Grey Dura 2

Tell me the truth, Arthur. You’re a masochist, aren’t you.”

“No, I don’t particularly enjoy feeling pain, Regis,” I stated, lowering my toes.

“Oh so you’re just dunking yourself in lava for shits and giggles?”

I stopped. “Do you mind? I kind of need to concentrate if I don’t want my body to melt.”

Regis rolled his eyes. “Oh, I’m sorry for trying to dissuade you from skinny dipping in lava.”

“Apology accepted, now shut up.” I took a deep breath. Even after hours of testing dozens of times, it was nerve-wracking to actually submerge myself into the molten river.

Dipping my entire body into the stream of lava, I immediately felt a burning, but tolerable heat coursing through me as I continued pumping aether from my core.

It was an odd feeling but it didn’t take long for me to be able to confirm the benefits of doing this. I had been right, except, it had gone beyond my expectations.

Seeing the glowing purple claws of the rodents had confirmed my instincts and had set the plan into motion.

The first stage was the most uncertain. Just like how the last level had its own unique ecosystem, so did this one.

When I had consumed the aether from the rodents’ claws, I realized that they were only coated in aether. Their natural claws—while sharp and near-indestructible—were just black. Seeing how their bodies weren’t able to innately wield aether like the chimeras, monkeys, or the millipede, I assumed that they had acquired those claws through some other means.

Their species lived underground, using their sharp claws to dig tunnels, so I speculated that in the ground was something that was rich in aether that they dug through in order to layer their claws with aether.

After hours of using my newfound dagger and aether to dig and punch deeper into the cave that I had made, Regis and I had found it…

An aether crystal.

The one that we had managed to find was about seven feet in diameter and extremely dense in mana.

If the first part of my plan had been uncertain, then the second part of my plan should be described as painful.

With no way of knowing if my body would fare any better than the rodent claws, I did the only thing any wise and intelligent person would do: test.

After another several hours of melting my fingers, waiting for them to regenerate by using the aether crystal, and doing it again while adjusting the input of my aether, I had finally come to where I was now…buck naked, standing on one of the shallow ends of the molten river I had found by tossing a boulder into it.

But it had paid off. My body felt as if it was going through the tempering and purging stage of my patented aether refinement process over and over again every second.

Because of how much aether I needed to expel constantly in order to keep my body from burning, as well as to be in a state of equilibrium with the harsh aether flowing within this molten river, I could only be inside for about a minute at a time. At least at first, that is.

“Wow. Five minutes.” Regis acknowledged with a nod. “New record.”

I stared at the aether crystal that had now dulled into a hazy gray color. “Just in time. I think it’s about time we leave.”

“Really?” Regis’ eyes sparkled like a puppy in front of a steak. I felt a little sorry for my floating companion. After the rodents had finally given up on trying to chase after us, Regis’ favorite show—watching the rodents fall and sizzle in the molten stream—had been stopped. This meant that he was stuck watching me go in and out between the molten river and the aether crystal, naked.

I gave him a nod, putting on my clothes. After adjusting my darkened leather bracers and gorget and equipping my bag and the white dagger I had grown fond of, I draped the teal fur-lined cloak over my shoulders. “You ready?”

“Hell yes,” Regis declared before stopping abruptly and turning around. “But before that… was it worth it?”

I let aether erupt from my core. Rather than seeing the thin sheen of magenta cover my entire body, however, my aether burned a brilliant purple—all traces of the reddish hue now gone. What really surprised Regis though, was the fact that almost all of the aether had coalesced into my right fist.

My lips curved into a smirk as I watched Regis gape stupidly. “You tell me.”