Forbidden Splicer: Infinite Spellcraft

Chapter 7: Frost and False Trails

Sub-zero mist clung to stone archways as morning arrived in Vault 7. Frost crystals formed along iron hinges, humming with low-frequency vibration that rattled teeth.

Jaroth stood inside the cavernous chamber wearing thin scribe wool. Cold air soaked through threadbare fabric, biting into his skin with sharp needle pricks. Around him, hovering scroll canisters emitted pale blue halos, casting long shadows across ice-covered floor tiles.

High on a raised stone walkway, Lady Katherine Vane stood with her arms folded behind her back. Her navy silk cloak caught no frost. A slender silver wand rested in her right hand, its tip glowing with faint blue light. Her eyes remained fixed on Jaroth.

"That vessel," Katherine commanded, pointing her wand toward a cracked bronze jar sitting near the central arch. "Clean the frost build-up around its base. Do not move the vessel itself."

The bronze jar leaked volatile frost residue. A commoner standing next to it would absorb sub-zero radiation directly into their chest. Katherine watched his posture, waiting for a slip. A hidden mage would instinctively channel defensive mana to warm their veins. A commoner without magic would freeze or scream.

Jaroth's shattered core held no mana to channel anyway. Instead, he relied on system diagnostics flickering across his vision:

[Thermal Emission Cycle: 4-second burst / 2-second lull]

Jaroth stepped forward, holding an iron scraper. He timed his movements with precision. During the two-second lull, his arm moved fast, shaving ice away from bronze. When the four-second burst hit, he froze his posture, locking his muscles and holding his breath.

Cold air scorched his lungs. Pain flared across his fingers, but he suppressed his shivering through pure mental discipline, keeping his jaw set and his eyes dull.

Katherine leaned over the walkway rail, her silver eyes narrowing as she watched his rhythmic scraping.

Scribes behind Jaroth hauled heavy frozen canisters onto iron carts. Boots slipped on frost; a heavy wooden crate slammed against the floor tiles.

Vibration traveled into the room's center.

A loud crack echoed through the vault. The central cryo-pillar—a towering column of ancient ice anchoring the room's climate—fractured from top to bottom. Dark blue liquid mana poured out from the split, soaking into stone floor channels.

Deep beneath the floor, ancient runic iron groaned.

Ice tiles shattered outward. A massive shape rose from the central pit, surrounded by clouds of freezing vapor.

The Frost-Bound Sentinel stood eight feet tall. Broad shoulders forged from glacier ice locked into plates of runic iron. In its right hand, it gripped a six-foot blade of solid, jagged frost. Red rune eyes flared to life in its featureless head.

With a heavy screech of grinding stone, the Sentinel swung its frost-blade.

The weapon struck two support pillars, shattering stone into flying shrapnel. A wave of zero-degree air expanded outward, trapping four commoner scribes behind a wall of solid ice.

Katherine did not hesitate. She glided down from the elevated walkway, her boots landing on ice without a slip.

Golden and blue mana flared around her hands as she raised her silver wand.

"Absolute Zero Lance!"

A blinding shaft of white frost and compressed light shot from the wand tip, piercing the Sentinel's chest plate. The strike shattered runic iron, breaking the construct's outer armor.

Instead of shutting down, the construct's ancient core destabilized. Dark blue light swelled inside its chest, threatening a localized freeze-blast that would obliterate everything within fifty yards.

Blizzard winds swept through Vault 7. Ice dust filled the air, cutting visibility down to a few feet.

Katherine stood ten paces from the construct, concentrating her mana to suppress the swelling core explosion. Her silver wand hummed, projecting a containment field over the chest cavity.

Behind her blind spot, a three-foot shard of heavy ice detached from a broken archway above. Driven by gale-force wind, the jagged shard shot straight toward her unarmored neck.

Jaroth crouched behind a fallen book rack fifty feet away.

His mind calculated the trajectory in a fraction of a second. If Katherine died or suffered a crippling wound, House Vane would lock down the entire Citadel archives, bringing High Enforcers into every sub-level and destroying his black-market trade network.

He raised his right hand beneath his wide sleeve.

Jaroth triggered a micro-burst of

Void-Refraction Aegis

.

He did not cast the spell around his own body. Instead, he projected the invisible reflective boundary onto a stone pillar standing two feet from Katherine's left shoulder.

The flying ice shard struck the pillar.

THUMP.

Instead of shattering stone or hitting Katherine, the shard hit the invisible barrier, ricocheting off at a hard angle and shattering into harmless powder against the far wall.

Katherine did not even look back, unaware that death had passed inches from her ear. Her lance finished crushing the construct's core, causing the colossal ice body to collapse into a mountain of snow.

In the blinding ice mist, Jaroth dropped onto his knees. He crawled through the snow, using the low visibility to reach the falling construct's chest.

He extended his hand and pressed his palm against the glowing, fractured core stone before its energy faded.

System prompts flared in his retinas:

[Harvesting... Success!]

Acquired: [Cryo-Lock Matrix (Tier 1 Ancient Control Arcana)]

Properties: Absolute Thermal Suppression / Kinetic Freeze / Structural Stasis.

Wind died down. White ice dust settled across the floor.

Katherine stood among the ruins, her breathing slightly elevated as her wand light faded. She turned around, her silver eyes scanning the room.

She walked over to the stone pillar beside her, where the ice shard had ricocheted. She touched the stone surface, searching for mana traces.

Nothing lingered. Jaroth's system magic left zero energetic footprints behind.

Katherine's brow furrowed. "A deflection without mana residue..." she murmured to herself.

Her sharp mind processed the anomaly. Standard spellcraft always left elemental traces. The absence of mana signatures led her to a logical conclusion: the assassin Anzor must have planted a parasitic, stealth-type absorption ward inside the archive walls to drain spell energy during his raid.

"A hidden ward," Katherine muttered, satisfied with her deduction. "He left traps in the stone."

She turned toward the scribes. Most lay shivering in the snow, crying out in fear.

Only Jaroth stood near his collection cart, clutching his broom with red, frozen hands. His clothes were torn, his body shivered from cold, but his eyes were calm.

Katherine walked over to his cart.

"You did not run," she observed, her voice cold as ice.

"There was nowhere to run, my lady," Jaroth stammered through chattering teeth, keeping his head bowed.

Katherine reached into her silk cloak and pulled out a silver wooden token stamped with the crest of House Vane. She tossed it onto his cart, where it landed with a sharp clatter against his brass dustpan.

"That pass grants you permanent access to Vault 7 as chief maintenance scribe," Katherine said, turning back toward the exit. "Report here every morning at bell. Do not touch the ancient scrolls without permission."

Jaroth bowed three times, hiding his face as she walked away.

He picked up the silver token, feeling its cool weight in his palm.

A blue system interface opened in his vision:

[System Alert: New High-Grade Vault Unlocked.]

Target Location: Vault 7 (Ancient Arcana Sector).

[Stored Matrices Available for Splicing: 3/3 Slots Full.]

Ready to execute synthesis? [YES / NO]