[Flame Creation, Uncommon
Skill Level: 1
Skill Description: Ignites Soul Essence into flames that can be reshaped by the wielder. The intensity of the flames and the efficiency of the conversion depends upon the user’s skill level.]
Having survived his second ‘shifting sands’ event, Griffin should have been exhausted and weary. Instead, he was laughing maniacally as an angry Siroccan Nibbler charged at him for the fifth time in a row.
“Now we’re gaming!” Griffin declared, as he placed his outstretched palm before the charging Nibbler. Instead of biting it off, it halted in its tracks, snarled at him before reluctantly backtracking whilst cautiously observing him.
Griffin’s left hand, which had originally carried the Dagger of Descension, was now empty. Of course, that was barring the fact that it was literally on fire, a vivid orangish-red that should’ve been hot enough to completely scald his skin, yet it didn’t.
He didn’t know how he could tell, but the flames were an innate part of him. The presence of a new energy coursing through his body had been made apparent to him the moment he willed his Flame Creation skill to activate.
Mastering it would take a long time.
But for now, there were two things that Griffin had managed to discover regarding the skill’s mechanics.
The first was that the ‘conversion’ process didn’t require much of an investment when it came to his Soul Essence ticking down. He had been successfully using the flames coating his palm as a shield for the past minute and a half, but his Soul Essence hadn’t ticked down by even a single point.
The second was the fact that while he was very far away from reshaping his created Flames from something as ostentatious and grand as a sword wreathed out of flames, shaping into a ball wasn’t too tricky a challenge.
He had to visualize the shape of a ball and hold that in his mind for as long as he remained in contact with the flames.
His first shot, a basketball-shaped construct of flames, was shot outwards at the Siroccan Nibbler.
It had dodged his first strike with relative ease, simply jumping away before it hit and Griffin lost 1 Soul Essence in an instant.
This time, though, he had realized his mistake.
The basketball sized flames were too large for him to properly throw while visualizing and he suspected that it’s size was detrimental to it’s aerodynamic speed.
So, instead, Griffin chose to fall back on something much more familiar and easy to chuck.
A baseball-sized ball of flame bloomed in his hand and Griffin launched it with the grace and poise of a pitcher.
WHOOMP!
“Strike one,” Griffin hollered as his flaming baseball hit the Sirrocan Nibbler right in the head.
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It’s painful screeches rang out as it was blinded in one eye, the intensity contained in the flames that had not so much as felt hot to Griffin surprising him as even the flesh around it’s eyes was badly scalded.
“Strike two,” Griffin repeated as another flaming baseball manifested in his hands, before he pitched it again.
This time, his aim ended up being a little off, but he still caught the Sirocco Nibbler in the rib-cage.
[Soul Essence: 13/15]
There was no strike three as Griffin crept up on the grievously injured Sirroco Nibbler and brought his sword down on its nape.
While the Rune of Heat that had been enchanted onto the sword was dead, it was still a high-quality sword that was sharp enough to behead the rat-like creature in a single slash.
“I won,” Griffin blankly stated, still surprised by how easy it had been. He was barely winded and this time, not a single scratch marred his body in the aftermath of combat.
“Man, this class really is quite something,” He muttered under his breath, wondering if the power of his skill had something to do with the [Uncommon] tag that had come attached with it.
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“10 Qi chips he dies,” A rough, distinctly masculine voice called out.
“Two Qi chips on Gun-Ra,” Another called out.
“Five Qi Chips on Gun-Ra.”
The waiting area for the second floor of the Gilded dungeon was a chaotic mess as fifty or so disciples had gathered around the side. They had eyes for a single golden door, it’s color signaling that it was occupied — as they waited for the challenger to step out.
That was of course, if he would survive.
The enthusiastic banter and discussions of a newly arrived villager clearing the Gilded Dungeon on his first try was like a heated sport debate back on Earth, as poorly thought out theories and conjecture was thrown around left and right.
That all came to an end when Guardian Jun-Ra stepped onto the second floor, her expression stormy as her gaze swept across the crowd.
Her gaze narrowed on Shu-Lavan, the son of a wealthy merchant who had only been granted access to the inner courtyard because of a significant donation from his father.
“Guardian Jun-Ra, p-please do not look at me like that. This is only a little past-time of us disciples, we do not wish for your cousin to suffer any h-h-harm,” The foolish disciple admitted to his own wrongdoings, yielding under Jun-Ra’s furious gaze even before she accused him of anything.
“A thousand Qi Chips on my cousin brother, Gun-Ra,” Jun-Ra simply stated, her tone steely.
The disciples gasped in shock, many worriedly inching away as they feared Jun-Ra’s reprisal.
“Gu-guardian Jun-Ra, I couldn’t possibly accept your money,” Shu-Lavan seemed to be on the verge of pleading now, though it didn’t seem to be out of a fear of losing a sizable sum of wealth.
“I swear on my honor as a martial artist and cultivator, I will pay the sum to you upfront if I lose the bet. There, will that do?” She asked with clear distaste in her tone.
The merchant within Shu-Lavan awakened, his eye gleaming with anticipation as he saw an opportunity to turn disaster into an opportunity, “Then, Guardian Jun-Ra, please do not hold it against this pitiful disciple if you end up suffering a loss. Us disciples have little to do for entertainment in the Inner courtyard, after all,” Shu-Lavan slyly called upon the other disciples as his witnesses.
“Do not worry, Shu-Lavan. I am not such a petty creature,” She replied with a sneer, though inwardly, Jun-Ra was laughing.
She was the one who had orchestrated the rumors regarding Gun-Ra, after all.
When she had called Griffin an investment, she had also meant it literally.
With that done, all that was left to do was wait.
Ten minutes later, Griffin Thorne burst through the Dungeon’s door.