Ethan decided to wait on the tier-2 selection. He didn’t want to rush it, and he didn’t want to get the wrong kind of spell now that he was getting close to level 30. In any case, he didn’t have a lot of time to dally. He couldn’t afford to sit down and think his options through.

Something was happening, and he didn’t want the lizardlings to succeed.

Ethan carefully and briskly made his way through the tunnel, and it barely took him a minute to find himself at a dead-end.

He frowned, looking left and right for a second. “The hell…?”

Ethan raised his arms to illuminate the walls. Within seconds, he found a section that was a bit darker than the rest.

He took a step back and studied the mismatching stone. The longer he stared at it, the clearer it was that a tunnel was supposed to be in its place. There were even tracks being cut off by the fake wall.

Ethan grumbled. If he’d gotten that explosive spell, he could have broken through this wall a lot faster.

With his claws, he tried scooping the earth out, but it refused to come loose.

Why is it so tough? Ethan drew his lips into a line. Might have to cash in that tier-2 token. Unless…

He moved a few steps to the left until he found a regular section of the wall and dragged his talons against the brown carved stone. The talons drove into the earth as if it was made of butter, which told him he couldn't cut through the fake wall because it was made of magic.

Interesting. What if I could overpower that, just like the lizardling’s bone-armor? Would it dissolve away?

Ethan stood in front of the off-colored portion. Then he raised both arms and let loose.

Fire geysered out of his hand and flared against the darker stone. Ethan ate through his mana, trying to match his rate of regeneration, but his control was off and he needed to slow down on occasion.

Another thing to work on. And I hope I’m right about this wall…

The temperature was rising in the tight tunnel, and it was getting uncomfortable even for him. Ethan gave it a couple more seconds before lowering his arm.

The air was shimmering from the heat. The stone wall glowed red-hot for a second before it cooled down, but it refused to melt or dissipate.

I don’t feel like touching that just yet.

Ethan sent another gout of flames, but this time, he put all of his focus on narrowing the fire into the center of the walled-off tunnel.

Sweat beaded his brow and back, but Ethan didn’t let his concentration falter. He urged the flames to converge, to narrow into a jet that could burn through anything. A fire that could melt any and all obstacles that tried to stop him.

The world shivered around him and, as if deciding to obey his will, the fire narrowed into an almost straight jet of bright flames. The stream of fire beat on the tunnel wall, spreading outward and melting the surrounding stone. The heat was becoming unbearable. The air around Ethan rippled like an open oven. Just as he considered a retreat back toward the cooler sections of the tunnel, the jet of flames punched through.

The fire pierced through the fake wall, leaving a still melting and glowing wall of baked mud.

Ethan peered into the hole, panting from the heat. Beyond it, two terrified lizardlings held their spears pointed at the hole in the wall, and beyond them, Ethan noted another wide room. A crowded room. And it most certainly didn’t look full of civilians.

It looked full of… cultists?

He could hear them. Chanting. Going up and down on their knees. There was a great fire in the center of the room, but before he could make out some more details, a spear shot out of the hole and tried to take his eye out.

Ethan comfortably dodged, and decided to move back away from the hole just a tiny bit. For a couple of seconds. He couldn’t touch the wall just yet, fire resistance or not. Plus, considering what was happening in there… Maybe he should actually cash-in the tier-2 token?

There were at least two lizardlings above level thirty in there.

Ethan rolled his shoulders. Yeah. It would be dumb to walk in there with an unspent advantage.

Eyes still on the melted hole in the wall, he was pulling his interface to exchange his token when he noticed another upgrade notification.

Congratulations. Flaming Enhancement (Tier-1) can be upgraded. 100 fragments are required.

Nice. I can’t afford that, though. What’s this other one?

Congratulations. Gout of Flames (Tier-1) can be learned. 50 fragments are required.

He could afford that. He could only afford that, actually, aside from another cast refresh upgrade. Every other wand upgrade was more expensive than what he had available. But would it be worth it to spend that many fragments on an ability he could recreate? Would it be better than what he could manage by himself? The spell would be taking a slot in his wand, as well.

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Probably not. Though he would still get the spell at a later time, as that might qualify him for a hidden quest.

Ethan nodded to himself, then expended the token for a general tier-2 spell. He needed something that hit hard from range. A modifier might not be enough, but he remembered seeing projectile spells the last time he’d had to select a General-class spell.

Still haven’t used [Whisper]. That might have been a wasted token.

Ethan shook his head. That was a thought for a later time.

Select a general-class tier-2 spell from the list below:

Force Barrier: Summon a barrier made of force.

Healing Touch: Heal a target you are currently touching.

Ice Shard: Shoots a shard made of ice.

Small Fireball: Shoot a small flaming projectile which explodes on impact.

Force Lance: Shoot a lance made of force.

Ethan grinned. That must be it. The exploding ball the last lizardling had used on him. He knew he was getting it already, but he should consider the other options as well. Just in case.

Everything else is good too… Aside from Ice Shard. It doesn’t synergize well with anything I’ve got, but I’m going to eventually need something other than fire, in case I fight something with a resistance to it.

Healing and the Barrier were interesting… but they weren’t what he needed right this second. He had high Toughness, and barriers only worked if he could hide behind them, which wasn’t an option in his fighting style. As for healing, he had [Child of Flames] which would heal him, even though it wasn’t that fast. He just sorely needed a ranged spell at this point, and he couldn’t afford to delay it any further.

Small Fireball (Tier-2) added to General spells.

Ethan quickly replaced [Whisper] and angled himself to target the hole in the wall. He raised his hand, aimed, and shot out the [Small Fireball]. The spell flew out of his right palm; a familiar, red-glowing orb that set his nerves on edge. The spell hit the wall in less than a second, detonating in a violent explosion that shook the ground Ethan was standing on. One moment he was looking at the flying projectile, and a second later there was a flash, dust, and the damn ringing was back in his ears.

Ethan gave it a few seconds, then slowly approached.

The artificial wall was mostly gone. The walls were blackened, and both lizardlings were on their asses, struggling to find their weapons while they coughed out their lungs from the kicked-up dust.

Ethan opened and closed his mouth to help with the pain in his ears.

Must be the 34 points in Spirit.

The spell had been a lot more potent than the ones he’d tanked from the bone-wearing lizardling, and he was going to have to be careful with it. This spell would absolutely demolish him if he cast it too close. He might not be too vulnerable to the fire, but the explosion and shockwave would definitely do him in.

Ethan stepped through the widened gap, and before the lizardlings managed to get their bearings, he cut their throats and collected their fragments. Then he slowly approached the end of the tunnel. When he stepped into the room beyond he felt his ears pop, as if there was some pressure change.

At the center of the circular cave, there was a pyre. Something was at its center, but Ethan couldn’t see it well, considering the flames surrounding it. Around the pyre, there were three naked lizardlings above level 30, their hands extended toward the flames. They wore similar jewelry to the one Ethan had fought, a mix of bones and rough gems, while at their feet, around ten glassy-eyed lizardlings were kneeling, the fire dancing in their empty eyes.

But that wasn’t what immediately pulled his gaze and made his hands twitch, cold fury building in his guts.

Each of the kneeling lizardling was holding a severed human head in their lap.

Beyond that circle, more lizardlings stood, chanting along with the three. Beyond those, closer to the wall, there were warriors whose heads snapped to Ethan as soon as the ritual conductor barked the order.

Ethan wasn’t sure why they hadn’t moved when they heard the explosion. Maybe there was some magic muffling the noise away from the ritual? That would explain the ear-popping he experienced when he stepped into this cave.

Well. No big deal. They’d hear the next one. There were close to 50 lizardlings here, and any other time they would have been a pain to fight with his usual strategies. But not anymore.

He had more tools at his disposal now.

Ethan raised his hand and shot the first [Small Fireball] at the oncoming warriors. He tried to immediately shoot another at the ritual conductors, but the spell refused to trigger. As if the wand’s mental trigger had disappeared.

Probably linked to the cast refresh. Should be at four seconds and a half.

Dust filled the space. Death notifications rang in his mind, and further away, he noticed the ritual conductors manifesting their bone armor.

Ethan glared at them. He felt rage bubble in his stomach for those poor bastards who got captured by these filthy things. Ethan had relished the challenge, but he knew not everyone was like him. These people might have had families. Loved ones. They might have been separated from their friends. They would have been absolutely terrified when this all started, finding themselves thrown into an unknown world filled with danger and death, only to be immediately preyed upon by these things and used in… whatever this was.

Slowly, a promise began shaping itself up in his mind. A resolve. No lizardling will step out of this cave.

“Four.”

The dust settled and a few lizardlings continued approaching. Those who survived the explosion. A couple of them had armor and shields.

“Three.”

Some of them, hidden behind the shields, raised their wands and took aim.

“Two.”

Ethan increased the flames from his left hand and held his arm ahead, creating a wall of fire to weaken the lizardling’s spell.

“One.”

Fire projectiles. Rocks were summoned out of thin air. Off-white bolts of light. They all hit his flaming barrier and burned away. Only the stones got through, but they lost their momentum and fell to his feet.

Ethan tried to cast [Small Fireball] once more, and this time it felt right. He triggered his wand, and the ball of exploding flames shot not at those who’d just attacked him, but at the bone-wearing figures that tried to continue whatever it was they were doing.

A white shimmer appeared right before the fireball impacted, intercepting the projectile. The fireball exploded, but the fire only spread against the white pane of light and not through it.

A barrier.

Ethan ignited his right arm and cracked his neck. He was going to start upgrading Cast Refresh soon.