Coldsnap: The Billionaire Alpha's Fated Pregnant Princess (GL)-Chapter 140 - Finally A Cold & Clear Hint

Chapter 140: Chapter 140 - Finally A Cold & Clear Hint
| TASK COMPLETION ✓ |
| Survivor’s Wisdom+ |
Again it has provided a
reward
more hastily than some of the others. But unfortunately I don’t know if it’s because my suspicion is correct or not. About it’s not-magic working off of my sense of
desire
.
Giving a ’plus’ to an existing ’perk’ could just be...
more immediate
than granting something from scratch. I’ll have to do another
experiment
next time.
Glancing at the map shows no particular difference in the information this ability was already providing, but the
resource grid
was a different matter entirely. Where the interface was blue glows with the lilac square before and
that was pretty much it
...
"You’ve got to be kidding me."
New information filled it. The grid was now filled with icons and symbols. I see listings for the metals, the electronics, the weapons, food, medical supplies...
everything
. Including the blanket. Including the
rabbit
carcass!
> This is counting what is in the shipping container now, isn’t it? <
Of course the ability to focus on each and get its
category
or name... and the values were still there and as confusingly precise as before, like the time it counted the deer meat. For instance, | Water (S) | was probably the bottles, but
it didn’t count them by that
.
It gave it in units without a whole number - | 218.4 |. The only thing that could be in my mind is a
volume
measurement. Which makes more sense... when I look at the precious metals, who all only have a single listing despite there being
different weights of gold coins
.
"35... units. I’m not sure how much that is, but for now I’ll assume it is the same ’troy ounces’ that this world uses for the topic. I should research how much that will actually get me."
I allowed myself to be distracted by this only because of all the ’golden’ yellowy glows that
appeared around certain squares
. Highlighting items with a warmer, pulsing light than the blue
foxfire
that most things in this system were displayed with.
When it came to what the system was adding this detail to... the
wolf and werewolf pelts
I’d taken from the hunter’s cabin
blazed
with that radiance. The thick fleece blanket I’d been sleeping on also glowed brightly.
Even my jacket from the
charity
drive showed a faint golden outline. It didn’t take long to come up with an acceptable answer as I scrolled through this
new complete inventory
.
> All of it that glows is... warm. Or can be used to help with warmth. <
The
alcohol
from this last cache even glowed, perhaps because it is
flammable
. Or maybe because alcohol
doesn’t freeze
? At least, purer kinds will not - not at temperatures humans can survive...
Food items showed varying degrees of this gold glow.
High-calorie
dense foods were the brightest, while the goods that were
nutritious but low calorie
had a moderate yellow shine. Light clothes alone were only barely glowing.
But it was the items that weren’t glowing at all that told the
real
story. Like the
beautiful red chert
I’d impulsively taken? No extra yellow shine!
> It doesn’t find it important to survive in the apocalypse at all, clearly. I feel almost as judged about it as when you saw me taking it, Vrika. <
The system wasn’t just rating a
general survival value
. It was specifically highlighting items useful for surviving...
cold
conditions. And unlike the map, it didn’t seem to have a mode toggle between things that are currently useful and
especially useful during the apocalypse
.
When it came to an appropriate answer, Helene’s memories suggested that an
ice age
had been talked about coming again by scholars for a while now. Which is a good enough answer to begin
planning
from, I think.
"Not war with catastrophic consequences or zombie plagues. Nor mundane pandemic. Robot alien invasion. Simply an Endless winter. Beginning after... this world’s solstice, or thereabouts."
I stared into space for a while after that. Knowing what I might be dealing with is
better
. It is. But it’s also
worse
. A month and a half until the world...
froze
. Began to freeze? Whatever the case is, it’s
not good news
.
Electrical grids would fail if it gets cold enough, for long enough. Supply chains would collapse under the weight of
perpetual winter
, the oceans too cold to traverse very far. Roads too icy to truck.
The
warm
places I’d been taking for granted, that everyone does, would become distant memories. And preparing for winter for
a few months at a time
is already a monumental task per person every year. The people of this world will be
unprepared
, even if they started now.
My wolf sent back impressions of denning in caves warmed by the
Earth
itself. Of growing
thicker winter coats
. Deep
survival
instincts that had carried our kind through ice ages before.
> Vrika, we’re going to need a lot more than what we have. <
I stored everything and simply began walking.
Not even bothering to shift
or keep my backpack and phone on hand, don clothes or anything. Without a strong purpose yet, but knowing I would need... to
return
to the city.
Suddenly, Kyrie’s offer of
help
didn’t seem like a threat to my independence. It seemed like the difference between
life and death
. One foot in front of the other, bare skin barely registering the cool air - or the occasional water droplet falling from overhead branches.
Part of me registered the changing
between rocky surfaces and soft forest floor
beneath my feet. As flashes of old memory, mine not Helene’s, surfaced. Royal hunts in my homeland in the
wintertime
.
Warding off the bone-deep cold that
crept through even fox fur
. The incidents where servants had died when caught out by early
blizzards
. How quickly civilization became
irrelevant
when the temperature dropped low enough.
Winters that
killed
the unprepared. Dens carved deep into hillsides where families
huddled together for months
. Beast, shifter, human - all turned to just
keeping as still as possible
to
endure
until it was over and
spring
came.
I kept walking with so many
dim thoughts circling
and my pace never changed. Slow but forward, toward the city and whatever
choices
waited there after I gathered money. After I used it to collect what I needed to hopefully survive.
Warmth. Everything came back to
warmth
. I’ll still be pregnant when it starts...
I’ll give birth in the cold months
of it later if it really is an endless winter. And I’ll need shelter, food, and water during that.
Kyrie’s white tower rose like a beacon of
potential
in my mind. Like it was the thing I was
moving mechanically toward
.
Probably
climate controlled
, but who knows if it can handle constant icy conditions.
Resources
, but who knows if they can store enough for their pack -
let alone others
. Protection, at least until I become
inconvenient
.
"Aren’t I already?"