Leaving toalked for about an hour and saw a few people. There was a wagon pulled by two piggish horses, three people pushing handcarts, and a group of four that I suspected were adventurers. At first look, they didn’t stand out—all wur clothes, not armor. But two of them had swords, and one had a bow slung over his shoulder and a quiver of arrows. I assumed the st one was a mage, since he had no visible ons. A few minutes after they disappeared around a bend in the road, I stopped and facepalmed. Why didn’t I use Identify on them instead of guessing?
Oh well, maybe ime.
When Rue and I were about an hour’s walk from town, we reached a fork in the road, waited until two separate people saw us at the fork, ahe road, walking deeper into trees. The forest tained mainly ifers, which at least somewhat resembled the trees oh. They were different, like cedars, but much rounder around, with a more poiop end. Christmas tree farm owners would go crazy over these trees; they were so symmetrical. Still, the thread of familiarity was wele. I already noticed that many things in different worlds looked different, but they were also simir. It is as if they all started from the same source but developed differently in each world.
Deeper in the forest, the temperature dropped, and the air was er and fresher. The smell was amazing, green and alive, without the town smells of sweat and food. Here, it was just nature. A carpet of dry needles carpeted the ground, muffling my footsteps. Rue, of course, walked like a shadow. Despite his size. When he padded, I couldn’t hear him. I could hear the thump of his paws hitting the ground while running, but not when he was walking.
Once hidden from view, we both cast Invisibility and flew back toward the town, heading straight for the copper mine.
The townspeople built a half moon barricade at the entrao the mihey piled big stones with skins draped over them. There were buckets of water all along the barricade and three guards stood behind it: two with spears and oh a bow. The area seemed quiet, with no monsters in sight. Two guards were rexed, leaning on the barricade and talking quietly, while the third was alert, looking into the mirance. I reized two of them as people I had healed from burns. The third was unfamiliar; he was older and scowling. It was unclear if it was at the mine or at the uards for not being alert like him.
Rue and I quietly flew past the barricade and toward the mirance. “Activate stealth,” I told him telepathically. “Let’s make sure they don’t hear us.”
Wheered the mihe atmosphere ged again. The tunnel was about three meters high and wide, with rough-hewn walls that felt damp and cold to the touch. The air was stale and musty, with a faint st of metal and sweat. We had to nd just a few meters in because the ceili getting lower. Al would have o stoop here. After awenty meters, we reached a rger chamber with three tunnel openings.
“ you smell which way to go?” I asked Rue, hoping his nose might give us a lead.
After a minute or two, he replied, “Rue not know,” sounding frustrated.
“It’s okay, buddy. We’ll find the right one.”
I chose the right tunnel, and we tinued further in. The mine became even quieter as we went deeper into the right shaft. The air was thick with dust and had a more pu metallic st. It became darker and harder to see. I still saw where we were going, but I was sure regur people erns.
Or maybe miners have dark vision?
Who knows?
The tunnel wound and turned, leading us further in. We came to a fork iuhree times, and I chose the right side each time. After what seemed like forever, the path abruptly e a solid rock wall. We turned around araced our steps. In the same way, we also checked all the branches, but each time, it led to a dead end. After what felt like hours of walking bad forth, we had to return to the main chamber.
In the main chamber, we now took the middle tuhe air here was cooler, and the walls were slick with moisture, making them appear darker. At first, the tunnel seemed like a good idea—it desded gently, the air growing damper, the st of earth more pronounced. But soon, the passage narrowed, squeezing in on us until it was barely wide enough for me to walk through and Rue had to squeeze in. For a moment, I was worried he would get stuck, but it didn’t happen. Finally, the tunnel ended in another dead-end chamber filled with loose rocks, debris, and broken mining tools. Rue let out a short, angry huff, his frustration mirr mine. We turned bace more. At least in this tuhere were no branches; it was just one long tuo the dead end.
That left the third tunnel. We desded a slope, steeper than before, with each step being more challenging as the walls and flrew slick with moisture. Even Rue slipped a few times. I lost t of how often I had to steady myself against the wall. The air was thick, almost like breathing in coppery soup, making it hard to catch a full breath. We passed four interses—three with two branches, oh three—and each time, I took the left. After what felt like hours, the tuwisted sharply, only to end abruptly at yet another enormous chamber, another dead end. It was getting frustrating, and I was regretting not asking more questions ba town.
We returo the main chamber with the three tunrances, and I tried to think what to do. As I stood there, trying to figure out our step, movement caught my eye. A red lizard ran out from the left tunnel, cws clig against the stone as it dashed toward the mine’s entrance. Instinctively, I tensed, ready to strike, but then rexed. A single lizard wasn’t a threat, and the guards at the entrance could ha. But I got an idea as I watched the creature disappear toward the entrance.
“Rue,” I sent, grinning. “We’re going to follow the lizards.”
We waited in the chamber, watg the dark tunrances. It wasn’t long before another lizard ran out from the left tunnel, darting past us, following the same path as the first. I felt delighted that the lizards didn’t sense us. The chamber was retively close to the entrance. If we fought, the guards would’ve heard us for sure.
We moved slowly and quietly down the left tunnel. We had to wait at every fork iunnels for another lizard to show us the way. Sometimes, there was just oher times, two or three. The lizards seemed to know the mier than any map could show, guiding us through the byrinthine passages. It was slow, nerve-wrag work, but better than wandering aimlessly.
At one point, as we hid in the dark, waiting for another lizard, I heard faint voices eg dowunnel.
I tensed ao Rue, “Push yourself against the wall at the widest point, as high as you uhe ceiling.”
The voices grew louder, and soon, three figures emerged from the darkness. I reized them immediately—the three adventurers from the inn.
We waited quietly, keeping a safe distahey were moving carefully, holding oil mps and always cheg the map they drew on paper. Now and then, they stopped and talked quietly among themselves. We followed them, trag their movements as they easily navigated the tunnels. They seemed to know the mier than us, or their map did. After several more turns, they approached a narrow tunnel.
As they approached the opening, three lizards leaped out of the darkness, hissing. The mp holders quickly got bad pced the mps furthest away from the lizards while the third drew his sword.
“Stay back,” he growled in a low voice.
The other adventurer mocked an arrow, and the third held a sword in one hand and a wand iher.
Rue and I remained in the shadows, watg the battle unfold. The lizards moved startlingly fast, darting in and out of the adventurers’ reach. Their red scales gleamed in the dim light, giving them an almost ethereal quality. The adventurers were skilled, but the fined space made it difficult for them to maneuver.
Suddenly, one lizard pulled its head back, thrust it forward, and spat fire at the group. The guy with the wand quickly cast a barrier. I couldn’t see it, but I could feel it. The magical shield blocked the fire ahe rest of the party safe. The archer ducked just in time as one lizard lu him. His arrow hit the lizard in the side. It let out a high-pitched screed fell over in a heap. As the st two adventurers pressed the attack, their bdes fshed as they killed the other lizards. The barrier caster tio protect them from the lizards’ fiery breath.
After the st lizard died, the adventurers looked around for any other threats. Ohey were sure they were safe, they turned back toward the tuhe sharp aallic smell of lizard blood hung in the air. The lizards began to dissipate.
Yep, definitely monsters.
We waited for them to move ahead before slipping through the entrance ourselves. We followed the adventurers, keeping a safe distance as they navigated the caves. Occasionally, they stopped to sult their map before pressing on, their path illuminated by the faint glow of their nterns. They had to fight twice more, but it was much quicker si was one lizard each time.
After about twenty minutes of following them, the adventurers reached the point where the miners had broken into the caves. Their movements became more cautious, their voices hushed as they discussed their move. I couldn’t hear most of their versation, but from the words I caught here and there, I could piece together the text. They had no map for this part of the mine and po rely on the lizards to guide them.
Ha! I thought of it first!
There was no need for Rue ao tiailing them—they were just as uain of the way forward as we were, and I wao reach the dungeon before they did. We passed through the hole in the wall and found ourselves in a rge cave with a high, vaulted ceiling. The walls were jagged, lined with stactites that hung like the teeth of some a beast, while the floor was uneven, scattered with sharp rocks and the occasional glimmer of quartz embedded ione. A faint, cool draft blew through, carrying with it the earthy st of the underground.
We flew up, taking advantage of the height to navigate in the air. I sent a telepathic message to Rue, “Stay as close to me as possible.”
The cave ected to another, and then another. We had to nd and sneak on foot in the sed cave because the ceiling was much lower. The third opened slightly, its floor littered with broken stones and lizard tracks winding through the dust. The fourth was bigger, with a low ceiling that forced us to fly close to the ground, but not low enough that we had to walk. Like the maw of some great beast, the fifth had a jagged arch at its entrah stoig out like teeth, and the air inside was thick with the smell of damp earth and sulfur. Occasionally, a lizard would run past us, disappearing into the shadows as quickly as it appeared. I could hear the group fighting behind us and judged that they were further and further back.
The st cave was the rgest, easily the size of a football stadium, with a ceiling that soared high above us. Massive rock outcroppings jutted along the walls, f natural ptforms Mahya would have loved. They were perfect for her to jump on. In the far er, almost hidden by the gloom, was the portal of doom. We found the dungeon.
Wheered the dungeon, the atmosphere shifted dramatically. We entered a cave identical to the one we had just left, down to the st rock outcropping. It was strange, like entering Alice’s mirror world. It was that identical. The only difference was the air. Outside, the air was musty and humid, and it g to my skin. Here, the air was dry, hot as a desert breeze, with a sharp, biting st of sulfur that burhe bay throat.
At the end of the cave, we stepped through an opening, and it was like walking straight into hell. The ground, scorched and cracked, had rivers of molten va winding through the ndscape like fiery snakes. Off in the distance, a massive volo loomed, its peak lost in ash and smoke. The heat hit like a wall, the air thick with the stench of burning sulfur. This dungeon was huge—a sprawling wastend of destru stretg as far as I could see.
I remembered a story Lis told me when we were still living in London. He described an a dungeon he cleared that had no floors. Instead, the dungeon expanded in width, and he described its size as bigger than the English el. In the middle of the dungeon stood an enormous mountain, and because of the sheer size of the pce, it took him and his party several days to reach it.
Ihe mountain was a byrinth, and the final Guardian was at the ter of the byrinth. Looking at the size of this dungeon, I was sure it was the same sario. It was too vast to have floors along with this immense space.
The volo loomed like a hulki, a fiery giant that looked ready to tear the sky apart. It belched ash, with rivers of va spilling down its sides, carving bright, bzing paths across the scorched ground. The va’s glow cast an eerie light over the jagged rocks, making everything look sinister.
Dark clouds ed above, lit up by bolts of red lightning that crackled with energy, each strike booming across the empty ndscape like a drum. The air reeked of sulfur, and the heat from the molteh made it feel like we were breathing in smoke.
This wasn’t just any mountain—it ure destru. The whole thi alive, angry, like its rage was vibrating iremor under our feet and every lightning bolt crag through the sky. I had no doubt this was the spot for the dungeon’s final guardian. Or maybe it was the final guardian—a massive force of fire and fury, ready to obliterate anyone who came close.
We retreated to the entrance cave. I had to e up with a different strategy that ated for the sheer size of the dungeon and the hundreds of lizards I saw. Charging in blindly would be suicide.
While thinking about what to do , a lizard dashed into the cave. I fired a lightning bolt at it without a sed thought. But to my shock, the lizard merely touched the ground with its tail, grounding my lightning as if it were nothing more than a mild invenies eyes locked on my locations, and with a swift, sharp motion, it pulled its head back before thrusting it forward, spitting fire in my dire. Only the reflexes honed by tless hours of pying aerial hockey saved me from being scorched.
Two more lizards ran into the cave, their eyes glinting with malice. This was bad—my most effective on, lightning, was useless against them. The first lizard looked unfazed, as if the lightning had no effect. The thought of the fire hitting Rue sent a jolt of fear through me—his thick fur would ignite instantly, which was a risk I couldn’t take.
I quickly instructed Rue, “Stay at the top he ceiling, don’t go down. I o figure out what to do.”
I fired a mana dart at one lizard. Two mana darts streaked toward it, but the lizard was too quick. One dart missed pletely, and the other only grazed its leg. It did slightly ihe lizard, making it turn slower with a limp, but the damage wasn’t nearly enough. These lizards were too fast, almost impossibly so.
As soon as I released the darts, the three lizards reacted with unnerving synicity, pulling their heads back before flig them forward, spitting fire in the dire the darts had e from. But I wasn’t there anymore—I’d learned my lesson from the first lizard.
I opened my profile, trying to think of a solution as I flew around, positioning myself behind the lizards. With a quick decision, I cast Exude Mana on one of them and immediately shot back up into the air. The lizard I targeted slowed noticeably, as if the spell drais energy, but the other two remained as fast and deadly as ever. They both spat fire at the spot where I had been, and thehird one joined in, unleashing its fmes after pleting its turn.
This wasn’t good.
I drew out a crossbow and quickly shot at one lizard, immediately shifting my position. The bolt struck true, embedding itself in the lizard’s body. This time, the lizard wasn’t too fast to dodge—but the bolt ignited, burning as the lizard screeched in pain.
Again, I had to dodge the ining fire spits. My mind raced, searg for a solution. I tried something different. Once again, I flew behind the lizards and cast Exude Mana on one of them. Whehird lizard turned and pulled its head back to spit fire at me, I quickly cmped its mouth shut with telekinesis. The lizard began vulsing violently. As the third one prepared for atack, I shot it with a mana dart. This time, it wasn’t fast enough to dodge. The first lizard colpsed, dead, and so did the third. The sed one tinued vulsing before it, too, fell lifeless to the ground. I rexed, but just then, two more lizards ran into the cave.
My method was effective, but limited. I couldn’t keep it up with too many lizards. As I searched for another solution, I remembered the guns Mahya had left for me. Turns out she was right—”just in case” happened. I quickly pulled out a rifle and loaded a magazine, but I realized too te that the gun wasn’t invisible. The two lizards immediately charged at me, f me to dodge more fire.
I flickered into visibility and then quickly returo invisibility, this time ensuring the rifle vanished along with me. I aimed and squeezed the trigger, the sharp crack of the shot eg through the cave. The noise worked to my advantage; one lizard fell dead instantly, and the sed lizard whipped its head around, searg for me but uo locate my position. Probably, the echo fused it.
Just then, three more lizards ran into the cave. I floated even higher, knowing how far their fire go, and aimed my shots carefully. I picked them off one by one. Only one dodged the first shot, but not the sed. The other two died immediately. The solution I found didn’t thrill me—I preferred to hahings with magid still strongly disliked guns, but this was the situation. I had to adapt to the circumstances.
I turned all the lizards into crystals and said to Rue, “Stay in the cave. If more ehe cave, don’t go hem unless you want to get set on fire.”
I flew out of the cave and practiced sniping on the lizards scattered across the area. The heat in the air was intense, making my lungs feel like they were drying out, and sweat immediately began p down my face.
After taking down a few lizards, I desded to a lower altitude and turhem into crystals. However, I quickly entered two signifit problems. First, more and more lizards started swarming into the area where I was, making it impossible for me to nd and transform them into crystals without risking being burned alive. The sed issue was that the rifle in my hand was heating rapidly, being so hot that it was already hurting my palms.
I retreated to the cave, but six lizards followed me inside. I couldn’t tell if they had sensed me or if the entrance was just vely located for them. Without wasting a moment, I shot eae, turhem into crystals, and quickly healed the minor burns that blistered on my hands. I slipped on a pair of leather gloves—much better.
Steeling myself, I flew out again and resumed sniping at the lizards. But as I tinued, a creepiion of dread settled in. Little by little, I felt worse and worse. My breathing became bored, eahale dragging in the air that seemed to scorch my lungs from the i. The oppressive heat was relentless, searing my throat and making every breath a painful effort. My skin, already slick with sweat, felt like it was burning from the ihe heat radiating from my core.
But it wasn’t just the heat. There was something else, something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. My limbs felt heavy, as if invisible s weighed them down, and my head pounded with a dull, throbbing pain. A strange weakness crept over me, seeping into my muscles, making it harder and harder to stay in the air. My vision blurred at the edges, and I blinked rapidly, trying to clear it, but the feeling only intensified.
The surrounding air seemed to grow thicker, almost like it was getting solid, as if it was more than just heat—it was like I was breathing in something heavy and unnatural, which g to my lungs and weighed down my entire body. My thoughts became sluggish, and I struggled to focus, a deep sense of utled over me. I was getting weaker and more dehydrated with every passing sed, my energy draining away as if something was leeg it right out of me.
I returo the cave again, feeling the oppressive heat finally taking its toll. I quickly drank at least two liters of water, gulping it down as if it were the elixir of life itself. No lizards followed me this time, and the momentary reprieve was a relief. After finishing the water, I felt a little better, but something was still off—I wasn’t pletely fine.
Curious and ed, I checked my profile. Health: 1,208/7,150. That didn’t make any sense! I wasn’t injured, and the fire didn’t touch me, so how y health dropped so much?
I cast Healing Touch, expeg the usual surge of vitality. My health increased, but only by five points. That was even more illogical. When I first got this spell, I had to cast it multiple times to close a cut or wound, but as the spell leveled up, it became signifitly more effective. When it maxed out at level 25, a single cast was enough to close a gunshot wound, even after making a deep cut and digging out the bullet. And now, my health has increased by just five points. I didn’t uand what was going on here.
The situatio increasingly bizarre, and I couldn’t shake the growing dread that something was wrong, something I couldn’t yet see or uand.
I tio cast Healing Touch, but my health only increased by five points each time. After five casts, frustration mounting, I tried something different. I cast Fortify Life Force, and my health jumped by two hundred and fifty points this time. I stared at my profile in disbelief for a minute or tw to process what was happening. Then it hit me—the air ihis dungeon wasn’t injuring me in the usual se was draining my life force.
For the first time, I truly uood why health was tied not just to stitution but to Vitality as well. The dungeon was sapping my vitality, the very essehat kept me alive. I might be more resistant to this effect with a higher stitution, but the actual victim here was my Vitality. This dungeon was a relentless, unseeor, slowly wearing me down without leaving a visible mark.
As I mulled over this revetion, four more lizards ran into the cave. I quickly shot them down and turhem into crystals, my mind still rag with the implications of what I’d just discovered. I also uood why Mahya was always so affeate with the rifle a kissing it as if it were some lucky charm. While I didn’t feel the urge to kiss the gun myself, I felt an almost overwhelmio give it a reassuring pat and say, “Good boy.” I held back to avoid making Rue jealous.
I stayed in the cave, repeatedly casting Fortify Life Fortil my health was back to full. With my health restored, I returo the hellish pins again, shooting more lizards. But when I wao turn them into crystals, I couldn’t. A swarm of over thirty lizards ran toward my location, f me to retreat once more to the retive safety of the cave. Again, I was losing focus and being disoriehe cave was still unbearably hot, but at least it wasn’t the inferno oher side.
Once again, I restored my health and began thinking of another solution. Some lizards ran in, but with the rifle, it was easy to hahem. Meanwhile, Rue had to nd—he was running low on mana. I instructed him to stay in the farthest er of the cave, well away from the opening.
I tried a different tactic. Standing at the mouth of the cave, I made myself visible and shouted, “Hey, you stupid lizards, e a me!”
Immediately, I retreated into the cave, turned invisible, and floated in the air, ready for the onsught. A hoard of lizards charged into the cave, drawn by my taunt. I picked them off one by one. Only three of them required more than one shot. I also closely watched Rue’s area, first killing any lizards that veoo close to him.
This strategy worked much better. I turhe lizards into crystals, but I had a new problem. The fire they spat during the fight had raised the temperature in the cave even further, and the air became more oppressive, thick with the lingeri and the stench of burnt blood.
I checked my profile, and sure enough, my health had dropped again, though more slowly than on the hellish pins.
After healing myself, I rested and waited for the temperature to drop. It was taking too long, so I asked the wind for help. In this pce, it was much harder to ect to her. There was air here, so she was here, but diminished, or maybe weakehe breeze that geed was weak and hardly made a difference, but it was better than nothing. It took a while, but the cave became tolerable again. I went out, became visible, shouted at the lizards, auro the cave invisible.
Another swarm of lizards.
Heal myself and wait for the cave to cool down.
Another swarm of lizards.
Heal myself and wait for the cave to cool down.
Another swarm of lizards.
Heal myself and wait for the cave to cool down.
Another swarm of lizards.
Heal myself and wait for the cave to cool down.
Another swarm of lizards.
Heal myself and wait for the cave to cool down.
Another swarm of lizards.
Heal myself and wait for the cave to cool down.
Another swarm of lizards.
Heal myself and wait for the cave to cool down.
Another swarm of lizards.
Heal myself and wait for the cave to cool down.
Another swarm of lizards.
Heal myself and wait for the cave to cool down.
Another swarm of lizards.
Heal myself and wait for the cave to cool down.
It went on like this for hours and hours. I lost t of how many times I had to reload the rifle, nearly emptying aire crate of bullets. Little by little, the number of lizards I pulled decreased. At first, over thirty came each time, sometimes even fifty. Now, it was down to twenty or less. I was also feeling exhausted. I didn’t know how long I had been at this, but from experience, I knew many, many hours had passed.
While I preferred to sleep at night like a normal person, I could stay awake for a very long time if I had to. When I first built my loot spell, I for maybe three or four days straight before I had to sleep for a few hours and tinue w. But now, I was done.
During the breaks, when I healed myself, Rue napped. I was sure he would watch over me if I got some sleep. The problem was that he didn’t have an effective way to deal with the lizards. Their fire was too dangerous, and he could only cate at a time with telekinesis. More than one, he would be in trouble. I racked my brain trying to find a solution; then I remembered Al had given me some stamina potions, or “endurance,” as he called them.
I took out oion and drank it. Within seds, a rush of energy washed over me, refreshing my body and sharpening my senses. I was awake and sharp, like I slept eight hours and had a good meal on top. But then, after less than a minute, another sensatio in, subtle at first, just a warm tingle down my spihe feeling intensified more and more, and after two or three mihat tingle was more like a raging fire. I felt...charged, in a way that went way beyond physical energy. I was in trouble.
With each passing sed, the heat inside me intensified, flooding my thoughts until it was the only thing I could focus on. This wasn’t just a casual flicker of desire; it was a full-blowless horniness, overwhelming and impossible to ignore. My mind filled with images of sex and my body trembled. I had goosebumps all over my body, and even the slightest breeze felt like a caress. It made me want to y eyes a lost in the feeling. Every nerve felt hypersensitive, and my vision blurred further.
My jaw ched as I tried to shake off the effects, to push down the urges that had taken over my body. But it ointless. The potion had hit me like a magical Viagra, and there was no switg it off. tration? Fet it. The only thing I was trating on was getting rid of this unbearable heat. I couldn’t fun like this. All my mental faculties were in my penis. Shaking my head did nothing, except make the goosebumps and tingles worse. It took iron will to cmp down on the sensations and my mind to tio fun.
“I’ll tear him limb from limb!” I growled, fists ched as I battled the overwhelming surge of desire the potion had cursed me with. The fury and frustration mingled with that unbearable, primal need, fueling an urge that was equal parts rage and raw desire. The only thing I wanted more than to get this fire out of my system was to make Al pay for it.
At least it woke me up. I didn’t want to waste this opportunity, so I pulled more lizards. This round was terrible. It was nearly impossible to trate on shooting lizards with a ragiion that ed all of my attention. I shot the lizards and cursed him—first in my head, then out loud.
“Son of a bitch!”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
“Motherfucker!”
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
“Bastard!”
Bang! Bang!
“Dumbass!”
Bang!
“Asshole.”
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
“Dickhead!”
Bang! Bang!
“I’ll kill him!”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
“Muthe fuking asshole!”
My horniness was getting worse and worse, and I had to take care of it. But just the thought of floating in the air in a dungeon more hellish than anything I’d ever experienced and jerking off was too awkward to even put into words. Plus, even though I was invisible, I was sure Rue would know precisely what I was doing. The e between us was to; he would feel exactly what I to.
In the end, desperate and out of options, I bolted out of the cave and bato the hellish ndscape, hoping the draining atmosphere out there would do me a favor and suck this insane horniness right out of me. If it could leech my energy, maybe it could drain this... problem, too.
The se had shifted since we’d first e through. Where hundreds of creatures had swarmed before, only a few lizards were hanging around now. Slowly, I felt myself getting weaker, my energy fading along with that ridiculous heat.
It didn’t just vanish instantly; instead, it sort of unraveled bit by bit. My pulse slowed, the fire in my chest cooled, and I finally felt like I could think straight again. The intense need faded gradually, like a simmer that finally ran out of fuel, leaving me exhausted but grateful.
Thank you, Spirits.
I became visible, shouted at the lizards, and waited for them to approach before shooting them. Finally, the horniness dissipated, just like the monsters on the ground. I didn’t even bother turning them into crystals—I didn’t want to go anywhere he va. I was also fully alert—as if I had just woken up from a few hours of good sleep. Apparently, the potion did something, despite the ued side effects.
Well, I suppose I’ll five him—and keep it to myself that I cussed him out.
There was no point in wasting my alertness, so I yelled at the lizards, drew them to me, and shot them. Occasionally, I cast Fortify Life Force to keep myself going and bat the growing weakness. At one point, I yelled as loud as I could for a minute or twht, but not a single lizard appeared.
Feeling weak and sick again, I checked my health: 1,090/7,150. I o find a solution to this problem. To quer the dungeon, I o navigate it fully, not just linger he entrance cave.
I deployed my Mana Sense, closing my eyes and fog ily on the surrounding mana. It had a familiar fvor—something I knew but couldn’t immediately pce. I guessed it was fire mana, but it had something else in it as well. I didn’t reize the mix by the “fvor” alone, but given the ditions, I guessed it had to be va—not just pure fire, but fire iwined with the essenolten stone.
Lyura would have signifitly beed here.
With this uanding, I picked apart the separate threads of stone and fire. I retty sure the stone aspect wasn’t harming me; what was sapping my health was the fire aspect. I sank deeper into the fire aspect, probing it with my senses.
Determio figure this out, I advanced a few feet at a time, still h in the air, delving deeper and deeper into the aspect of fire with each step. The fire mana was richer and thicker the deeper I got into the dungeon. The process was slow—painstakingly so—and took a long time. I kept my focus sharp, immersing myself further into the fire aspetil it became almost sed nature, though the effort took its toll. The surrounding air grew hotter, and the smell of burning intensified, but I pressed on, too absorbed in the mana to notice much else.
I felt my body abs more and more fire, as if I were slowly transf into the very essence of the element itself. The sensation was inte first, the heat searing through my veins like molten va. Every inhale brought a surge of fire that seemed to e my life force, but I tio cast Fortify Life Force; the spell being as natural as breathing.
The more I attuo the fmes, the more I felt them permeate every fiber of my being. With each breath, the burniioronger, a persistehat engulfed my lungs, but there was no physical harm—no burned skin or blistered lungs. Instead, the fire seemed to e something deeper, something intangible.
My mana.
I realized the fire wasn’t harming my body; it was burning through my mana, transf it, reshaping it. With each passing moment, my mana became more attuo the fire, taking on its characteristics. What began as a painful, chaotic bze gradually evolved into something more trolled, more ied with my essehe fire and I were no longer separate entities but being one.
As this transformatiressed, I noticed a shift iure of the fire itself. What had once been a wild, ing force started to feel almost... familiar. The heat that had initially threateo overwhelm me now flowed through me with a sense of belonging. It was no longer just fire; it ower flowing within me, amplifying my strength.
Then, suddenly, everything clicked. The breath I took felt natural, as if I were breathing ordinary air. The fire was no longer a f—it art of me, as if I had mastered it, or perhaps it had accepted me. I was no longer just surviving in the fmes, but thriving in them.
But there was a cost.
Something in the enviro ged. A strange smell—burnt cloth and singed hair—filled the air. Then, I realized I had felt nothing physically, but something was off. I turned off my invisibility, and to my shock, I looked down to find myself looking like a human torch. The fire ied my clothes pletely.
I stared at myself, half in disbelief, half in awe of what I’d just put myself through.
I opened my profile, and sure enough, under Wizard abilities, there it was—Fire. The mana I had been abs had finally granted me trol over it. But as I looked at the new ability, I couldn’t help but feel that I still wasn’t at the level of a true mastery of fire. It wasn’t a specific feeling, but pure logic. My clothes wouldn’t have been reduced to ashes if I were a true master.
Absentmindedly, I reached up to run a hand through my hair, only to discover I didn’t have any. The realization stunned me for a moment. My fingers met only bare skin where my hair used to be. I blinked, processing the ued ge, but then a thought popped into my head that made me chuckle despite everything.
Well, I wao get a haircut, anyway. Maybe not like this, but let’s just t it as a haircut.
I was exhausted, and I desperately o rest. A part of me hesitated to open my house in such a dangerous pce, but then I remembered what Lis had told me—his house had fire prote. Knowing him, there was no way he hadn’t provided the same protes for my house as well. Trusting that, I opehe house, activated the mana-abs shield, closed the shutters, ahe sed-stage defenses. Although my lightning hadn’t affected the lizards much, I had nothier at the moment.
Rue and I settled in for some mueeded rest. But even after sitting down, I could still feel the lingering fire buzzing under my skin. A cold bath was in order. I filled a tub with the iciest water I could manage and eased myself iing the chill sink into every tired, overheated muscle. At first, the cold was a shock—a jolt that hit like a wall of pins and needles—but slowly; it worked its magic. The tension in my shoulders loosened, and the relentless fire in my veins finally ebbed away.
I leaned back, closing my eyes as the ess soaked into me. My pulse slowed, and with it, the lingering effects of fire faded, like embers going out after a long burn. I stayed in that tub a long time, letting the water work oil the heat felt like it had truly left my bones.
The one small mercy about this hellish ndscape was that I didn’t have to worry about pit stops. Even after what must have been over fifty liters of water guzzled down in sheer survival mode, I never felt the o pee. Everything just poured right back out through sweat, my body w overtime to keep me from overheating. It was a strange sort of relief, not having to haul myself up for that o invenience. Finally, feeling cooled down and halfway normal, I climbed out of the tub and colpsed into bed, letting exhaustion take over as I drifted off into a deep, blissful sleep.
HELL
