In a remote corner of the Ursus Snowfield, after more than a month, Steven once again found himself in this somewhat familiar place.
Looking at the frostbitten trees by the roadside—ones that had yet to recover from Rhodes Island's previous passage—he found a conspicuous spot and sat down.
Before he left, Kal'tsit had given him a cheap, unknown-material-made communicator, barely capable of text-based messaging, like a pager.
But that was enough for him to notify her to pick him up.
Steven had no doubt that she wouldn't let him stay in Ursus any longer.
Especially since she had been researching his healing potion for over half a month now.
She was probably dying to interrogate him.
If their roles were reversed, he definitely would've driven Rhodes Island here at full speed without stopping.
So for now, all he had to do was wait.
And he wasn't in any hurry.
If anything, Kal'tsit was probably way more anxious than he was.
On a high mountain peak, he cleared out a flat space, lit up a cozy bonfire, and happily started rummaging through his inventory.
While he was at it, he decided to cook up a pot of meat soup.
The Minecrafter physique was great in every way—except for one fatal flaw:
He got hungry way too fast.
If he hadn't packed a ridiculous amount of food, he would've gone bankrupt just from eating.
At least the wood and mineral problem was mostly solved now.
As for food and money…
Iberia should be sending news any day now.
Once that was settled, doing whatever he wanted in this world would become much easier.
Thinking about this, Steven grinned to himself.
Of course, this mining trip in Ursus wasn't just about making new friends, the biggest harvest for him was right in his inventory:
A countless supply of Originite Prime and more importantly, a Core that could convert minerals into Originium.
That was his true objective for coming here.
With these resources, he no longer had to worry about EMC points for his Transmutation Table.
Which meant he could start playing around with other mods.
For example—Pam's HarvestCraft Mod.
Normally, gathering all those weird, obscure food ingredients was a nightmare.
But with unlimited EMC?
He could eat whatever he wanted.
If he wanted to whip up a full-course Imperial Feast, he wouldn't even need to worry about ingredients.
Satisfied, he poured himself a bowl of hot soup.
As he sipped it, he closed his eyes in bliss, savoring the simple pleasure of enjoying a hot meal in the freezing snow.
Sometimes, happiness was just that simple.
A bowl of hot soup on a cold day—
Could anything be more comforting?
But just as he was enjoying his meal, waiting for Rhodes Island's landship to arrive, a different visitor found him first.
<+>
Steven admitted that his soup smelled great, but it wasn't so good that people would come floating toward it like cartoon characters.
Yet, in the distance, a red-haired girl was doing exactly that.
Eyes closed—
Nose twitching—
She followed the scent like a bloodhound, drifting closer and closer.
Her bright crimson hair stood out sharply against the endless white of the snowy landscape.
Compared to that, her thin black dress, which seemed way too inadequate for this freezing weather, looked far less out of place.
But as Steven narrowed his eyes, taking a closer look, he realized that her hair wasn't the most eye-catching thing about her.
What really stood out was the massive longsword strapped to her back, a sword that is almost as large as she was.
The exaggerated design of the sword immediately reminded Steven of the expansion blades from SlashBlade Mod.
These flashy designs had no real practical use in combat, the only thing they did was make the wielder look more conspicuous and satisfy the creator's sense of humor.
Still, meeting someone like this out here in the Ursus tundra was…
A bit too unusual.
Or rather, running into anyone at all in this desolate snowfield was already a rare event.
And this strikingly beautiful young woman only made it even stranger.
Steven recalled a classic saying from the wuxia novels he had read:
In the martial world, there are three kinds of people you should never mess with—Monks, lone women, and children.
And the girl before him?
She perfectly matched the second category.
A girl bold enough to dress so strikingly in the deadly cold of the snowfield is not just some ordinary traveler.
But for Steven, that was not a bad thing at all.
If anything, he welcomed unexpected trouble with open arms.
The more entertainment that came knocking on his door, the happier he was.
After all, waiting for a ride out here was boring as hell.
As the girl sniffed her way straight to his pot of soup, Steven didn't hesitate.
He reached into his inventory, pulled out a wooden bowl, and filled it up without a second thought.
Then, he casually held it out to the stranger.
"Want a bowl?"
Just as she was about to stick her head into the pot, his words snapped her out of her trance.
She blinked, looked up, and met his gaze for the first time.
And that was when Steven noticed that her scarlet eyes were just as striking as her crimson hair.
She eyed him briefly, then wordlessly accepted the soup snd immediately began drinking.
She didn't hesitate in the slightest, no doubt confident in her own strength, or maybe dhe simply didn't see him as a threat.
Her attitude was so casual, it felt like she was just eating at a restaurant.
Steven chuckled.
"There's no need to rush—there's more in the pot. If you're still hungry, just get another serving."
He watched her devour the soup with an amused expression.
As a self-proclaimed half-decent cook, seeing someone genuinely enjoy his food always made him happy.
Of course, he wasn't about to let her eat for free.
But some things could wait until she was finished.
Fortunately, though the girl looked like a foodie, her appetite wasn't as big as expected.
After finishing two bowls of soup, she leaned back, looking completely satisfied, and let out a content burp.
"Thanks."
Her voice was sweet and clear, immediately ruling out the possibility that she was mute.
Steven collected the empty bowls and glanced at the girl, who seemed to have no concept of formality whatsoever.
"How should I address you?"
Since she at least knew how to say "thank you", she wasn't completely lacking manners.
Of course, with his Language Localization Mod, language barriers weren't an issue for Steven, so he had no way of telling where her accent might be from.
But judging by the small devil-like horns on her head, she was definitely a Sarkaz.
A Sarkaz wandering around in the Ursus tundra?
That was… unusual.
The reputation of Sarkaz within Ursus was far from good, so how had this girl ended up here?
"Hmm…"
Hearing his question, the girl held her head, deep in thought, as if trying to remember something.
Then, she tilted her head slightly and slowly spoke:
"Surtr. Just a passing traveler."
"Hah?"
Steven paused, blinking in surprise.
It wasn't because he recognized the name, but rather, her self-introduction caught him completely off guard.
That phrasing sounded exactly like how he introduced himself.
No wonder she felt so familiar!
After thinking about it, Steven suddenly realized that this girl's casual, self-assured attitude was just like his own!
See something interesting?
Walk up and check it out first, ask questions later.
That was exactly what she had just done, and exactly how he usually acted.
Steven chuckled.
"What a coincidence."
"Steve. Also a traveler."
Surtr blinked at his response, then grinned.
"Yeah, it really is a coincidence."
Then, as if suddenly remembering something, she clapped her hands together.
"Oh, right! I ate your food, but I didn't give you anything in return! Almost forgot!"
She dug into her tiny backpack, rummaging around.
Steven was curious, what kind of "payment" could she possibly come up with?
And then, she did something that completely caught him off guard.
Surtr pulled out two wooden sticks, scooped up a handful of snow, and started shaping it with her hands.
Within moments, she had crafted two pure white "ice popsicle".
With a proud little smile, she handed one to Steven and casually popped the other into her mouth.
"Here!"
<+>
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