Chapter 18 Through the Fire and Flames

Nearly five hours later, Ilea had fought seven stalker hounds and ten zombies, having reached level 62 in her class. The fights usually didn’t last long, her sphere and perception skill made it too easy.

Even the much faster hounds weren’t much of a challenge to her as she saw behind herself and could react much faster than before. It still took quite a few hits for the kills which is understandable with being a lower lvl, but most of the time was spent on simply walking and searching for more enemies to fight in the enormous cavern system.

After a while she even began running between fights. ‘This might even be the main cave system…,’ she thought as she passed another split in the tunnel.

Her skills steadily grew as well. The ones in the second tier painfully slow but still presumably much faster than most other adventurers leveled theirs. Her two new skills took off though and she noticed the difference after every fight, making them even easier.

After her last fight she took a bite of bread and sat down between the two stalker hounds she had slaughtered, not a scratch on herself. ‘I have to be careful not to become overconfident… lest I forget how easily these creatures could rip me apart if I make a mistake… well at this point maybe not these exact creatures but there’s enough out there that could. I probably won’t stay long enough to reach level 100 though, fighting these beasts is already not very exciting anymore.’

Thinking to take a break, Ilea walked back to one of the miner’s stations she had passed half an hour ago and settled down there. There were plenty of materials still present and she started by making a fire. Took her only half an hour to get a nice cheery blaze going.

‘Now to apply what I learned.’ She simply watched the fire, thinking about all the different interpretations she read in the fire magic book. In a hunch she closed her eyes and activated her Sphere, watching the fire closely in its entirety.

Ten minutes later, she also activated her magic perception, noticing that it affected her Sphere too. She sat there with closed eyes, sensing how the mana flowed within and around the fire and soon tried to emulate a similar flow in herself.

She had to take several pauses as her mana ran out to meditate. There luckily was enough wood stored up to keep the fire going for another day at least. After five hours of this, Ilea had the flow down and as she thought about forming a flame atop her palm, the mana flowed out and a tiny spark of flame came into existence. It vanished just as fast as it had appeared and Ilea doubted she would’ve even noticed it were it not for her Sphere.

She slowly stood up and stretched, breaking out of her meditative state after nearly six more hours. “FUCK YEAH!” Pumping her fist into the air, the blue light of her tattoos flared up. She ate a little of her food and then sat down again to continue.

She thought about going out of the cave to work on this as the view was nicer but decided against it as more distractions meant less focus. ‘I’ll have to concentrate on this. Getting the second class has priority… if I can level both classes in this dungeon, I’ll grow insanely fast in strength…,’

So her days passed, although she didn’t know how many as there was no sun and she only needed around two hours of sleep. When her food ran out she would go out into the forest to hunt wild animals and look for any berries and fruits.

There wasn’t much available anymore as Autumn slowly drifted over Elos, turning the scenery from green to brown. Ilea simply continued with her meditation, her control over the flow of her mana getting better and better. The flame lasted nearly nine seconds in her hand now before it snuffed out.

Nearly two weeks passed like this, making steady incremental progress until finally the long awaited message appeared before her after she had managed to keep the flame alive for half a minute.

‘bing’ ‘You have met the requirements for a class change: Fire Mage – Manipulated mana into fire for more than thirty seconds. Basic understanding of fire.

‘The Fire Mage is the most basic of fire based mages. She controls the flames and leaves only ash in her path.’

‘Would you like to change to this class. Bonuses and skills will be applied after doing so. Attention, only one class slot is free, choose wisely.’

Ilea simply confirmed the choice in her head as more information popped up.

‘New class: Fire Mage

Vitality +5

Intelligence +10

Wisdom +10

Fire magic is cast 50% faster

Fire magic is 25% stronger

You gain the general skill heat resistance

Your mana regeneration is increased by 20% around fire

Skills gained in Fire Mage:

Active: Flame – lvl 1:

Create a flame from your mana to attack your enemies or heat a pot. You can control the flame through your fire manipulation.

Category: Projectile Magic - Area of Effect

Passive: Fire Manipulation – lvl 1:

Your control over fire increases dramatically. Bend it to your wishes and burn whatever lies before you. [Effect doubled after bonuses]

Category: Body Enhancement

Failed to learn Heat resistance, the skill is already available.’

“I did iiiiit!!!” she jumped up and down a bit before carefully reading through the descriptions. The bonuses weren’t even close to as good as Azarinth healer and she didn’t gain nearly as many skills.

‘Well hopefully I’ll learn more skills from leveling or experimenting. Should be the case with a more normal class.’ a flame burst from her hand, much brighter and stronger than any she had conjured before and she quickly moved it around easily.

‘Wait….Fire Manipulation is doubled? So the Azarinth healer bonus applies to this class’s skills as well? Well then I can’t wait for the Body Enhancement bonuses from a better class than this one… my power will multiply…,’ she thought with a big grin on her face, the flame still dancing around her.

‘Sucks that I didn’t get another resistance skill… could’ve saved me from all that burning from before…,’ She checked out all her current stats and smiled.

Name: Ilea Spears

Unspent statpoints: 40

Class 1: Azarinth Healer – lvl 62

- Active: Destruction – 2nd lvl 19

- Active: Reconstruction – 2nd lvl 10

- Active: State of Azarinth – 2nd lvl 16

- Active: Blink – 2nd lvl 11

- Active: Azarinth Sphere – lvl 9

- Passive: Body of Azarinth – 2nd lvl 4

- Passive: Azarinth Fighting – 2nd lvl 17

- Passive: Magic Perception – lvl 9

- Passive: Azarinth Perception – lvl 6

- Passive: Free Slot

Class 2: Fire Mage – lvl 1

- Active: Flame – lvl 1

- Active: Free Slot

- Active: Free Slot

- Active: Free Slot

- Active: Free Slot

- Passive: Fire Manipulation – lvl 1

- Passive: Free Slot

- Passive: Free Slot

- Passive: Free Slot

- Passive: Free Slot

General Skills:

- Elos Standard language - lvl 5

- Identify - lvl 3

- Meditation – 2nd lvl 4

- Poison Resistance – lvl 16

- Heat Resistance – lvl 7

- Pain Tolerance – lvl 1

Status:

Vitality: 105

Endurance: 86

Strength 50

Dexterity 50

Intelligence 90

Wisdom 90

Health: 1003/1050

Stamina: 850/860

Mana: 609/900

‘Well that looks pretty good compared to when I arrived in this shithole… although I have to say I’m starting to like it. It’s like a fun shithole… this is sending the wrong signals.’ She stopped her train of thought there and focused on the task at hand.

Evolving the Fire Mage class into the Fire Enhancer class. There were several methods mentioned in the Fire Enhancer book, some faster and some slower and more difficult but safe. It came as no surprise which method Ilea chose.

‘So how do I set myself on fire…,’ Her meditation continued, the focus being again the mana flow inside of her. It was similar to before and the fire manipulation skill definitely helped, even internally. The difference now being that instead of a flame above her palm, which was the natural way the mana tried to exit once she willed it, she had to get the mana out all over her body… all at once.

The book mentioned pain… a lot of it but it was definitely the fastest and easiest method to gain an enhancer class, not just with fire. A healer at hand was advised, so Ilea had the requirements already fulfilled. ‘Time to level pain tolerance… oh boy here I come.’

Two undead warriors were shuffling through a dark cave, unmoved by the distant screaming of a young woman. Light flickered at the end of their tunnel but they were mindlessly shuffling about. Unfeeling and uncaring they trotted on.

A stalker hound slowly crept past them, a glint of fear in its eyes. The screams had terrorized its pack for nearly a week now already, not that the hound grasped the concept of time.

Getting closer to the noise, one could make out a bright figure. Clad in flame the creature buckled to its knees, holding its head with fiery arms. The screams turning into a hoarse chuckle. Soon the light faded and skin began to regenerate, eyes filled their sockets and raven black hair grew from the creature’s head.

After just half a minute, a naked woman in her early twenties stood where the creature had knelt before, her blue eyes twinkling in the light of the campfire in front of her as she laughed and screamed, just a bit of madness in her eyes.

“I did it! Finally! FUCK FIRE! I HATE YOU!” Ilea screamed towards the flames. Calming down she quickly checked all her messages. She had willed them away shortly after starting her second phase of meditation because it would be distracting.

Not like she’d be able to read anything with the pain and exhaustion. ‘Sleep then pain, sleep then pain…,’ the only respite she had was her Meditation skill whenever her mana ran out. Though as time went on the pain decreased more and more. Now being on fire hurt barely more than having a deep cut in her arm before. Weirdly since about half an hour ago she didn’t feel any pain at all but kept screaming out of habit. Activating the notifications again, she read through what she had gained.

‘ding’ ‘Meditation has reached - 2nd lvl 12’

‘ding’ ‘Pain tolerance has reached – 2nd lvl 1’

Pain Tolerance – 2nd lvl 1

Being a bit of a masochist, you have learned to ignore some of the pain. No, only physical pain. You’re feeling a little more numb towards pain but careful...the damage is still being done!

2nd stage: You’ve been through more pain than most others. You are now able to completely turn off your perception of pain. Be wary as there is a reason pain exists.

“Well perfect timing then assholes!” she said towards the sky. The gods were laughing. At least that’s what she thought.

‘ding’ ‘Fire Manipulation has reached – lvl 10’

‘ding’ ‘Fire Mage has reached level 2. 5 Stat points awarded.’

‘ding’ ‘Fire Mage has reached level 3. 5 Stat points awarded.’

‘So I do get the same amount of stat points… so I could stand my ground like the others in the makeshift party when fighting the hounds and I had half of the status points?’ She was a bit overwhelmed by what that meant but smiled in the end, liking her main class even more.

‘ding’ ‘Requirements met for class evolution: Fire mage becomes Fire Enhancer. No current skills or stats will be lost, be aware that other evolutions and skills may become unavailable – Become one with the flame. Clad your body in fire for more than ten minutes while being in control of the flames. Have Fire Manipulation at level 10 or higher.

‘The Fire Enhancer becomes one with the flame. She controls the flames to strengthen her own body and abilities. Fire flows within her blood.’

Would you like to evolve your class [Fire Mage] to [Fire Enhancer]?

Confirming the change, another window appeared.

‘Class change: Fire Mage becomes Fire Enhancer

Vitality +5

Strength + 5

Dexterity + 5

Intelligence +10

Wisdom +10

Fire magic is cast 50% faster

Fire magic is 25% stronger

Body enhancement magic is improved by 20%

You gain the general skill heat resistance

Your mana regeneration is increased by 50% around fire

Skills gained in Fire Enhancer:

Active: Body of Flame – lvl 1:

Clad yourself in flames raising your resilience, speed and strength by 20% [Effect after bonuses 49%]

Category: Aura – Body Enhancement – Fire magic’

“There goes the multiplier… now the only question remains…,” Activating Body of Flame, wisps of fire gathered around her and moved slowly in an ever changing pattern a couple millimeters away from her body. She looked at her hands and felt the power flow through her.

‘Not as much as State of Azarinth but still around half more with both of the multipliers. Now let’s see if it works…,’ Behind the fiery wisps blue tattoos began to shine on her still naked body. She suddenly vanished and her fist landed on the cave wall. Ilea didn’t use her Blink spell but with both her auras active and the new bonuses from the class she had become nearly another sixty percent stronger.

The walls shook and some stone started to fall. ‘Oh fuck’ Blinking to get her backpack and clothes, Ilea appeared outside the miner station. Outside the walls held, the tunnels were constructed to be incredibly sturdy. It was quite surprising that Ilea even managed to create so much force to make parts of it cave in.

‘I feel fucking amazing’ She thought as she slowly breathed out. The auras weren’t multiplicative with each other but additive, which meant her State that gave roughly 113% increase in strength, resilience and speed and her Body of Flame which gave roughly 50% together came out at 163% which was an incredible bonus.

Considering State started with a 35% bonus and Body of Flame with 20% it was rather incredible. Seeing the skills affected her sturdiness, speed and strength, investing into more stat points would make her power skyrocket.

‘Although Intelligence does make my Destruction spell make more boom I might add some points into Strength and Dexterity to gain more from my auras. One point in Dexterity will equal nearly three points while all auras are active… but enough stats and points… it’s finally time to,’ “SMASH!” her fists punched together, a light shock wave leaving the center.

It would have been very badass, had it not been for her lightly wobbling chest. ‘First, clothes.’ she thought as she quickly got dressed.