"The Academy is miles away. Governor Thorne is a weakling who owes me favors. There is no one here to protect you. Now, give me the research."

Alvian looked up. His expression didn't change. He looked at Valen the way a wolf looks at a noisy rabbit.

"You seem confused, Magistrate," Alvian said softly.

He activated a sliver of his [Heart of Frost] aura. The temperature in the room plummeted instantly. Frost began to creep up the legs of the table. Valen's breath turned into a visible cloud.

"I didn't survive a God just to be threatened by a bureaucrat."

Valen flinched, taking a half-step back. The cold was unnatural. It cut through his magical defenses. For a split second, he saw it in Alvian's eyes—the void, the indifference, the absolute lethality. This wasn't a student. This was something else.

Valen cleared his throat, adjusting his robes and stepping back from the table. He retracted his psychic pressure, realizing that brute force wouldn't work here. Not without causing a scene that even he couldn't cover up.

"Very well," Valen sneered, regaining his composure. "Keep your secrets for now. But know this, Alvian... the Anomaly. You have drawn attention to yourself. The nail that sticks out gets hammered down."

He walked to the door, pausing with his hand on the latch.

"The Academy cannot protect you forever. Eventually, you will have to leave the island. And when you do... the law will be waiting."

"I look forward to it," Alvian replied.

Valen slammed the door behind him.

Alvian let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. He checked his status panel.

[Psychic Intrusion Deflected.]

[Mental Stability: 100%]

"He suspects," Alvian muttered. "He doesn't know what I have, but he knows I have something."

He stood up and walked to the window, watching Valen's carriage depart, surrounded by armed guards. The Magistrate wasn't leaving because he was satisfied. He was leaving to report.

Alvian clenched his fist. The timeline was fracturing. In his first life, Magistrates didn't intervene in Academy affairs until the third year. Their presence here, now, meant the Syndicate was accelerating their plans across the board.

"They want Rogge's research because they know it can hurt them," Alvian deduced.

He opened his inventory and looked at the black iron key George had given him.

[Item: Key to the Deep Lab]

[Grade: Unknown]

[Description: Access to the off-the-books laboratory of Professor Rogge. Contains "Project Genesis".]

"I need to get back to the Academy," Alvian whispered to the glass. "I need to open that vault before Valen finds a way to bypass the wards."

He turned away from the window. The celebration outside was a farce. The war had already begun, and the enemy was wearing the face of the government.

The journey back to the Academy was somber. The squad rode in a private carriage provided by Governor Thorne, moving toward the teleportation array on the outskirts of the province.

Inside the carriage, the mood was heavy.

Valeria sat opposite Alvian, polishing her claymore with a rag. She hadn't spoken much since the battle. Her eyes, usually fierce and confident, were clouded with doubt.

Arin was asleep in the corner, clutching his staff like a lifeline. Elara was staring out the window, watching the snow-capped mountains of Silverwood recede.

"Why were they here?" Valeria asked suddenly, breaking the silence.

Alvian didn't need to ask who she meant.

"The Magistrates," Valeria continued, her brow furrowing. "Standard protocol for a Dungeon Break or a Cultist incident is Academy jurisdiction. The Government only steps in for treason or national security threats. Why was Valen leading the interrogation?"

"Because they're afraid," Alvian said, leaning back and closing his eyes.

"Afraid of what? Rogge?"

"Afraid of what Rogge found," Alvian corrected.

He opened his eyes and looked at Valeria. She was smart. She was the future leader of the Vanguard. She deserved a fraction of the truth.

"The SnowMages weren't acting alone, Valeria. You saw the equipment in the Sanctum. The pylons. The containment units. That wasn't cult magic. That was engineered technology. Someone funded them. Someone protected them."

Valeria stopped polishing her sword. "You think... someone in the government?"

"I think the rot goes deeper than Silverwood," Alvian said. "Valen didn't ask about the Avatar. He didn't ask about the civilians. He asked about Rogge's spell. He wanted the weapon that killed a god."

Valeria gripped the hilt of her sword until her knuckles turned white. "If the government is compromised... then who can we trust?"

"We trust the squad," Alvian said firmly. "And we trust the steel in our hands. Everything else is a variable."

The carriage jolted as they hit a rough patch of road. Alvian looked out the window. The landscape was peaceful, but in his mind, he saw the burning skies of the future. The Convergence.

In his previous life, the arrival of the Demon God Engels happened three years into the game. Here, a massive portion of Engels' power had been summoned in the first month.

Rogge's death. The Magistrates. The accelerated summoning.

Something has changed, Alvian thought. My rebirth caused a butterfly effect? No. This is too organized. The Syndicate is moving their timetable up. They aren't waiting for the barriers to dissolve naturally. They are breaking them down.

[System Alert: Timeline Deviation Detected.]

[Probability of Early Convergence: 85%]

[Estimated Time Remaining: 6 Months.]

Alvian suppressed a curse. Six months.

He had planned for a year. He needed to be at least Level 60 by the time the Convergence hit to survive the first wave of true Calamities. Currently, he was Level 28.

He was leveling at a monstrous pace compared to normal players, but against the clock of the apocalypse, he was crawling.

"We need to get stronger," Alvian said aloud.

"We are strong," Valeria countered, though she sounded unsure. "We survived a Calamity."

"We survived a finger of a Calamity because a madman turned himself into a sun," Alvian said brutally. "Next time, Rogge won't be there. Next time, we die."

The carriage pulled up to the teleportation array. The soldiers guarding it waved them through, their eyes filled with awe for the "heroes."

Alvian felt a bitter taste in his mouth.

As they waited for the array to charge, Alvian found a secluded spot behind a stack of crates. He needed to check his gains properly. He had looted the Avatar of Engels in the chaos, but he hadn't had a moment to analyze the items.

"System. Inventory."

A holographic grid appeared in his mind. He focused on the two orange-glowing items he had snatched from the dying god.

The first was the crown. He pulled it out. It was cold to the touch, made of jagged, translucent ice that seemed to smoke in the ambient air. It felt heavy, not with weight, but with authority.

┌──────[ Legendary Equipment ]──────┐

│ Name: Crown of the Frost Monarch

│ Grade: Legendary (Orange)

│ Type: Headgear / Cloth Armor

│ Requirement: Level 25, 100 Energy

│

│ Attributes:

│ [Energy]: +50

│ [Physique]: +30

│

│ Special Effects:

│ 1. [Winter's Authority]: Reduces the mana cost of all

│ Ice-type skills by 40%.

│ 2. [Glacial Aura]: Passive. Emits a chilling field that slows

│ all enemies within 10 meters by 20% (Movement/Attack Speed).

│ 3. [Monarch's Gaze]: Active. Once per day, freeze a target

│ within sight for 3 seconds. Unbreakable by targets under Level 50.

│

│ Description: The shattered regalia of a fallen Avatar. It still

│ whispers with the voice of the void. Those with weak wills may

│ hear the call of the deep cold.

└──────────────────────────────┘

"Perfect," Alvian whispered. The mana cost reduction was massive. With this, his [Frost Descent +2] became spammable. The passive slow aura combined with the skill's inherent slow would make him a walking quagmire for melee enemies.

He equipped it instantly. The crown dissolved into motes of blue light and reformed as a simple, silver circlet on his brow. He felt a rush of cool clarity wash over his mind. His mana pool felt deeper, more stable.

He pulled out the second item. A thick tome bound in white scales that felt like frozen leather.

┌──────[ Skill Book ]──────┐

│ Name: Frost Heart Transformation

│ Rank: S (Unique)

│ Type: Transformation / Buff

│

│ Description: Allows the user to channel the essence of the Frost

│ Monarch, assuming a partial Avatar form.

│

│ Effects:

│ - Converts all damage dealt into [Ice Damage].

│ - Increases Defense by 200%.

│ - Grants [Flight] capability (Mana Draining).

│ - User becomes immune to [Cold], [Fear], and [Mental Interference].

│

│ Duration: Sustained by Mana.

│ Cooldown: 12 Hours (after deactivation).

│

│ Note: This skill places immense strain on the user's body.

│ Requires [Physique] stat of 100+ to use safely.

└───────────────────────┘.

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