Gabriel woke to a thin ray of dawn sliding through the bars. His head jerked upright, breath ragged. For a moment he thought he had failed, that the stillness meant death had claimed him. But his chest rose, his pulse beat, and he was still here.
He blinked, stunned. He had fallen asleep after all. The fear that closing his eyes would end his life had haunted him all night, yet somehow, he lived. Not only that, his body felt… lighter. Stronger.
A cold shimmer rippled through his vision, and the system's words echoed in his mind.
Quest complete: Survive.
Reward granted.+5 to all attributes.
New technique unlocked: Eternal Frost Scripture.
System Panel
Host:Gabriel Ashford
Health: 3/100 → 13/100
Stamina: 5/50 → 15/50
Strength: 2 → 7
Agility: 3 → 8
Physique: 2 → 7
Endurance: 4 → 9
Affinity: Water/Ice (Awakened)
Skills: God's Eyes, Subjugate
Techniques: Eternal Frost Scripture
Gabriel's breath caught. His wounds no longer burned like open fire. The faintest mist trailed from his skin, as though ice itself had taken root in his veins. The prisoners in the other cells stirred, whispering as they noticed the change.
"That one… what is that aura?" one muttered."He was half-dead yesterday…" another hissed, eyes wide with unease.
Gabriel ignored them. His focus clung to the name etched into his mind — Eternal Frost Scripture. Unlike ordinary manuals, it carried a depth that resonated with his very soul, as though it had been waiting only for him. It was not scalable, not one he could pass to another. This was his path alone.
Closing his eyes, he began to breathe as the technique instructed. Slow, steady, drawing in the world's energy, refining it with the chill of his affinity. At first the current trickled faintly, but soon it surged, filling him with both clarity and weight.
Hours slipped away. His hunger gnawed, his body ached, yet he pressed on, weaving the supreme scripture through every breath. By nightfall, his body trembled, sweat and frost mingling on his skin. His veins burned like rivers of ice fire. Then, with a final exhale, something snapped.
A ripple burst from his body. His aura sharpened. He had broken through — the lowest rank of the novice stage. Weak still compared to the world, yet to him, it was rebirth.
System Panel – Gabriel Ashford
Host: Gabriel Ashford
Cultivation: Novice Stage – Lowest Rank
Health: 13/100 → 33/120
Stamina: 15/50 → 25/60
Strength: 7 → 9
Agility: 8 → 10
Physique: 7 → 9
Endurance: 9 → 11
Mana: 10/10
Affinity: Water/Ice (Awakened)
Skills: God's Eyes, Subjugate, System Inventory
Techniques: Eternal Frost Scripture
New Stat Unlocked: Mana (10/10)
New Skill Unlocked: System Inventory[System Inventory: A personal dimensional storage bound to the host's soul. Items stored cannot be accessed by others. Capacity expands with cultivation.]
Gabriel opened his eyes, ice-blue light flashing before fading into calm. He sat still for a long moment, staring at the silent cell door.
No guards. No footsteps. No one had come to check.
His lips curled into a cold smile. "So… they have forgotten me completely."
For the first time, he was glad.
Gabriel sat in the silence, frost lingering faintly around his breath. Forgotten by the guards, abandoned in this pit, he finally understood — this neglect was his chance. No one watching meant no interruptions. His journey could begin here.
A faint skitter echoed in the darkness. Tiny red eyes blinked from the far end of the corridor. A rat-like beast, its fangs longer than its snout, crawled through the bars of a broken cell. Its matted fur reeked of blood.
Gabriel's gaze locked on the rat-like beast slinking through the shadows, its whiskers twitching as it sniffed the air. A faint glimmer pulsed in his pupils, icy-blue light barely distinguishable from his natural eyes.
"God's Eye."
System MessageTarget Identified:Lesser Dungeon Rat:Cultivation: First Order – Initial StageHealth: 12/20Stamina: 8/15Strength: 3Agility: 4Physique: 2Endurance: 2Mana: 1/5
threat: trivial
Gabriel exhaled softly. To the creature, nothing seemed to change, yet to him, the rat lay bare — its body, its weaknesses, its trembling thread of life force.
"Pathetic. Perfect to begin with."
He rose slightly, shadows clinging to his form. "Subjugate."
At once, his pupils shifted, the faint glow sharpening into an abyssal blackhole that seemed to devour the light around him. The rat froze, its own eyes mirroring the same terrifying vortex. For a heartbeat, it struggled, body convulsing under the invisible chains of his will. Then — submission.
System MessageSkill: SubjugateTarget: Lesser Dungeon RatResult: Success. Bound to host's will.Bond Type: Permanent (until released or destroyed).
The rat lowered its head, trembling, a faint frost circling its body from Gabriel's aura.
System Panel – Gabriel AshfordCultivation: Novice Stage (Low Rank)Health: 33/120Stamina: 25/60Strength: 9Agility: 10Physique: 9Endurance: 11Mana: 5/10Affinity: Water/Ice (Awakened)
Skills: God's Eye, Subjugate, System InventoryTechniques: Eternal Frost Scripture
Subjugated Beings:
Lesser Dungeon Rat (First Order – Initial Stage, Trivial Threat)
Gabriel's eyes dimmed, returning to their calm blue hue. He crouched, studying the beast as it waited in silence for his will.
"One beast at a time," he whispered. "Even scraps can become blades in my hands."
Mana: 10/10 → 5/10
Gabriel leaned against the damp wall, his head spining. "So… that's the price. I can force another's will, but my own strength bleeds for it."
The rat crouched silently at his feet, its body trembling with subdued fear. Gabriel studied it, suspicion narrowing his gaze. A thought tugged at him, and instinctively, he focused on the beast's name in his panel.
The world flickered.
Suddenly, the stench of mold and rot thickened, and the cell bars loomed larger, warped from a lower perspective. He could hear the faint scuttling of insects, the scratching of claws on stone, and the distant dripping of water. The view shifted as the rat twitched its whiskers.
Gabriel's eyes widened. "I can… see through it?"
The connection snapped as his concentration wavered, and he staggered, sucking in a sharp breath. The rat blinked up at him, as if nothing had happened.
He tried again, this time pressing harder, pushing his focus deeper into the panel. The rat's senses flooded him once more — this time, the echo of a muffled voice carried from deeper within the dungeon, far beyond what his human ears could have caught.
When he finally pulled free, his chest heaved. His mana didn't drop further, but his head swam with the strain.
"So it isn't free," Gabriel muttered. "I have to focus… and the more I do, the more it eats at me. But with this… I can watch, listen, and never move a step."
His lips curved faintly. Even in the darkest dungeon, the world was opening to him.
System Panel – Gabriel AshfordCultivation: Novice Stage (Low Rank)Health: 33/120Stamina: 25/60Strength: 9Agility: 10Physique: 9Endurance: 11Mana: 5/10Affinity: Water/Ice (Awakened)
Skills: God's Eye, Subjugate, System InventoryTechniques: Eternal Frost Scripture
Subjugated Beings:
Lesser Dungeon Rat:Cultivation: First Order – Initial StageHealth: 12/20Stamina: 8/15Strength: 3Agility: 4Physique: 2Endurance: 2Mana: 1/5Affinity: DarknessSkills: Bite, Poison Bite