Dawn came slowly.

A pale blue light filtered through the canopy, brushing over the clearing like a thin veil. The fire had burned down to embers, leaving only soft wisps of smoke rising into the early morning air.

Ryn was already awake.

He sat with his back to a tree, eyes half-closed, listening to the forest breathe. Every so often, a faint cold drifted through the clearing.

The tiger seemed to leave and come back every so often, almost like it knew what they were doing.

Jay was checking on his concoction, which seemed to solidify into a small round pill—perfectly smooth and faintly glowing, pulsing with residual Life Energy.

He turned it over in his fingers with a thoughtful hum.

"…Huh. Looks stable enough."

Ryn opened his eyes. "So it worked."

"Worked is a generous word," Jay said quietly.

"Let's call it… viable. It should trigger the exact reaction we want, assuming the tiger's physiology handles Essence the same way ours does."

Ryn nodded. "And if it doesn't?"

Jay shrugged. "Then it'll spit it out. Or kill us. Hard to predict."

Ryn didn't flinch. He held out his hand.

Jay placed the pill in his palm. Almost as soon as he did, a faint crunch echoed somewhere past the treeline.

Jay went still. "It's close."

Ryn rose to his feet. "It's been watching since last night. It's waiting for us to finish."

Jay gave a soft, humorless huff. "Thoughtful of it. I appreciate predators that are patient."

Ryn pocketed the pill and stepped forward.

"We'll set it in the clearing," he said.

"If this works," Ryn repeated, "we might have a new companion."

Jay nodded once. "…I prefer that outcome."

They walked to the center of the clearing.

Ryn knelt and placed the pill gently onto the dirt. Even lying still, it pulsed softly, sending subtle vibrations through the ground.

Jay stepped back. "If I were a cold-fanged apex predator, I'd call that enticing."

Ryn agreed. Because the moment the pill touched the earth…

A cold wind swept through the clearing.

Branches rustled. Frost gathered along the edges of leaves.

Jay breathed out slowly, eyes narrowing. "…It's here."

Ryn didn't bother looking around.

He knew.

The tiger's presence settled over the clearing like a shadow. A nearby brush parted with the softest whisper.

White fur slipped through the foliage, stripes dim under the morning light.

The creature moved with a grace that didn't belong to something so large, each step silent like it never existed to begin with.

But its eyes weren't fixed on them.

They were fixed on the pill at Ryn's feet.

Jay whispered, barely audible, "It… recognizes it."

"It would," Ryn murmured. "It's what it came here for."

The tiger approached the clearing's center, slow, deliberate. Frost spread beneath its paws, coating the earth in a thin crystalline layer. Its breath came out in pale clouds, curling upward like smoke.

Ryn watched it carefully.

It did not bare its fangs. It simply stood before the pill, gaze shifting once, only once, to meet Ryn's.

A test.

Jay swallowed. "…It wants permission."

Ryn stepped forward, just enough to be seen as the one offering, not challenging.

He nodded once.

The tiger lowered its head.

One massive paw tapped the pill forward. It rolled slightly—enough to crack the outer shell.

A surge of Life Energy burst upward, rippling through the air.

The tiger inhaled sharply, Essence resonating through its chest, its eyes flickering with sudden clarity. It opened its jaws and swallowed the pill whole.

The world seemed to hold its breath.

Frost exploded outward in a ring, coating trees, rocks, and the very air around them. Jay stumbled back, stunned. Ryn stood firm, letting the cold wash past him.

Its fur brightened to a frosted sheen. Cold Essence swirled around its body like a storm forming in its core.

Jay whispered, "It's evolving…"

A final pulse of Life Energy erupted from the tiger's chest.

Then everything went still.

The tiger lifted its head.

Its eyes had changed.

Where once they were sharp, calculating, predatory…now there was something else.

Intelligence, recognition, even acknowledgement.

It approached Ryn, each step even lighter than it was before. The tiger lowered itself slightly, pressing its forehead into Ryn's hand.

Then, a notification from his system.

[A Beast seeks a Pact.]

[Spirit Contract: Millenia White Tiger]

[Conditions: Mutual trust.]

[Accept?]

Ryn blinked, stunned despite himself. Once more, the Isles had subverted his expectations.

A Beast Contract, a real one.

He ran a hand along the tiger's neck, feeling the faint resonance linking their Essences.

Jay approached cautiously, still wide-eyed.

"You look… surprised," he said quietly.

Ryn didn't respond immediately.

Beast Contracts weren't simple phenomena or luck. They required compatibilitym a trait only found among certain Blessings.

Magnus Silver, the legendary Beastmaster, had dominated that category in Ryn's previous life.

His entire power system revolved around forging pacts with creatures far stronger than himself.

But Ryn had nothing like that. In fact, he had a martial Blessing. So how was this possible?

Ryn lowered his hand slowly.

These Isles…there has to be a hidden secret. One that Rora ArcLain never got to explore.

He was sure of this. First the key, now the Contract…the world had reacted to him in ways that defied the rules he knew.

Well, whatever it was, this was an opportunity of a lifetime.

A Beast's strength was determined by how long it lived. This meant that this White Tiger was around mid to high tier. There was no reason not to accept.

Ryn pressed the button on his panel.

[Spirit Contract Formed.]

[Companion Beast Acquired: Millenia White Tiger]

The tiger lifted its head.

Its eyes glowed faintly as the new bond settled. Ryn felt like his senses had unlocked another layer of depth.

The beast rumbled, frost curling at its paws. It scratched at the ground, almost like a housecat kneading a cushion.

"Seems like it wants to show us its home," Ryn murmured.

The tiger looked up, eyes brightening as it nodded.

"Well… take us up."

They both mounted on the tigers back, its multiple layers of soft and pillowy fur put them both at ease immediately. Jay immediately sunk into the fluff, eyes rolling back into his head.

Then he clapped his hands once, sitting up straight.

"…We should name it."

Ryn blinked. "What? No. Why?"

"Snowball."

The tiger stopped breathing. Then, with a sudden shrug, the tiger lifted his rear and sent Jay flying right into the cold, hard floor.

Ryn stared. The tiger stared.

Jay groaned,

"...Okay. Not Snowball."

The tiger huffed, satisfied.

Ryn sighed. "Well, how about just Snow?"

The tiger paused. Its ears twitched.

It didn't look offended, just mildly embarrassed, like it wanted to object but couldn't justify the effort.

Jay pushed himself upright.

"Snow's… actually kind of cute."

The tiger let out a soft rumble, more one of tolerance rather than acceptance.

Ryn nodded. "Snow it is."

Snow sighed like a creature accepting a compromise beneath its dignity… but one it could live with.

Jay groaned as he climbed back onto the tiger's—no, Snow's back—grumbling about something. Snow ignored him, flicking an ear in dignified silence, as it barely crouched down low enough for Jay to climb back on.

Ryn adjusted his seat and placed a steadying hand in Snow's fur.

"Whenever you're ready," he murmured.

Snow lowered its head, muscles tensing beneath their legs. Cold Essence rippled outward from its body.

At first, vapors accumulated, like mist forming over water. Then it sharpened, condensing into frost that crawled across the ground.

Jay swallowed. "…Oh wow. It's starting."

Snow exhaled.

Then—FWOOOM—

A massive pillar of ice shot upward beneath Snow's paws, launching him into the air. Ryn and Jay clung to his fur as the tiger landed on the newly formed surface, claws digging into clear, crystalline footing.

Snow didn't stop.

Another burst of ice exploded forward, then another, each one connecting seamlessly to the last, forming a spiraling ramp climbing into the sky.

It was like watching a bridge assemble itself beneath them, but made of translucent frost that caught the dawn light and scattered it into a thousand glittering shards.

Jay gaped openly. "Ryn… it's literally building a staircase into heaven."

Snow leapt higher.

Every landing echoed with a crystalline chime, each step sending ripples of frost energy outward. The air grew colder as they ascended, thin clouds brushing past them like pale ghosts.

Below them, the Forest Isle shrank into a patchwork of green and gold.

Ryn breathed a sigh of relief, one part of the journey complete, a much larger one ahead.

The Snow Isle loomed above them.

A floating landmass of white cliffs and jagged peaks, wreathed in swirling frost winds. Ancient structures, half buried towers and stone arches pierced through the ice like monuments frozen in time.

Well…at least they won't have to go far to look for clues.

Snow's pace slowed as they approached the final stretch. The tiger channeled an enormous surge of power into its paws. With one final leap, it landed clean onto the ice.

Jay shivered violently. "I'm—going—to—die—in—this—cold."

Snow ignored him and began grooming his paw, as if scaling sky and cloud was a morning stroll.

Ryn exhaled, frost curling from his lips.

"…We've made it."

They both slid off the tiger's back, barely able to catch their footing on the slippery ice.

Jay hugged himself. "I'm starting to think this entire island is allergic to warmth."

Ryn barely heard him.

His eyes were focused on something else. At first, he thought it was another ice formation.

But as Ryn approached, the details sharpened. A towering figure half-buried in frost, carved of stone older than anything he'd ever seen.

The warrior stood with both hands resting on the pommel of a downward-pointed sword, face calm and resolute beneath layers of ice.

Jay stared. "Someone built a… statue? Out here?"

Ryn didn't answer.

His pulse quickened as he brushed snow from the figure's chest, revealing a familiar sigil etched into the armor, plastered everywhere within Deimos.

The symbol of a man whose name shaped entire eras.

His breath misted in the cold air.

"…No way."

Jay frowned. "Ryn? What is it?"

Ryn stepped back, staring up at the monument. The unmistakeable face of history buried in ice.

His voice came out barely above a whisper.

"The First Hero."

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