Gardener of Eden

Chapter 125: Chapter 125: Floor 7 The Glacial Trench

As the blinding violet glare vanished, Rowan’s boots touched down on the smooth obsidian platform. The ancient black altar groaned beneath him, its glowing runes flickering out one by one as hairline fractures raced across the dark stone. With a hollow, echoing crunch, the prehistoric pedestal completely collapsed, crumbling into a sweeping mound of dust and rubble now that its centuries-old purpose was fulfilled.

”How was it? How was it?” Princess Lyra asked, rushing toward the crumbling dais through the rising cloud of gray powder, her radiant sword held low while her eyes darted over Rowan to check for any hidden wounds.

Caelen stepped forward alongside her, his sharp gaze immediately catching the subtle, shimmering shift in Rowan’s aura. ”You’re completely unharmed. But your mana signature... it’s noticeably denser than when you stepped through.”

”I’m fine,” Rowan replied smoothly, casually stepping out of the powdery debris. He adjusted the brim of his Enchanted Straw Hat with a flick of his wrist and settled his trusty hoe comfortably back over his shoulder. A cool, satisfied smirk played across his lips as the rich, newly unlocked Founder’s Resonance hummed vibrantly throughout his core. ”Turned out to be a quick chat with the local caretaker.”

Barney grunted, letting out a heavy breath as he rested his massive tower shield against the dry floor. ”A caretaker? Down a giant drain at the bottom of a flooded citadel?”

”Turns out this whole tower is an evaluation ground built by the Eternity Guild,” Rowan explained, walking back to join Squad 07. ”The trial was set up to test whether my core foundation could nurture life in a void without relying on brute magic. Passed with flying colors.”

While he kept the specific revelation regarding his Rosanne Vance bloodline close to his chest for now, the newly etched Emblem of the Eternity Guild thrummed pleasantly beneath his skin, permanently boosting his mana density.

Mirei dropped down lightly from her watchpost near the spiral stairs, pointing her bow toward the far side of the subterranean basin where a colossal stone gate was slowly grinding open, revealing the cascading path down to the next floor. ”Looks like clearing the trial opened our way forward.”

Rowan gestured smoothly toward the newly unlocked exit. ”Then let’s not keep the rest of the tower waiting. Onward to Floor Seven.”

***

Stepping past the grinding stone gates, Squad 07 descended into a realm of striking, absolute frost. The warm, humid air of the 6th floor drowned citadel vanished in a single breath, replaced by a biting chill that instantly turned their exhales into thick plumes of white vapor.

They had arrived at The Glacial Trench.

Towering walls of ancient, translucent blue ice carved through the subterranean gloom, reflecting the ethereal purple and emerald aurora light that drifted lazily across the high cavern vault above. Beneath their boots lay slick, polished obsidian pathways winding past colossal frozen waterfalls, locked mid-cascade like giant crystal sculptures. As they stepped further onto the floor, a creeping, low-lying freezing fog rolled across the black ice—its ambient frost sending an immediate, noticeable dampening effect through their passive mana flow.

”Sub-zero,” Caelen noted, his breath frosting against his collar as he flexed his gauntleted fingers on the hilt of Edge of the First Warden. ”This fog is going to tank our mana regeneration rates if we let the cold settle into our bones.”

”Good thing we don’t throw away useful gear,” Rowan said with a cool smirk. From his system inventory, he began pulling out the heavy, insulated thermal undersuits they had originally purchased for the scalding volcanic hazards of Floor 3.

While originally designed to block infernal ambient heat from burning them alive, the high-tier enchanted weave worked both ways. It created a sealed thermal barrier that trapped their natural body heat inside while completely shutting out the bitter glacial draft.

Barney let out a satisfied grunt as he adjusted the thick, insulated padding beneath his massive chestpiece. ”Saves us an absolute fortune on buying specialized arctic gear from the guild vendors.”

”And it keeps our mobility intact,” Princess Lyra added, tightening the fleece-lined wrist straps over her radiant longsword vambraces while Mirei carefully checked her bowstring to ensure the extreme cold wouldn’t crisp the wood.

With their body heat locked tight and their mana reserves protected against the frost fog, Squad 07 stood comfortable and ready in the winter tundra. Rowan adjusted the brim of his Enchanted Straw Hat—now pulled over his lined thermal hood—and leaned casually on his trusty hoe. Glancing toward a nearby shelf of glacial ice, his sharp eyes caught the delicate, sapphire-blue glow of a Frost-Lotus embedded deep within the frozen stone.

”Warm, fully rested, and surrounded by high-grade harvestables,” Rowan murmured, his cool smirk returning. ”Let me gather these delicate strains, and we’ll carve our path straight through Floor Seven.”

***

Deep, guttural howls echoed across the frozen trench, bouncing off the towering blue ice walls like a pack of hungry apex predators signaling a hunt. The sound was heavy, ragged, and distinctly primal—unmistakably belonging to high-tier glacial yetis closing in on their position.

Simultaneously, the creeping freezing fog swirled into a localized blizzard, dropping visibility down to a razor-thin ten-meter circle around the party. Beyond that swirling white curtain, the world vanished into a wall of blinding frost and echoing footsteps.

Squad 07 immediately reacted. Barney slammed his massive tower shield down onto the slick obsidian floor with a resounding thud, anchoring the front line. Caelen drew Edge of the First Warden, its blade humming with kinetic readiness, while Princess Lyra’s longsword burst with a warm, radiant light that cut through the gloom. Mirei held her bow at half-draw, her sharp eyes scanning the ten-meter edge of the whiteout while Seraphina readied quick-throw flash potions. They formed a tight, outward-facing defensive ring, protecting every angle.

”Movement at two o’clock... and six o’clock,” Mirei warned softly, her voice steady despite the heavy snowfall. ”Multiple heavy targets, moving fast through the upper drifts.”

”Keep them at bay,” Caelen said, his eyes fixed on the misty perimeter. ”Rowan, how much time do you need?”

At the center of the defensive circle, completely unfazed by the encroaching beasts, Rowan remained hunkered down over a delicate cluster of Frost-Lotus and ice-encrusted Cryo-Gourds. These rare frost-grade herbs were notoriously volatile—a single wrong vibration or sudden shift in temperature would cause their crystalline stems to shatter into useless dust.

Rowan adjusted the brim of his Enchanted Straw Hat and leaned forward with surgical focus. Channeling his Gardener of Eden authority through the tip of his trusty hoe, he wrapped the frozen soil in a gentle, warm blanket of domain mana. The precise soil-mana touch thawed the exact boundary around the roots without shocking the plant’s icy structure.

With a soft, satisfying pop, the pristine Frost-Lotus lifted cleanly out of the glacial rock, glowing with an unblemished sapphire light before vanishing safely into his system inventory.

”Take your time, guys,” Rowan murmured with a cool smirk, sliding his hoe beneath the base of a glowing Cryo-Gourd. ”The harvest is looking fantastic.”