TS4: Chapter 50 (Patreon)

Thorn had been intending to head back to the Sea of Flame to try this very thing, but now the Master of the Ruins seemed to have pulled the Sea of Flame into the central tower, making what Thorn wanted to do all the easier. Popping the crystal into his mouth, Thorn began to stride forward, heading directly for the wall of rolling fire-attributed mana heading his direction. He knew it was going to hurt, but then it seemed that any increase in his strength typically did.

As soon as the crystal touched his tongue, it melted away, surging through his body as it transformed into the purest of fire. With supreme concentration, he channeled that flame into his heart, sending it into one of the inert elemental stones that lined the Atlas Star. Another fire-attributed natural treasure appeared in his hands. He had been collecting them, and thanks to his weapon sales, he had over a dozen of them.

Controlling his mana to form a shield around his body, Thorn pulled his domain close, stacking it tightly against his skin. The closer he got to that boiling wall of flame, the fiercer the heat, but his mana, reinforced by his domain, protected his skin from burning.

[Thorn, of all the bad ideas you've had, I think this might be the worst. This is not normal behavior.]

"I know," Thorn said, "but I've got to earn my affinity somehow."

With that, he stepped into the blinding world of crimson flame, feeling his mana beginning to drain as the pure heat ate away at his defenses. Another flame-attributed natural treasure appeared in his hand, and he consumed it. This time, however, he also pulled pure fire with it, channeling it into his body. It was like swallowing a live coal, but even as the destructive element tore through his body, he could feel his divine heart surging into action.

Barely a moment had passed, but the pain was becoming excruciating when Eve sighed once again. "Use the divinity you've stored," she said, her voice resigned. Each time Thorn had killed a god beast, he had seized its divinity as well, but due to the potential for polluting his domain, had kept the captured divinity trapped, not allowing it to mix into his divine heart. Now, at Eve's recommendation, he controlled it to surge forth, throwing the potent energy against the flames that he was pulling into his body.

Sweat beaded his brow as he tried to balance the various forces. The pure flame he was consuming was horrifyingly strong, and caused unending pain to assail his mind. It was only made bearable by the natural flame treasures that he consumed one after another. At the same time, the potent divinity he had seized from the god beasts was forced into the path of the pure flame element, and Thorn used it as a filter of sorts. The pure flame could not exist in the same space as the aspects the divinity held, and little by little, those aspects were burned away, leaving gleaming golden energy behind. That energy sank into Thorn's body, repairing the damage that the flames caused.

Finally reaching a faint sense of balance, Thorn sat cross-legged in the midst of the sea of flame, operating almost on autopilot, as he continued to pull more of the flame essence into the elemental stone on the Atlas Star. The process was slow, difficult, and just as excruciating as Thorn had imagined it would be. Still, he had long since passed the point of being able to withstand pain, physical or mental. Even though the flames burned in a way he had never experienced, he maintained his calm meditation. Every so often, when he couldn't stand the fierceness of the fire element, he would consume one of the flame-attributed natural treasures that he had traded for. One by one, they sank into his body, guiding tremendous amounts of flame into him to fill the elemental stone. The entire time, Eve kept him updated, alerting him with each passing percentage that he filled. However, Thorn still noticed a problem.

"Eve, I'm going to run out of natural treasures before I'm done, aren't I?"

[Yes. Yes, you are.]

"And you still think I'm going to succeed?" he asked.

By this point, he was well over 60% of the way done, and nearly four hours had passed since he entered the sea of flame.

[Oh, yes,] she replied. [Absolutely. In fact, your chances have gone up. In finding the balance with the extra divinity you were carrying, you've actually improved your odds considerably. There's now less than a 1% chance you'll fail this.]

"You want to tell me exactly how I'm going to succeed if I don't have enough natural treasures?" Thorn asked.

[Just don't worry about it.]

"That doesn't seem like very helpful advice."

Taking out his next-to-last natural treasure, Thorn couldn't help the thread of nervousness that crawled through his heart. Yet Eve was as calm as ever.

"Just trust me on this one," she said. "It's going to be rough, but then you'll be fine."

Thorn's mind flashed back to when he had forcefully consumed the pure darkness on Lestra. That experience had nearly killed him, and even though he had grown much stronger since then, he could tell that attempting the same trick here would overwhelm his ability to heal, burning him to a crisp. Yet the confidence in Eve's voice was unmistakable, and so he continued on his path, maintaining his balance between the pure fire that surged into him, the divinity he was using to filter it and heal, and the wisps of energy from the natural treasures that allowed him to guide the flame into his body without immediately turning into a charcoal briquette.

After the last of the natural treasures had been consumed, however, he swiftly found his body heating up to unnatural temperatures. He had nearly purified all of the divinity, and his body glowed with a golden light as his divine heart incorporated it into his body. A nearly endless supply of vitality surged through him, but the damage caused by the flame was simply too great and quickly began to overwhelm him.

At first, it was simply his body that was growing too hot, but soon Thorn found that his mind was starting to feel stuffy as well, as the heat rose and began to impact his thoughts. He was already operating at peak level, his domain pulled as tightly around his body as possible. This allowed him to drastically accelerate his thoughts and mana control, but even that wasn't enough to guard against the fierce onslaught of flame.

"Just hang on," Eve said, trying to ignore the hint of panic in her voice.

Thorn committed himself fully. She had not led him down the wrong path yet, and just as he often asked her to trust him, Thorn knew that he could trust her. The seconds crawled by as if they were days, and just when Thorn was starting to feel as if he could not hold on any longer, he heard a faint sigh, and tremendous energy surged all around him. He recognized it instantly. It was the power of the Master of the Ruins.

The sigh was complex, filled with so many feelings, so many emotions, that it nearly stopped Thorn's ability to think. Barely holding on as it was, he nearly lost the balance of the competing forces inside of him. It was only when the energy began to surge into his body that he realized what the sigh truly meant. Just like the natural treasures, this energy was perfectly suited to the heavy flame element. And with a start, Thorn realized that the Mage, the Master of the Ruins, must have a perfect flame affinity as well.

The mana seemed to take control of the flame element around it, taming its fierce destructive tendencies and channeling it into Thorn's body in vast quantities. Thorn's skin, shining a golden bright, had gained a distinctive red hue, but that began to fade as the thick mana wrapped around him.

[I told you so.]

"That's an awful lot of relief I hear in your voice," Thorn said with a chuckle.

Under the control of the Master of the Ruins' mana, the pure flame entering Thorn's body had transformed from a raging destructive flood to a smoothly flowing river, pouring directly into the elemental stone. What should have taken him another few hours seemed to take only minutes, and with a faint ringing sound, it finally reached completion. The Atlas Star whirled as if jumping for joy, and Thorn heard the notification he was expecting.

*ding*

**STATUS**

Name: Thorn, Arcanist

Race: Titan - Voidforger

Destiny Points: 6

**Physique: 63

Strength: 63

**Dexterity: 65 (15)

**Quickness: 60 (10)

**Presence: 43

**Charisma: 51 (5)

**Empathy: 32 (5)

**Intimidation: 45 (5)

Intellect: 60

Wits: 60

Perception: 60

Resilience: 60

Tier: 9

Milestones: 34

Abilities:

Fear Immunity

Voice of Power

Master of the Great Forge

Heart of a World

Moon Wolf Transformation

Mental Mastery

Martial Mastery

Echoing Will

Divine Heart

Fiery Charm

Weapon Mastery

Background Tags:

Legendary Monster Hunter: 3

Hero of the People: 3

Ruler of Angoril: 10

Genius Earth Mage: 5

**Forge Master: 4

Life Force Challenged: 6

Runemaster: 3

**Saint: 5

Dragonslayer: 1

*ding*

Fiery Charm: Increase all Presence stats by +15

[Did your agility and quickness both jump by ten points?]

Fifteen for quickness. And it looks like Fiery Charm got buffed too, bumping my presence as well. But that’s the least impressive thing that happened.

Divine Heart: Your life has been bound to your heart, transforming it into a magical vessel able to store life force which can be used to restore even the most horrific of damage. Your absolute affinity for fire has increased your healing speed by a tremendous degree, and rather than harm you, flames will now heal you. While originally unsettling, the totem that controls your heart has been refined into a divine vessel, transforming the corrupted life force into a source of pure energy that is immune to corruption. This divinity has been further reinforced by the absorption of other divinities and their power has been converted into your strength. It is unknown what path you have stepped on, but your body has begun to give out a faint golden light.

Though he nearly missed it in the notification, Thorn could sense the change in his Divine Heart right away as the faint dregs of flame mana inside of him began to heal his body of the damage they had caused. It was a strange feeling, as he could barely feel the heat that the flames gave off, and it felt like a faint tickle instead of a raging pain.

[You’re joking, right? Flames heal you now? What—?!]

Enjoying Eve’s incredulous shouts as she processed the changes to his body that full flame affinity brought, Thorn examined the other notifications that popped up.

Heart of a World: Your heart has merged with the heart of a lower world, granting you an endless supply of attributed mana of the Earth, Fire, Darkness, and Arcane elements and the ability to control it at will. The flow capacity of your mana has increased.

Echoing Will: Your spirit has become an extension of your will in the world, granting you the ability to examine, understand, and shape the world directly. Your domain has been further strengthened by a new element, increasing the breadth of your control of the world.

Despite the changes to his stats, Thorn still found that he couldn’t increase his stats with the milestones he had gained. The last time he had leveled, it had been to the very top of the ninth tier, which immediately brought him up against another bottleneck. With a sigh, he pulled up his quest, looking over it once more.

Personal Mission: Build the Divine

Mission Details: All divinity must be bound to an aspect to grow, but your divinity is not. Discover your personal aspect and allow your divinity to adapt to it.

Mission Reward: Advancement to the tenth tier.

I really need to figure out what sort of divinity I want.

[First, you should probably turn around.]

The sea of flames had long since faded, and once more, Thorn found himself standing in the elegant hall of the Master of the Ruins. Slowly turning around, he saw the mage in question sitting on his throne, looking quite glum. Far from the imposing, regal presence the Master of the Ruins normally had, he now had his chin in his hand, leaning on the armrest of his throne as he stared morosely at Thorn.

[I think you're why he's like that,] Eve said, causing Thorn to nearly choke with laughter.

Despite having tried to place Thorn under a compulsion curse, he couldn't deny that the Master of the Ruins had indeed helped him. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Eve had predicted that help, though he didn't know how, and her bet had clearly been proven right. Thorn could sense the pure flame attributed mana that surrounded them on all sides, powering the entire ruin and hidden from the eye by the immaculate control of the mage. Even if that mana came rushing back in, thanks to his new affinity, Thorn knew he would be fine. He quickly bowed, bringing his head low in a gesture of respect towards the mage.

"Thank you for your assistance," he said.

The mage waved his hand, clearly dismissive.

"I don't want your thanks," he said. "What I want is for you to kill my enemies. But clearly, that's not going to happen. So I'm settling for the next best thing, a bit of karma between me and you."

This caused Thorn's eyebrows to rise, and Eve to draw a breath. Seeing the look of skepticism on Thorn's face, the mage laughed.

"Never mind," he said. "It's clear you don't believe in karma, but that doesn't bother me, because I do, and I'm willing to take the bet that it will come due one day. Besides, as much as I would have liked to destroy you, you have earned nothing less than my assistance, and in fact considerably more, by your masterful display during the shrine challenge. There isn't much more that I can reward you with that won't carry my curse, but if there was something I can help you with to complete the rest of your reward, let me know. In return, you have to tell me how you were able to manipulate the crystals."

Any animosity that the mage had shown before was gone, and in its place was a faint grudging respect, and a hint of anticipation. Lifting his hand, his palm up, he pulled a wisp of flame from the air around him, forming it into an approximation of Eve’s small body.

"I have an assistant of sorts. She's particularly adept when it comes to manipulating enchantments and artifacts. Considering this ruin is one giant artifact, overlaid with a million enchantments, it didn't take her too long to figure out the crystals."