After a brief moment of dizziness, Raziel found himself standing in a dimly lit underground labyrinth. Ahead stretched a dark, foreboding corridor, with a spiral staircase winding down the side.
Raziel knew the testing instance had five levels. He could ascend or descend the floors via the stairs, and the deeper one ventured, the stronger the monsters became. At the very bottom lurked level 10 monsters.
He had visited this testing instance a few times in the past, but only to challenge the weakest, level 0 creatures on the first floor. Even then, he'd been chased around like a frightened dog and repeatedly left the instance only after being defeated.
But now? Raziel didn't hesitate for a moment and made his way straight to the deepest floor.
He descended to the fifth level of the instance, where the staircase finally ended. Moving cautiously, he stepped into the darkness of a tunnel, its length stretching endlessly ahead.
After walking for a while, Raziel's surroundings suddenly opened up.
He found himself in a shadowy forest, the ground beneath his feet littered with dead leaves and branches that crunched noisily underfoot. The sunlight, partially blocked by a dense canopy above, filtered through in faint, dappled patches of gold.
The moment Raziel arrived
Rustle, rustle.
The sound of trees and branches being disturbed echoed all around him.
A group of green-skinned creatures clad in tattered leather armor emerged from the underbrush. Their sinewy muscles were visible even beneath their shabby attire, and their snarling mouths revealed jagged, ferocious tusks.
"Enhanced Goblins, huh?"
"Textbook level 10 monsters."
Raziel raised an eyebrow. As a top student, he immediately identified the creatures before him.
Enhanced Goblins were a notorious menace for new players. Out of every 100 Goblins, only one might evolve into an Enhanced variant. These enhanced creatures typically possessed formidable combat techniques, and a rare few could even channel elemental energy to cast destructive spells.
If an Enhanced Goblin specialized in close combat, it could still be dealt with provided a team of players worked together. But if the Goblin wielded magic, its lethality increased significantly. Only experienced groups of seven or more players dared challenge such creatures.
Every year, countless novice players met their end at the hands of Enhanced Goblins.
Faced with such a renowned foe, Raziel couldn't help but feel a twinge of fear.
He had no real combat experience. The level 0 creatures he'd fought before weren't nearly as intimidating or dangerous as this.
"Gibberish gobbledygook!"
"Gibberish gobbledygook!"
The Goblins' guttural cries snapped him out of his thoughts.
The Enhanced Goblins were not ones to show any mercy.
With feral roars, they charged forward in a frenzy! Several of the creatures wielded brutal spiked clubs, their movements brimming with unrestrained savagery.
Meanwhile, a few Enhanced Goblins at the rear began channeling energy, clearly preparing to unleash some kind of skill.
Raziel froze in place, momentarily overwhelmed.
The fifth floor is this intense?
Why are there more than ten of them attacking all at once?!
With the Goblins nearly upon him, Raziel had no time to overthink. Acting on instinct, he quickly waved his hand.
the Flame of Annihilation activate!
Immediately, Raziel felt his stamina draining away like a receding tide. The sheer consumption of energy left him uneasy, and his nervousness caused him to make several mistakes in execution.
Panicked, Raziel poured everything he had into the attack.
Under normal circumstances, this reckless approach would have been disastrous. Overextending like this could leave him completely drained, rendering him unable to sustain his Talent and leaving him at the mercy of the enemy's relentless assault.
As a top student, Raziel was acutely aware of the risks. He sighed inwardly, already resigning himself to failure.
Looks like I'll be forced to queue up for another run at the testing instance after I die here.
But then
BOOM!!
A fiery explosion erupted around him, like a lotus blossom blooming in midair!
Ash-gray flames, tinged with pure black, burst outward in a magnificent conflagration, spreading rapidly in all directions.
The dozen or so Elite Goblins charging at Raziel were incinerated on the spot, reduced to nothing more than ash in an instant.
Even the Goblins at the rear those that had been preparing to cast spells met a similarly grim fate.
The creatures froze in place, their bodies rigid as the flames consumed them. Within the inferno, their charred flesh crackled and hissed, peeling away to reveal skeletal remains that splintered and collapsed with agonizing creaks and snaps.
The destructive output of the Flame of Annihilation was even greater than Raziel had anticipated. It didn't just match the strength of a level 10 player's Gray-Quality skill it surpassed it.
But the most remarkable part?
While ordinary Gray-Quality skills of this magnitude were typically single-target attacks, the Flame of Annihilation was a devastating area-of-effect ability.
Wherever the flames swept, everything was annihilated.
Even a level 10 player's Gray-Quality skill wouldn't have been able to outright kill a single Enhanced Goblin in one strike. But the Flame of Annihilation was far more than a mere damage-dealing ability.
The Talent inherited from the Flame Empress Extreme Heat provided additional burn damage.
Another feature, Smelting, allowed Raziel to significantly ignore enemy defenses.
And the final trait, exclusive to a Divine-Level Talent, was the terrifying ability: Execution.
The Enhanced Goblins, reduced to critical health by the explosive burst of the Flame of Annihilation, triggered the Execution effect, resulting in their total annihilation!
Raziel, meanwhile, was left utterly drained, half-kneeling on the ground. A piercing, needle-like pain throbbed in his head.
He had overexerted himself, expending all his energy in one overwhelming attack.
In this world, "energy" could be roughly equated to a stamina bar tied to one's mental attributes. While the results of his attack were undeniably satisfying, if even a single Enhanced Goblin had survived, it would have been enough to finish him off in his weakened state.
In this reality, running out of energy wasn't just a gameplay inconvenience it brought excruciating physical pain.
Fortunately, Raziel wasn't dead. On the contrary, his face was lit with excitement.
"Holy crap! This Talent is insane!"
"Avril, I owe you for this one!"
He quickly identified two key reasons for his overwhelming performance:
First, his own extraordinary awakening of a Divine-Level Talent.
Second, the exceptional Talent feedback he received thanks to Avril's contribution as his Contract Beast.
As for the troublesome System? It's best not to mention it at all!
Still, despite his elation, Raziel grimaced in discomfort, sprawled out on the ground for nearly five minutes before finally dragging himself upright.
Initially, his plan was to leave the testing instance now that he'd confirmed the power of the Flame of Annihilation.
But then, something unusual caught his attention.
Ahead of him, a strange orb of light shimmered, pulsating with a mysterious glow.
"What the hell is that?" Raziel muttered in confusion.
In theory, there shouldn't be any drops in a testing instance. The monsters here weren't real but simulated constructs.
According to the established rules of this world, defeating a real monster would automatically register someone as an official player.
If these monsters were real and capable of dropping loot, Raziel should have already ascended to player status.
This was an unshakable law of the world.
So what was going on?
Still, leaving a glowing loot orb untouched would be the height of stupidity.
Raziel dashed forward and touched the sphere.
The moment his hand made contact, the light orb disintegrated.
What materialized in its place was a skill book, now resting firmly in Raziel's hand.
Since Raziel wasn't officially a player yet, he couldn't access detailed item panels. Fortunately, the System had a built-in feature for scanning item information.
[Melting Heart]
[Quality: White (Upgradeable)]
[Category: Skill Book]
[Description]: This skill book has a chance to appear after using flames with a smelting trait to annihilate a large number of monsters in one strike (minimum requirement: level 20 monsters). The creation of this book sacrifices all potential loot, making it exceedingly rare.
[Effect]: This skill allows you to fuse any fire-related skill of White quality or lower into your flame-based Talent.
[Note]: You can upgrade this skill to Green quality by annihilating a large number of level 50 monsters in one strike to obtain an upgraded version of Melting Heart.
[Note]: As a Contractor, you can gift this skill to your Contract Beast, receiving feedback and enabling them to learn the skill as well.
"This System is oddly reliable sometimes, huh? Giving me such detailed info?" Raziel muttered, throwing in his usual quip.
As he continued to examine the description of the newly acquired skill book, a flicker of excitement began to bloom in his eyes, growing stronger with every passing second.
At first, he was simply thrilled at the prospect of having acquired another resource for nurturing Avril.
Victory!
But soon, his excitement shifted into outright awe as he realized the implications of Melting Heart's effects. This skill wasn't just tailored for Avril it was also perfectly suited for himself!
The strength of the Flame of Annihilation was undeniable. However, it did come with one minor limitation though not a flaw per se: under the dominance of this Talent, all other fire-related skills became irrelevant.
Using standard fire-based abilities would only waste his energy, which could be better spent triggering the Flame of Annihilation repeatedly to eliminate enemies.
But Melting Heart?
It allowed him to integrate various fire-based skills into his Talent?
That was absurdly powerful!
In simple terms, Raziel could imbue different fire-related abilities into the Flame of Annihilation, enhancing its already formidable power.
Currently, the Flame of Annihilation excelled purely in raw damage output.
But some fire-based abilities had unique functionalities. For instance:
Ring of Fire Resistance: Creates an area that stuns enemies.
Flame Spirit Summoning: Summons an auxiliary unit to assist in battle.
Flame of Life: Emits a soothing warmth that restores vitality and health.
By fusing these abilities into the Flame of Annihilation using Melting Heart, their effects would scale dramatically!
Raziel's mind raced with possibilities as he envisioned the potential synergies. His excitement was impossible to contain.
This was a game-changer.
Imagine this: if the Flame of Annihilation unleashed Ring of Fire Resistance, the effect would be overwhelmingly domineering. Not only would enemies be stunned, but they'd also take immense damage from the flames!
And what about a flame spirit summoned by the Flame of Annihilation? Its strength would undoubtedly far surpass the standard summon, elevating it several tiers in power!
How could Raziel not feel ecstatic?
Most people, after becoming players, relied on luck to learn skills, picking up whatever was useful and available. But Raziel? He simply ran a test instance and ended up acquiring a skillbook that was practically custom-made for his Talent!
This was beyond hitting the jackpot it was an absolute windfall!
What made him even more exhilarated was the versatility of the skillbook. Not only could it be used to enhance Avril's abilities and prepare her for her first Talent training, but through the feedback system, Raziel could also benefit from it himself.
Three birds with one stone!
...
Raziel left the Adventurers' Association in high spirits, practically floating with joy.
What he didn't know, however, was that shortly after he exited the instance, another figure arrived at the location where Raziel had annihilated the goblin horde.
It was a male player clad in leather armor. His face was pale, and his expression betrayed his desperation.
"Daniel… Young Master… Please, you can't die! If anything happens to you, we'll all be buried alongside you!"
"Damn it! Why did the instance have to malfunction now of all times?!"
The player cursed bitterly, his eyes filled with hopelessness.
The instance had mutated, connecting the mirrored spaces of each instance together. This fusion meant that hordes of berserk level-10 goblins were now rampaging freely. Any unlucky adventurers who entered were almost certainly doomed.
And that included the Young Master Daniel.
Even if the young master had a life-saving item, surviving such a disaster was nearly impossible.
Just as despair began to overwhelm him, the player suddenly froze, his gaze fixed on the area ahead.
In that moment…
His pupils contracted sharply!