Tec Mage Chapter Forty: Heaven's Core

Atlas was surrounded, both left and right had four giant mad lizards. The lizards tails slapped the floor as they waved side to side stirring up the rocks and dust.

With his hand on his metal flower Atlas pulled a pin out from the top of Florem Lucis, the metal petals shook as it was unlocked. The petals opened up like a real flower(1). With his free hand Atlas shielded his eyes just in time before the petals were completely opened.

A beam of light brighter than the sun burst out of the flower, the steady stream of light swallowed all four of the giant lizards on Atlas left. Atlas could no longer see the lizards, all he could hear was the loud hisses of angry but blinded giant lizards falling and bumbling in to each other.

The Florem Lucis common name was flower of light and Atlas had made it from a piece of perfect moonstone, when thinking about what to do with the perfect moonstone Atlas blinded him self a number of times tinkering with it. That was when he had weaponized it in to the flower of light(2).

Each inner piece of the metal flower had been coated with silver(3) and shined to a mirrors shine, then a piece of moonstone place in the middle. When closed the metal petals protected the user but when opened the mirror like shine redirected all the light in to an intense beam of light.

Atlas had made this tool months ago but as he was fighting blind creatures or the undead which had no eyes the flower had no effect on them.

"HISSSSSSS" from Atlas right the other giant lizards charged him.

Turning quickly Atlas redirected the beam at the charging lizards, as the light engulfed them Atlas could hear the giant lizards stumble and hit the floor as they were blinded.

This one tool had reversed Atlas situation, crawling on the floor with their hands over their eyes the giant lizards hissed with pain. Atlas decided to leave them be, he grabbed the loot and pulled the two giant lizards corpses away.

Atlas erected a small base to start treating the lizards corpses, in this base Atlas hanged up the lizards he had killed, both were in a terrible mess. One had a missing head while the other was missing his stomach.

As he worked Atlas found problems, for one the giant lizards skin was so tough that even his acid coated knife couldn't cut the skin, in the end Atlas broke his knife. Atlas then relied on a make shift obsidian knife that was sharp enough but broke when Atlas placed to much pressure on it, thankfully obsidian was a earth type mineral and Atlas could reform it with his skill basic elemental control.

This wasn't the end of his difficulties, after skinning one lizard Atlas found the heat of the dungeon had caused the newly skinned skin to shrink distort and crack. Each giant lizard had great fire and heat resistance but that didn't continue to the inside of there skin.

Atlas sighed, the skin was now unusable, inflexible it couldn't be used in any thing apart from tinder and with the skin still having some fire resistance it wouldn't even be good tinder.

Atlas did find the meat of the giant lizard to be extremely tasty, it needed some work to it like tenderising and herbs but after the prep work was done the tough meat turned in to meat that was great in making broth or straight up fried steak.

When Atlas started to skin the second Giant lizard he first changed the temperature in his base with enchanted ice stones to avoid ruining the skin and then continued to collect all he could.

When Atlas was finished he decided to leave his bags and the fresh skins at his base, even though he had enchanted bags that reduced the weight it still weighed some thing and Atlas needed all the advantages he could get. Atlas even unequipped the spring suit he was wearing so he could fight at full strength. Atlas knew his things would be safe, if any one could get passed these terrible strong monsters they would very unlikely be able to withstand the fiery heat. 

With his staff in his hands Atlas made his way out searching for the next area, some times he would be forced to fight and kill, other times he avoided the giant lizards. Thankfully with the help of his flower of light he only had to kill four other lizard men using their own strength and pushing their own blade in to their throats. This was because of surprise attacks that Atlas didn't expect other wise he tried to leave the lizards alone.

Back at his base four new skins were hanging up and lizard jerky was hanging up too, sitting down at a make shift table and chair Atlas face was twisted in puzzlement. He could of sworn that he had mapped the whole of this level but as hard as he tried he couldn't find the next level.

Was it possible this was the end of the dungeon, this was unlikely as the quest pop up hadn't changed. Atlas headed out again but this time to check every nook and cranny, if he was able to use his mana mouses this would be a simple job but at this intense heat the mana mouses wouldn't last 3 seconds before bursting into flames and turning to a wisp of mana smoke.

Checking all the walls he come by Atlas used elemental control to check each of the walls, some times lava poured out while other times there was just more earth but eventually Atlas found what he was looking for.

Hot air was coming though a hole Atlas had made, Atlas took a peek though the hole. What Atlas saw was shocking, a huge room the size of football stadium, vast but not empty.

The room was more like a lava lake, straight down the middle was a walkway that separated the lava in to two half's. On the walk way was hundreds maybe even thousands of green slimes and little black pebbles. At the far end Atlas could make out a clump of entangled black roots the size of a cottage.

Amazed Atlas looked around the lava lake room, every ten metres or so there was a pillar of blood red rock in the lava lake reaching out and connecting to the ceiling.

Atlas didn't know what to think, it was obvious to him that this was all man made. The pillars were too symmetrical to just happen naturally and the floor was a straight line of obsidian leading to the tangle roots.

"GLOOP"

Suddenly the slimes on the obsidian started to shake and divide in to smaller slimes doubling the amount of slimes on the bridge. With little to no room left on the bridge some of the slimes were pushed off the bridge in to the lava lake.

"SIZZLE"

What Atlas had just seen was mitosis but this was on a grand scale, mitosis happened between cells but Atlas had witnessed it between the slimes which were the size of footballs. Atlas could only think that slimes were super mega giant single cell organism.

If the heat in the dungeon was extreme then in the room with the lava lake it was a whole new level, even with 97% resistance in fire and heat Atlas was slightly sweating. Atlas carefully moved along the bridge trying to avoid pushing the slimes in to the lava.

"Ding"

You are the first player to reach Heaven's Core 1

Fame increases by 2000

One of the cores of the floating Land of the Avians, only those that can resist the heat can enter. It is a mystery how such a place came into existence but the answers could be close by

Atlas was close, he could feel it and the message practically said so. Atlas noticed that the slimes seemed to be happy enough in this heat probably because they were mostly water and slime, not enough water to boil but not enough slime to dry out, the perfect mix to live here.

As Atlas tiptoed around the slimes his foot touched the black pebbles on the floor.

"Ding"

You have discovered Crude Sun Stone, do you want to use it as a catalyst for the skill Avatar Of Fire.

"NO" raising his voice Atlas quickly answered, he knew that the skill Avatar Of Fire grew depending on how pure the catalyst was. Having a crude Sunstone would allow for his skill to advance in to the expert realm but he wouldn't get any of the great bonuses that came from a flawless or perfect Sunstone.

Ever since his Avatar Of Fire skill had reached Intermediate level 9 it had stopped advancing and only would do so when a catalyst was added, Atlas had kept a ear out for any info on Sunstones but the last one that was found was in a lava flow over 50 years ago.

It was a complete surprise that he had found this Sunstone, just by looks alone it was a black stone with no other qualities and the floor was littered with them. 

"Identify"

Sun Stone (Crude)

The power of ever lasting fire dwells in the Sunstone, as long as it doesn't fall below common quality flames will always exist in the Sunstone.

This Sunstone has lost it flame, it once was a flawless Sunstone but over the years it has lost it's power to unknown reasons.

Sunstones seemed to work in a different way to the Moonstone, Atlas had to reshape, temper, draw out imperfections and add a catalyst to the the moonstone to create a perfect one but the Sunstone started out flawless and lost it's lustre over time.

Atlas started to pick up the Sunstones that was all over the floor, even if they were crude Sunstones Atlas would find a way to use them, maybe in a central heating system.  

Atlas was so busy picking up the Sunstones and trying to avoid knocking the slimes in to the lava that he didn't notice the lava lake swell.

Atlas had found that some of the slimes were flame based and had tiny Sunstones in side their body's, these Sunstones were of common quality or higher.

The difference between a crude and common Sunstone was while one looked like a stone the other had pulsating lines of glowing red lava and had a great amount of heat pulsating from it.

Atlas was happy to find a common Sunstone, this allowed him to inspect the difference between the two and gave him clue on how to make the Sunstone a better quality, but something was on his mind.

The lava lake was a little lower like someone had drained the lava out, spotting this Atlas looked away from foraging for Sunstones. At the entrance was a super massive fire slime, it was so big that it covered and drooped over the edges of the obsidian bridge.

Above it's head was a bright red name, a boss monster.

"Blazing Flame God Slime" Atlas read out loud.

A level 800+ monster had appeared in front of Atlas, the only positive thing was Atlas didn't know the level of the god slime or he might of just jumped in to the lava killing him self to save time.

The difference in power was so large that saying Atlas was a ant would be incorrect, saying a fierce dragon was a ant compared to this god slime would be closer, Atlas was nothing to it.

The god slime rolled forwards knocking the green slimes in to the lava, some were absorbing in to the god slime and burnt and disgusted, small black flakes rolled around the inners of the god slime and condensed into black stones.

The flakes were being compressed and refined. Atlas took a step back, even though the rolling god slime seemed slow it had a constant speed ever getting closer to Atlas.

To the left and right of Atlas was lava and in front was the blazing flame god slime blocking the only exit, the only pace Atlas had to go was back towards the tangled black roots.

Matching the speed of the god slime Atlas stepped back while spamming fire trap spell in front of the god slime. The whole floor was covered in fire trap spells. As the god slime rolled over them they activated and exploded. The god slime stopped for a moment, it's whole body wobbled like jelly as each spell exploded.

It didn't even faze the god slime, in fact Atlas could of sworn that it liked it. With the thought that the spell didn't even work in this heat a green slime rolled on to a trap spell.

"BOOM" the green slime was lifted off the floor and whizzed across the air straight in to the lava lake.

"BLOOP"

At least Atlas knew that his spells did work just not on the god slime. Fire was the god slimes food and Atlas had just given it a nice little snack.

With that in mind Atlas controlled giant obsidian hands to erupt from the ground to stop the god slime movements but just like picking up jelly with chopsticks the god slime oozed around the obsidian hands not even slowing down.

"This god slime is unstoppable" thought Atlas.

Atlas only had one more attack spell he could use right now and that was ice walk but he knew it was useless in this heat, he had once used it in a building fire but it was overpowered by the heat and flames, here it wouldn't stand a chance in the blustering lava heat.

But maybe there was a chance, Atlas had left his tools at his base but with a little bit of quick thinking perhaps he could make something on the fly.

Atlas pulled the gust gem out of his jet boots, in this gem was the spell gust but with a wave of his hand Atlas removed the spell and replace it with ice walk spell. Reaching up Atlas pulled the green ribbon that was tied around the brim of his hat and tied the gem to his staff.

The Healing Spear/Staff Of Fenrir was a weapon that Atlas had made him self, it doubled as a healing amplifier spear and a cold enchanted conduit for his magic but right now Atlas needed a spear.

Lifting his spear/staff on his shoulder Atlas aimed with his free hand and threw the staff with all his might.

In the air the spear/staff glossed over with a thin layer of ice, both the enchantment on the staff and the spell in the gem worked together to form this ice shell.

Atlas was hoping that the same effect that he used against the giant lizard would apply here, blowing the giant lizards guts out of his body using a gust spell Atlas hoped that it would have the same effect on the god slime.

"BLOOP" the spear entered the god slime with little resistance.

Atlas smile was soon wipe off his face as his staff and gem was melted and vanished. Atlas had made a small miscalculation, as soon as the spear left Atlas grip the fire resistance that he had was no long extended to his staff and so even though it had a ice enchantment and spells working together it melted instantly.

Panicking Atlas even tried using Magnetic Presence spell to catapult his metal ball bracelets at the god slime but the problem with super heated metal was that it lost it magnetism, the balls rush towards the god slime and stopped short when the metal was too hot. Dropping to the floor the metal balls lost their inertia and the god slime just rolled over it melting it with little effort.

Atlas had nothing left but his flower of light, out of desperation Atlas fired off a couple of beams of light at the god slime to no effect. Atlas didn't expect this to work but he didn't have anything left.

"Bonk" Atlas back had hit the tangled black roots, steady moving back while attacking Atlas had finally run out of room.

"What, what is that sound" Atlas head was right beside the tangled black roots and he heard shuffling and movement behind the roots.

Thumping the roots Atlas called out.  

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

No answer came back but Atlas could still hear movement, hammering at the roots Atlas was panicking, the god slime was right on Atlas.

Slamming the roots with his shoulders Atlas slammed his whole body against the roots.

Suddenly long tentacles grabbed Atlas and dragged him in to the god slime, Atlas struggled to get free as he floated in the slime. The heat was incredible, even with 97% resistance Atlas could feel it, that wasn't all. The pressure in the god slime felt like a ocean and the texture felt like custard.

Atlas didn't have that much trouble with the heat but his health was going down. The biggest problem right now was suffocation, there was no air inside the god slime.

Atlas felt there was a some kind of humour or divine retribution as he struggled and thrashed about for air, the very first boss Atlas killed he did so by suffocation. 

As Atlas was drawn deeper in to the centre of the god slime Atlas equipment started to melt and break apart, unlike a person the durability of an item didn't have regeneration. Once the items were attacked by heat they started to lose their durability. First his potions on his belt boiled and the flasks cracked releasing all the liquid, his leather armour made from the boss called Razor Fin was on fire and the magus hat that Alison gave him turned to ash. Atlas gauntlets that directly injected potions into the body burst in to flames as the leather burnt and the metal fell from his arm. A bright light exploded as the flower of light parted away from Atlas burnt robe and melted, the moonstone that had no container faded as the moonstone was swallowed up by the fire. Every thing was destroyed except the biting bite, the metal rings and Atlas ghost necklace. The biting belt was a power grappling hook made by a grand master enchanter and Atlas last hope.

Atlas was fast running out of oxygen and health, for his final attempt at survival he used biting belt only to be disappointed when the grappling hook shoot failed and floated in the god slime losing all of its momentum. 

With the last of the air leaving his lungs Atlas thrashed about trying to swim out.

"Ding"

"You have discovered Perfect Sun Stone, do you want to use it as a catalyst for the skill Avatar Of Fire" 

Atlas desperate struggling had briefly touched a perfect sun stone that was floating in the god slime.

Atlas grasped the floating stone and excepted.

"Yes" the last dregs of air left him, if he was going down he would at lest absorb the perfect Sunstone.

Like the first two times an intense heat built up in Atlas like a fever, having 97% heat resistance Atlas could walk into a furnaces with out much trouble but this catalyst bypassed his resistance and Atlas felt every part of the heat rising in him.

With in moments the heat of the skill evolving caused Atlas to black out just like before.

When Atlas opened his eyes he expected to be staring at the inside walls of his gaming capsule but instead a bright light was all around him. Checking his hands Atlas yelped.

His hands were no longer the hands he remembered, his fingers were covered in a magma like rock but not just his fingers but his whole body was covered by the magma rock. Atlas was quite sure that these were his hands as he was still wearing the enchanted rings.

Looking around Atlas was surrounded by light, his health was no longer dropping but instead dipping and then rising like a see saw.

A number of messages had popped up, Atlas read them looking for answers.

Avatar Of Fire has reached Intermediate level 10 and will be converted in to Expert level 1

Avatar Of Fire Expert level 1

You can call on a aura of heat, later levels the heat turns in to flames, acts as a sustained buff

1000 mana is used and won't be regain in till the deactivation of the skill 

Fire resistance +100% 

cold resistance +25% (negligible) 

Avatar's Cape

Avatar's Battle Skin

Unknown

Atlas now had 100% resistance to fire and heat but this alone wasn't enough to keep him from suffocating, Atlas checked the other new addition

Avatar's Battle Skin

Due to a perfect Sunstone that was refined in the body of a Blazing Flame God Slime the Avatar Of Fire's Battle Skin has awakened. A coating of super heated magma covers the whole body.

.Heat and fire heals the user.

.Any fire based creatures of equal or lower level will summit to you.

.Can summon magma bats.

.10% chance of resurrection if killed near fire

.Greater power and control over fire

.Can create a portal to the nether

.Avatar's Battle skin can be condensed and used like a shield at the cost of surface area of the battle skin 

.Magma armour can be flung like a throwing weapon at the cost of surface area of battle skin

.While the user is in direct sun light a 30% increase to all stats will be applied

This explained it, the Avatar's Battle Skin was the next added effect to Avatar Of Fire skill. With heat and fire able to heal him the intense heat inside the god slime kept Atlas alive even though he was suffocating.

Atlas was no longer in danger of dying but he was still trapped in the god slime and surrounded by a bright light. Atlas just floated there while reading the message the game sent him.

Celestial Set (2 out of 4)

Moonstone and Sunstone are part of the celestial set a bonus skill has been added

Concentration Meditation Beginner Level 1.

Increase the regeneration of mana by 20% when near a concentration of fire, the skill unlike mediation can be used on the move. (this skill will replace the skill mediation)

Atlas escaped the god slime by using Avatar's flame cape like a whip and the basic elemental control skill to shift him self out of the slime in to the lava lake.

The mana the skill used was so small that Atlas had trouble seeing the difference in change but after checking closely it was true that Atlas was gaining mana regeneration even though he wasn't meditating. Not only was the god slime healing Atlas but it was also giving a mana regeneration from its heat and fire.

It was quite peaceful floating in the lava lake but the constant brightness of the lava was causing Atlas to have a head ache, it was time for Atlas to leave the lava lake.

Atlas swam to the surface of the lava lake, breaking the surface of the magma Atlas took a deep breath of air, almost instantly the tingling in his lungs stopped as the air gave what his body wanted the most.

Slapping the thick magma Atlas pulled him self though the Oobleck(4) lava to reach the obsidian bridge, pulling him self out Atlas scrambled on to the bridge and rested.

Atlas had escaped the god slime though luck, without the upgrade in Avatar Of Fire skill he would of suffocated to death. Instead he had gained a powerful upgrade to a powerful skill, finally the Avatar Of Fire skill was showing it's true worth.

Taking breaths of air Atlas rested on the floor, all around him the small slimes divided and crowded the obsidian bridge. The god slime was now in the lava lake that Atlas had just escaped.

Atlas got to his feet, the only thing covering his body was the layer of battle skin magma, his biting belt, rings and necklace. The rest had been burnt to ash and absorbed by the god slime. Unlike Atlas body his items didn't have a regeneration ability so even though Atlas items shared the 97% resistance to fire they continuously lost durability.

It was fortunate that Atlas now had a layer of molten rock covering his skin or he would be naked, to Atlas left was the black roots, Atlas wanted to go and check it out but he was basically naked and even though no one was around shame was still strong in Atlas.

As Atlas walked to the exit a long soft singing tone was getting closer and closer, before Atlas could leave the lava lake area Forge bursted though the door way.

A couple Giant lizards had grabbed on to Forge as he flew dragging them along, on Forge's back was the baby rainbow spider. The baby spider was shaking, it didn't like the heat and it was now in the hottest place on the floating island.

With the extreme heat the baby spider could no longer stand the heat, with great speed the baby spider jumped off Forge, bounced of a falling lizard and ran out of the lava lake room with steam pouring off the spider.

Forge on the other hand dove into the lava lake taking with him the lizards, the singing tone was coming from Forge. Forge had sensed the change in Atlas Avatar Of Fire skill and indistinctly searched for Atlas to feed off the newly powered skill, Forge no longer had any scene in him.

With his prize in front of him Forge surfaced from the lava lake and headed straight for Atlas, the giant lizards no longer existed, only liquid flesh hung on to Forge's body were the lizards had been burnt and turned to liquid.

Atlas was shocked, he had seen Forge like this before when Avatar Of Fire hit intermediate. Back then Forge was so excited to feed on the skill and mana, he knew it would make him evolve but Forge had rushed down the dungeon totally ignoring the dangers and brought the baby spider to a place it couldn't survive for long. Forge had forgotten about the baby rainbow spider and lead it into danger.

Forge snaked his way to Atlas with his mouth opened and fangs barred. Water was evaporating from his mouth in the form of drool, Atlas face was twisted in mix of confusion and disappointment, Forge had taken good care of the baby spider but now he had forgotten it.

Forge was about to twist him self around Atlas to start absorbing the energy when Atlas swang his fist and punched Forge squarely in the face.

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU" shouted Atlas.  

Atlas ran out to the exit, before Atlas left he turned and pointed at Forge.

"STAY HERE" Atlas voice was loud and had no humour in it.

Forge had regained his composure, rubbing his face with the back of his tail a small lump had appeared on his face.

"But..." was the only word to escape from Forge mouth, rubbing his face Forge slunked back into the lava lake.

Atlas was quickly searching the area, he needed to find the baby rainbow spider as fast as possible. Who knew how long the baby spider could last in this heat.

While searching Atlas came across dried patches of transparent stains on the floor, the blood of the baby spider was see though(5) and had no colour. Every now and again while following the stains Atlas would run into some giant lizards but to their misfortune Atlas flicked his wrist and a part of his Battle skin magma separated from him and splashed on to the lizards causing intense burning and confusion from the pain. Every lizard that came to fight Atlas would get hot magma thrown in their face.

Following the dried blood stains Atlas meet with the baby spider, the little creature was in terrible state.

The baby rainbow spider had tried to get off the floor where the heat was the most extreme, by climbing up a wall and using his silk the spider had some how managed to get away from the burning floor but at a great cost.

Four of the baby spiders legs were just stumps of cooked flesh, his abdomen was burnt causing it once plump abdomen to shrink like a raisin.

Most of the silk the baby spider had used to get off the floor had burst in to flames but there was some that held and it was these that had saved the baby's life.

Quickly the magma covering Atlas hands retreated to leave just his normal hands, carefully Atlas plucked the spider away from the web. With as much speed as Atlas dared he removed four of his fire resistance rings and slide them over the baby spiders legs, each ring gave 5% fire resistance for a total of 20% fire resistance. carrying the spider Atlas made his way to his base, along the way Atlas kicked magma at passing lizards to keep them at bay.

In the base Atlas placed the spider down, the baby spider didn't even move, it was past shaking from the pain. No more energy the baby spider was at deaths door. 

"Mouses, healing potion" hearing the command of their master the mana mice that lived in Atlas bags pushed out a deep crimson potion.

The first potion Atlas splashed on the body of the baby spider, the skin instantly looked better. Atlas constacted a small bath of potion mix and place the baby spider in. One potion had the effect to heal and even replace lost limbs but Atlas wasn't going to chance it, with a fresh potion in his hands Atlas placed the glass vial to the fangs of the baby spider.

No reaction came from the little spider, quickly Atlas rubbed some red liquid on his fingers and placed it to the baby spiders fangs, Atlas felt a gently nibble as the weakened baby spider responded. Not sparing any expense Atlas crushed some pills in to bath potion and forced a pill down the throat of the baby spider.

The spiders legs had grown back and the skin was back to its normal form, Atlas didn't stop with the healing. A small tin full of healing salve was pulled out of Atlas bag and without sparing any Atlas rubbed it in to the baby spiders legs and body

The baby spider raised it's legs making it easier for Atlas to apply the medicine, due to exhaustion and fatigue the baby spider was behaving very well

"Mummy"

Atlas looked up to see who had spoke, a young girls voice had called out but Atlas didn't know from where it came from.

"Mummy, why did daddy do that to me"

"Ding"

You have successfully tamed Princesses, the Rainbow Spider

End Chapter Forty 

Hi all, 

You may have noticed numbers in the story that doesn't belong, these number are lists of things i thought interesting. Some of the numbers are explanations on where i get my idea's from while the others are just research i looked up

(1) The idea for the flower of light came from the TV series Stargate.

(2) Florem Lucis is Latin, Florem is a singular for flos and flos is flower or blossom in English. Lucis is singular for lux and lux is light in English, putting them together Florem Lucis is translated in to Flower of Light.

(3) I was surprised that modem mirrors are made from glass and coated with silver, I thought it was done with Aluminium. I thought silver being a precious metal wouldn't be used but i was wrong. On a further note the earliest mirrors were made from Obsidian. 

(4) Oobleck is a substance that acts like a liquid and a solid, a bit like custard.

(5) Some spiders blood have a taint of blue unlike humans red but some times it is transparent blood