Burn Through the Depths
The tunnel ahead reeked of damp fur and blood.
Thane advanced slowly, his boots crunching over old bones and blackened roots. The dungeon was changing as he climbed—less raw stone and more twisted ecology. Moss pulsed faintly with sickly green light. Insects no bigger than cinders clung to the walls in clusters, hissing quietly when disturbed.
He had seen this type of change before in a scroll inside the Archive.
The closer you got to a predator's territory, the more the dungeon bent around it.
And something big was nearby.
Not the Frog.
That came later.
This was something else.
He pulled up his full status screen, checking everything before he pushed deeper.
[STATUS]
🧍 Name: Thane
🧬 Race: Human
🌍 Origin: Unknown Plane
❤️ Vitality: 4
💪 Strength: 3
⚡ Agility: 5
🧠 Intelligence: 7
🔥 Mana: 3 (40/40)
🔁 Passives:
• Law of Absolute Repetition (Active)
• Quiet Casting
• Flow Casting
• Fire Affinity
• Magma Affinity
• Poison Resistance – Lv. 2 — EXP: 4 / 25
🎒 Skills:
• Firebolt – Lv. 1 — EXP: 30 / 100 — Mana Cost: 10
• Flame Arc – Lv. 1 — EXP: 15 / 100 — Mana Cost: 12
• Burning Chain – Lv. 1 — EXP: 11 / 100 — Mana Cost: 14
• Flame Ward – Lv. 1 — EXP: 1 / 100 — Mana Cost: 8
• Flameblade – Lv. 1 — EXP: 4 / 100 — Mana Cost: 10
• Magma Sword – Lv. 1 — EXP: 3 / 100 — Mana Cost: 16
• Lava Geyser – Lv. 1 — EXP: 7 / 100 — Mana Cost: 18
• Scorch Zone – Lv. 1 — EXP: 1 / 100 — Mana Cost: 20
📈 Level: 2
🧪 EXP: 0 / 120
📜 Spell Blueprint: Meteor (Uncastable)
• Mana Requirement: 500
• Magma Control: Rank 4
• Flame Sovereignty: Required
• Progress: 0.00%
No stat points available. Mana full. Health untested since the last fight, but he could handle it.
What he needed now was repetition.
He stepped forward—and the ground shifted.
It wasn't an enemy waiting ahead. It was an ambush.
The floor caved, dropping him into a hollow pit lined with jagged rocks. He hit the slope hard, rolled, and came up just as three figures leapt from the shadows.
Not hounds.
Runners.
Humanoid-shaped monsters with long arms, bony fingers, and no faces—just stretched skin where eyes and mouth should be. Their legs bent backward like a bird's, built for speed.
Thane had seconds.
He cast Scorch Zone in a tight circle beneath him and ignited Flameblade in the same breath.
The zone triggered instantly.
The air inside burned hotter than the fire around it.
The first Runner lunged.
Thane parried it midair with the flaming edge, then kicked it backward into the side of the zone. The air hissed as it seared the creature's skin just from proximity.
The second and third charged side by side.
He cast Lava Geyser beneath their feet.
The stone cracked. Magma roared up.
Both screamed as it burst from below, launching one into the ceiling and cooking the other in place.
The first Runner came again, more cautious.
Flame Arc.
The wide slash of fire caught its side, forcing it to turn—and as it did, Thane surged forward and finished it with a single upward cleave.
+33 EXP
He stood inside the burning zone, panting.
Three enemies. Minimal mana loss. No damage taken.
He didn't smile.
He calculated.
Those things were faster than anything he'd fought outside the Archive. Their coordination was better. They'd tracked his scent through the tunnels and sprung a trap.
And it still hadn't been enough.
He moved on, deeper into the cave system.
The next hour was fire and steel.
Wave after wave of monsters crept from the shadows. Thane burned them all.
He fought insect swarms with Flame Arc cast mid-jump. Crushed armored crawlers with Magma Sword into Lava Geyser combinations. Once, he cast Firebolt through a hole in the wall just to take out an archer-type monster he hadn't even seen—just sensed.
And with every spell, every hit, every decision...
The skills grew.
So did he.
+ EXP
+ EXP
+ EXP
He didn't need the popups.
He could feel it now, like blood in his teeth.
And then the system chimed.
Level Up: Thane is now Level 3
+1 Stat Point Gained
He didn't stop to celebrate.
He pulled open the screen, breath ragged.
📈 Level: 3
🧪 EXP: 0 / 140
🎯 Stat Points: 1
He dropped the point into Intelligence again.
His mana surged to 50.
Still not enough for Meteor... but closer.
And then—finally—he emerged into a wider chamber. This one wasn't filled with enemies. Just stillness.
And a single object.
A stone marker. Carved into the back wall of the room. It glowed faint red, like coal gone cold.
He stepped closer.
The inscription was crude. Etched with claws. But he could make it out.
"He died. But fire spoke to him."
Below it, the same rune again.
The one from the Archive.
Meteor.
But not whole.
Just the upper arc of the circle.
Thane reached out and pressed his palm against the stone.
It was warm.
Not alive.
But recent.
Someone had come this far... and failed.
He didn't feel fear.
He felt resolve.
He wasn't the first.
But he'd be the last.
The tunnel opened again.
The scent of sulfur drifted on the air.
Another chamber revealed itself—vast, dome-shaped, with a platform suspended over a lake of bubbling lava. It wasn't natural. It was engineered.
This wasn't a battlefield.
It was a crucible.
A message on the far wall read:
"Spell efficiency trial. Reach the central pillar. No overcasting."
"System is monitoring your mana."
He stepped onto the hanging platform.
It floated forward.
He raised a hand.
Cast Firebolt into the empty air.
The platform dipped.
He smiled.
Not a test of power. A test of control.
What followed was chaos wrapped in discipline.
He burned flame wisps with minimal output, chaining Flame Ward and Burning Chain with exact mana usage. He calculated every cast down to the decimal, even redirecting enemy fire to minimize waste.
The system noticed.
+4 EXP
Spell Efficiency Rating: Acceptable
Mana Reduction Applied (Next Cast: -10%)
Then the final enemy came.
A creature of molten bone crashed down from above.
Thane didn't flinch.
He cast Scorch Zone beneath its feet.
Then used Magma Sword to end it with a clean, searing blow.
The creature fell into the lava.
And the platform reached the final spire.
He stepped forward, touched the red crystal.
The screen opened.
[Minor Advancement: Flame Sovereignty Initiated]
• You have begun the path toward controlling all aspects of flame.
• Future flame-based spells may now be shaped, adjusted, and synergized.
• Magma Control remains locked.
• Spell Blueprint: Meteor — Progress: 1.2%
Thane exhaled.
He didn't smile.
He burned.
The climb would continue.
And soon, the Giant Frog at the dungeon's entrance would see what the dungeon had created.
Not prey.
Not a boy.
A sovereign of flame.
And the future bringer of meteors.