The passage beyond the Ursid fortress was a narrow, winding tunnel of pure, crystalline ice. The blue light radiating from the walls was so intense it was almost blinding, and the air grew so cold that Alvian could feel the moisture in his lungs threatening to freeze with every breath. The [Piercing Frost] debuff was now at its maximum stacks, his health and mana regeneration completely nullified. Any damage he took in here would be permanent until he left the cavern's depths. This was the final layer of the dungeon's defense: an environment so hostile it was a weapon in itself.
His four-minute timer on [Shadow Weave +2] was a relentless, ticking clock in the corner of his vision, a constant reminder that his window of opportunity was finite. He moved with a swift, gliding purpose, the enhanced duration of his skill buying him the time he needed to penetrate this deep into the mountain's frozen soul.
The tunnel opened into a cavern that made the previous chamber look like a crude antechamber. He had arrived at the heart.
The space was a perfect, massive geode, its walls lined with colossal, perfectly-formed ice crystals that pulsed in a slow, hypnotic rhythm, like a sleeping heart. The air itself was a visible, shimmering haze of raw cryo-energy, so dense that it felt like wading through water. And in the absolute center, suspended in mid-air by shimmering, invisible threads of force, was the Heart of Frost.
It was not a small rock or a simple gem. It was a flawless, crystalline sphere, at least ten feet in diameter, that seemed to contain a miniature, swirling blizzard within its depths. It was the source of the cavern's unnatural cold, the nexus point where another reality bled into his own. Orbiting it like silent, loyal moons were three smaller, but no less potent, shards of pure ice. Guarding it, floating silently in the air before the Heart, was a being of pure, condensed winter.
It was an Icewraith Matriarch, a Level 35 Lord-tier monster. Its form was vaguely humanoid but ethereal, crafted from swirling, spectral frost. Its eyes were hollow sockets that burned with a malevolent, soul-chilling blue light, and its long, slender fingers tapered into razor-sharp icicles. It was a true guardian, a creature of immense magical power, and it was directly between Alvian and his objective.
His invisibility timer read: [01:48].
Fighting the Matriarch was out of the question. Even with his advanced level and skill, a Lord-tier monster was a raid-level threat. But he didn't need to fight it. He only needed to endure.
He glided forward, a phantom of absolute silence. The Matriarch, for all its power, was a creature of magic and spirit. It could sense life force, magical auras, and spiritual intent. [Shadow Weave +2] erased all three. To the guardian, he was less than nothing; he simply did not exist. He moved past the spectral horror, his own heart a steady, cold drumbeat in his chest. He passed so close he could feel the aura of absolute zero radiating from its form, a cold that felt like it could extinguish his very soul. The wraith remained motionless, its vigil undisturbed.
He had reached the Heart of Frost. The raw energy pouring off it was a physical force, pressing in on him, trying to shatter his semi-ethereal form. He held out the frosted leather tome of [Frost Descent]. As Rogge had instructed, he needed to attune himself, to absorb a sufficient quantity of its essence to stabilize the spell's chaotic matrix.
He opened the book. The blank pages within began to glow with a hungry, blue light.
[Attunement with a Prime Source of Elemental Ice detected.]
[Commencing essence absorption for [Frost Descent]? This process will be agonizing and may cause permanent damage to your mana channels.]
'Proceed,' he commanded without hesitation.
The tome became a siphon. A brilliant, visible stream of pure cryo-energy flowed from the Heart of Frost and into the book, and from the book, into Alvian's body.
Pain.
It was not the pain of a cut or a burn. It was a deep, cellular agony, as if every drop of water in his body was being flash-frozen and shattered into a million microscopic shards of ice. His vision swam, turning a uniform, blinding white. A scream built in his throat, but he choked it down, his will an iron fortress against the tide of agony. He couldn't make a sound. Any sign of his presence would bring the Matriarch down upon him instantly.
A progress bar appeared in his vision, crawling forward at a torturously slow pace.
[Essence Absorption: 7%... 12%... 19%...]
His invisibility timer continued its relentless countdown. [01:12].
He grit his teeth, the muscles in his jaw bunching into knots. The cold was no longer just a sensation; it was an invasion. He could feel it crystallizing his mana, threatening to turn his lifeblood to slush. This was the trial Rogge had spoken of. The price of wielding the blizzard was to become the blizzard.
[Essence Absorption: 34%... 48%... 62%...]
[00:45].
The Icewraith Matriarch stirred. It hadn't detected him, but it had sensed the minuscule fluctuation in the Heart's energy output. Its head, a swirling vortex of frost, slowly turned, its empty sockets sweeping the chamber. The pressure intensified.
Alvian pushed through the pain, focusing his entire being on the act of enduring. He was not a gamer clicking a button. He was a survivor weathering a storm, his mind a single, unyielding point of focus in a universe of agony.
[Essence Absorption: 77%... 89%... 98%...]
[00:15].
The Matriarch's gaze was now fixed on the spot where he floated, its head cocked as if listening to a sound no one else could hear. It was beginning to sense the void, the unnatural absence of presence where he stood.
[Ding! Essence Absorption: 100%!]
[You have gathered sufficient [Heart of Frost Essence]!]
[You may now learn the skill [Frost Descent].]
The tome in his hands snapped shut, the connection severed. The stream of energy ceased, and the agony receded, leaving behind a deep, bone-aching chill.
[00:05].
He didn't wait. He didn't hesitate. He turned and glided away, a silent phantom making his escape.
[00:03].
The Matriarch let out a piercing, ethereal shriek. It had finally confirmed the disturbance. It raised a spectral hand, and a massive spear of pure, black ice materialized in its grasp.
[00:01].
He shot back into the narrow tunnel just as his invisibility timer hit zero.
"[Shadow Weave +2] duration has ended."
His form flickered back into reality. The Icewraith's shriek of pure fury echoed from the chamber behind him as it launched the spear. The projectile of frozen death tore through the air where he had been a fraction of a second before, slamming into the tunnel wall with an earth-shattering impact that sent spiderwebs of cracks racing across the crystalline ice.
He didn't look back. He was already sprinting, the precious, frost-covered tome held tight in his hand. He had the prize. He had survived the guardian. He had endured the Heart. Now, it was time to unleash the storm.