[ Welcome to Frozen Kingdom. ]
[ Main Mission: Survive for 20 days. ]
[ Side Mission: To be triggered. ]
[ REMINDER: Please maintain your SAN (Sanity) value at a stable and safe level at all times. ]
Cold. That was the first thing Noa felt.
The coldness seeped into her bones, biting through her clothes as if they weren't there at all.
When she opened her eyes, darkness greeted her. Giant trees surrounded her, their bare branches stretching upward like claws frozen in place.
She was in a dark, bare forest.
Her breath came out in white mist.
She looked around with quiet curiosity, thinking, 'So this is a Strange World?'
This Strange World was called the Frozen Kingdom. True to its name, even the air felt like ice. Every breath she took burned her lungs, as if they were slowly freezing from the inside.
She tried to sit up. She couldn't.
Her body wobbled uselessly, and she fell back onto the snow with a soft thump.
Confused, Noa blinked and tried again—this time pushing harder with her arms. Her arms shook. Her strength gave out too quickly.
Confused, she let out a, "Huh…?"
She lifted her hands into view.
They were small. Too small.
For a brief moment, her first thought was that she wasn't in her own body. But when she saw the familiar scar on her palm, she immediately dismissed that idea. It was still her body.
Which meant there was only one possibility. Her body had shrunk.
"…I became a child?" Why?
Noa tried to sit again. And failed again.
After a moment of staring blankly at the frozen ground, Noa slowly accepted reality.
If she couldn't sit… then she could crawl.
She placed both hands on the snow and dragged herself forward, awkward and clumsy at first.
Her movements were slow and unfamiliar, like a rusted machine struggling to move. But she adapted quickly. Before long, she could crawl at nearly 5 meters per second.
With her long hair trailing behind her in the snow, she looked like Sadako transmigrated into another world who lost in a frozen forest.
'Wow, this is actually fun.' Noa thought, finding interest in crawling like this.
After what felt like forever, a faint orange light appeared ahead.
Her sharp ears immediately caught voices in the distance—high, childish voices echoing between the trees.
"…There's something moving."
"Hey! Over there!"
She looked up just in time to see seven short figures rush toward her.
Up close, they looked about seven or eight years old, bundled in mismatched clothes, their faces flushed from the cold. She couldn't clearly see their features because it's dark and there's fog.
Their eyes widened when they saw her.
"A new NPC?" one of them asked.
'NPC? Juri didn't mention that NPCs could mistake players for their own kind.'
"She's tiny!"
"And cute!"
Noa opened her mouth to speak—but before she could say anything, one of them crouched down in front of her.
"Hey, lil' strange thing. Were you just born?" the boy asked softly.
She didn't know how to explain it. But what was she supposed to explain?
That—hey, I'm actually a player, the one you're supposed to scare?
Before she could even try, small hands gently lifted her off the ground.
"Careful! She's cold!"
"Let's take her home!"
"She'll freeze out here!"
Noa was passed from one pair of hands to another, wrapped in warmth she didn't expect to receive in this Strange World.
'Are NPCs in the Strange World always this welcoming?'
As they carried her through the forest, she caught glimpses of their faces in the firelight.
They looked like normal children. Though Noa felt something was amiss—she just couldn't put her finger on it.
Soon, they reached a small wooden house nestled beside a dark mine entrance. Smoke rose from the chimney, and the inside glowed warmly.
"Welcome home!" one of them said cheerfully.
Noa was placed gently near the fire, and the seven short figures began bustling around the small house.
The homeowners enthusiastically offered her warm food and a drink.
***
To answer Noa's question: 'Are NPCs in the Strange World always this welcoming?'
Castiel would like to clear up that misunderstanding.
[ You were betrayed by your fellow huntsman. ]
When Castiel opened his eyes, he knew he hadn't spawned in a favorable spot, again.
He was surrounded.
Large, skinny wolves closed in from all sides. Their bodies were stretched and unnatural, ribs visible beneath thin fur. Red eyes glowed in the darkness, locked onto him. Thick saliva dripped from their mouths as they circled slowly.
"…F*ck."
Castiel clicked his tongue.
"Am I that easy to bully?" he snapped, eyes burning. "Even monsters like you dare look at me like this?"
The frustration he had been holding back finally burst.
Fire erupted from his body. Bluish-black flames surged outward, violent and unstable, twisting like living things. The heat warped the air, and for a moment, it felt like everything nearby would be swallowed whole.
Castiel laughed coldly, ready to burn everything to the ground—
And poof~
The flames vanished, like a stove fire that had run out of gas.
"…Huh?"
Castiel froze.
For a brief, humiliating moment, he felt like the wolves were looking at him like he was a joke.
Grinding his teeth, he forced his anger down and scanned his surroundings. He needed breakthrough. An escape route.
He took one step back but his foot sank.
"What—!"
Castiel yanked his leg out just in time, stumbling away as the ground behind him shifted.
"Tsk." Quicksand.
He cursed under his breath.
For unknown reasons, he couldn't use his ability. He was also surrounded from all sides. Yet, the wolves still hadn't attacked. That bothered him more than anything.
From experience, situations like this usually triggered a side mission. Aside from the main objective—survive for twenty days and hint on why he was in that kind of situation— no side mission appeared.
Castiel wasn't quick at finding clues or analyzing things like the others, but he knew something was wrong with this situation.
So, should he keep waiting, or attack first?
***
[ Congratulations. You are in the House of the Seven Curse. ]
[ Please remember the house rules:
1. The owners go to the mine at 6:00 and return home at 11:30. They leave again at 12:30 and work until 20:00.
2. If you see one of the owners appear in the house during their work hours, please ignore them and do not talk to them.
3. Do not enter the owners' rooms.
4. Do not go to the attic.
5. Do not go to the Mine! Do not go to the Mine!
6. Please help the owners with cleaning, cooking, and all other needs at all times.
7. Do not be rude. Do not ask questions. Be polite and always attend to the owners' needs.
8. If the owners' favorability drops to a negative level, do not look at them! Do not look at them! ]
Noa's eyes lingered on Rule 6 for a little longer before she quietly looked down at her small hands.
'Clean and cook? Forget it.'
She glanced back at the enthusiastic 'Seven Curse' fussing over her, tending to her needs as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Little thing, stay here for a while," one of them said cheerfully. "Me and the big brothers still have something to do."
Soon after, the Seven Curse were nowhere to be seen in the living room.
The house fell silent.
Noa sat there, unsure of what she should do next. Honestly, it would've been better if she had math problems to solve.
"Haaah…"
Then she remembered something.
'Ah! I still haven't checked the other two things from the New Player Gift. Might as well do it now.'
Between the Awakening Crystal and the Mysterious Book, Noa chose the latter without hesitation.
Because it said mysterious. She wanted to see just how mysterious it was.
A thin white book appeared in front of her. At her thought, it opened on its own, revealing the title page.
[ Snow White ]
'What is this? A storybook?'
Curious, Noa flipped to the main content and began reading Chapter One. Before she realized it, she had already finished it.
The book was thin, and the story was short. Although it has ten Chapters, each chapter has only 1 or 2 paragraphs as if summarized.
When she closed it, Noa felt unsatisfied. The ending was rushed. She still wanted to know what happened to the other characters.
Reluctantly, she turned her attention to the Awakening Crystal.
The moment she touched it, it melted in her hands like ice.
[ Name: Awakening Crystal
Description: Helps awaken one's potential and ability. ]
[ Do you want to use Awakening Crystal? ]
[ Yes. ]
[ Confirmed. You have used Awakening Crystal. ]
[ Please wait a moment. ]
Noa lay down on the floor, staring blankly at the ceiling.
She didn't feel anything. No warmth. No pain. No strange sensation.
[ Ding! Congratulations for successfully awakening your potential. ]
[ Name: Third Person POV
Type: Passive
Level: 0 [0/10] (1 meter)
Note: Level up by number of uses. 10 minutes of use grants 1 point.
Description: This ability allows the user to observe and know everything around them within a certain area. The higher the level, the wider the range, and the detail information could gather.
Warning: Unstable — may cause other effects. ]
Noa blinked.
"…Third Person… POV?"
'If I use this on Juri, will I find out where he hid the last volume of [After Hearing My Inner Voice, NPCs Instantly Suffered Social Death]?'