[MINUTE: 01/60]
The message from Ged was the key; it had to be. Marcus had been fighting for all of sixty seconds, and he knew it was a losing battle. He was literally trying to fight a natural disaster.
"Okay, new idea," Marcus said, dropping his attempt to produce a wall of cold around his Mana Shield Fence so the lava would harden and cool. "Umm. Inventory!"
Marcus began focusing on bringing Lava into his inventory, and he was able to do it. "Fuck yes!"
After a few seconds, he realized that the rate at which the lava was being produced was far greater than anything he could absorb. He stopped and looked around as his mind desperately worked on a solution.
"Okay, so that was a bad idea. I guess I could extend the Mana Sheild Fences upwards almost indefinitely, but from what I can see, the lava is not spreading equally. It seemed to be mounding itself up in an effort to get us. Fucking Agent probably fucked with something to make sure I would die. Fucking bastard."
Marcus took a moment and re-centered himself before trying to think through the problem once more.
[MINUTE: 04/60]
"The issue is that I have no fucking clue as to how I am meant to fight as a fucking crystal ball!" Marcus screamed at himself for all his big talk and all that he had achieved so far. He felt like it was all luck.
"A suggestion, Marcus." Auroar said, "Maybe for now, just try and figure out what the data bust is that Ged sent over was. Focus on that, and I will handle everything else. I will let you know if anything changes or when thirty minutes remain, whichever happens first."
"Are you sure?" Marcus asked hesitantly. Aurora was being weird, but she seemed to get like this lately when it had something to do with being a dungeon guide.
"I am; do as you must."
"Thank you," Marcus said and then began to focus on the strange bit of data that had been passed to him by the fragment of Ged.
[MINUTE: 06/60]
Marcus can tell it is something for him, what specifically, he does not know, but he can tell it wants to be... A part of him.
"That's it, it's something for me to add to myself." MArcus thought excitedly. "Maybe it's like a gene mod or implant that lets me summon constant torrential downpours or small snowstorms."
[MINUTE: 10/60]
"Holy shit, it is a skill." Marcus was flabbergasted. He had no idea you could give skills to other people. "Okay, so how do I make it fucking work."
Marcus spent the next five minutes trying to activate the skill.
[MINUTE: 05/60]
"Okay, I know it is a skill, but how the fuck am I supposed to activate it?" Marcus said more to himself than anyone else.
"Channel it?" Auroar said in that strange tone.
"What?" Marcus asked in surprise.
"I don't know, but when you asked 'how the fuck am I supposed to activate it?' the first thin thing that popped into my head was 'Chanle it.' I am pretty sure it means to meditate on the skill."
"Well, I guess it's worth a shot." Marcus began to focus on the skill. Suddenly, he felt a rush of Mana leave him and go into the skill. He could tell that was about a hundredth of what it needed, so he stopped. "Alright, Aurora, we are going to need to work together on this. I need you to turn Mana production up to eleven, and I will channel the skill. Deal?"
"Understood, ready when you are."
Marcus began to focus on the skill, and at the same time, Aurora threw the entirety of her not-insignificant abilities into producing as much mana as possible.
[MINUTE: 11/60]
Underground, Janel was sitting on her bed. The fight that was happening was not loud or boisterous, but it was still apparent. The flows of mana that were being pushed and pulled by Marcus were immense. Suddenly, the core near her began to glow brighter than anything else in that underground area. The light terminating from it was something powerful. This was also apparent as the amount of mana that the Holy Dungeon was producing was suddenly higher than she thought possible.
"Well, if I die, at least it will be in this comfortable bed." She grumbled to herself.
She watched the core as it grew brighter and brighter, building to something incredibly powerful.
[MINUTE: 23/60]
Marcus was struggling. As the amount of Mana in the skill grew, it was harder and harder to hold it in his mind as he needed to.
"Halfway there. Keep it up, Auroar." Marcus grunted through his proverbially gritted teeth.
"You as well," Auroar responded in kind.
[MINUTE: 35/60]
"Alright, Ready!" MArcus groaned as suddenly the skill became stable, maintaining itself. He could feel Auraor take a deep breath in his mind. "you alright?"
"Oh, I will be. Nice work, Marcus."
"Yeah, you too. I can feel what feels like a trigger in my mind. Should I just do it?"
"I don't see why not?"
"Fuck it, here goes!"
[MINUTE: 36/60]
Janel felt the Mana click into place. "What in the hell are you doing, Holy Dungeon?"
Suddenly, the golden light that had been emanating from the core shot into the air and through the ceiling.
Janel scrambled to follow the light, running up the stairs and out into the protective Mana Dome. The light reached the apex of the tower and then began to spin. It spun faster and faster until it finally burst. Light washed across herself and then impacted the magma outside the Mana Shields and wiped it from existence.
Marcus nearly passed out from the screeching assault of information that was being force-fed into his mind as lines of text.
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You have cast a skill more than twenty levels above your level without divine assistance, increasing rewards.
Your original Time was reduced from 72 hours of prep time to 11 hours of prep time, increasing the reward.
Pyroclast-Mana to Ambient-Mana balance: 15%
Pyroclast-Mana to Ambient-Mana balance: 32%
Pyroclast-Mana to Ambient-Mana balance: 67%
Pyroclast-Mana to Ambient-Mana balance: 71%
Pyroclast-Mana to Ambient-Mana balance: 93%
Pyroclast-Mana to Ambient-Mana balance: 100%
Pyroclast-Mana to Ambient-Mana balance: BALANCED
You have corrected an artificial nature imbalance, increasing rewards.
You have survived an attack from a spirit lifeform more than one hundred levels above your level, increasing level.
You have survived a challenge issued by a divinity.
Challenge Name: Death by Fire
Challenge Issuer: Entity.Agent.001
Challenge Rewards: Calculating
Challenge Rewards: added to pending quest payouts
You beat the challenge in less than the allotted time, increasing rewards.
SYSTEM.ENTITY.DUNGEON-a79F4.PAYOUTS.PENDING.isFinalized = false;
FINALIZING...
WARNING: Limiting payout to items usable in level.
SYSTEM.ENTITY.DUNGEON-a79F4.PAYOUTS.PENDING.isFinalized = true;
Initializing Payout...
"What the actual fuck was all that," Marcus said to Auraor, almost panting with how much that had taken out of him.
"I'm sorry, that was my fault. If you will resume the purification, I will be able to take the brunt of raw data processing once more," Aurora said.
"Do you see things like that all the time?"
"Sometimes, though the system tells me this is not normal, and you actually would have experienced that no matter what due to something they have termed 'divine interference variable overflow,' so yeah. I guess that means the Agent was fucking with things."
"No shit, and good on Ged getting that skill to us like that, even in death." Marcus said, "I hope that he has earned some kind of rest or something."
Marcus was about to hit yes on the notification, still hovering on his screen, when he noticed Janel talking to his core.
"...you are alright, aren't you, Holy Dungeon?" Janel said, concern in her voice.
Marcus dropped a piece of bread at her feet.
"Oh, Thank the Goddess." Janel sighed out. "I was worried that whatever you had done had caused you some kind of damage. "Very well, please do not let me interrupt your rest or whatever it is you are doing. You deserve it."
"Note to self: Get another mortal in here ASAP so Janel doesn't go crazy talking to Bread," Marcus said and then selected yes on the still-hovering notification.
Rewards Payout for Marcus Terno:
- You have gained access to Pyroclastic Mana
- You now have the ability to summon almost all types of igneous rocks
- you now summon igneous rocks at one thrid their normal summon rate
- Gained Fire Hounds as a summoned creature
- Gained Magma Wyrms as a summoned creature
- Gained Ash Bats as a summoned creature
- Gained Lava Rats as a summoned creature
- You have acquired the patterns for one hundred and four Items
List of Items (click me)
- Lava-Stone
- Cinder Hearth
- Ash Cloth
- Fire Weave Flowers
- Molten Cloth
- Obsidian Shard
- Emberstone
- Ashen Fabric
- Volcanic Sand
- Lava Gem
- Flamesteel Ingot
- Brimstone Dust
- Searing Silk
- Pyroclastic Resin
- Charred Leather
- Magma Crystal
- Scorchroot
- Inferno Thread
- Cinderscale
- Lavaloom Fiber
- Fire Agate
- Emberhide
- Smoldering Ember
- Ignition Stone
- Magmawood
- Scorched Bone
- Heatweave
- Flameforged Steel
- Lavastone Shard
- Emberglow Dust
- Cinder Silk
- Pyrofleece
- Brimstone Ore
- Liquefied Obsidian
- Flamequartz Crystal
- Lava Bloom
- Sulfuric Ash
- Ember Moss
- Ignisite Ore
- Flame Feather
- Pyroclastic Essence
- Scorched Scale
- Firebloom Petal
- Lava Pearl
- Smolderwood Timber
- Emberleaf
- Molten Emberstone
- Cinderbark
- Blazeleaf
- Pyrostitch Thread
- Charcloth
- Searing Scale
- Molten core Gem
- Scalding Feather
- Emberhoof Leather
- Pyrelace
- Volcanic Wool
- Fireheart Crystal
- Obsidian Silk
- Infernal Hide
- Flamequill Feather
- Ashenroot
- Lava flow Vine
- Cinderbloom
- Molten Gold Nugget
- Pyronugget
- Emberweave Cloth
- Magmaflow Stone
- Lavastone Dust
- Cinderclaw Shell
- Searing Fang
- Emberfang Tooth
- Blazewind Leaf
- Volcano Glass
- Smoldergem
- Igniscale
- Cindersteel Bar
- Searing Ruby
- Pyroclad Bark
- Flamefury Crystal
- Moltenglaze Pottery
- Charred Ember wood
- Obsidian Wing
- Ember Essence
- Molten Tear
- Flameheart Amber
- Inferno Wool
- Scorchtail Scale
- Magmaquill Pen
- Cinderclaw Shell
- Pyrosilk Thread
- Emberfang Claw
- Lavaloom Fabric
- Volcanic Feather
- Firestone Shard
- Ignited Wool
- Searing Stone
- Ashenhide
- Magmaflow Resin
- Emberflare Pearl
- Scorchblossom
- Pyrocrystal Shard
- Lava flow Quill
- Flamecore Ingot
- Gained Skill:
- Gained Skill:
- Gained Skill:
- Gained Skill:
- You have gained three levels.
+2 levels - You have been granted rights to the micro-cano now within your influence
If Marcus had a mouth, it would be open and on the floor.
"Holy shit," Aurora said, equally in shock at what they had just received.
"Oh fuck." Marcus said, only a moment before all the data for patterns, skills, summoned creatures, and everything else was forcibly planted in his head.