While I felt smug, the dryads examined themselves. Overall they seemed pleased with the changes. I also examined the bond we now shared. It looked rather beautiful. The grove was a star, centered on ash. It was glowing with lightning mana.

  Actually, the connection to the plane of air had expanded, for some reason. It felt like our entire bond network had grown stronger. That was different from when we added Adhira, for example. It seemed that a grove was special. Certainly something worth exploring. I wondered if strengthening their trees would benefit us all.

  “Fascinating.” Lilith commented. “I wish I could find my own grove now.”

  “I still would like to see demonic tree dryads.” I added. Maybe she could recruit her own grove one day.

  Ash approached me. “My lady, thank you for this gift. We are looking forward to moving to your lands.”

  “It will be great when you move in! We can celebrate by soaking your new land with blood!” Shani suggested.

  Well, I did promise them a demon lord corpse. So she was not entirely wrong there. Although I assumed she meant a lot more blood than that.

  After the ritual we spent another night at the grove. Then we moved on towards the frozen wastes. Hopefully we would be able to return soon. It would give the dryads some time to prepare and figure out what the ritual changed.

  The frozen wastes were accurately named. As we got closer the number of plants decreased. In the end even the grass could not survive. The lush green turned into brown dirt, then into white snow.

  We stared at a huge plain with a few hills and higher mountains in the distance. All covered in snow. An icy cold greeted us as soon as we stepped into the wastes. We had some resistance to cold but it was not our element. While it was not cold enough to pose a danger it was simply not that pleasant.

  “I don’t like it.” Lucy declared, then she transformed into a fox. “Better.”

  Erin, Lily and Lilith used fire magic to warm themselves. Erin shielded Sir Francis too, while smirking. He looked rather uncomfortable.

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  Adhira dove straight into Lucy’s fur. “Can I stay here, my lady?” She asked.

  “Sure.” Lucy replied.

  Shani frowned. “The blood in my ears is freezing! Bad winter!”

  I wanted to point out that an elemental like her did not have blood in her ears, then I caught myself. Her bunny ears were made of blood, just not hers.

  Lightning started to cover Shani’s skin. The electricity seemed to warm the blood again and stopped her ears from freezing. She now had red bunny ears which were constantly covered in lightning. It kind of looked nice, to be honest.

  Meanwhile I unleashed a tiny part of my aura and tried to cover my body. The cold did not seem natural. I figured my power might be able to keep it at bay, and it worked! It still was not the most comfortable experience but it would do.

  And so we entered the frozen wastes. Since we lacked any truly useful intel we wandered towards the mountains in the distance. It seemed like the best place for someone to construct a base.

  It was getting late when we encountered a small rock formation.

  “We should make camp here.” Lilith suggested.

  “Sure, I am looking forward to a warm tent.” I replied.

  “Oh, I had something even better in mind.” Lilith said, with a smile.

  “And that is?” I asked.

  “How about we make a hole into those rocks. And fill it with water…” Lilith started.

  Then it dawned on me. “Hot spring!” I shouted, while drawing my sword. I jumped on the rocks and started cutting them. Having a lot of strength and a powerful magical weapon was very useful, even outside of combat.

  Lucy joined me as well and soon we were able to create a good sized pool. With all the ice and snow there was plenty of water around. Lilith personally melted it and used her magic to improve the water. Succubi really knew how to make a good hot spring.

  While we worked Lily and Adhira set up the tents and started cooking. We had a nice hearty stew and some bread. Then we relaxed in the hot spring. Well, everyone except Sir Francis. He stood guard, declining to bathe with so many ladies.

  “Ah, shame this water and not blood.” Shani commented.

  “I think water is a lot better.” I replied.

  “This is certainly relaxing.” Lucy commented. She had her eyes closed and was lounging next to me.

  “It is strange. The land seems to be fighting my magic. It really does not like the heat.” Lilith commented.

  “Too bad for the land. We enjoy a bit of heat.” I replied.

  Lilith was a demon lord, whatever magic kept this area frozen was no match for her.

  “Sooo nice…” Adhira said, while floating in the water on her back. It seemed as if she was able to use wings to swim. Interesting.

  “I wonder if our bath will attract some attention.” Lily mused.

  “Let them come!” Erin replied.

  I shrugged. “We can deal with any monster. If we can get the attention of a friendly fey that would be helpful. We could use a local. Assuming fey live here. But I suspect some would be quite comfy in the cold.”

  “Let’s not recruit any ice fey. I prefer warmth.” Lucy mumbled.

  Sure, but an ice garden could be nice to look at. And we were good with normal cold. There was just something unpleasant and hostile about this area. Well, first we had to find someone anyway.