"And us?" Eleonora asked in a tense voice. "Can we come to the second level?"

  【Oh yes! The system has promoted you from NPCs to real players. Congratulations! Now you can die in much more creative ways!】

  The Custodian performed a particularly elaborate pirouette, clearly excited to explain the macabre details.

  【But let me explain what exactly this "promotion" means, so you can fully appreciate your situation!】

  Alessio stepped forward, suspicious. "What do you mean?"

  【Well, you see, when you died twenty years ago, your physical bodies were... how to put it... recycled! Decomposed! Reduced to dust! They haven't existed for a long time.】

  The silence that followed was chilling.

  【Your consciousnesses were only saved because they fused with the simulation entities at the moment of death. A fascinating process, really! But it means you no longer have a physical container to return to.】

  Tommaso swallowed hard. "So... if we leave here..."

  【Here's the interesting part! If you manage to complete the second level - and I say IF, because the odds are deliciously low - your consciousnesses will be compressed and digitized inside Brando and Giordano's KryoWatches!】

  Brando felt a cold shiver. "What does that mean exactly?"

  【It means you'll become sentient programs inside their devices! You'll be able to communicate with them, share experiences, even manifest as holograms! It's almost like being alive, but without all those inconvenient biological needs!】

  The whale performed a delighted somersault.

  【Naturally, this means your existence will depend completely on Brando and Giordano. If their KryoWatches get damaged or destroyed... well, you'll disappear forever! What a romantic dependency!】

  Eleonora paled. "And if they die?"

  【Oh, then you'll die too! How nice to die together, right? It's practically poetic!】

  Giordano looked at his KryoWatch with growing horror. "Are you saying we'd become responsible for their lives forever?"

  【Exactly! Their fate would literally be in your hands! Or rather, on your wrists! What delicious pressure!】

  Alessio turned toward Brando and Giordano. "You can't accept that kind of responsibility. It's too much."

  【Oh, but the decision isn't yours! The system has already established that this is the only way to get you out of the simulation. Either you accept these conditions, or you remain here forever as digital ghosts!】

  Brando looked at the veterans, then at Giordano. Something in his expression hardened, that determination he'd always shown when things got difficult in Rione Sanità.

  "It's not forever," he said with a firm voice. "Once we're out, we'll find a way to build synthetic bodies for them. That kind of technology has to exist."

  Giordano nodded immediately. "Exactly. We get them out in the KryoWatches, then work to give them a real second life. We won't leave them trapped in our devices forever."

  The Custodian seemed almost surprised by their reaction, then burst into a particularly annoying crystalline laugh.

  【Oh, such adorable optimism! Synthetic bodies! What a romantic idea!】

  She performed a series of sarcastic somersaults in the air.

  【But allow me to illuminate you about the practical reality of your dear Nea-Polis. Yes, the technology exists, but do you really think it's that simple? We're talking about procedures that cost as much as an entire House's annual budget!】

  The whale stopped in front of Brando, her eyes gleaming with malice.

  【And then there's the small detail of permits. Who authorizes the construction of synthetic bodies? The Council of Houses? The Protector? Do you think they'll say "Oh yes, let's build four artificial bodies for digital ghosts"?】

  Alessio stepped forward, a spark of hope in his eyes despite the Custodian's cruel words. "But it's not impossible, right? The technology exists..."

  【Ah, the eternal optimist! Yes, it exists. But we're talking about research that requires years, specialized laboratories, and above all scientists willing to work on a project that most of society would consider blasphemous!】

  What the Custodian didn't say - but what Brando and Giordano would understand only later - was the deep reason why such research would be considered blasphemous. The entire social structure of Nea-Polis was based on the concept of "Cold Veins purity" transmitted through blood. The Eight Houses had built their power on the idea that only those born with natural Cold Veins had the divine right to command. Creating artificial bodies with synthetic Cold Veins would mean admitting that power could be replicated, built, given to anyone. The scandal would be devastating: anyone with enough resources could become an artificial Bearer. The Houses' monopoly would crumble like a house of cards, and with it the entire ideology that justified their supremacy.

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  The Custodian made a theatrical pause, clearly enjoying extinguishing their hopes.

  Tommaso looked at his nephew with a tormented expression. "Giordano, you can't ruin your life for us. It's too much to ask."

  Giordano shook his head vigorously. "It's not too much. If there's even a chance of giving you back a real life, we'll take it."

  【How beautiful! But you know what's even more delicious? Even if you miraculously managed to convince some mad scientist to work for you, you'd still need years to perfect the technology! And all this while your consciousnesses languish in electronic devices!】

  Giordano looked at her with a smile that for the first time since she'd started talking had a note of triumph.

  "You know what's the most beautiful thing about all this?" he said, crossing his arms. "When we get out of here, we won't have to endure your nauseating voice anymore. Finally we'll be free from you."

  The Custodian stopped mid-air, as if she hadn't considered this aspect.

  【Ah... well... I stay here, obviously. My role is managing the simulation. This is where I belong.】

  For the first time since they'd known her, the whale seemed almost uncertain.

  "Exactly," Brando piled on. "You'll stay here, alone, managing your little empty simulation, while we're out there living real lives."

  【It's not... it's not empty! Other participants will come! Other cadets to torment and shape!】

  But there was a defensive note in her voice they'd never heard before.

  Eleonora smiled through her tears. "Ah, so this bothers you. The idea of staying here while we leave."

  【Nothing bothers me! I'm perfectly happy in my domain! You... you'll be the ones who have to face the brutal reality of the outside world! But now, let's get to evolution points. Brando Casadei! For emotional leadership under pressure and for not going insane when everything went to hell: 300 evolution points!】

  【Evolution Points: +300】

  She turned toward Rusty, who looked at her with his three eyes.

  【And Rusty! For empathic support and for being the bravest puppy in the simulation: 200 evolution points!】

  【Evolution Points: +200】

  Then she performed a complete somersault in the air before stopping in front of Giordano.

  【And now... imaginary drumroll... Giordano Volpe! For definitively defeating a recurring entity through sacrifice and pure love: a full 800 evolution points! Ole!】

  【Evolution Points: +800】

  The whale performed a series of frantic pirouettes in the air, as if she were celebrating.

  Giordano's eyes widened. "800?"

  【The system is so impressed it decided to reward you! Your Cold Enhancer has now become something unique in the simulation's history!】

  As the numbers stabilized in their internal systems, Brando couldn't help but do a quick calculation.

  He'd gone from 45 Evolution Points to 345 Evolution Points.

  Rusty had gone from 180 Evolution Points to 380.

  Giordano had gone from 45 Evolution Points to a full 845 Evolution Points!

  "What a pain," he muttered to himself, looking at Giordano who now had more than double his points. It was frustrating, but not surprising. In Rione Sanità he'd learned early that life was rarely fair, and that if you wanted to change your position you had to work harder than others.

  But then a different thought crossed his mind, one that suddenly brought him back to the real world beyond the simulation. How much real experience would all this training yield? When they left the CryoGame, how would all this translate into actual power at Vesuvius Academy?

  It was a question that changed everything. If these points meant real growth in their abilities, then every moment in this simulation would have consequences extending far beyond the game itself.

  The Custodian seemed to sense his thoughts. She turned toward an empty point in the air and suddenly an immense portal appeared, at least ten meters high and wide enough for an entire building to pass through. It was made of what appeared to be pure ice, but glowed with an internal light that suggested something much more complex.

  【Tadah! The passage to the second level! Fresh from the factory!】

  The whale made a theatrical gesture with her fins.

  【But before you dive headfirst into new adventures, I must warn you! What you'll find in there will be different! The system is adapting to your extraordinary performance!】

  She performed a nervous somersault in the air.

  【Your success has given the CryoGame new ideas! I don't even know what awaits you in there, and I SHOULD know!】

  Alessio then showed uncertainty. "In all these years," he said slowly, "we'd memorized every detail of the first level. We knew when the Frost Goblins would arrive, how to deal with the Pyromaniac, how to use every resource in the cabin."

  Eleonora nodded, nervously biting her lower lip. "It was our routine, our survival. And now..."

  "Now we're all on equal footing," Tommaso completed, with a mix of fear and excitement in his voice. "None of us know what awaits us."

  The Custodian performed a small confirmatory somersault in the air.

  【Exactly! Welcome to the unknown, guys! It's terrifying and wonderful!】

  Brando looked at Gaetano's statue one last time. The light filaments inside the orange crystal pulsed weakly, as if their friend were saying goodbye. "We'll move forward," he said, his voice full of a determination that surprised even him. "We won't let your sacrifice be in vain."

  They all headed toward the portal, each of them forever changed by what they'd experienced. They were no longer the same ones who'd entered the first level. They'd been forged by loss, tempered by sacrifice, and united by a bond that went beyond friendship.

  When they crossed the threshold of the immense portal, what they saw left them breathless.

  Before them stretched a plain beneath a slate-colored sky that trembled with electric energy. There was no trace of ice or snow. The ground was an expanse of packed earth and scattered rocks, crossed by cracks that pulsed with blue-electric light, as if the plain itself was coursed through with luminous veins.

  In the air hung a constant and hypnotic buzzing, deep and continuous, like the breathing of a sleeping giant.

  And indeed, on the horizon, a colossal silhouette lay motionless. It was difficult to make out the details at that distance, but the shape was unmistakably human—a sleeping giant whose presence dominated the entire landscape like a mountain of flesh and bone.

  And then there were the lightning strikes. Bolts of pure energy fell from the sky, striking the earth with mathematical temporal precision: one every ten seconds. Each lightning bolt arrived exactly three seconds early, illuminating the plain with white-blue light, then vanishing, leaving only the residual glow in the ground's cracks.

  Scattered across the plain, some towers of oxidized metal rose like silent sentinels, drawing part of the electrical energy to themselves in displays of sparks and luminous arcs.

  "It's not a world of ice anymore," Giordano whispered, as a lightning bolt struck just a few hundred meters from them. "We're in an electric world now."