MaeveMcCarthy
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Chapter 71
🕑 Added 2025-02-06 23:44:53 +0000 UTCTwo days had passed. During this time, Monica had thrown herself into an unrelenting cycle of training, using Mana Sense, Meditation, and the agonizing yet invaluable Charred Masochist Skill to circulate increasingly larger amounts of Fire Mana through her body.
Bit by bit, she pushed her limits, wrestling with volatile flames that threatened to devour her from the inside. By now, Charred Masochist had soared to Level 45, and for the first time since beginning this harrowing practice, Monica’s entire body brimmed with Fire Mana without immediately breaking down. Her skin glowed a deep, feverish red—like a tomato about to burst—yet it no longer charred and flaked off.
As Monica concentrated on holding this teetering balance, her eyes shut and sweat trickling down her temples, she suddenly felt the press of strong hands on her shoulders—Dworsul’s hands. Despite his curmudgeonly demeanor, he hadn’t once left her side since her training began, silently watching, occasionally wincing when she died and resurrected. This, however, was the first time he physically intervened.
"Steady the flow through your arms. Slow it down. Move it faster through your chest and throat."
Monica immediately followed the instructions and felt the chaotic Fire Mana becoming more tamed. It was as though Dworsul’s presence—and her rapidly evolving sense of self-inflicted pain—had unlocked a hidden channel of concentration. A faint shimmer of heat pressed against her ribs, but it never reached the point of agony.
She and Dworsul had barely spoken during the last three days. Any moment that she wasn't sleeping or chewing on food, she had been practicing.
This was also the first time Dworsul actually gave her any advice.
"Do not get distracted, Avatar! You're close!"
Monica took a deep breath and kept circulating the Fire Mana, healing the residual damage with the Golden Flame. Occasionally, Dworsul would give her pointers on how to move the Fire Mana throughout her body.
Without even realizing it, she was circulating the Fire Mana throughout her entire body while facing no more resistance.
Ding
You have learned Utility Skill - Fire Breathing
Ding
Fire Breathing (Utility Skill)
By harmonizing with destructive Fire Mana, you can inhale and exhale it in carefully measured bursts. This Skill enables precise temperature control and safe internal circulation of Fire Mana, crucial for advanced forging and survival in extreme heat.
Ding
Utility Skill - Charred Masochist Lv. 45 → Lv. 50
Ding
Utility Skill - Fire Transmutation Lv.13 → Lv.18
Ding
Charred Masochist's description has been updated.
Ding!
Utility Skill - Charred Masochist – Lv. 50
You have discovered a bizarre harmony with destructive Fire Mana through equal measures of pain, perseverance, and healing. Whenever you suffer damage through Fire Skills, your ability to withstand damage will be amplified.
#1 Base Effect: 5% reduction against damage from your own Fire Skills. This effect goes up by 1% per level.
Current Effect: 51%
#2 Base Effect (NEW): Your ability to control any Fire Skill circulating through your body increases by 5%. This effect goes up by 1% per level.
Current Effect: 51%
Warning: Overuse of this Skill may cause severe strain to the body and mind.
Dworsul sighed.
"You did it, Avatar."
Monica slowly opened her eyes as she kept circulating the Fire Breathing Skill, feeling the powerful Mana coursing through her body without fully ravaging it. It was still uncomfortable and it still left a modicum of damage but nothing a little Golden Flame couldn't heal.
She could immediately understand why this Skill was so fundamental for forging.
Now that she had all this Fire Mana in her, she breathed out some into the flame she had been absorbing. Immediately, she was able to increase its potency, but with such a fine granular control that she could have never achieved by simply injecting more Mana into it.
"If you had Mana Sense on during your forging process," Dworsul said, "you'll know that distributing the Mana equally through your creation is not easy. Fire Breathing allows you to add and subtract small quantities of Fire Mana to the process. Now, you're finally able to start forging."
Monica had no idea that the Skill would have been this good. She had known it was going to help the others survive the Fire Mana in the second floor of Viscera—and she now also understood how.
"Dworsul," Monica asked with a hint of worry in her voice. "How long do you think my friends would take to learn this Skill?"
Dworsul cracked a smile.
"You finally understood the problem here, didn't you?"
Monica grimaced.
"Gromorlig was a great warrior," Dworsul said. "But, even among Dwarves, those who are not Blacksmiths do not understand the plight of our Class. Your friends will need, at the very least, two months of guided practice."
"That's... there are going to be too many Wasps around by then!" Monica cried.
"Let's worry about one thing at the time," Dworsul smirked. "Now, you're finally worthy of learning the very basics of smithing. Come, we're going to the Blacksmith District."
"What?" Monica said. "But it's blocked off!"
"If you take normal paths, yes."
*
Monica and Dworsul walked side by side in a larger tunnel while magma receded all around them.
"Dworsul," Monica said, clearing her voice. "Before we go, there's something I need to show you."
The old Dwarf turned to look at her with a raised eyebrow.
Then, Monica took out the Heart of Fire from her Inventory, immediately making the entire tunnel bristle with heat. The stone started fuming immediately.
She knew that this belonged to the Dwarf in front of her and she expected a very strong reaction to it.
"That's where it went, then," Dworsul shrugged and resumed walking, not deigning the Epic Item of one more glance.
"Hey, where are you going?! Isn't this yours?!" Monica was flabbergasted by the reaction.
"Yes, you could say so. I gave it away when I went into seclusion. I hoped someone would take over my forge while I recorded all our knowledge down."
"And you're not surprised to see it in my hands? You're not... mad?"
"The System must have scooped it for you. If the Queen of Stone robbed the Dwarves, the System had enough authority to try and re-establish the balance to take items from us. With all the Dwarves turned to stone, it wouldn't violate the System's rules. I imagine it's not the first grand Item that fell on your lap."
"I also have Thraldrirlum's Dream, his—"
"Pickaxe," Dworsul said, stopping in his tracks but not turning. "That is a relic rarer than the Heart of Fire. Please, do not lose it. My people will need it if they ever manage to escape this curse."
"Won't they also need the Heart of the Forge?" Monica asked, confused. "Isn't your forge, like, very powerful?"
"My forge is unusable by anyone," the old man stated, matter-of-factly.
"Why?" Monica frowned.
"You're not the only one who had access to a Divine Flame, Avatar," Dworsul said, looking over his shoulder. "To forge the Spear of Dhoznil, a Divine-graded weapon, I needed access to a Divine Flame. My forge would instantly kill anyone trying to enter it—including you."
Dworsul stopped and sighed, shaking his head while still giving her his back.
"Now, Avatar. Let's go. We've got some forging to do."
