unnerved, but committed.
34:20I called you a passenger.
34:21Your fox got lucky hitting tier 4.
34:23That doesn't make you anything special.
34:24I set my chopsticks down, stood up, and said,
34:27Then let's settle it.
34:28If you win, I don't set foot in this cafeteria again.
34:31If I win, you leave the base and stop terrorizing everyone in it.
34:35Victoria's expression lit up.
34:37She'd wanted this for days.
34:39Deal.
34:40Don't cry when you lose.
34:42People crowded in from three directions.
34:44We moved to the training yard.
34:46Victoria summoned the bear in front of me, arms crossed, smiling.
34:50You go first.
34:51I'll be generous.
34:52I looked at Leo.
34:54Show her, little highness.
34:55Leo expanded to full size.
34:57A tier 4 aura hit the yard and crossed weight.
35:01It launched itself at Victoria's bear.
35:04The bear rucked and met it head on.
35:06Ice spikes against bear claw.
35:09The impact sounds concussive.
35:11The training yard floor spider webbing cracks from the force.
35:15But Victoria's bear had no real combat death.
35:19Leo did.
35:19And beyond experience, Leo's ice affinity directs encountered the bear's earth.
35:26Crossed against Tauru.
35:28Leo controlled the pace of the entire fight from the first exchange.
35:32Victoria screamed from the sidelines.
35:35Hit harder!
35:36Kill it!
35:37The bear tried.
35:38It was already on the back.
35:40Leo moved faster than it could track.
35:43The ice in the air responding to Leo like an extension of its own body.
35:47One massive tail strike caught the bear's square and launched it across the ground.
35:52It landed hot.
35:54Blood in the snow.
35:55It didn't get back up.
35:57Leo landed, turned, and looked at Victoria with no expression.
36:02Anything else?
36:02Victoria stared at the bear on the ground.
36:05Her composure had completely disintegrated.
36:08It's possible.
36:09My bear can't lose.
36:11I walked up to her.
36:13You made a bet.
36:14Honor it.
36:15Take your people and go.
36:18Victoria looked at the crowd around her.
36:20At every face watching.
36:22At every person she'd pushed around for the past week.
36:25Her expression went through several colors.
36:28Then, she grabbed the injured bear and walked.
36:31The base watched her leave.
36:33That night, the bear came back on its own.
36:36It stopped at the edge of our shelter and looked at me.
36:39Victoria hadn't wanted it.
36:41She'd only ever wanted to win.
36:43I let it.
36:44With Victoria gone, things settled quickly.
36:46Our position in the base became something people organized around instead of something
36:50they resented.
36:51Survivors approached us.
36:53A lot of them.
36:54I didn't take everyone.
36:55I looked for people with usable skills and genuine character.
36:59Eventually, we had a small, functional team.
37:01We ran daily operations.
37:03Resource runs outside the walls.
37:05Mutant beast hunts.
37:06Leo's ice control and void storage were decisive in both.
37:09The bear handled direct engagement.
37:12I coordinated and covered flanks.
37:14The team filled in around us and learned fast.
37:17Mutant beasts had energy cores in their bodies.
37:19Dense, crystallized patterns.
37:21Both the cultivation resource and the base's functional currency.
37:25We found supply caches that others had missed.
37:28Brought back more cores than any other team.
37:30Leo's tiered had a climb.
37:32Tier 5 came quickly.
37:33Its ice domain expanded.
37:35Able to suppress an entire zone.
37:37Slowing enemy movement and attacks inside the air.
37:41The void storage grew larger.
37:43The bear hit tier 5 too.
37:44My own motivation reached tier 4 mid-level.
37:47Then, the temperature dropped again.
37:50Negative 80.
37:51More numbers.
37:51Stronger variables.
37:53Reports from other bases.
37:54Some had been overwhelmed.
37:55Others had collapsed from starvation.
37:58The pressure on our base was built.
38:00The mutant waves at the walls were in front of the north of the north of the north of the
38:03north.
38:03Our team became the base's first line of defense.
38:06During one of the large-scale defense operations, something came out of the storm that stopped everyone from home.
38:12A tier 6 mutant snowball.
38:15Massive.
38:16White fur and yellow eyes.
38:18Perfectly connected to the enemy.
38:19In a way that suggested the cold was no longer its environment, but its element.
38:25It hit the outer wall at speed and punched straight through the fence line.
38:29Soldiers scattered.
38:31The walkway section nearest the bridge was cleared in seconds.
38:34This is bad.
38:36My stomach dropped.
38:37A tier 6 in the north of the north was something we hadn't planned for.
38:42Leo and the bear exchanged one look.
38:44Both moved at the same time.
38:46Leo drove ice spikes into the wolf's path and froze its legs to the ground.
38:50The bear closed the gap and dropped both forefathers down hard.
38:54The wolf broke the ice restraints faster than either of them had anticipated.
38:58Lunged sideways and locked its jaws on the bear's shoulder.
39:02The bear's blood hit the snow.
39:05Bear!
39:05My voice came out louder than I meant it to.
39:08Leo saw the blood and something shifted.
39:10The temperature around it dropped independently from the ambient pole.
39:14It called up a full ice sword.
39:16The biggest construct I'd seen it produce.
39:19It brought it down directly after the bear.
39:21The wolf released the bear and came up to move the sword head away.
39:25A defensive line clearing the white sword on its body.
39:28A collision detonated.
39:29The shockwave threw every soldier within 20 meters off their feet.
39:34The wolf had taken a serious wound.
39:36Deep enough that blood was running steadily into the snow.
39:39But it was still moving.
39:41And now, it was furious.
39:43It wheeled and drove at Leo.
39:46I made the call.
39:47Letting this drag on wasn't an option.
39:49Every additional exchange cost me.
39:51I reached into my pack.
39:53Pulled out the hand axe.
39:54I ran my cultivation through my arms until I could feel it pushing at my joint.
39:58And I threw the axe directly at the wolf's left eye.
40:02It hadn't expected a human to engage in that way.
40:04It turned too late.
40:06The axe connected.
40:07The wolf screamed.
40:09A sound that rolled across the base walls and thrashed its head violently.
40:13Leo took the opening.
40:15Ice sword straight down.
40:16Clean.
40:17The wolf's body settled into the snow and went still.
40:20We stood there for a moment, breathing.
40:22The bear's shoulder wound was deep.
40:24I had the antiseptic and bandages out before anyone else moved.
40:28Leo was on the ground.
40:30Sides heaving.
40:31Cultivation reserves nearly empty.
40:33Sist?
40:34Leo said, lifting its head toward the wolf's remains.
40:37That core is going to be something.
40:39I extracted it.
40:41It was the size of a closed fist.
40:43Tier 6.
40:44Enough concentrated energy inside to push Leo's cultivation to a level we hadn't projected for months.
40:50Back at the base gate, the facility director was waiting to receive us personally.
40:55Without us, the wolf would have been through the walls and into the civilian sectors.
40:58Leo spent the next several days absorbing the Tier 6 core.
41:01Tier 6 came steadily, and with it, Leo's ice domain became something else entirely.
41:06Inside the field, it could now project.
41:09Every enemy was running at a fraction of normal capacity.
41:12Movement slowed.
41:13Attack force dropped sharply.
41:14The cold inside the field was a different kind of cold from the ambient apocalypse temperature.
41:19It had intent behind it.
41:21The bear's wound closed, and its cultivation pushed to Tier 6 as well.
41:25Its defensive strength reached a point where smaller mutants couldn't break through even without active effort.
41:30My own cultivation crossed into Tier 4 peak during that same stretch.
41:34Not comparable to either of them, but functional enough to contribute real value in a fight.
41:38We were the strongest team in the base.
41:41People came looking for us constantly.
41:42I kept filtering.
41:44The ones I added were worth adding.
41:46The mutant incursions kept escalating.
41:48Tier 6 became the new baseline outside the walls instead of the exception.
41:52Other survivor bases sent messages when they still could, and those messages grew more desperate.
41:57Some stopped coming altogether.
41:58We started ranging further out on our supply runs, into the deeper city where higher tier mutants had settled,
42:03and where the ruins held things worth finding.
42:06That was how we found the ancient ruin.
42:08The structure shouldn't have been there.
42:10It predated everything around it by what felt like centuries.
42:14The architecture didn't match anything currently in use.
42:16The interior was layered with old formation arrays, pressure-sensitive trap zones,
42:21and guardian beasts that hadn't been active in a long time, but had woken up when we came in.
42:26We moved carefully.
42:27Some of the traps caught us anyway.
42:29The guardians were tough.
42:30A different kind of tough from the mutants outside.
42:33Older, more deliberate.
42:35Less wild.
42:36We took losses in terms of supplies and time, and a few team members needed serious recovery afterward.
42:41But we came out the other side.
42:43Deep in the ruin, past the densest section of guardian formations, we found two things.
42:48A cultivation manual.
42:50Ice system.
42:51High grade.
42:52Title?
42:53Frost God Codex.
42:54And a sword.
42:55Ice forged, single-edged.
42:57The blade holding a sustained cold that made the air around it visible.
43:01Bound to an ice practitioner.
43:03Both were meant for Leo.
43:05After Leo absorbed the Frost God Codex and bonded the ice sword, its cultivation moved faster than I could track.
43:11Tier 7 came within days.
43:13Its ice manipulation had crossed from skilled into something that felt more like fluency with a fundamental force.
43:19It could project a full glacier construct now.
43:22Hold it.
43:23Shape it.
43:23Move it.
43:24In combat, it summoned a faint reflection of something vast and cold above itself.
43:29A presence that made enemies hesitate before they understood why.
43:32The bear found a high-grade Earth system manual in the same chamber.
43:36Earth Warden Codex.
43:37Tier 7 followed shortly after.
43:40Its defensive capability became nearly absolute at close range.
43:44The ground responded to it in ways that were useful in ways we were still discovering.
43:48My own cultivation, drawing on the dense ambient energy inside the ruin, broke through to Tier 5 mid-level.
43:54We left the ruin carrying more than we'd expected to find and returned to the base to prepare for the
43:59next phase.
44:00Because we had decided.
44:01We were done staying in one place.
44:04Before we left, we distributed the bases stored supplies to the civilians.
44:08The ones who couldn't fight, who had no familiar, who had survived this far by nothing except luck and stubbornness.
44:15We left them what we could.
44:16Then, we loaded our team into a convoy of modified SUVs, every vehicle packed with supplies and equipment, and drove
44:23out.
44:23The road was what the apocalypse had made of it.
44:26Stripped vehicles, frozen terrain, weather that shifted from rural to catastrophic, and back without warning.
44:32Mutants on every major route.
44:34Survivors in varying states of desperation along the way.
44:37We didn't run from any of them.
44:39Leo's ice domain covered a wide enough radius to make a convoy defensible on the moon.
44:43The bear took point in the lead vehicle in the cargo bed.
44:46Our team had developed into something cohesive.
44:49People knew their roles, executed them, adjusted without needing to be managed.
44:53The enemies that came at us found out quickly that the cost wasn't worth it.
44:57We drove through city after city.
44:59In each one, we looked for survivors.
45:01We pulled out the ones who could be helped, assessed the ones who wanted to join us, turned away the
45:05ones who were dangerous.
45:07The convoy grew.
45:08Dozens became hundreds.
45:09We found our location in a valley that sat inside a mountain green.
45:13Flat ground in the center, multiple resource nodes within range, defensible perimeter with natural geographic support on three sides.
45:21We built steel and stone for the outer wall, formation arrays adapted from techniques we found across our travels, running
45:28along every section.
45:29Armories, a cultivation training area, a medical facility, storage warehouses with rotation schedules, a residential district laid out for actual
45:38human habitation, not just survival stacking.
45:42The system we ran.
45:43You contributed, you received.
45:45Roles were assigned based on skill and inclination.
45:48Resources were distributed based on what you did with your time.
45:51The ratio was transparent and applied to everyone equally, including us.
45:55We formed a dedicated hunting team and a dedicated exploration team.
45:59The hunters ran operations against the mutant populations in our range, bringing back cores and raw materials.
46:06The explorers ranged out to ruins, dead city blocks, and resource points, returning with supplies and occasionally something significant.
46:13As the base grew, so did its reach.
46:16The name spread outward through whatever communication network still existed in the apocalypse.
46:21Survivor channels, word of mouth, other bases making contact.
46:25People arrived in groups, sometimes in large groups.
46:29We took the ones worth taking and built the capacity to house and integrate them.
46:33The base became something that people talked about in terms of whether it was real.
46:37A place in the ice apocalypse where the structure didn't collapse under pressure.
46:42Where you ate if you contributed.
46:44Where the walls held.
46:46Victoria dropped off the map entirely after leaving our first place.
46:50Some accounts said she hadn't survived the weeks that had followed.
46:53Others said she'd found another faction to attach herself to and was someone else's problem.
46:58Neither version concerned us particularly.
47:01Whatever happened to her happened somewhere that wasn't our business anymore.
47:04I stood on the wall one evening, looking down over the base.
47:08The light was wrong for the apocalypse.
47:11Too warm.
47:12Coming from the fires and the lanterns and the lit windows of the residential block.
47:16People were moving in the streets.
47:18Talking.
47:19Working.
47:20A few were laughing.
47:22Which still felt strange every time I heard it out here.
47:25Leo pressed its flank against my leg.
47:28It had grown into something that came up past my waist now.
47:31And its fur in the firelight looked less white than lube.
47:35The way fresh snow looks in the dark.
47:38The bear stood a few meters down the wall.
47:40Watching the same scene.
47:42Ears relaxed.
47:43Posture easy.
47:44In my past life, I had lost everything.
47:47I had survived the early apocalypse alone.
47:49Holding on to a bear I loved.
47:52And even that had been taken from me before the end.
47:54This time, I had come back with the memory of all of it.
47:58Every mistake.
48:00Every moment I had been too slow or too trusting or too unprepared.
48:04I had used all of it.
48:05And what I had now, I had built from it.
48:08There was Leo, who had crashed into my life by biting my hand and never really let go.
48:13Who was absurd and dramatic and thin-skinned about everything and completely, unflinchingly there when it mattered.
48:19There was the bear, who had recognized me across a classroom in another life, and blinked twice to tell me
48:25it remembered.
48:26And had then spent the next months doing what it always did.
48:29Watching my back without being asked.
48:31There was a base full of people who were alive because we had gotten to them in time.
48:36Or because we'd built something worth surviving inside.
48:39The ice apocalypse was still out there.
48:41The cold hadn't broken.
48:42The mutants kept evolving.
48:44There were still ruins we hadn't opened, and threats we hadn't identified, and territory we hadn't mapped.
48:50But I had stopped counting the days until things got better, and started measuring what we were building.
48:56The world was still frozen.
48:57We were still standing in it.
48:59And we were going to keep standing.
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