The industrial complex we had come across was massive. A part of my mind was rapidly parsing through my memories, trying to figure out what exactly this place used to be. Sadly, it was fairly difficult to estimate where we were, as the change had shifted things more than readily apparent, to the point that old maps were more suggestions than accurate representations of reality. Furthermore, even if I had a good idea of where we were, it would take a major coincidence to know what industry used to be in that area, though given the sheer size of the industrial area, I might have known.

Not that the question really mattered. The change had clearly messed this area up beyond all recognition, to the point that no written signs had survived, nothing to give us a hint of what might be waiting for us. Well, nothing physical from before the change at least, my senses could tell me quite a bit about the area otherwise. Fire was thick in the air, a stench of ash, heat and charred rocks, strangely distinct and incredibly pervasive, it was about as strong a warning as I could imagine. Sadly, that didn’t mean I knew what the fire might do, what forms our enemies might take, at best I could compare it to the frozen swamp I had encountered near Ashenforge Hold on Mundus. There, the air had been filled with a chilling stench of decay, while here, it was the scent of blistering heat.

Another good thing about our approach during the night was that the fires stood out brightly, making it easy to see them. Not that I was really happy about knowing that there were hundreds of individual fires burning within the complex, all dancing and flickering, maybe moving given the way the light was shifting around, but it was good information to have. Not welcome, but better to know about it and make plans than to be ignorant had get a burning surprise.

For a moment, I looked at the others, uncertain if I even wanted to explore. On one hand, EXP, worthwhile enemies and opportunities to raise skills that were all hard to come by. On the other hand, there was far too much fire involved for me to be comfortable, quite literally given the warmth I could feel from hundreds of metres away. The place had to be as hot as the warmest summer day, while exposed to the burning sun, and that was in the middle of the night, though without any perceivable wind. Maybe that was something I should look into, conjuring up a good bit of wind in hopes of replacing the air currently heated by the numerous fires with something fresh and new. It wouldn’t last long, there was far too much stone in there, all heated and sometimes burning, to easily cool it with air but it might help for a bit.

Or, if I really wanted to cool the area down, I could take my time and slowly bury it all in snow and Ice, I could violate the fire so badly it would never again dare to rear its ugly head. The thought brought a smile to my face, even as I realised that my wish to annihilate the heat here was born from my still lingering distaste for Fire magic, something I hadn’t shed even after I gained the Fire Magic skill. Maybe admitting that something could be useful while disliking the very thought made me a hypocrite but I had a feeling it was true for many sapients, especially humans. There were things we all found useful but preferred to feign ignorance about, simply for our own peace of mind and conscience.

However, given the sheer amount of natural Fire Astral Power in the air, I wasn’t sure I would be able to cool it down. It would be like trying to drain a river, or maybe a spring would be a more appropriate comparison. Unless I managed to fundamentally change the environment, the fire would reassert itself and while it would be an interesting challenge to try overpowering the fundamental change this area had undergone, I wasn’t sure it was the most suitable use of my time. To say nothing about the question of possibility and the lasting effects if I were to succeed. I might just throw the entire Astral River out of its current bed, returning it to the frothing, violent state it had been in right after the change. That, in turn, would extend the time needed for Nexuses to form, setting back my plans to gain power even more. This might, eventually, become a minor node of Fire of some kind, an area of wild Fire Magic, so not something I’d ever enjoy. But, on the other hand, its existence almost demanded that there was an equivalent for Water or Ice out there, and that was something I was greatly interested in.

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“This is a fascinating place,” Luna quietly admitted, likely feeling the same, thick Astral Power I was feeling though her thoughts were likely going in a different direction.

“It might be another dungeon, the open variety,” I explained, carefully feeling out the area. If that was the case, I wondered where the enemies were, back on Mundus they hadn’t been content to tightly stick to the area of an open dungeon. Or maybe what we were looking at were the surroundings of a contained dungeon, partially leaking out in some way and once we ventured deeper into the area, we would encounter its defenders.

Next to us, Alex was quietly chittering, excitement incredibly obvious. Similarly, Lia looked quite interested, though I could see that her interest in possible alchemical acquisitions was tempered with a dislike for Fire that mirrored my own. Still, I could see that going in there was too useful for the group to allow my own distaste to control me, especially as I knew I should go in. Necessity ruled us all, though I didn’t have to like that fact.

“Let’s see if I can get a better idea of what awaits us in there,” I decided, trying to weave a bit of Darkness Magic into a scrying construct. While I was far from my scrying abilities on Mundus, I was slowly getting them back, especially as I now had access to the Magic Rune. It was an incredibly useful tool to create all sorts of lasting constructs and through them, effects, the scrying just one of them.

Soon, I had a fairly featureless blob of shadow, linked to a second patch I controlled in the middle of the magical formation I had created. It took a little more power than I really wanted it to take, but efficiency was something that could be improved upon later, for now, I was just happy that it worked. At least mostly.

Moving the dark blob was fairly simple as well, it didn’t require any understanding of flight, like Lenore’s raven constructs had, but it needed a lot more power and was incredibly obvious. A floating blob of complete darkness was only subtle in the middle of the night and with the light coming from the fires in the area ahead, it was completely obvious. Any intelligence would know something was wrong and many things would be able to strike at it. As of yet, the construct had enough physical presence to be disrupted by almost any attack, making it less useful than I’d like. But at least I had been able to tie the feedback to a secondary construct, constraining my window of observation but insulating me from any retribution for my actions.

Sadly, while I could move the construct, I could immediately feel that it wouldn’t last long. It was too fragile and not woven tightly enough to withstand the disruptive effects of the wild Astral Power all around the area. Even worse, the Astral Power was almost entirely composed of Fire, with some derivative light added into it, making it anathema to my dark construct. If I had tried to add some mist into my construction, as I had briefly contemplated, the effect would be even worse, so at least there was that.

But it worked as an experimental measure and I could begin to get a somewhat better idea of the area. Sadly, that idea was mostly just how broken everything was, walls, ceilings, the entire area looked like some of the photographs I had seen in history class dealing with the Second World War and completely bombed-out cities. Only, here the fires were still there, only they didn’t appear to be tied to anything physical.

The first fire I could observe with my scrying construct was burning merrily on a broken wall, with no fuel in sight. It appeared to be an entirely magical effect though without looking at it directly, I wouldn’t be able to understand any details.

So, I continued on, searching around for a few more minutes until I had to let the construct dissipate as the drain on my Astral Power mounted.

All in all, I had been unable to find any really useful information but at least I had gained another point in Darkness Rune Mastery, bringing the skill to fifty-two.

If I wanted to know more, we’d have to head into the fire.