The young man associated with the constellation of Aquarius, Ganymede, nodded at Rakna's order and flipped over his amphora. Instantly, water began to pour out but it didn't follow the rules of gravity as it rose into the air like a dragon.
The amount continued to grow until Ganymede waved his container again and the stream of water expanded and flooded the entire Fire Well with a tremor. It was instantly followed by an eruption of steam.
Rakna used his aura to freeze the small waves of water spilling toward him and after a minute or two, he raised his hand to stop Ganymede and the young man flipped his amphora upright.
The water's source was cut off and now the pit looked like a steaming hot spring. "Well, it worked rather well," the therian commented and approached the edge of the well.
"{And may I ask the purpose of this stunt?}" Fray inquired.
"Celestial Kindles live inside Fire Wells because of their hibernating nature. They look for flames or hot places and stay there for essentially the entirety of their lifespan."
"{And?}"
"And Celestial Kindles cannot be extinguished by normal means," Rakna said and smiled faintly as he spotted several fiery dots under the water. "So, I figured the best way to bait them out would be to get rid of the Fire Well itself."
"{What a crude method…}"
"Quiet. They're waking up," Rakna said as the red dots were becoming larger and larger. He waved his hand and frost energy seeped out of his body. It spread around and started forming a vague dome over the Fire Well.
As if on cue, geysers of vapor and water suddenly rose on the fake lake, and bundles of orange-red flames flew toward the sky. There were only three at first but a second after, five more came out.
"Where do you think you're going?" Rakna uttered and casually made a hand sign without raising his arm. The frost energy solidified at his command and turned into Barrier Runes, each one made of the runic letters for Confinement, Power, and Air.
When the Celestial Kindles reached the dome, they were immediately halted as if they had bumped into a wall, even if they aimed at the gaps between the runes. What made it even worse for these sentient flames was the inherent nature of Rakna's magic that bled into even his runes and had an increased effect on fire.
"{What are you trying to do?}" Fray asked in confusion. "{It doesn't seem like you want to catch them… What is that other motive you mentioned?}"
"Simple," Rakna said as he observed the Kindles frantically trying to leave. "Celestial Kindles have a level of 100 to 150 from birth. That's high but they don't really have any fighting power. What they do have, however, is…" He trailed and cast Appraisal on one of the flames.
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Name: None
Age: --- | Level: 137
Race: Celestial Kindle
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Attributes:
STR: 0 | END: 0
SPD: 0 | DEX: 0
INT: 268 | LCK: 1
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Statistics:
STA: 0 | MP: 2680
SWI: 536 | AGI: 0
SEN: 268 | ATC: 269
ATT: 0 | DEF: 0
MA: 804 | MR: 2.68/min
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Proficiencies:
- Flight (Lv. Max ⋆)
- Dodge (Lv. Max ⋆)
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Magic Skills:
- None.
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Cognitive Skills:
- Physical Damage Resistance (Lv. Max ⋆)
- Magical Damage Resistance (Lv. Max ⋆)
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Spontaneous Skills:
- None.
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Unique or Racial Traits:
- Body of Ethereal Fire: Holders of this trait do not possess physical attributes; parameters such as speed and endurance rely entirely on the INT attribute that correlates to how well they can control their body composition. They are widely known to be unkillable through non-magical means.
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Note: A lesser Celestial Kindle that has not developed ego and thus couldn't awaken magic.
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"Intelligence," Rakna concluded with a smile.
"{Oh… I see. This is what you were lacking, huh? But can you even use it on them?}"
"I found a way around that," the therian said and breathed out. His eyes glowed and a large torrent of frost energy swirled up around him. "Easier to cast as well…" He muttered offhandedly as Eye of Symphony rotated its lenses in conjunction with his magic formation-making.
"[Star Hearth – Scale of Maat,]" he intoned and the frost energy burst away from him, startling the Celestial Kindles to a halt. The energy took the shape of a large ancient scale and right away, a sort of invisible pressure fell on the surroundings. It wasn't physical; it was more a silent order to bow down.
"[What weighs more? A hundred hearts or one weary soul?]" Rakna chanted with flaring eyes and his soul power took the form of a black feather that slowly landed on one of the scale's plates. The weight shifted heavily on its side.
On cue, a vortex of attracting force gushed from the other side of the balance. The Celestial Kindles suddenly began to be pulled toward it; some slower than others, but none of them seemed able to resist the pull.
When the first of them reached the scale, the flames were instantly snuffed out and the notification of the kills appeared in front of Rakna; which didn't give him any experience due to the System considering it a worthless victory due to their inexistent menace. After that, a shapeless energy congregated on the scale's plate and turned into a tangible bloodied heart.
The remaining Celestial Kindles soon followed and every single one of them died and had their life force and soul transformed into a muscle. Gradually, an eerie pile of hearts was constructed on the scale which, after the deed, had nearly reached a horizontal balance for the two sides.
"{This…}" Fray muttered as the scale began to hover down toward the ground since it had finished its purpose. "{The Scale of Maat, you said? Does that refer to what I think?}
"The scale of Anubis on which he weighed a person's heart against a feather of Maat. If the heart was lighter than the feather, then they would be allowed to pass on to the afterlife. Otherwise, the heart would be eaten," Rakna recounted as the rather big scale reached his location. He eyed the pile of hearts and indifferently picked one.
"I suppose you understand how easy it was for me to apply magic theory to that. The spell even has Synergy with my Nirvana Skills that passively increases its effects," he explained and without missing a beat, devoured the heart in a few bites.
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Heart of Lv.137 Celestial Kindle absorbed. Absorption Factor = 2.1%
+0 Strength
+0 Endurance
+0 Speed
+0 Dexterity
+5.67 Intelligence
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Note: This is a magic replica, the Ascent bonus is not applicable.
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"See? As easy as that," Rakna said with clear satisfaction in his voice. "The best thing about this is that, from what I understand of The Scavenger, I won't get satiated as fast as when I eat Drake hearts, since the attribute points are focused on intelligence and thus optimized."
Fray was speechless for a good minute. "{…shameless.}"
The therian huffed in amusement and hurried to eat the rest of the hearts on the scale. This spell of his would naturally dispel after two minutes, and so would the hearts. The Scale of Maat was a rare soul-affined spell. Its basic function was to drain the souls of targets in range. If they aren't strong enough in comparison to the caster's soul, then they will die and have their life force turned into a heart ready for consumption.
"Now that I think about it… maybe people other than me can eat these," Rakna said as he finished eating the hearts, capping his intelligence at 100 with a dozen more being kept on hold by the System.
"The spell description says it produces hearts to be assimilated. But I assumed it said that because it also mentioned my Nirvana Skill… I might be able to help the others raise their attributes faster. Though the efficiency might not be as good since they don't have the skill for it."
"{You are nonchalantly saying the most outrageous of things…}"
Rakna shrugged and licked the blood off his fingers. He looked at the ground right as the scale was disappearing and spotted a dozen small red prisms lying around. He picked one up and used his Appraisal on it.
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Designation: Material/Gem/Elemental Essence
Name: Fire Essence
Rarity: Blue
Description: A physically condensed essence that contains the power of fire.
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"Nice. Elemental Essences are good forging materials," Rakna muttered and after retrieving all the loot from the Celestial Kindles, turned toward the flooded Fire Well and squinted. "Now, it's time for the main guest."
"{Hm? What do y-- No, wait, I have read about this before,}" the fable writer suddenly remembered a book he had skimmed in the past. "{The Celestial Kindles are usually not targets of subjugation because they are said to be--}"
"Protected," Rakna finished for him right as the entirety of the water put by Ganymede exploded out of the well and turned into steam at the same time. "Took you long enough," he uttered and a whip of flames shot out from within the vapor and blew it away in one swing.
When it dispersed, a massive version of the Celestial Kindles Rakna had dispatched was revealed. The fire it was made of was considerably more condensed and it had four shades of color to it; orange, yellow, blue, and a deep red that was forming a mouth and a pair of eyes.
The eyes tightened vertically as they beheld Rakna, who in return simply used Appraisal to get a look at its status.
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Name: None
Age: 85 | Level: 300
Race: Celestial Blaze
Danger Rank: Destroyer | Classification: Raid Boss
Titles: Protector of Flame, Guardian of the Fire Well
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Attributes:
STR: 0 | END: 0
SPD: 0 | DEX: 0
INT: 402 | LCK: 2
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Statistics:
STA: 0 | MP: 4020
SWI: 804 | AGI: 0
SEN: 402 | ATC: 404
ATT: 0 | DEF: 0
MA: 1206 | MR: 40.2/min
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Proficiencies:
- Flight (Lv. Max ⋆)
- Dodge (Lv. Max ⋆)
- Mana Sense (Lv. 17 ⋆)
- Mana Control (Lv.15 ⋆)
- Soul Heart (Lv. Max)
- Soul Sense (Lv. 9)
- Magic Circle Theory (Lv. 8)
- Magic Theory (Lv. 6)
- Magic Formation Theory (Lv.3)
…
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Magic Skills:
- Etherion Fire Magic (Lv. Ex) => [Cremation Blade Burial (T.4), Etherion Nova (T.5); Etherion Eruption (Lv.6); Fire Breath (T.7); Fire Shell (T.8); Crimson Ray (T.8); Fireball (T.10)]
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Cognitive Skills:
- Fire Immunity (Lv--): Incoming fire damage is nullified.
- Fire Coil (Lv--): Incoming fire damage is converted into power.
- Physical Damage Resistance (Lv. Ex ⋆)
- Magical Damage Resistance (Lv. Ex ⋆)
- Aura (Lv.8)
…
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Spontaneous Skills:
- Vision of the Fire God (Lv. 15 ⋆)
- Flame Burst (Lv. Ex)
- Morph (Lv. Max)
- Flame Step (Lv. Max)
- Scan (Lv.4)
…
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Nirvana Skills:
- Authority of the Celestial Flame: With this skill, anything or anyone the user targets will see themselves combust prematurely without warning or cost. The flames created by this skill cannot be extinguished by normal means and reduce the target's magical defense by half as long as they burn. They will only stop once the target has entirely turned to ash or after twelve hours have passed.
Attack Value of the Flame: User's MA multiplied by 2.
Cooldown: 10 Minutes.
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Unique or Racial Traits:
- Body of Ethereal Fire: Holders of this trait do not possess physical attributes; parameters such as speed and endurance rely entirely on the INT attribute that correlates to how well they can control their body composition. They are widely known to be unkillable through non-magical means.
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Note: The fully grown form of a Celestial Kindle. They possess small sparks of divinity and are a stage away from becoming low-grade spiritualities.
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"No wonder this guy is so feared," Rakna said with a casual tone. "His Intelligence makes for a very threatening magic even to high-level Hosts. But this Nirvana Skill is even worse. If it truly cannot be extinguished, a lot of people might be powerless as they wait for their death. It doesn't help that these Celestial Kindles are incorporeal. They don't have physical weaknesses. Only their soul can be considered as such. But this Celestial Blaze has a Soul Heart. It won't be as easy to exploit as the others."
"{Excuse me!? Can we postpone the monologue for later?!}" Fray shouted. "{Are you that eager to die this week?! What happened to promising the heiress to not make her worry anymore? This might not be a 'Wild Raid Boss', but it is still a Raid Boss! A Destroyer Class Wilden to top it off!}"
Rakna rolled his eyes. "It's fine. Foxy won't be worried as long as she has my clone with her, will she?" He uttered and started circling the Fire Well whilst the Celestial Blaze seemingly glared at him with its red eyes. It appeared hesitant to act.
"{For the love of--!}"
"More importantly, haven't you figured out yet why I didn't come here sooner?" Rakna remarked as nonchalantly as ever.
"{Huh?}" Fray was confused. "{What do you mean?}"
"Even I would normally be scared of this guy. But that changed very recently," the therian declared without bothering to explain anything to the mystified Fray and stopped walking. "Hey, you, can you speak?" He raised his voice to the living flame.
The Celestial Blaze's 'eyes' squinted further and its 'mouth' burned brighter. "You were waiting for my arrival," it spoke. "What are you after, wolfwalker?"
Rakna smiled faintly. "Say, how about joining my Imperial Guard?"