Harlan Flint couldn't help but marvel as the system relayed Barbara's latest reward, a quiet admiration settling in as he reviewed its details. "Barbara's luck is downright phenomenal—she's hitting the jackpot every time!"
Her first pull had been Snowballmon, a baby Digimon with the potential to evolve into the stunning and formidable Celestialmon, a perfect match for her gentle yet steadfast nature.
Now, she'd landed the Freeze Fruit Ability—a natural-type power from One Piece: East Sea Saga—and its sheer versatility made it one of the shop's most impressive hauls yet.
With this, she could unleash chilling air at will, encasing anything she touched in ice, a frigid touch that could halt foes in their tracks with ease.
Beyond that, she could sculpt the ice into any shape—swords, spears, walls—wielding it as both weapon and shield against whatever came her way.
Developed further, the ability could freeze entire swaths of air without contact, locking enemies in frost so deep they'd slip into a deathlike stasis if they couldn't break free fast enough.
A single tap could shatter those icy prisons, reducing trapped foes to fragile shards—a brutal end masked by the beauty of her power.
Like Lumine's Burn-Burn Fruit before it, this gift let Barbara elementalize her body into ice, rendering her near-invulnerable to physical blows unless countered by Jean's rare Haki mastery.
Best of all, it came as a pure ability—no bitter Devil Fruit to choke down, no dread of water or Seastone to hobble her—a flawless upgrade courtesy of his system's tweaks.
Harlan grinned to himself, dubbing her a "Teyvat Emperor of Luck"—two top-tier rewards in a row marked her as a standout among his growing roster of readers.
Lisa's prize, by contrast, was quieter but fitting—Koshiro's Laptop from Digimon: First Frontier, a trove of digital knowledge from another world, ideal for a librarian who thrived on uncovering secrets.
While it lacked the flash of Barbara's ice or Fischl's theatrics, its detailed records of Digimon lore suited Lisa's scholarly bent perfectly, a subtle win in its own right.
Two beams of light sliced through Galehaven Comics' ceiling, bathing Barbara and Lisa in radiant glows as their rewards materialized, the shop's familiar hum pausing in anticipation.
The light faded, revealing Lisa cradling a sleek yellow-and-green laptop, its screen dark but promising, while Barbara stood amid a sudden chill, frost wisping from her breath.
"What's this?" Barbara murmured, her voice trembling as she sensed a vast, icy power surging within her, unfamiliar yet thrillingly potent.
She exhaled, and chaos erupted—a torrent of freezing air exploded outward, a tidal wave of cold rushing to engulf the shop in an instant.
The temperature plummeted, the cozy warmth of Galehaven replaced by a biting winter snap that caught everyone off guard.
Luke and Daryl shivered, their teeth chattering as they hugged their comics. "Why'd it get so cold all of a sudden—did the wind shift?"
The Lady glanced up from Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai!, her brow furrowing as the chill intensified. "An ice-based ability this time—stronger than I expected."
Barbara's aura grew sharper, frost creeping along the floor, threatening to glaze the room in a crystalline sheen if left unchecked.
Harlan chuckled softly, waving a hand with casual grace, and the frigid wave vanished as if it had never been, the shop snapping back to normalcy.
"Take it easy—you'll get the hang of it soon enough," he called to Barbara, his tone reassuring as he leaned against the counter, unfazed by her outburst.
He'd seen this before—Jean's Haki awakening had unleashed a shockwave, but Barbara's ice packed a rawer, wilder punch she'd need to tame.
Barbara focused, reining in the cold with tentative care, and sighed in relief as it subsided. "Okay, I think I've got it under control now."
She'd panicked when it surged—unleashing that arctic blast with a mere breath—but Harlan's swift fix had saved her from a frosty fiasco.
Gratitude welled up, her awe of him deepening—he'd quelled her runaway power with a flick, a feat that cemented his godlike presence in her eyes.
"Boss, what did Barbara get?" Lisa asked, her voice edged with shock as she clutched her laptop, still reeling from the chill that had nearly numbed her fingers.
Up close, she'd felt the spirit-freezing bite of that cold, a force she'd have struggled to counter without Harlan's intervention.
"It's the Freeze Fruit Ability," Harlan replied, launching into a rundown. "She can release icy air to freeze anything she touches, shape ice into weapons or defenses, and elementalize her body to shrug off most attacks."
Barbara and Lisa exchanged stunned glances, their eyes mirroring disbelief—each perk he listed sounded absurdly powerful on its own.
All those gifts bundled into one reward? It was a suite of abilities that could make anyone a force to be reckoned with.
"That's just the start," Harlan added with a grin. "Push it to its limits, and she could reshape a region's climate—turn Mondstadt into a permafrost zone or thaw a glacier into a sea."
He wasn't exaggerating—in One Piece, Aokiji's clash with Akainu had split Punk Hazard into a dual hell of ice and fire, a testament to the fruit's world-altering potential.
Barbara's jaw dropped, words failing her as the scope sank in—changing climates was a divine act, a power she'd tied to gods like Barbatos in Mondstadt's lore.
Centuries ago, the Wind God had swept away snow to carve out Mondstadt's green plains—could she, too, wield such godlike sway over the land one day?
***
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