Ironvale sensed the change second, only after Thessa herself. There was a solidity to the light in his eyes now that hadn’t been there before. This certainly changed everything.
If the creature was lucid, and now had such a huge power-up, even he might not be able to get out of here alive.
Suddenly, everyone changed tactics once again. From Ironvale, their target became the Lava Beast.
At this point, there was no running. If they turned tail, nothing but death would be waiting for them. As geniuses, and veterans of battle, they understood this implicitly without anyone saying a single word.
Still, they all cursed in their hearts.
Why did it feel like the worst possible situation was happening every time?
…
Theron felt the changes calmly, having just reached the surface not long ago. He had only been able to guess at certain things before, but now he could sense the situation clearly.
Things seemed to be going even better than he expected.
He hadn’t known for certain that the Lava Beast would succeed, but he had his educated guesses.
The difference between a Fire Soul and a fragment was something quite important: life. One was half a living creature while the other was just a powerful flame.
Logically speaking, the bridge that was missing between the latter becoming the former was, well, life.
The creatures of this world seemed to have the unique ability to ingest Bloomstone and use their abilities directly. While this seemed simple enough on the surface, there was a reason Theron had linked it to his odd bloodline abilities so immediately—if it even was a bloodline.
Raw materials usually needed to be processed before they were useful to the human body. This required experts like alchemists to add the guides that would allow the body to use them the most efficiently.
While raw materials like herbs could be ingested directly, in most cases you would waste a vast majority of its medicinal properties. For raw materials like Bloomstone, the body couldn’t even begin to digest it to begin with, so the only path forward was death.
In order to bypass this, one needed a bridge between one’s Life Mana and the raw material. Usually, one’s digestive system would do the processing, breaking the item down into its bare form and then integrating it. It could be said that the digestive system was the only natural way of adding or subtracting from one’s Life Mana other than cultivation itself.
This was a complex field of Mana Science that could very quickly get even more complex, but the short of it was that for the beasts of this world to do this, they needed a special sort of connection in their body that allowed their Life Mana to process Bloomstone so directly…
A unique level of control over Life Mana, if you would.
And didn’t such a thing sound eerily similar to Theron’s ability to integrate an Echo directly into his body rather than his Core? Or his ability to control the balance of liquid in his ears? Or to cast spells with his blood?
If these creatures had such a unique ability with Life Mana, then maybe, just maybe, they might be able to exchange their own with a Fire Soul fragment, awakening it in an unprecedented way.
From the reactions of the Lava Beast, it was clear that it had almost died in the process. But because it had taken Eruption Bloomstone before, its vitality was incredibly high.
This was all to say that Theron had figured out how to do something that even the Firewings couldn’t. Even if it had a very high chance of failure, he had done it nonetheless…
A process to farm Fire Souls.
It was a shame that he wasn’t a Fire Mancer, but that was hardly relevant. That was because the situation was about to change once more.
Dorian thought Theron had fed the Lava Beast three pieces of Resonate Bloomstone, when in reality he had only fed it two. But that also wasn’t the main point.
Resonate Bloomstone’s function was to amplify Mana. It was burned through as it functioned, and the more Mana one had, the more Resonate Bloomstone one would need to trigger the necessary changes.
The Lava Beast had a great amount of Mana, but even that wasn’t the point. That had already been accounted for by Dorian and the Thistles. It was all part of their plan, and since so many things had been cut short by Theron, the odds that the Bloomstone would run out any time soon were near zero.
Unless, of course, there was another huge draw of Mana on the Resonate Bloomstone. And wasn’t there a convenient, recently evolved Fire Soul ripe for the picking and ready to do exactly that?
Theron had no way of knowing exactly when it would happen because he wasn’t sure of Dorian’s initial plans. But what he did know was that the Lava Beast would run out of steam far sooner than any one of them could possibly expect.
One might think, then… why would Theron ever want this? The stronger the beast, the better for him, no? All of his enemies were here right this moment.
But that was meaningless to Theron.
As powerful as the Lava Imbued Beast was, these people had come here prepared. There were too many of them and the beast would inevitably fall, though there would surely be casualties.
But who cared for casualties if the actual important parties didn’t fall?
If they finished fighting a battle of attrition, there was no doubt that in the end, the three parties might choose to retreat and lick their wounds. Then eventually, people would put puzzle pieces together and he would be the one left holding the bag.
But, if while they were working together, in such close proximity, the beast were to suddenly falter…
‘I know you know how to take advantage of a situation, Thistle. Don’t disappoint me.’
It was quite interesting, no? In all these geniuses that sided with Dorian, there wasn’t a single leader amongst them that was a Thistle? Was someone as cunning as Dean Thistle really leaving such a valuable chance to the mere vassals of his Clan?
And then it happened.
The group charged their attacks, ready to launch yet another blow toward the Lava Beast, only for it to suddenly sway, its eyes glazing over for a moment before its scales erupted with blood as though it was imploding from the inside out.
The charged attacks rushed forward, slamming into the beast and ripping it to pieces.
They were all stunned at once, not understanding. They had just been toeing the line of life and death, only for this to happen? Were things really just going to end like this?
The Lava Imbued Beast landed on the heavy shell of its back, its chest splitting open as a fiery pillar rose into the skies.
The Fire Soul. It was free.
The eyes of the geniuses all flashed. Fire Mancer or not, a Fire Soul represented a significant sum of money. How could they give up such an opportunity?
The instant it was free, though, the Fire Soul dashed away, rushing into the tunnels. Right now, it was nothing more than a bundle of instincts. It would run to where it was most comfortable: the highest concentration of Fire Mana it could find…
And that happened to be located beneath their feet.
Theron watched on silently as everyone chased after it, scanning them one by one before he slipped back into the geyser.
It had been a while since he assassinated someone. He’d have to get a few to make up for it.
But, he had also found who he was looking for… the Thistle lurking in the dark. In a moment of surprise like that one, it was impossible to hide the truest intentions in your heart.
‘So it was you. Interesting.’
It seemed that being a street rat had its perks.