The icy midnight wind whipped across the top of the hundred-foot outer stone wall of Verdant Haven Citadel, carrying with it the distant, bloodcurdling roars of wild beasts from the dark expanse beyond.
Gabriel tightened his grip on his chipped, rusty spear. He pulled his thin leather coat tighter around his shoulders, but it did little to stop the chill from biting into his bones. His joints throbbed with an agonizing, burning sensation—a permanent reminder of the shattered Spirit Veins running through his chest.
Mortal Physique (Late Stage).
Once, that rank was something an ordinary civilian would achieve after years of hard work. But for Gabriel, it was a death sentence. Eight years ago, he was a prodigy—an A-Rank talent who had broken into the Spirit Vein Opening Realm right upon graduating college. He had a bright future, a beautiful villa in the Inner City, and a noble wife from House Aurelius.
Then came the Beast Surge.
He fought to protect the city, but a high-tier monster shredded his meridians, crippling his cultivation forever. The moment he lost his power, House Aurelius showed its true face. They discarded him like trash, forcibly dragged his wife away to preserve "noble bloodline purity," and threw him and his six-year-old twins into the outer slums.
Now, eight years later, he was thirty-two years old in body, but felt eighty.
"Shift's over, old man Gabriel," a fellow guard grunted, slapping a small leather pouch containing five dull copper coins into Gabriel's hand. "Get home. You look like you're about to collapse."
"Thank you," Gabriel rasped, his voice rough.
He didn't waste a second. He hurried down the winding stone staircase toward the Outer City slums. The Outer Ring was a maze of dilapidated wooden shacks and damp alleyways, lit only by flickering, cheap oil lamps.
He stopped at a small street vendor on the corner, spending three of his five copper coins to buy two cold, dry barley buns.
Ten minutes later, he pushed open the squeaky wooden door of a small, cramped cottage.
Inside, the room was dimly lit by a single candle stub. Sitting on the cold stone floor were his eighteen-year-old twins—his son, Ethan, and his daughter, Elena.
They were both drenched in sweat, their hands trembling from exhaustion. Ethan was sitting cross-legged, trying to force a microscopic thread of Qi through his channels, but his face paled and he coughed violently, clutching his chest. Beside him, Elena was practicing basic sword stances with a wooden stick, her knuckles raw and bleeding from repetition.
"Ethan! Elena!" Gabriel dropped his spear and rushed forward, supporting his son's shoulders. "Stop! You’re forcing your channels without a Spirit Nurturing Pill! You'll tear your meridians!"
"Dad..." Ethan gasped, wiping blood from the corner of his lips. He looked up, his young eyes filled with a heartbreaking combination of fierce determination and utter desperation. "The Grand Martial College Entrance Exam is in three days. Three days! If we don't reach the Iron Flesh Peak by then, we'll fail the physical test. We'll be assigned to the Outer Wall manual labor squads!"
"We don't care about the hard work, Dad," Elena whispered, her voice trembling as she hid her bloody palms behind her back. "But if we fail, we'll never make it to the Inner City. We'll never get strong enough to stand up to House Aurelius... we'll never be able to bring Mom back or get you the medicine you need!"
Gabriel looked at his children. They were eighteen. They had the blood of noble sword masters and the talent of a former prodigy, yet they were forced to train with bare hands and wooden sticks, starving themselves just to save coins.
Across the city, noble children of House Aurelius, House Valerius, and House Zephyrus were bathing in medicinal baths worth millions of spirit stones, swallowing high-grade pills like candy to prepare for the same exam.
His children were fighting for their lives with dry barley buns.
"Eat this," Gabriel said softly, thrusting the two barley buns into their hands.
"Dad, what about you?" Elena asked, looking at his empty hands.
"I ate on duty. Eat. Both of you," Gabriel commanded, putting on the warmest smile he could muster.
He helped them settle down, forced them to rest, and waited until their exhausted breathing turned shallow as they fell asleep on thin cotton mats in the corner.
Once he was sure they were asleep, Gabriel walked out to the tiny, mud-filled backyard of the cottage.
The rain began to pour, soaking his clothes instantly. Gabriel fell to his knees in the mud, clutching his chest as his shattered Spirit Veins flared with excruciating pain.
He raised his head toward the pitch-black sky, tears mixing with the falling rain. Eighteen years of struggling. Forty-five years in his past life on Earth dreaming of being a dad, only to be transmigrated into this brutal world of martial arts, given hope, and then having it all ripped away.
"Why?!" Gabriel spat, his voice a choked, furious growl directed at the heavens. "You transmigrated me here! You said I'd have a chance! Fate, Karma, God—whatever the hell you are! You brought me to this world, gave me a family, and then left me crippled while my children suffer!"
He slammed his fist into the muddy ground, his knuckles tearing open.
"Where is the power you promised me?! Where is the strength to protect my family?! If you wanted to punish me, you should have killed me! Why make my children bleed for my weakness?!"
His roar was swallowed by the rumble of thunder in the dark clouds above.
For a long moment, there was only silence. Only the sound of rain hitting the mud.
Then—
BZ—T!
A sound like a clear crystal bell chimed directly inside his mind, echoing through his soul. The heavy rain around him seemed to freeze in mid-air.
[Ding!]
[Host’s emotional aura has satisfied the Karma & Fate Conditions.]
[Eighty-one years of accumulated Fatherly Devotion detected.]
[The "Family-Spoiling System" (S-Rank Cosmic Authority) has officially AWAKENED.]
Gabriel’s eyes widened as holographic golden text expanded in front of his vision, glowing with a divine, warm light that instantly pushed away the freezing cold.
[Host Status:] Gabriel
[Current Realm:] Mortal Physique (Late Stage - Crippled)
[System Bound To:] Ethan (Son), Elena (Daughter)
[Core Rule:]Whatever the Host bestows upon his children (Resources, Pills, Techniques, Protection, Comfort), the Host will receive back exponentially multiplied (10x to 1000x Return System).
[Ding! Beginner Fatherly Gift Package Unlocked!]
[Will Host claim the Starter Package now?]
Rewards:
1x Divine Marrow Cleansing Pill(Restores all shattered Spirit Veins, upgrades talent to Divine-Grade)
2x Heaven-Grade Spirit Gathering Pills(For Son & Daughter)
2x Low-Grade Immortal Artifact Weapons(Adaptive Sword & Spear for Twins)
10,000 High-Grade Spirit Stones
Gabriel stared at the glowing golden text in absolute shock, his breath catching in his throat as the pain in his chest suddenly vanished under a surge of warm, ancient energy.
He turned his head back toward the small wooden cottage where his son and daughter were sleeping. A slow, razor-sharp smile broke across his face.
"Three days until the Imperial College Exam..." Gabriel whispered, his eyes gleaming with a dangerous light. "House Aurelius... Inner City... just you wait."