Whether in science fiction or fantasy, freezing a body to allow it to see the future is a common trope. 

It relies on an idea and then technique developed during the 20th century to preserve smaller portions of DNA, such as sperm, into a time where it wouldn’t have survived naturally to use at a more relevant time.

 

Reality, sadly, is often more boring than fiction.

 

Cryogenically freezing individuals the size of the average human damages their cells too much, often killing them or at the very least, accelerating their demise at John’s technological world’s level.

 

Now, imagine the same idea, the very concept of freezing yourself, but with a half-dead body in a hostile environment. Your chances of survival tank even further.

On the plus side, this hostile environment was one of magic where various energies and forces that weren’t present previously interact and reinforce the body as well as improve the ice’s properties.

 

Sadly as I mentioned previously, even a fantastic reality is often more boring than fiction.

John’s death was painless as the explosion of magical ice froze him and the surrounding blast zone for a few kilometers.

 

Not only that, but this ice was special. As a last burst of vitality and energy coming from the titanic animal, it took a special property. Even centuries later, this would still be considered a miracle of nature, an event that very rarely occurs, especially without the System’s intervention. A completely functional natural enchantment creating a novel magical material.

 

______________________________________________________________________

 

John awoke to the sound of a chorus of grunting and pickaxes.

Surprise overtook his mind as he tried to look around. He quickly realized he couldn’t see anything, and what little he could hear seemed far away and muffled now that he was awake.

 

John… wasn’t feeling much to be honest, while it didn’t reach the level of sensory deprivation, his senses were very muted and limited to his hearing.

 

Fortunately, his Blessing granted him a certain fortitude of mind. It didn’t allow him to overcome his body’s limitations, but he rarely lost his calm in unexpected and grave situations.

Unluckily, he started to feel bored and out of ideas he could accomplish to get out without outside intervention. 

Without being able to see, feel, smell, or anything other than hearing this distant sound coming closer at a snail’s pace, his plans were shot down as soon as he built them.

Magic was unresponsive. 

Other energies didn’t seem to be moving. 

His Skills weren’t working. 

His body was unresponsive. 

Hell, he couldn’t even feel his familiar weapon who never left his side.

 

As such, he did the only thing a resident of Origin would do when out of options.

He called out to the System. He didn’t know if he made it out but Iro’s Blessing was still with him, he could feel his touch on his Soul.

 

This was the only element he could, in fact, still feel.

He felt his soul. 

His [Absolute Soul] was still with him.

 

A few seconds passed before a strand of System Energy reached him. It slowly revitalized his System and very soon a loading bar appeared. 

[System Touched] was working the extra hours right now. He felt the mark Iro left him light up like a metaphorical lantern in his mind or rather in his soul.

 

After a few seconds, the loading bar disappeared but the System’s connection was strange, weak even. It was sputtering and unstable where it usually seemed untouchable.

 

A log of past messages he didn’t see before appeared before him.

The first one listed the last day he remembered as the timestamp, it was the 167th Day, Year 10.

[Mortal Damage Detected. Pioneer Status activates and releases inheritance.]

…

…

[Error, the Pioneer is dead but still making queries.]

 

Was I interrogating the System in my sleep?

 

[Internal System Energy Reserve Almost Depleted]

 

[Current connection to World Origin and System unstable]

 

[Situation analysis …]

 

[Reason for instability: Material encasing user is naturally enchanted, Mortal Damage and Unknown Factors]

 

[New Material Denomination: Eternal Ice.]

 

[Effect: Magical Ice with the effect of World Domain, Eternity. External influence to break is required, Immune to Natural World Effects. Stop effect applied to everything contained within it.]

 

The first message was still ringing as his eyes kept moving back toward it.

 

[Error, the Pioneer is dead but still making queries.]

 

Was he dead? He felt pretty fine. Well, it wouldn’t be the first time he died and found himself in a painless state due to Probatio’s meddling. He couldn’t find new holes in his memory so it was a different situation this time at least.

 

Though, considering his last memory was of himself in pain due to the damage he suffered during the last battle, that wasn’t necessarily a good sign.

 

Furthermore, this Eternal Ice he was apparently encased in, it… froze him? 

 

The Island Turtle they fought was an anomaly in the current power scale of Origin so it may have enough Mana to create this phenomenon. 

Hell, remembering the size of the lad, it probably had enough for that.

 

Still, considering he was awake, he could make queries to the System to ascertain his situation. The System seemed pretty shocked that the dead John was conscious.

Well, John knew the System never was perfect, mistakes and loopholes existed so maybe he wasn’t truly dead? Perhaps the ice-encased him just before his death hence his suspended state?

 

He could only hope the reason he wasn’t feeling anything was due to the ‘Stops all things encased in it’ effect of Eternal Ice.

 

The windows he saw or rather felt now continued appearing before him in his mind.

 

[Adding Bug Fix to next Update: - Natural Enchantment Eternal interferes with System Energy. Needs to be fixed]

 

[Updating current Individual System Seed…]

 

[Current Human Status: Lost]

wut?

 

[Uninstalling Current Human Status and associated Privilege.] 

 

[Thank you for your patronage.]

 

A short loading bar appeared and disappeared just as fast leaving these words in the air.

The System suddenly disappeared as if it never existed. 

 

For the first time in a very long time, John was silently panicking. Was this it? His last straw for survival burnt itself upon touching him.

After a certain amount of time, he slowly felt himself calm down as he looked at his situation. He still felt his friend’s lesser Blessing on him and above all his [Absolute Soul] was still there, supporting him. Dead or Alive, System or not, he wasn’t truly alone until it was over.

 

With no more ideas for real this time, he waited for the sounds he heard before to come closer.

 

He waited.

 

Waited.

 

And waited some more.

 

Time was relative in Eternal Ice. 

He merely started perceiving time passing when those noises reached him. Considering the System’s words, it seems someone was unearthing him… well un-icing him rather.

 

The Time Stop effect on John was weakening as he was slowly being excavated. Worst comes to worst, he could wait for this mysterious rescuer to find him and help him out.

 

What came next was unsure, maybe he would go back to the guild for a healer. When hurt, he was pretty sure it was worse to feel nothing than to feel pain.