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He had to get up close and touch it. Whatever the material was, he needed to inspect it directly. His power might be able to solve this without heat.

And indeed, he found that it got even colder as he drew nearer. If it wasn’t ice, then it was certainly frozen, at least.

‘Are you numbing my pain, right now?’ asked Raul.

‘Yes. Why?’

‘Stop. I need to feel it.’

‘Mm? Are you sure?’

‘I am.’

‘Very well.’

Raul waited a moment. He felt no change, which was informative in its own way. Now he had to make sure all this cold hadn’t numbed him, too, so he rubbed his hands together even harder than before, trying to generate enough heat for it to start hurting.

It didn’t take long.

Alright. That was confirmation enough. He stopped rubbing his hands again.

Now for the real test.

If this frozen egg was deadly to the touch, then his pain receptors would be his best warning sign. If he’d risked touching it while he was already numbed, then there was a chance that he could end up freezing himself solid before he even realized what was happening. Then he would be the one in need of rescue here.

And so, finally, he touched the sunken iceberg directly.

Pain shot through his hand immediately, and he recoiled back.

Ow. Okay. That was actually a good sign, even if it didn’t feel like it. Now he had a better idea of the threat level here--and most importantly, it actually seemed manageable. If his hand had been instantly frozen, skipping over the pain stage entirely, then he would’ve needed to retreat and come back with help.

But this? He could handle this.

Hopefully.

He set to work. With a wide swipe of his hand, he sent a wave of slicing friction through the hulking berg. He tried to keep it superficial, not cutting deep, since there was almost certainly someone inside. He just wanted to crack the egg open, not burst it apart.

It resisted him, though. A few chips came off, but that was all. And his hand, having made direct contact again, was left stinging once more.

He was running out of air, too, but that could be ignored. This seemed like it might take a while, and he didn’t want to bother swimming back up to the surface just to get some fresh air. His body would perish and go numb on its own, but oh well. He’d learned enough from the pain already.