Kade bit into another glowfruit. This was his third in the last minute, and it worked as intended.

Although his body still had his own blood caked on it, he no longer had razor-thin cuts all over. He considered that a massive win.

He looked around and took in the devastation with a calmer mind. The forest was dead.

Everything looked unchanged, but he could see the subtle hints of crystal shards buried into every tree, plant, and shrub.

Just like all the dead monsters, who looked unharmed except for the blood seeping out of their skin, the plants lost their lives when the crystal shards turned them into pincushions.

Kade felt a little guilty that he caused this strangely beautiful forest to meet its end. He picked up a spare glowfruit and considered his next actions.

The logical choice was to return to the collapsed cave and try to dig himself out. Although the barrier that blocked the cave’s mouth had not disappeared, it was the reasonable thing to do.

He wanted to be sensible for once and move away from the thing that just blew millions of tiny holes in his body. Still, he was interested in seeing if the explosion had uncovered anything.

Kade walked towards the center of the forest. He admired the way the explosion had spread out the crystals. It appeared as if the explosion had embedded millions of gems into everything.

The platform’s sidewall was mostly intact, except for a few cracks separating it into several parts.

He hopped onto the sidewall and stared at the massive hole in the center. It took up nearly the entire platform area, giving him a direct view of what was below.

Kade frowned as he glanced at the bubbling magma that took up most of his vision as he looked down. That wasn’t what caught his attention. Monsters prowled the banks of the magma lake with strange flora that somehow thrived in the heat.

A little world that existed in complete contrast to most of the Rift Zone.

This explains why I’m not freezing my ass off in here.

He looked at the edges of the massive hole and saw enough jagged edges that he could use as steps to climb down. The issue was a hundred-foot drop from the lowest ‘step’ to the floor below.

Kade knew the drop would not be kind to his legs. Even with his increased [Strength], he knew the drop would break several bones at minimum.

He found that to be a good trade-off. A few broken bones for exploring a new area with possibly stronger monsters.

Kade stored his [Soulrend] to have use of both hands and casually hopped onto the jagged edge. He nimbly made his way down before finding himself at the lowest step. He crouched and gripped the crystal below him as he eyed a location that would be a suitable landing spot.

A straight drop would put him directly into the magma. While he might have some resistance to fire due to [Inferno Burst], he wasn’t willing to dive into a magma pool as the first proper test of that resistance.

Kade gripped the crystal so tightly that his fingers sank into it as he hung off the edge. He should have felt intense heat from the magma directly below, but it felt like a warm breeze. He still wouldn’t test it by diving into the bubbly magma lake.

He planted his feet on the underside of the broken, jagged edge of the crystal platform and kicked off. He contorted his body so he would land feet first, instead of breaking his neck on the ground below by landing on his head.

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Kade landed on target and grimaced when the bones in his legs cracked loudly from the force of impact.

His health dropped, but not to where the interface had to warn him it fell below fifty percent.

It went better than he expected. Especially since the monsters he could see waddling around showed no interest in doing much more than giving him an annoyed look.

Kade pulled the glowfruit from his pocket and chewed it down. He monitored his surroundings to ensure he would get ambushed as he waited for the fruit’s effect to finish healing his body.

He subconsciously tested his legs as he approached the magma lake. While it was the dominating feature in this underground layer, many other things were worth observing.

Looking past the shimmering air caused by the magma pool’s ‘supposed’ heat, there was a rugged landscape of floors and floating islands made from obsidian. Natural stone bridges that looked like they had formed from cold lava flows supported them. Steam vents hissed sporadically, releasing bursts of gas that boiled the air near them into a shimmer.

Kade thought that was all very interesting, but his biggest draw was that it looked extremely hot in here. However, he still only felt a warm breeze.

He didn’t hesitate before dipping his left pointing finger into the magma lake. He kept it there with a blank face for several seconds before finally removing it.

His finger was unaffected.

Kade should have considered this resistance’s usefulness but couldn’t help but remember the frost option available for [Soulrend]’s ability. He could have explored this frozen Rift Zone without using [Inferno Burst] as a heater every few minutes.

Well, at least now I know that elemental abilities also include resistance.

He looked away from the magma lake and eyed the surroundings. He wasn’t interested in fighting the monsters near the magma lake, since they felt no stronger than the spiders.

All that would accomplish is increasing the tally for his objectives. That was useful, yes, but also boring. He wanted to face monsters that would help him raise his [Arcana Level].

Kade targeted the obsidian islands first. The island’s surface was a small garden. Even if no stronger monsters guarded it, he wanted to see if anything was useful there.

He gave a wide berth to the wandering monsters. They did the same to him. Most were small firefly-like creatures that flitted around, completely uninterested in him. The ones that he monitored resembled chameleons.

There were lizard-like creatures that stayed in one place for far too long before moving on the spot and doing the same. They did nothing else except eye him warily as he passed by.

Kade walked on a thin stone bridge that connected to an obsidian island and froze when he heard cracking beneath him. Pieces of the bridge audibly fell into the magma pulled below, but it still held up.

I’m becoming too at ease.

He shook his head before quickly making his way to the island. He could have easily jumped the bridge’s length instead of risking it by strolling onto the thin structure.

Kade approached the shrubs growing on the island. They looked like art sculptures made of hardened, multicolored glass. The only reason he classified them as plants was the flowers that grew from them.

Blazebulbs:

Useful for starting fires or as a natural explosive.

It was a spherical flower with tightly closed red petals that pulsed lightly. And Kade thought it might be the most useless thing in this place.

He couldn’t see a purpose in starting a fire where magma was readily available. Thankfully, blazebulbs were nowhere close to being the only thing in the garden.

Ash Blooms:

An edible flower that can provide temporary resistance to extreme temperatures when consumed.

Kade’s fingers twitched. It didn’t specify how long the resistance would last, but he didn’t care. This could solve the cold issue when exploring the Rift Zone.

He resisted plucking the flowers immediately. He could stuff them in his pocket, but he didn’t know if that would damage its effectiveness. It was something to take right before he exited this magma chamber.

Magma Lilies:

These flowers have medicinal properties and are especially effective against burn injuries.

Another flower with an effect that was useless to him.

Kade felt that most of the resources here related to heat, and rightfully so. This disappointed him, but it would be a lifesaver for someone without his natural resistance.

He blinked as a thought took root in his mind.

“System, is it possible to take resources out of the Rift Zone?”

Yes.

Kade looked at the flowers with fresh eyes. They weren’t entirely useless after all… except he only had pockets to store what he wanted to take.

I should’ve brought a backpack. A magma-resistant backpack.

His eyes widened in shock as he twisted his body around and summoned his [Soulrend] at the same time. He felt the drastic change in pressure and expected to see a massive monster leaping toward him.

Kade saw something completely different. A wave of magma tens of feet taller than him, even on the island well above the magma pool, crashed towards him.

He had no chance to take cover or try to shield himself. The magma wave engulfed him within a fraction of a second.