Chương 118: Forging a weapon part 2

Felicia wished him good luck before heading off to her daily tasks, leaving Joe alone for the next stage of the creation. He stoked the forge, and soon it roared with life, a wave of heat radiating outward as flames licked hungrily within. Joe set the hundred mana crystals into a slot at the back, then carefully placed the staff across the top, above the fire. The forge altered the flames in ways he didn't fully understand, and despite the blaze, the staff didn't ignite. He even wondered if it could burn at all.

The wood was unlike anything he'd worked with before; no matter how much force he used, he hadn't been able to bend it in the slightest. When he activated the first mechanism, a single mana crystal rolled into the fire, turning the flames a deep shade of violet. Every minute, another crystal followed, until fifty had been consumed, and the heat reached a ferocious peak. Sweat poured down Joe's body, skin scorched and gleaming as if he were some ancient blacksmith at work.

A crowd gathered at a distance, kept at bay by the furnace's intensity. Corel's worried pulse brushed his mind.

'Are you okay? Do you need help?'

'I'm fine. Don't come closer, it's hard enough to breathe here as it is,' he replied. Gripping the bellows, Joe pumped the flames higher, then triggered a second mechanism that rotated the staff above the fire like meat on a spit. After a time, the staff plunged into the heart of the blaze, held for ten long seconds while Joe forced the bellows harder still. When it rose back into place, slowly turning once again, the staff's surface gleamed with a new dark-brown sheen. Just as Zevra had described.

Joe allowed himself a brief smile as he stumbled back for a gulp of water before returning for the next plunge. The process repeated ten times until the staff emerged blackened with charcoal. Donning his heat-resistant gloves, Joe seized it and sprinted for the lake. Steam erupted in a colossal plume as he plunged it into the water, the surface of the lake hissing and dropping several inches before his eyes.

He wasted no time, hauling the staff back to the forge, setting it once more across the flames, then feeding in ten more crystals. Twice more he repeated the sequence, until only the final two stages remained, the most dangerous parts. He rolled a beast core and sapling into the blaze. At once, a spectral image of a red dragon tore across the sky above. Its roar shook the air, and gouts of fire erupted from the forge in violent bursts. Joe flinched back, scrambling for cover, but not quickly enough.

Purple flames seared across both shoulders, the pain biting deep even as he staggered clear, shocked by the sheer ferocity of the reaction. Joe slid himself into the lake, sinking beneath the surface to escape the purple firestorm raging above. Cool water enveloped him, muffling the chaos as he gazed upward. The sky burned crimson, streaked with violet flame, casting the world in a haunting glow. Floating there, beneath the surface, he felt an unexpected calm settle over him.

A familiar warmth flared within as Uriel's light awakened for the first time since showing him her vision.

"Can you see this?" he tried to ask, though the words slipped away in bubbles that drifted toward the surface.

'Yes. And it's beautiful,' Uriel answered. Joe nodded, letting the moment linger as the flames in the heavens finally ebbed away. Somehow, the branches far above were untouched. When it was safe, he climbed from the lake and returned to the forge. Setting a timer, he let the staff rotate over the waning fire, every muscle tense with anticipation. Zevra had warned him: one mistake and the wood would fracture, loud and final. For an hour, he braced himself for the sound of failure. None came.

At last, he exhaled, relieved, and left the staff to simmer.

"That was quite a sight, wasn't it, four eyes?" Shanna giggled.

"It was truly a marvel," Travis admitted, still wide-eyed.

"It never gets boring when the Farmer is around," Esha muttered. No one disagreed. A shared pulse swept through them all as the system's cold script appeared: Flames of the Forge. Four days passed before the beast's core and sapling sputtered out, exhaling its final puff of mana. Joe was already waiting, poised for the last and final step. He hefted a massive shovel, edging the first mana gem toward the furnace's mouth. With a flick of his wrist, he sent it skidding into the flames. Nothing happened.

He let out a slow breath. One by one, he repeated the process, gems vanishing into fire, until at last he reached the twelfth. The forge rumbled ominously as he balanced it on the shovel's edge. No hesitation, he snapped his wrist, launching the gem into the roaring heart of the blaze. The forge shook. Fire howled.

'Run!' Uriel screamed. __ Zevra sat hunched over her viewing orb, watching Joe slide the final gem into the forge. She had been tempted to warn him about this step, to prepare him, but that would have been overstepping and breaking the limits the seedling had forced on her. Limits that kept her cover as an integration invader intact. So far, her plan has proceeded without a hitch, and she was close, so close, to pinpointing the hidden gate housing the… item she was here to find.

A flicker of unease nagged her as the orb's surface flared white, blinding her view. She hoped the boy survived. She still might need his help. But why, by the roots, had he used enriched mana? The flames would burn far too hot, far too wild to control. If the fire spread to her home, she would have to abandon it, and finding another secure place would be a nuisance. She clicked her tongue, waiting to see how much damage the fool had wrought. __ The world exploded in violet fire.

Joe spun the instant Uriel screamed her warning, but he hesitated when his eyes fell on the group gathered beyond the lake. They were too close. Too many. The flames would reach them. A headcount flashed across his mind as he skimmed his mini-map, two by the house, three to the left, another two north of the lake. Too scattered. There was no way he could gather them all. Whoever he didn't reach… would face the fire head-on. That single, merciless truth struck him in the space of a heartbeat.

Then the inferno surged outward. He made his choice. Spinning back toward the onrushing wall of fire, he raised both hands, enriched mana surging like a flood. He pulsed Mana through every vein and unleashed his biggest Mana Wave. A blast erupted from him, blooming like a great flower across the lake. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Run!!!!!" he roared. __ Corel felt a tug, a surge of panic through their bond, the instant the flames began to spread. She moved. In one motion, she scooped up Shanna, Travis, and Meris and booted Locke away from the encroaching fire. They were the only ones close enough for her to reach. Her heart pounded as she sprinted, lungs burning, carrying the young ones as fast as her legs would take her.

From the corner of her eye, she glimpsed Esha and Gao, each hauling Alice and Felicia under their arms, fleeing in another direction. Across the lake, Tevenny dashed away with someone else she couldn't place. Corel hoped that was everyone. Hoped that Locke had made it clear. Hoped her bond was not about to die. __ Esha skidded to a halt, dumping Alice onto the ground as her eyes locked on the towering column of fire stabbing into the heavens.

Even from this distance, the heat was unbearable; she had to shield her gaze before her retinas seared. She didn't know what had gone wrong, only that if the flames weren't stopped, everything would burn. Even Yggdrasil was smoking, branches already scorched to ash where the inferno reached.

"Where is the Farmer?" she demanded, spinning toward Gao.

"Did you see him escape?" Gao shook her head. Esha swore furiously, fists trembling.

"By Vishnu, I'll kill you myself if you don't walk out of there, Farmer!" she roared into the blaze. __ Joe had no answers. No plan. Just the biting injustice of it all. How? How did this keep happening to him? Wasn't he supposed to be lucky? Wasn't he favoured by the system? Then why was he burning alive, reduced to ash by a mistake? Was this why his fate line ended so abruptly? Was this it? His fated end?

"No!" he snarled, his voice raw.

"Noooooo!!!" He refused to die like this. Not by accident. Not by misstep. He was… what was he, even? Human? High Human? Something else entirely? The thought dissolved in agony as skin peeled from bone, flames eating through him. He forced himself to hold, to keep channelling. Everyone was still moving, but he no longer had an escape route. If he stopped channelling mana, he would die. A mana band stretched from his stream, funnelling the inferno skyward.

Branches of Yggdrasil ignited and burned away, sacrificed to spare those fleeing behind him. It was the only way he could think to contain the flames. Relief flickered as he saw the last of the dots on his mini-map escape the immediate radius… until they slowed.

'Keep moving!' he pulsed frantically through the bond.

'I can't hold this!' Corel's dot dashed back and forth, warning the rest, and the others began fleeing deeper into the forest. Joe screamed as his arms blackened into charred stumps. His legs followed. He didn't stop channelling. He couldn't. The pillar roared upward, wind and flame tearing everything apart. His ears had long since burned away, leaving him in suffocating silence, trapped in fire and pain. Then his eyes went. Sight vanished in a wash of white agony. He knew there was no healing from this.

No pills, no skills, no miracle. This was the end. He sagged, ready to let go. That was when he felt a presence at his side. A voice thundered inside his mind.

"What are you doing?" a leprechaun asked.

"Dying, I think," Joe answered weakly.

"I thought you were stronger than that? It's just a little fire," the leprechaun continued with a strangely normal tone.

"Just a little? Look at it! It's taller than YggDrasil! How the hell am I supposed to put it out?" Joe screamed in his head.

"Why would you put it out? Aren't you forging a staff?"

"I'm pretty sure that is no longer possible. It probably burnt…" His thoughts cut short as sight suddenly returned. He blinked through the charcoal crusting his face. Wasn't he blind? Hadn't his eyes been burned away? A shimmer moved inside the flames. There, untouched, still rotating slowly within the inferno, was his staff. Joe almost wept, though any tear would have hissed to steam before it hit his cheek. He forced the pain aside, pulling on the current of Nature's Paradise until it surged through him.

The seedling was right. Why stop the flame? This was his fire. His forge. His staff. His fate. A laugh tore from his throat as he flared his enriched mana, pouring it into his Mana Stream, and he began to squeeze. __ Tevenny halted mid-sprint, staring upward.

"Stop! Look! It's shrinking!" she cried, hope flaring. A pulse of Nature rolled out from the pillar, pure, radiant energy. It was the same vibrant force that now lived within her body, and she shivered with joy at the familiar embrace. The heat in the air eased as the flames compressed. She ran back toward Joe, forcing herself through the fading waves of heat until she broke free of the forest. Where the training grounds and lake had once been, only scorched earth remained, blackened and barren.

The lakebed was dry, not a single drop of water left. And yet, somehow, the house still stood. Untouched. Not even scorched. The tree above had lost entire branches, but his home endured. What in the system was that house made of? She would have to ask later. Tevenny vaulted into a nearby tree, her eyes widening at the sight below. Joe stood blackened and charred, but still upright, his hands clenched tight as he forced the pillar to shrink into a blazing rod of pure flame.

Once purple, the fire now condensed into searing white brilliance. Sweat poured off her in rivulets, and she fumbled for her flask, gulping down water as she watched the impossible unfold. Minutes later, others arrived. Friends new and old, gathering silently around her vantage. Valeri leapt into her arms, and Tevenny pulled her close, hugging her tight as they stared together in awe.

"That was intense," Valeri whispered after a long drink.

"I'm soaked through. I wonder if it's always this exciting here." Tevenny laughed softly, holding her sister even tighter, eyes fixed on the man forcing fire to obey.

"I think, sister, we chose the right place to live." __ Joe felt a sharp pop in his leg as the bone reset, knitting back into place. He silently thanked whatever spirit of nature had granted him his profession. The pillar of fire sputtered at last, collapsing inward until only a blazing white rod of condensed flame remained, bound within his Mana Stream. With a roar, Joe seized it and slammed it into his quarterstaff. The wood screamed, hissing with steam as the charcoal coating was seared away.

He pushed harder, forcing flame and wood together until… Flash! A blinding light engulfed him. The fusion erupted with such force that a mana pulse blasted Joe off his feet. He sailed over the drained lake, tumbling toward the treeline. A blur of motion caught him mid-air. Recognizing the synthetic arm that held him, he gave it a quick squeeze. Before he could thank Esha for catching him, she swatted his hand away.

"I'm going to charge you for that touch," she teased as they lightly landed on the ground.

"Thanks for the catch," Joe groaned. Esha laughed, then promptly dropped him onto the ground and sat on him. His body screamed in agony, but he bit back the yell as they both turned to witness the final forging. The staff and blazing rod floated high above the forge, entwined in radiant streams of mana. Sparks cascaded around them, swelling into a crescendo. Then, as their fusion reached its peak, the sky exploded in fireworks of purple mana.

When the light faded, his new staff shimmered into being, resplendent, complete. After everything that had gone right, and all that had nearly gone catastrophically wrong, it was done. Esha hoisted Joe up and half-dragged him toward it. As his fingers brushed the weapon, he invoked Identify, awe flooding him. Identify: Fire Forged Staff of the Undying Fur Caved Tree. This staff was foolishly forged with overfilled mana crystals and an infused peak sapling.

By sheer luck and perseverance, an anomaly was born, a weapon of unmatched quality among peak E-grade arms. Now classified as a pseudo D-grade growth weapon, it will evolve alongside its wielder. 1000 Vitality 1000 Strength 1000 Intellect Skill - Mark of the Farmer: designate any target within sight as a consumer. Feed them with food from anywhere in the Multiverse.

Skill - Farmer's Pride: Harness the pride of the Farmer to temporarily enhance all skills, increasing efficiency and unlocking unique bonuses as proficiency grows. The staff drifted into his hands. At once, a bond flared, his mind entwining with the growth weapon. Somewhere within, he felt the click of a small box appearing, locked tight, waiting. Joe wondered what it meant. Then his battered body finally gave out, and once more he collapsed into unconsciousness.