The night was long and merciless. Gabriel's body screamed at him with every breath, but his mind refused to yield. He had already endured humiliation, blood, and the taste of death itself. What was one more night of pain compared to a lifetime of being called worthless?
He lay still for a while, staring at the faint moonlight spilling through the narrow window. His sharp features were etched in shadow, the pale glow painting him as though he were carved from cold marble. Handsome even in ruin, his face bore a tragic nobility that made the cruelty he endured feel almost sacrilegious.
But then, before he could be consumed by despair, the faint blue shimmer of the panel appeared again.
[System Activated]
Host: Gabriel Ashford
Health: 3/100
Stamina: 5/50
Strength: 2
Agility: 3
Physique: 2
Endurance: 4
Affinity: Water-Ice (Awakened)
New Skill Unlocked: God's Eyes (Level 1)
His lips parted as his bloodshot eyes locked onto the words. A new line, glowing faintly:
God's Eyes (Level 1).
"What is this…?" he whispered, his voice rasping.
As if in answer, faint words scrolled across the blue screen.
[God's Eyes: Ability allows host to perceive the basic attributes of targets. Range limited. Details scale with host's growth.]
Gabriel's chest tightened. His heart thumped painfully, yet excitement burned hotter than the ache. A skill. Not just an affinity. A skill unlike anything he had ever heard in the kingdom.
Slowly, painfully, he dragged himself upright, leaning his battered body against the cold stone wall. He closed his eyes, focusing. At once, the world shifted.
His vision shimmered faintly, and over the rat scurrying along the edge of the cell, a faint line appeared.
Low beast – First Order (Low Rank). Health: 6/10
His breath caught. It was real.
The rat squeaked, startled, before darting back into a crack in the stone. Gabriel's lips twisted into a faint, pained smile. Even in this filth, he had something no one else in this kingdom could claim.
But the panel did not vanish. More words appeared.
[Subjugate Skill Unlocked] (Subjugate: Allows host to impose will upon weakened targets or beasts of lower order. Success rate depends on host's strength and mental resolve. Failure may lead to backlash.)
Gabriel froze. A skill to command? To bind? His fingers clenched into a trembling fist.
For the first time in his life, he held power—tiny, fragile, but his. Not granted by his father, not tolerated by his siblings, not a charity from servants. His.
His handsome face lifted toward the window. Moonlight caught in his eyes, turning the faint icy glimmer into something almost divine. For a moment, despite his broken body, he looked every bit the prince he was born to be.
But pain quickly returned, grounding him. His body was failing, and if he lingered, he would wither before he could ever test this new strength.
A faint chime echoed in his ear.
[Daily Task Generated] Survive until dawn. Reward: +5 Health, +5 Stamina, 10 System Points. Failure: System will regress.
Gabriel let out a dry laugh, blood on his lips. "Even survival is a task now?"
But he clenched his teeth. Survive. That was all he needed to do. He had already faced death; dawn would not take him.
He lowered himself to the ground again, back against the wall, and forced his mind to remain sharp despite the fatigue clawing at him. He whispered to himself, voice low but filled with grit:
"I will not die here. Not in this cage. Not in their shadow. I'll endure. I'll grow. And one day… I'll make the world remember the name Gabriel Ashford."
The System panel flickered faintly, as though acknowledging his vow.
And through the long night, in the silence of his cell, the spark within him grew stronger, waiting for dawn to arrive.
The night crawled forward, every tick of time pressing on Gabriel's body like the weight of a mountain. His wounds stung, his bones ached, and every shallow breath felt like dragging air through broken glass. Yet he forced himself to remain awake.
Sleep would have been easier, but he knew it was also dangerous. His health was fragile, too fragile, and if his body slipped into unconsciousness without his will, he feared it might never wake again.
So he endured.
Each minute became its own battle. He shifted his body against the stone wall, adjusting so that the blood pooling at his side would not suffocate him. He clenched his fists when waves of weakness threatened to consume him, and each time his breath came out misty, he reminded himself that this cold within him was not a curse. It was proof of what he now carried.
The faint glimmer of the panel lingered at the edge of his vision, like a companion in the darkness. He studied his attributes again and again, as though carving them into his soul.
System initializing...Health: 3/100Stamina: 5/50Strength: 2Agility: 3Physique: 2Endurance: 4Affinity: Water-Ice (Awakened)Skills: God's Eyes (Level 1), Subjugate (Locked – requires test of will)
His lips curled faintly. Weak… but no longer empty.
Hours passed. At times, he focused on his breathing, drawing in slow, icy breaths, and exhaling mist. He realised with surprise that the cold soothed him, numbed the worst of the pain, kept him sharp when he should have collapsed. He began to experiment, trying to guide the strange chill through his veins, imagining it pooling in his fists, his chest, even his broken legs.
It wasn't much, but it gave him a sense of control, a sense that his body no longer belonged wholly to pain.
It was during one of these quiet attempts that a faint voice drifted from the darkness.
"…hey… you're still alive?"
Gabriel's head tilted slightly. Across the narrow hallway of the dungeon, iron bars separated his cell from another. The voice was hoarse, disbelieving.
A moment later, more whispers followed.
"That one's still breathing?""Impossible. The beating should've killed him.""Trash prince, isn't he? How's he still alive?"
Faint eyes gleamed in the shadows across from him. The prisoners, men whose bodies bore scars and whose faces were half-hidden in gloom were watching him. Some with curiosity, some with disdain, others with a flicker of something he could not place.
Gabriel did not answer immediately. He steadied his breath, letting the icy mist escape his lips before he finally rasped, "Alive enough."
The whispers grew louder, rippling through the darkness like a tide. Some scoffed, some muttered, but a few grew silent, their gazes fixed on the faint shimmer of frost that drifted whenever he exhaled.
One man pressed against the bars, squinting. "Did you… just breathe ice?"
Gabriel's gaze flicked toward him, sharp even in his broken state. He said nothing, but the mist answered in his place.
The cell block grew quieter.
For the first time, the prisoners looked at him not as the "trash prince" abandoned by his family, but as something… strange. Something perhaps dangerous.
Gabriel leaned his head back against the stone wall, hiding the faint curl of his lips. He had no strength to fight them now, no power to command. But if he survived this night, if the System truly meant to arm him with strength, then perhaps these men, the forsaken, the broken, the damned might one day kneel before him.
The thought burned in his chest, sharper than pain, colder than the ice in his veins.
And as dawn drew closer, the prisoners kept watching....