The Strongest Gun Magus: I Cast Bullet!-Chapter 66: Together, Every Step

Reynard fell to the ground, grabbing his chest. He feared the worst—a crack of his Inner Athanor.

But instead, he saw that it was his frozen mana shattering. After the first crack, more followed with increasing speed, until all the mana shattered into dust... Shining like snow silvery dust!

Reynard had never seen a calcination result like this. His mana had gone through a transformation much more drastic than he ever put it through while using the Threefold Transformation refinement technique.

He could already feel the mana fueling his aura again and putting strength into his frozen body. Reynard felt warmer. So much warmer...

"Beloved! Reynard, get up! Don’t you dare die!"

He opened his closed eyes, shaking off bits of rime from his eyelashes. In a flash, Reynard realized that he was lying on Marien’s shoulder, while she was hugging him close to her body.

It was her warmth he felt.

’When did I fall? Uh... I think I lost consciousness for a few seconds here without noticing.’

The magical wind was still howling around them, but Marien was protecting Reynard from most of it with her body. He hurried to stand up from the cold ground and pulled her up with him.

"Reynard!"

In her emotion, Marien forgot to use Reynard’s fake name. She looked Reynard over, then suddenly kissed him on the lips. When she pulled back, she began shouting again.

"What was that?! I thought you... Well, you can’t just scare me like that, think about my feelings!"

Reynard smiled at her, dumbstruck by this girl and by his own advancement.

"I got it! The puzzle. The mystery. It was simpler than I thought! Although I almost died... Hear that, you bird?!" he shouted into the distance, where Frozen Balance sat.

It didn’t react, still waiting for Reynard and Marien to approach.

"What? I can’t hear you well!" Marien shouted into Reynard’s ear.

Instead of a reply, Reynard turned away from the wind and cast a Spirit Armor.

Tried to. His changed aura needed extra care when casting spells—again!—and the wind wasn’t helping, either. But on his second try, Reynard managed.

He immediately felt much better. Reynard stood between Marien and the wind, protecting her, then leaned closer to her ear.

"The bird wants us to use the cold to freeze the mana in our Athanors until it breaks apart, as if it were burned. The extreme cold has the same fundamental magical effect as the extreme heat—at least, for calcination! If you breathe the wind in and drink plenty of potions, you should be able to get it before you freeze to death. I will warm you up from outside!"

As he spoke this, Reynard shivered too. He felt that he also needed more life-strengthening potions, and preferably ones warmed up to a nice and toasty temperature.

Marien’s eyes lit up.

"I see! This... Makes so much sense! But wait—why Frozen Balance made us follow it all this time, then? This doesn’t help!"

"It does," Reynard slowly said, recalling his own experience. "I think that if we were sitting in one place instead of moving, we’d already be dead from hypothermia. Also, it might be easier to let the cold in when you literally walk toward it—but I can’t actually compare. Regardless, we should keep moving."

Marien nodded.

"Then I will finish my calcination, and maybe Frozen Balance will stop this awful wind."

Reynard supported her every step of the way, holding her elbow and making sure she didn’t fall. All the while, he worried.

He almost died doing this, and so could Marien. But he was with her, and she was strong...

Reynard grew truly alarmed when, after another deep breath, she lost her footing and began coughing loudly. For a moment, he feared Marien would cough her lungs out... But eventually, she stopped and smiled victoriously.

"I... I did it! It’s just as you described..."

At this, strength left her. She closed her eyes again, and Reynard dispelled his Spirit Armor to create a small Bound Flame near them.

Its intense heat was palpable even through the magical wind, making the pair of magi shiver even more. With this, color began to return to Marien’s cheeks.

Suddenly, the magical wind stopped howling. Frozen Balance flew away from its perch and landed on the ground a few steps away from the couple.

"I have seen you both fall and rise. Did you complete the calcination?"

"We did." Reynard gave the bird a dirty look, inwardly cursing its poor explanations. "If the next stage will be as vigorous as this one, we will need a break."

"Naturally. A recovery period is necessary after every operation. Some operations will take several days, regardless. Rest until sunrise."

Reynard looked up. The training began at noon, but now the sun was already close to the horizon. Of course, the days were still short, but a lot of time had passed.

’This is a good time... How far will Marien and I advance in a month if things continue like this?’

By this point, Marien recovered enough to sit and even listen to Frozen Balance’s words. She pulled the Scroll of Holding from her belt and, after a moment of hesitation, shoved it in Reynard’s hands.

"I’m too tired... Make camp for us, please, dear." She made large, pleading eyes that neither her grandfather nor Reynard had ever resisted.

"Of course, my princess," he said, kissing her forehead. "You just rest, yeah? Tomorrow will be another hellish day, I bet. I wonder how far from Darland we have walked in the meantime."

Marien looked around for a moment, then pointed at a nearby tree.

"I remember this place! We are only a few dozen paces away from where we began... We really have been walking in circles the entire time!"

"Circle is the origin of all refinement. When a cycle breaks, and a circle becomes a rising spiral, a mortal becomes a magus," Frozen Balance said. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Reynard sighed.

"I’m just glad we are in a forest that local magi don’t like to visit."