You can control the Heart of Winter, huh.
It wasn’t unexpected. More precisely, I never believed that Nox and the Northern Mage Corps had joined forces with Lorenz out of pure intentions.
If their plan to complete the Heart of Winter succeeded, they would gain immortality. Nox, driven by his insatiable hunger, sought to transcend even death itself. That heart was surely his most coveted goal right now.
But that wasn’t something so easily crafted. Nox had spent centuries obsessing over this research, sacrificing an untold number of lives in the process. And yet, even now, he hadn’t achieved immortality—he couldn’t even leave this frozen land, lest his corpse begin to rot.
“You’re usually right about things. You’re smart, after all.”
Nox smiled, as if mocking me.
“Of course, our arrogant Emperor believes he’s finally claiming dominion over this lawless land. You’ll keep my secret, won’t you?”
Lorenz was an enemy. And Nox was an enemy, too. If they fought each other, it was nothing but an advantage for me.
The only problem was… if I had to choose one of them to confront, I wasn’t sure which one it should be.
“I’ll consult with His Highness before making a decision.”
“Haha, I should’ve made ‘keeping it a secret’ part of the deal.”
“As if that would’ve mattered to you.”
“True enough.”
Nox pressed down firmly on my shoulder, forcing me onto the cold metal table. The signature chill of the iron frame seeped into my back.
“You must have a lot of questions for me today.”
Recalling our conversation from last night, I nodded.
“To be honest, I have so many that I don’t even know where to start.”
“Then take your time and think it through. I’ll start with my questions first.”
He scrutinized me with a sharp gaze—not as one looks at a person, but as if he were appraising some kind of magical artifact.
“Kid, you said you were a hamster. Can you transform freely, multiple times a day?”
“…No.”
Nox narrowed his eyes, locking onto mine.
“Can you see the future?”
“Yes.”
“To survive, do you have to change that future—interfere in the affairs of this world?”
…What the hell? How does he know that?
I had never once mentioned that I had died. Let alone that I was acting to stay alive.
That kind of information could be a dangerous weakness. And if I ever had to reveal it, I’d make sure to leverage it to gain more information in return.
“You should answer.”
Nox coaxed me in a soft, almost coaxing voice. My neck felt hot, like it was burning.
“…Yes.”
For a brief moment, he fell silent. He paced around me, deep in thought, as if organizing the new information he had just extracted.
His thin lips moved slightly, murmuring words like catalyst, incarnation, equivalent exchange. It was clear he was piecing together his thoughts about me.
“This is just personal curiosity, but…”
Nox placed two pale, faintly glowing stones beside my head. They were closer to large rocks than gemstones, about the size of a fist.
Then, in a language I didn’t understand, he rapidly chanted a few incantations. The stones began to tremble.
“What is the name of your power?”
“……”
“The power to shatter the world’s order. The power to break and forge destiny anew. To mages, that power is called… Deviation.”
I stared at Nox, unblinking.
The stones were still trembling violently.
I had no idea what made them move like that. Even if he explained, I doubted I would understand.
All I could tell, instinctively, was that this force—whatever it was—felt similar to both my power and his. Something external, something beyond us.
“You’re not surprised.”
“I already knew.”
“As expected.”
I had no obligation to answer his questions, but since I had learned something from him, I supposed I could share at least one thing in return.
It’s nothing that impressive, anyway.
I responded as nonchalantly as possible.
“Miracle.”
Nox’s lips moved slightly as he repeated my answer.
“Miracle, huh.”
“Yes.”
He picked up the stone with an indifferent motion, then handed it to me.
“Hold it.”
…What is this? Is it dangerous?
Instead of accepting it right away, I simply stared at him. Nox let out a quiet chuckle.
“If you behave, I’ll give you a reward. Now, go on.”
“What am I, a pet?”
“Aren’t you? You’re this small.”
“That’s just because you’re absurdly big! And for the record, this is not short!”
“But compared to me—”
“Just give me that.”
I quickly snatched the stone from his hand.
The moment I gripped it, an intense chill seeped into my skin, creeping from my palm into my entire body.
As I held it, the blue glow within the stone began to fade. It didn’t disappear completely, but it dimmed until only faint traces remained.
“Eighty percent, maybe? No… closer to ninety?”
Nox muttered to himself.
Eighty percent? Ninety? What the hell…
Wait, is he measuring my Miracle level right now…?
[Current Miracle level: 88.1%]
…No way.
I didn’t understand how it worked, but the feeling of having my innermost secret exposed sent chills down my spine.
I held the stone up slightly, shaking it at him as I asked,
“So? What’s my reward? You could at least explain how this experiment works. I mean, I’ve been cooperating pretty well despite not knowing what you’re doing. Make it simple enough for a beginner to understand.”
“I’ve never had to explain magic to someone this clueless before.”
Nox smirked in that irritating way of his. God, I want to punch him just once.
“Catalyst.”
“…What?”
“You. You’re a catalyst. More specifically, your original body—the hamster.”
“It’s a Northern Mountain Mouse, actually.”
His Highness’s beloved magical beast, thank you very much. Sure, it might look like a hamster, but still.
“Doesn’t really matter. It’s still just another beast of this world.”
Nox shook his head as if that detail was irrelevant.
“The boundaries of the world are absolute. It’s not that we don’t know of beings from other worlds, but… you can’t just move a being from one world to another simply because you want to.”
“There’s Deviation. There’s Miracle. If I crossed over, doesn’t that prove it’s possible?”
“Well… no matter how powerful a Miracle or Deviation may be, it shouldn’t be able to break through the barrier of a world twice. Unless that world is already incomplete.”
Something clicked in my mind at those words.
If what Nox said was true… then could it be that this world was an incomplete world?
A novel world—one that, from my perspective, was closer to fiction than reality.
Seeing my deepening frown, Nox pressed his index finger to his temple, smiling.
“This will require more research. Don’t worry about it too much, kid. I have to get to the bottom of anything that piques my curiosity. I’ll figure out the mechanics soon enough.”
“The important thing isn’t whether the world you came from or the one you’re in now is incomplete. It’s not even about how powerful the ‘Miracle’ surrounding you is.”
“Then what is it?”
“I mentioned that you’re a catalyst. That means the Northern Mountain Mouse served as the medium to transfer your existence into this world without shock. Another way to put it is that it’s your incarnation vessel.
To minimize rejection, your soul was first implanted into something that already existed in this world. Then, step by step, the system gradually increased the allowable threshold, eventually summoning your original body.”
So that’s why my skill is called Reload.
The explanation made a surprising amount of sense.
I slowly sat up and nodded.
“That sounds plausible.”
“You must have someone assisting you. You don’t seem to have any real talent for magic, so rather than wielding it yourself, you must be communicating with something to gain help.”
He had spied on my conversations with the system multiple times already, so it wasn’t a difficult deduction.
I glanced at the now completely dimmed stone and nodded.
“They’re a good one.”
The system seemed pleased by my words.
[(＾Ｕ＾)ノ]
But Nox was different.
His usual smirk vanished, replaced by a rare, cold expression. Tilting his head slightly, he asked,
“Do you really think so?”
I answered with indifference.
“Well, they’re definitely better than you.”
“That’s only because you and I have conflicting intentions.”
Nox leaned in. His stark white hair draped like a curtain, casting shadows over his face.
“Kid, do you trust your companion?”
[o(TヘTo)]
[Your friendly system!]
A flicker of blue light swirled between us, trembling violently as Nox’s interference disrupted it.
“They’re not exactly a companion. It’s not even a person.”
“They talk to you just fine, don’t they?”
“Traces of a personality can remain. Lukit’s like that too. But to be precise, what’s left behind is more of a will or purpose. The rest is empty.”
“I don’t get what you mean.”
Typical mage talk—vague and cryptic.
I frowned, puzzled, and Nox let out a chuckle, as if he hadn’t expected me to understand in the first place.
“It means you shouldn’t expect it to be a complete person. And more importantly, don’t truly believe in it.”
“……”
“Desperate faith can become food. It corrodes you, little by little, until you’re nothing more than a tool, dancing to the tune of some grand purpose.”
“Like you?”
A monster.
Someone who had thrown away their humanity, obsessed with their pursuit of knowledge, clinging to the wretched hope of immortality.
That was how I saw Nox—someone so consumed by his thirst for understanding that he did nothing but destroy everything around him.
But he didn’t seem to agree with my assessment. Shaking his head lightly, he corrected,
“No. That would be the Undertaker. That one’s barely holding together. They don’t even leave their coffin anymore. As a result, someone else has to shoulder all the work.”
“……”
“You look like you’re dying to ask more, but that’s enough for now. You haven’t used up today’s questions yet, so I’ll answer three.”
Nox bared his teeth in a grin.
“So, choose wisely.”
