Stars, and Stars (2)

"It's been a while since I've been here too."

I gave a rueful chuckle as I looked at the doors floating before my eyes.

I hadn't been able to make it back here since I earned Hardened Bone — things had simply been too busy.

And if I wanted to pile on more excuses...

"...Honestly, the training intensity here is brutal."

The sensation of being burned alive was still vividly etched into my body.

Of course, considering that this was the price for acquiring a cheat-tier power like a trait, I could more than understand it.

Understanding something and actually putting it into practice, however, were two very different things.

"Even with everything coming up, I need to have my traits locked in."

Especially with Round 32 right around the corner.

If only to beat Yoo Sung-wook to a pulp, I had to be stronger than I was now.

Honestly, against the pre-regression Yoo Sung-wook, I could have beaten him half-asleep — but...

'The guy of today holds a Fragment, a power I know nothing about.'

The fewer variables, the better.

Traits only ever accumulate to your benefit; they never become a liability.

"Which traits can I actually train right now..."

After a long while of browsing through the various traits, I finally narrowed it down to two.

"So in the end, I have ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to walk into that godawful sea of fire again, huh..."

A sigh escaped me of its own accord.

But there was nothing to be done.

Among the traits I could earn with my current raw stats, nothing came close to Flame Resistance in cost-efficiency.

'Once I have this, the range of ways I can use Flame Soul widens.'

It would reduce the recoil I suffered whenever I strengthened my attacks by wreathing my spear in Karma Flame, like before.

The Hwachal (Fire Spike) I'd used at City Hall Station had carried power rivaling a decent S-rank skill.

I was not the kind of man who would throw that away.

So getting my body a little scorched — I'd grit my teeth and endure it.

"Ugh, I really don't want to."

No matter how firm my resolve, the complaints leaking out of my mouth were beyond my control.

Walking back into that hellfire on my own two feet, of all things.

There wasn't even a demon around to shove me in from behind this time.

'Damn it.'

I swallowed hard and opened the door directly ahead of me.

Whoosh!

The scene beyond the door was the same as before.

Meaning — everywhere I looked, there was fire.

"Khhk."

My throat closed up on its own.

Blazing flames rising and licking upward from the ground. My skin roasting in real time, and maddening pain—

"...Huh?"

It wasn't coming.

'What is this?'

It wasn't that it didn't hurt.

It hurt enough that I wanted to let out a piercing scream right then and there.

And yet it wasn't like last time.

'Back then I bolted out of here like a man running for his life.'

Now, it didn't reach that point.

'Why? What's different?'

The moment that small confusion began to fog my mind, I felt a fire smoldering deep within my body.

"Flame Soul...!"

Truthfully, I had sensed it instinctively.

That ever since I'd obtained Flame Soul, my resistance to fire had grown a little.

Just not enough to withstand a world drowned in flames like this one.

In that instant, the area around my heart flared white-hot, and scarlet light burst outward.

"Ghk—?!"

The contents of the trait training crackled and shifted before my eyes.

My eyes flew wide open.

"The trait changed from Flame Resistance to Flame Dominion."

I had no idea what the difference was yet.

But even I could tell that Flame Dominion sat a tier above Flame Resistance.

'Devour the hellish Karma Flame...'

What was I even supposed to do?

Was fire even something you could eat in the first place?

As I tilted my head at the ambiguity, the flames of the burning hell began drifting toward the light emanating from my heart.

Vuuuum!

A storm of fire surged and was sucked into my chest.

"So that's how it works."

The flames flowed into my heart and were absorbed all on their own, even if I just sat still.

The problem was—

"Huuugh...!"

—that my entire body was already screaming, and I'd only absorbed one percent.

It felt like swallowing lethal poison I was never meant to touch.

My instincts as a living creature blared warning after warning.

Do not let this fire inside your body.

"Then all the more reason to do exactly that."

Holding a strained smile on my face, I folded my legs and sat down on the floor.

Good medicine is always bitter. That's how the saying goes.

All growth comes with growing pains.

'I don't know what's going on exactly...'

But either way, it seemed all I had to do was eat every last ember of this fire.

"Haaaah!"

I drew a deep breath and turned my senses inward.

The flames pouring in real time were already wracking my whole body, stirring it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠from within.

'Lose focus for even a second, and I'll black out just like that.'

I couldn't count on a chance like this ever coming again.

Treat everything like it's the last time.

Once I'd seized an opportunity, I had to hold it until every finger broke if that's what it took.

"Khhh...!"

Letting out a thin groan, I began circulating the energy within me.

To endure a power this absurdly potent, I couldn't let it pool in one place.

It had to flow as naturally as possible.

'Direct it — no matter what!'

Fortunately, thanks to the feel I'd developed handling Flame Soul, the work went relatively smoothly.

I linked the furious energy together so that it cycled between my channels instead of lashing out elsewhere.

It felt like my body was turning into a living ember.

For having devoured only twenty percent, it was grueling beyond words.

The sweat beading on my forehead evaporated the instant it formed.

'Flame Soul suddenly resonating with the flames of this hell and absorbing them...'

What on earth was the connection between Flame Soul and this place?

'...I'll think about that later.'

Right now, every ounce of my concentration belonged to containing the fire within my body.

"Khh... hk..."

Thick smoke billowed out from between my parted lips.

If this hadn't been the Trait Training Ground, I might have suffered internal injuries no national treasure could mend.

Imagine being run through like a skewer and roasted evenly over the coals — that kind of agony.

My consciousness kept murmuring that it would be so much easier to just let go, trying to ferry me off beyond the edge of unconsciousness.

Crrk!

Each time it did, I ground my teeth and held my mind in place.

Hot as it was, it was still nothing compared to the cold of death.

Endure. Even if my brain boils over.

"Krrrraaagh!"

I had no idea how much time had passed.

But now, with not a single flame left before my eyes—

—I could declare it loud and proud.

"I... wooooon... you son of a—"

Through the haze of my fading consciousness, I watched the messages flicker past.

That, my friend, is what human victory looks like.

And I let myself sink into that vast, distant dark.

A mystical voice rose quietly, like the last embers of a dying fire.

"PUH-HAHAARGH!"

I jolted awake, convulsing, to find myself still inside the Trait Training Ground.

The first thing I did was pat down my body.

I knew everything would be healed, but you never know.

"Thank god. All clean."

For a moment there, I genuinely thought it was over.

I could confidently rank that pain among the top five worst I'd ever felt in my life.

"A normal person would've come out of that with serious trauma."

It might have left aftereffects so deep they'd never be able to go near fire again.

That's how horrific the experience was.

Bad enough that I never wanted to do it again, if I could help it...

"...Well then."

Sweet are the fruits of bitter labor.

Time to check the harvest I'd earned through all that suffering.

"An A! It jumped two whole ranks?!"

This was huge.

Even in my previous life, it had taken Ji Yeon-ha more than five years to raise Flame Soul to A-rank.

The amount of time I'd just shaved off was beyond calculation.

Fwoosh!

I tested it out, calling on Flame Soul.

The Karma Flame that used to be the size of a soccer ball had grown, at some point, to the size of a medicine ball.

"At this size, I could make three more Flame Soul Javelins, easy."

What's more, the color of the flames had deepened and turned fiercer than ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ever.

Stacked against any other A-rank skill, it would surely be several times more powerful.

'Even back when it was C-rank, its power was far beyond its grade.'

Really, it made more sense to think of Flame Soul's grade as its own thing entirely.

Compared to other skills — in raw power and in versatility alike — nothing else even came close.

"A strange skill in more ways than one."

Even in my past life, little was known about Flame Soul.

Ji Yeon-ha, its original owner, had never said much beyond the fact that it was a growth-type skill.

'Why was I able to absorb the fire inside the Trait Training Ground?'

It seemed Flame Soul still hid plenty of secrets I knew nothing about.

Not that I'd braced myself for anything less from the start.

'Whatever it is — as long as I can make use of it, that's all that matters.'

I drew Flame Soul back in and turned my attention to my next prize.

"...Huh?"

What even is this.

Unlike Hardened Bone, the description was absurdly abstract.

"Perfectly dominate flame?"

What did domination actually mean here?

Rather than digging through dictionary definitions—

"I'll just use it and find out."

I summoned the Flame Soul I'd just drawn back in and sketched an image in my mind.

Four flaming spears, materializing around me.

FWOOSH!

And the Karma Flame moved exactly as I willed it.

"Whoa...!"

Four flaming spears had truly taken shape, circling around me.

Then I hurled all of them straight ahead in a single volley.

KA-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

The four Flame Soul Javelins detonated in a chain reaction, unleashing a monstrous concussion.

"So this is what dominating flame means."

It was exactly what it said on the tin.

A trait that granted absolute control over everything fire-related.

I no longer needed to throw the Flame Soul Javelins with my own two hands.

Fwoosh! KRAKAAM!

I could conjure and launch them whenever I pleased, just like this.

I could even wield all four simultaneously.

"This is... practically mage-tier."

The Flame Soul Javelin had one glaring weakness.

Namely, that while wielding the javelins, my spearwork and movement were severely restricted.

Now even that was gone.

"And I got Flame Resistance thrown in on top?"

I tested it by coiling Karma Flame around my hand — it wasn't hot at all.

If anything, it warmed my skin to precisely the level of pleasant comfort.

'The strengthened Nameless Spear Art. Flame Soul. And now Flame Dominion.'

Strength gathered in my clenched fist.

I don't usually say things like this, but.

"I'm not confident."

This once, it was the exception.

"...Confident that I'd ever lose!"

Barely suppressing the grin that kept leaking out of me, I walked toward the next trait I'd been keeping my eye on.