The wind was still howling.
I opened my eyes.
No snow. No frostbite. No broken pine branches clawing at my cloak. Just the low hum of arcane energy flowing through glowing crystal veins set into smooth stone walls. I was lying in a real bed—a warm one. My breath wasn't mist. My fingers weren't numb.
I was back.
Back in my dorm room at Skyhaven Academy.
The warmth felt wrong. The silence felt worse. I almost missed the biting cold and the endless white—almost.
I sat up slowly, heart pounding like I'd just outrun a snowstorm. My muscles ached in ways I hadn't expected—not soreness from a fight, but from enduring cold and hunger. Every joint reminded me of the steppe, the biting wind that sliced like blades, the endless white that tested every ounce of will.
I half-expected to see Wise curled beside me or Red pawing at the frozen earth. Instead, I saw my desk cluttered with study scrolls, my mana-weaver lamp flickering softly, and the ambient mana field adjusting to my breathing. The gentle hum of magic here was almost comforting—but only almost.
[System Active.]
The words blinked in front of me, faint and blue, like the first light before dawn. They felt out of place, like a forgotten echo from the other world.
[Trial Complete.][World Environment: Skyhaven - Prime Realm][System Functions: Retained][Title Acquired: Survivor of the First Storm][Skill: Cold Breath of the Wind - Passive Effect Active]
I wasn't dreaming.
Everything—the blizzard, the hunger, the fight with the Frostfang—had happened. Not a test. Not a vision. A real world. Real blood. Real death.
And yet, somehow, I was back here. The safe world. The civilized world. The one with mana-coffee shops and rune-heated bathhouses and professors who taught spell theory behind floating lecture panels.
My hands trembled as I touched my chest, half expecting frostbite. But there was none. My body was fine. Better than before, even. The cold resistance I gained from the Trial had settled inside me like a shield I hadn't asked for.
I stood, legs wobbling under me like a newborn foal's. I felt weight again—the weight of armor, weapons, hunger, and nights spent frozen beneath open skies. All that was gone. Replaced by soft robes and the faint scent of lavender wafting in through the open window.
I glanced down at my hands. No calluses from gripping bowstrings. No dirt from trudging through snowdrifts. Just smooth skin, barely marked by scratches.
And yet, my fingers twitched like they remembered better.
[Status: Alto]Level: 7Strength: 65Endurance: 70 (+2)Agility: 75Willpower: 80Survival Skill: 68Cold Resistance: 50 (+10)System Sync: StableTrial Record: 1 Completed
The stats hadn't reset. They carried over. Every scrape, every hardship, every breath fought for in that frozen world—they were real, even here.
I stepped toward the mirror. My reflection stared back—but different. Same sharp jawline, same dark eyes, but something had changed. The way I stood. The way I looked at myself. Harder. Sharper. Wiser.
The boy who had walked into the Trial had been broken. The man staring back was forged anew.
A knock at the door snapped me out of the trance.
"Alto! You good in there?"
Ravo's voice. Casual, familiar.
"Yeah," I said, voice low and rough from disuse. "Just woke up."
"Class is about to start. You coming or what?"
I froze for a second but nodded.
No one had noticed I'd been gone.
No one had waited.
Time hadn't moved here while I was away.
[System Notice: Realm Displacement does not alter Prime Realm time.]
I didn't answer. I moved to the window instead.
Skyhaven sprawled below like a dreamscape of magic and progress. Floating rail lines shimmered in midair like ribbons of light. Students coasted on wind-surfing spells, laughing and shouting in the morning air. Enchanted beasts lounged in manicured dorm gardens. Somewhere far below, a bell tower chimed the fifth hour, its clear notes ringing through the sky.
It all looked smaller now.
The clean streets. The glowing lanterns. The polished crystal towers. The school that had seemed so big, so daunting before.
Now it looked fragile.
Because out there, beyond the shimmering wards and spell-etched walls, the storm still lived in me.
The wind wasn't howling anymore. But inside me, the storm still hadn't passed.
I was back in the world I was born in.
But a part of me still stood under the freezing sky, next to a silver-eyed wolf and a crimson-coated horse, staring into the blizzard.
And I knew, without question:
The Trial wasn't over. Not really.
Not until I understood why I was chosen.
Not until I knew what came next.
I closed my eyes and breathed deep.
The cold breath of the wind still whispered in my soul.
The dorm room was small but comfortable, its walls lined with shelves holding ancient tomes, alchemical ingredients, and curious trinkets collected from distant lands. The scent of parchment and herbs mingled in the air—a stark contrast to the pine needles and frozen earth of the Trial realm.
I rubbed my eyes and tried to shake off the lingering fog of exhaustion. My muscles ached, and the memories of the Trial crowded my mind like a storm on the horizon. It wasn't just the cold, or the hunger, or the vicious claws of the Frostfang. It was the endless loneliness—the silence broken only by the howl of the wind and the whisper of the wolf at my side.
How had I survived? Not because I was strong or fast. Not because I had any special skill beyond stubbornness and a will too stubborn to break. The System helped, yes, but it was just a tool—a cold, uncaring machine that recorded numbers and fed me scraps of knowledge. Survival was mine alone.
I could almost hear Wise's low growl, feel Red's warmth beside me. But they were gone. Or maybe, they were still out there, waiting for me to return. The thought both comforted and unsettled me.
Ravo knocked again, softer this time. "Alto, you okay? You've been quiet."
I took a breath and tried to steady my voice. "Yeah. Just… thinking."
He pushed the door open a crack and peered in, his bright eyes full of curiosity and something else—concern?
"You seem different… something on your mind?"
I smiled faintly. "Just a lot to think about."
Ravo nodded but lingered, as if wanting to say more. I could see the questions swirling behind his eyes—questions I wasn't ready to answer.
Then he grinned and said, "Hey, don't tell me you're already planning to be the next Legendary Survivor or something. Save some glory for the rest of us, yeah?"
I chuckled despite myself.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll try not to die as spectacularly next time."
Ravo laughed and clapped me on the shoulder. "That's the spirit. Now get moving before Professor Ansel drags you in for being late."
The System pulsed softly in my mind. A reminder. A promise.
Trial Complete. But the path ahead is longer than it seems.
I clenched my fists. The journey was just beginning.
Outside, Skyhaven glittered in the morning sun—a city of magic and dreams. But inside me, the cold wind still howled, a reminder that the true Trial was far from over.