Tang Yue wiped the sweat off her forehead after squeezing out another drop of blood from her pale fingertip and finishing the last circle in the complex runic formation.
She then tip-toed around the boundaries and walked over to the center of the formation.
The entire floor looked particularly fearsome after being dyed in her blood in various patterns.
At the sight of the complex artwork, Tang Yue couldn't help but wonder if her meager soul strength or mana concentration in her body would be enough to successfully form the contract.
She hadn't even formed a beast core yet! So she was very skeptical.
But since the system hadn't mentioned any other pre-requisites for the elemental contract, she decided to go for it anyway.
Making sure that everything looked perfect, Tang Yue carefully sat down and closed her eyes, allowing the small amount of mana enriching her body to freely float around the runic engravings.
She didn't notice it, but along with her own energy, a strange soft glow also enveloped her body at the exact same moment.
This glow rather than her insignificant energy, activated the rune magic, triggering all the symbols and patterns to thrum as if they were alive.
Tang Yue felt her consciousness drift apart from her body and suddenly found herself in a pitch black dark enclosure.
As her nervous eyes tried to adjust to the new darkness, Tang Yue noticed a small ball of light in the distance.
She instinctively moved closer to it, noticing that the ball of light was rather a small blob of flames.
The more closer she got, the blob seemed to be getting more and more excited, emitting a pleasant warmth.
Tang Yue smiled. It looked like the other party was also equally happy to meet her.
"Uh… Huh… Hello." She awkwardly introduced herself and greeted the ball of flames.
Ollu… Ollu… The blob jumped up and down as if it understood her and greeted her in return.
Tang Yue chuckled. The small thing looked very cute and lively.
"Come here." She called the blob, hoping that this would end the contract process.
But unfortunately…
The next instant, a bright shimmering layer of fire surrounded her and the small blob like a dome of fire.
Within the area under the Fire dome or array, random bursts of flames started emerging, as if they were small but deadly fountains of water jutting out of a poolside.
And one even emerged right under where Tang Yue was standing, scorching her smooth velvety skin.
"Damn it." Tang Yue winced in pain as she quickly moved away.
But this was only the beginning.
Soon, Tang Yue found herself dancing non-stop, just barely dodging the bursts of flames erupting from the surface.
If she slacked even for a second, chances are that she would be instantly burnt to a crisp on the spot.
Several burn wounds covered her body, each more painful than the previous one.
"Master, please. This is not the time to be messing with me. How the hell do I get through this?" Tang Yue almost cried out in pain.
As if answering her pleas a certain series of notifications rang out.
Ding. Heat resistance has increased.
Ding. Heat resistance has increased.
Ding. Heat resistance has increased.
Ding. Heat resistance has increased.
Tang Yue's eyes glistened. Why were all her power-ups happening at such weird times?
If she had known this would happen, she could have attempted this after improving her heat resistance.
There was literally no comparison between her leisurely snacking on herbs and increasing her heat resistance versus her dancing around deadly balls of flames to save her trembling life and increasing her heat resistance.
"Would a small reminder or pointer kill you, you bastard?"
"Damn it! Old man!!" Tang Yue cursed her heartless master.
Everything he did had an unfortunate side-effect. It was as if the old goat was bent on deriving joy from her misery.
While Tang Yue was distracted, another set of fumes erupted underneath her, scorching her lower body, almost completely.
Ding. Heat resistance has increased.
Tang Yue didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
She gritted her teeth and tried her best to dodge the incoming fiery jaws of death, while her body was constantly being burnt… cough… cough… tempered.
To make matters worse, this went on for a long time, without any end in sight.
Tang Yue even tried to move near the small blob of flames at the center but that area was more dangerous than the other spots under the array.
So she couldn't even approach her elemental youngling and had to give up on that idea for now.
No matter how much she thought about it, it looked like all she could do right now was dance around, holding her tiny little life in her hands, and patiently wait for her heat resistance to increase.
Maybe if she was strong enough to withstand these flames, she could finally find a way out of this mess???