Upon seeing this desolate continent, Barlin became even more convinced of the story he had heard over a century ago—that the gates for the Flight of Transcendence were here in this icy wilderness.However, he underestimated the sheer size of Antarctica. Its coastline alone stretched for 12,000 miles, and the inland had a radius of thousands of miles. Searching for anything was hard, if not impossible.And for a moment, he didn't even know where to begin, but quickly decided to focus on what was in front of him—molding the entire Japanese research crew into his lapdogs.With his mind-bending, he also found another man who was proficient in Oskian, so he kept him and Heiji as his second-in-command.The Japanese research crew onboard the ship was to sub in for the crew who were in Antarctica for the summer, who would in turn return to Japan. Having spent over six months there, they were all extremely homesick. Even if the return journey would take more than a month, they were all very

There were around 250 miles between Barlin and Charlie when the former arrived at the Japanese Antarctic Research Base.Like the Norwegian Research Base, it was surrounded in bleak, icy wildlands with no neighbors in sight.The problem wasn't in the sheer size of Antarctica either. Although there were already many countries that had established research stations there, they made sure to leave ample room for developing countries when they eventually made it there.Moreover, staying too close to other countries' research bases would hinder their progress and potentially compromise the secrecy of certain delicate missions.After all, like space exploration, Antarctic research was not simply about investigating the local environment and flora and fauna, or strictly about science. Here, nations could practice strategic planning for expeditions and experiment with technology they developed.For example, the United States had tested its Mars rovers here in Antarctica. As the average temp

Barlin was so stunned he thought he had misheard.He's supposed to be the Lord of the Winter Manor! How did his title suddenly turn into Lord of the Winter Manure?!While he thought they were screwing with him, he remembered that he mind-bent them—they wouldn't hesitate to go naked in the freezing temperatures outside if he ordered them.That meant it was simply linguistic incompetence.Hence, he scowled at Kohei, "Increase the Oskian lessons to six hours! And everyone is only allowed to sleep for three hours!""Yes, my lord!" Kohei replied!-Thousands of miles away, the Japanese Science and Cultural Ministry was unaware that two of their polar expedition teams and their research vessel had been repurposed by Barlin.They only took notice that the ship safely arrived at the South Pole and didn't even bother to stay updated on crew status. Being the orderly society they were, they could presume the ship crew and the researchers were dutifully resupplying, recycling and changing

However, the ice caps here were over 6,000 feet thick.If the path to the Flight of Transcendence wasn't above the ice caps but beneath it, doesn't that mean Barlin had some serious digging to do?Just the thought left him despairing.And having read the map of the South Pole and learned how huge it was, what he thought was a 40,000-square-mile search now also required Reiki probing going as far as 6,000 feet deep.It was literally hell.Even then, Barlin didn't want to give up, as he was painfully aware that he couldn't escape Fleur's clutches.As long as he couldn't find a way to live forever, he might not even outlive Fleur.Hence, this place was his best shot, which was why he swore to himself to find the gates for the Flight of Transcendence, no matter where it was!Hence, after speeding through the ice caps for 24 hours, the three snow tractors arrived where Barlin had pointed out earlier.It was a hilly pass that faces north, and the winds were biting cold.Getting off

Vera did not expect Charlie to immediately worry about her after learning how much time had passed.Despite feeling grateful, she feigned nonchalance and replied, "Thank you for worrying about me, but I've been fine. After living for centuries, I'm honestly used to being alone.""That's not true," Charlie said bluntly, exposing her right then. "If you really were, you wouldn't have adopted so many orphans or kept Decan Raven by your side." Those words felt like a surprise gut-punch for Vera, and the corner of her eyes reddened, with tears welling up in them.The fear of loneliness was real, especially since she had the body of a teenager along with the heart of one, but had to live for four hundred years with both.Teenage girls would feel lonely when left at home by themselves, whereas this girl had to wander without friends or family for centuries.Feeling her own tears about to overflow, Vera turned away, keeping her back to Charlie as she wiped them away.Charlie couldn't h