The System chimed faintly again, a single word flashing across my vision: Progression.
"Yeah," I muttered, wiping sweat from my brow. "Thanks for the update."
The crowd was dispersing by the time I circled back to my building. My heart was still pounding, though not from fear. Excitement. Power. I'd stopped a fire like it was nothing, pulled it out of the air like it was part of me. Because it was. I was fire now, in every sense.
But that brought its own questions. How much could I do? How far did this power go? The elder god's warnings echoed in my mind. You will be a target. You will burn, or you will rise.
The GRA. They'd find me again. I needed to find them first.
