Chapter 8: Divine Frost Emperor’s Legacy
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As he left the house, Riven felt deeply worried about Elisa.
Should he really be leaving her completely alone like this?
However, he could not trust other people to take care of her.
They could always be paid by one of his siblings or her big sister to ruin her life or even kill her without a second thought.
The house possessed great last-generation security technology, so nobody could enter even if they wanted to. There were powerful barriers fueled by a Mana Battery buried underground that constantly monitored every entrance and window.
"Maybe I should find golems or something? Or a familiar... spirits..." he wondered quietly to himself as he stood by the door for a moment longer. "Can I gain the ability to dominate, tame, or summon them if I eat enough monsters?"
As he continued wondering about those possibilities, he finally left the house in his car and drove back toward the city capital. The roads were quiet at this hour, and the city lights gradually grew brighter in the distance. The drive gave him time to think, but the worry for Elisa never fully left him.
When he finally reached the outskirts of the capital and the denser traffic of the main roads, a sudden translucent blue window flared to life directly in front of his eyes, hovering over the dashboard.
[Love Investment Authority – Asmodeus]
[Target: Elisa Frostbane]
[Affection Level: 20 → 25]
[Investment Progress: 0.5% → 1.5%]
[Note: Target’s latent recovery rate has increased by 1% due to emotional stability and increased affection.]
[You received the reward: [Frost Knight Scripture (D Rank)]: A Scripture containing the ancient methods of cultivation which the Frostbane Family are famous for. Elisa had mastered this method long ago.]
[x10,000 Reward Multiplier Activated!]
[The Item [Frost Knight Scripture (D Rank)] has been multiplied by x10,000]
[You have received the item: [Divine Frost Emperor’s Legacy (SSS Rank)]: A Legendary Scripture containing the Ancient Legacy of the Divine Frost Emperor, only mastered by the strongest members of the Frostbane Family. By reading it and slowly accumulating and manipulating internal Mana, one can Cultivate the Body and the Spirit, imbuing them with the Element of Frost. Divided into Five Different Stages: First Step, Second Step, Third Step, Fourth Step, and Fifth Step.]
Riven’s eyes widened in pure shock. A legendary scroll materialized out of thin air right in front of him, in a flash of cold blue light. Without a second thought he snatched it up and shoved it out of sight, ducking his head as he guided the car into a quieter side street away from the main flow of traffic. Only when he had parked and made sure no one was watching did he pull the scroll out again and look at it closely.
"This is ridiculous..."
The moment those words left his mouth, the scroll erupted in a sudden explosion of brilliant white-blue light. The light surged forward and fused directly into his right arm before he could even react.
Panic flared through him for a brief second as he felt pure Mana gathering around his body like a living storm, then forcing its way inside with brutal intensity, flooding through his veins like freezing rivers.
Pain lanced through every muscle, bone, and meridian that had never been properly opened. It was sharp and overwhelming, yet thanks to his high Vitality he was able to clench his teeth and endure it, refusing to cry out.
The Mana flowed steadily, creating intricate runes across his body that glowed bright blue for several seconds.
His breathing changed. Icy air spilled from his lips with every exhale. His eyes flashed a vivid frost-blue for a single second, and a thin layer of crystalline ice gathered across both of his hands before cracking and falling away like shattered glass.
Deep within his chest, something stirred. Something ancient and powerful. It awakened.
"I... I just opened my Meridians?" he asked himself, completely perplexed. "Hm?"
Ding!
[Congratulations, you have learned the Cultivation Method: [Divine Frost Emperor’s Legacy – First Step]!]
[The Cultivation Methods Section of your Status has been unlocked.]
[You learned the Skill: [Frost Emperor’s Touch: Level 1]: Unleash a wave of frost to anything you touch. Can be used offensively with weapons or to freeze and delay opponents. Grows exponentially with each Level and Cultivation Stage of the Divine Frost Emperor’s Legacy.]
"A Cultivation Method..."
Awakened beings had many ways to grow stronger. Among them were Classes, Talents, and Skills, but there were also some more intrinsic paths to growth. By absorbing energy from the environment and forging it into different patterns and runes within the body, one could Cultivate.
Cultivation itself was divided into several broad categories, though nearly all of them relied on Mana, Ki, or a careful combination of both. Some paths focused purely on strengthening the physical body by forging powerful Physiques. Others concentrated on the growth and refinement of one’s Spirit. Still others specialized in the construction of complex Inner Magic Circles. The Divine Frost Emperor’s Legacy belonged to a rarer hybrid category. It merged Physique and Spirit Cultivation into a single cohesive path, and it required only Mana to function, regardless of how much Ki the practitioner possessed. That particular trait also made it compatible with Magic Circle Formation techniques.
Feeling noticeably stronger than before thanks to the love he had shared with his wife, Riven walked toward his destination. It was a large open urban area that had been abandoned for some time now, filled with cracked pavement and overgrown weeds.
As he walked inside the fenced perimeter, he saw a large group of Hunters gathering in small clusters. They talked with one another while carrying bags filled with monster corpses or valuable pieces and cores.
The area known as Gate Central was a large, open urban district that had been partially abandoned years ago after the first Gates appeared. Now it served as one of the capital’s primary staging grounds for Hunters.
He had barely taken ten steps into the restricted zone when a tall, heavily muscled security guard stepped into his path, blocking him with an outstretched arm.
"Hold on for a second, son," the man said in a gravelly voice. He was clearly a strong Awakened himself; the dense mana rolling off his body made that obvious. "This is a restricted area. You have to be a Hunter of D Rank and above to enter, and you also have to pay a corresponding fee. It is a private area owned by Claymore Enterprises."
Riven met the man’s gaze without flinching and offered a small, proud smile. He reached into his pocket and held up his Hunter ID for inspection. "Yeah. That’s my family."
The older guard’s eyes dropped to the card. "E-Rank...?! Wait—Family?!" He nearly spit out the cheap coffee he had been drinking from a flimsy vending-machine cup. "W-What the...?! You’re Riven Hale Claymore... Is this real?" He turned sharply toward his partner for confirmation.
The second security guard—a tall, muscular woman with bronze skin and a no-nonsense expression—simply shrugged. "We’ll have to check it with the machine. Bring it here, new guy."
A younger security guard, skinny and clearly newer to the job, hurried over from a nearby checkpoint booth carrying a specialized verification device. He carefully slid Riven’s ID through the scanner.
Beep!
A bright green light shone across the machine’s display.
"It is authentic," the young man confirmed with a nod. "He is... indeed... uh, Riven Claymore."
"A-Ah!"
The older guard’s entire demeanor flipped in an instant. "Uh, wow... well, it is nice to meet you, sir. I apologize for... um, my earlier rudeness."
The woman standing beside him reached over and gave the back of his head a solid slap. "This old guy’s always been a bit grumpy. I hope you can forgive him."
"It’s alright," Riven said calmly. "I never hold grudges over such small things. I actually appreciate the security here. You did well by checking thoroughly."
"O-Oh! Really?! Well, I am honored by receiving your praise...!"
The sudden, almost desperate change in attitude wasn’t without reason. The Claymore Family was so vast and influential across the entire world that every one of their members was feared and admired in equal measure, treated like powerful heroes, or in some circles, like living gods.
There were countless whispered "incidents" where angering even a minor branch member had brought terrible consequences down on those foolish enough to irritate them.
Although Riven himself was still only E-Rank and widely regarded as the family disappointment, the guards clearly imagined that a single call to his father could get them fired from their well-paid positions in the blink of an eye.
Playing it safely and acting respectfully was the only smart choice.
Riven patted the older man’s shoulder lightly. "I suppose there’s no problem, then?"
"Um... Y-Yeah, there’s no problem," the man nodded quickly. "You may pass, young master."
"Thank you," Riven replied, already walking forward.
It didn’t matter that he was only E-Rank instead of the required D-Rank. His family name alone was enough. Those same people who had mocked him since childhood, the bastards who had never shown him a single speck of genuine love or care, he was going to squeeze every possible advantage from them while he still could.
As he moved deeper into the plaza, low voices rose behind him from the groups of Hunters preparing to enter the Gates.
"Um? Who’s that guy?"
"Is he coming to a D-Rank Gate alone?"
"No way..."
"He looks well built, and there’s a strong aura of mana around him. He’s not weak in the slightest."
"Still, alone like that he’s going to get chewed up."
The Hunters preparing to dive into the dungeon talked quietly about him as he walked past. His presence alone seemed to draw some of their attention for a moment, but their conversations quickly shifted to other topics afterward.
Riven did not care much about their opinions. He simply looked at the glowing gate standing in front of him.
The opportunity to finally grow stronger was right in front of him. And this entire Dungeon was going to become his personal all-you-can-eat buffet.
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