The moment the final code locked—Temporal Rune Artificer confirmed—Gabriel was ejected from the sterile void and plunged into the game world.
He materialized on a jagged cliff edge overlooking a vast, primeval valley. The dawn in Eternium was a cosmic spectacle: twin suns, one emerald and one gold, cracked the horizon, painting the sky in violent, shifting gradients of light. Gabriel allowed himself exactly one second to appreciate the beauty before the "Efficiency" protocols of the game engine took over.
"I'm glad you could enjoy the sunrise," Salvation's voice said, calm and resonant in his mind. "Now, I apologize for what happens next."
A sound unlike any Gabriel had ever heard—a high-pitched, manic laugh that seemed to vibrate in his very teeth—tore from the mental space where Oblivion resided.
A blinding red system notification, sourced from the game's highest authority, flashed across his vision, overwhelming the sunrise.
The normalization wasn't smooth. It was an explosion.
First came the physical correction. Gabriel had started with Rank 0 physical stats (9s), but the Nephilim template demanded a baseline efficiency. The system was now forcing those attributes to the Rank 1 threshold (10+) simultaneously.
A white-hot wave of pain began in his spine. Constitution was upgrading. He collapsed to his knees, his hands digging into the dry earth. Because he wore no armor, he could see the transformation occurring beneath his skin. His Carmel complexion shifted as the system reinforced his skeletal structure and organ density.
His muscles—already compact and functional—spasmed violently. He felt the Duality Protocol at work: his DragonKin heritage was thickening his muscle fibers for power, while the Seraphim side was refining his nervous system for reaction speed. He was being reforged from the inside out.
The physical agony was immediately surpassed by the mental synthesis. His Intelligence (21) and Wisdom (24) were already Rank 2, but they were being "indexed" into the world's physics.
His vision fractured. His mind, usually a clean, efficient command center, became a hurricane of raw data streams. He wasn't just seeing the forest below; he was seeing the Mana-density of the trees, the Temporal flow of the wind, and the Axiomatic structure of the valley.
The weight of S-Rank mental stats in a Level 1 body was like trying to run a supercomputer on a household battery. Gabriel cried out, a guttural sound choked off by the force of the mental overload. He felt his consciousness expand, mapping the game's core mechanics in real-time.
Just as suddenly as it began, the pain stopped. Gabriel lay face down on the cliff, trembling, his breathing ragged. He pushed himself up, tasting the metallic tang of blood where he'd bitten his tongue.
He looked at his hands. They looked the same, but they felt... heavier. Denser. He stood up, and for the first time in his life, the world didn't feel like a series of random events. It felt like a machine he finally had the manual for.
"See?" Oblivion chuckled, its voice a soft, proud purr in the newly expanded space of his mind. "Efficient. You're no longer just a man, Gabriel. You're a foundation."
Gabriel wiped the dirt from his face and looked toward the mountain pass. He had no armor, no weapons other than his starter staff, and a level-up requirement that would break a normal player.
"Axiom confirmed," Gabriel whispered, his electric blue eyes glowing with a faint, predatory light. "Let's begin the collection."