The Archive didn't give him long.
Five hours.
That was how much time passed in the Archive chamber before the air grew heavier again... before the tablet reappeared in the center of the room, pulsing with that familiar white-blue glow.
He sat cross-legged in front of the stone wall, a half-unrolled scroll on his lap and the last sliver of dried beast meat from his pack in one hand. His mana had recovered. His body hadn't.
But he stood anyway.
He always stood.
The screen blinked to life before he could reach the tablet.
[STATUS]
🧍 Name: Thane🔥 Mana: 3 (30/30)🎒 Skills: [Firebolt – Lv. 1] • EXP: 22 / 100 • Mana Cost: 10 [Flame Arc – Lv. 1] • EXP: 6 / 100 • Mana Cost: 12 [Burning Chain – Lv. 1] • EXP: 4 / 100 • Mana Cost: 14 [Flame Ward – Lv. 1] • EXP: 0 / 100 • Mana Cost: 8🧠 Quiet Casting(Passive)🛡️ Poison Resistance – Lv. 2(Passive) • EXP: 4 / 25📈 Level: 1🧪 EXP: 30 / 100
He closed the screen and approached the tablet. The scroll he'd been trying to translate fluttered on the floor behind him, forgotten.
The tablet lit up before he even raised a hand.
"Candidate 0013: Mana Cohesion Confirmed."
"Trial Four: The Sequence of Flame."
"Objective: Cast three linked spells in appropriate tactical order."
"Failure to achieve successful chain results in reset."
That last word caught his attention.
Reset?
This was different.
No arena to defend. No enemies to crush. Just a requirement.
Not raw strength. Not quick thinking.
Precision.
He rolled his shoulders and breathed in deep.
Three spells.
In sequence.
The floor beneath him shifted once more.
And the Archive swallowed him whole.
He landed on a flat obsidian platform, suspended over an empty chasm. The walls glowed faintly with reddish-orange runes. The space felt smaller than before—tight, compressed, focused.
A glowing rune shimmered beneath his feet.
Another floated ten feet in front of him.
Then one more behind it.
Each one pulsed with a different color.
The first was blue.
The second was orange.
The third was silver.
Then, one by one, figures materialized—illusions, not enemies. They bore no features, no heat, no intent. Just outlines of movement, like combat dummies sculpted from mist.
Thane frowned.
Then the tablet appeared again, hovering over the edge of the platform.
"Each target requires specific flame interaction."
"Failure to match sequence will result in restart."
"First Rune: High impact."
"Second Rune: Area control."
"Third Rune: Restraint."
That was the clue.
The challenge was clear.
He had to read the room.
Match each enemy to the correct spell type.
And then fire them in order... without mistakes.
He raised his hand.
Mana surged to his fingertips.
Quiet Casting.
He didn't need words anymore.
Only precision.
He took a slow breath and stepped into the center of the blue rune.
The first illusion shimmered—tall, armored, charging.
Big. Heavy.
Needs to be stopped, fast.
High impact.
He raised his hand.
Visualized a focused point of destruction.
Cast.
Firebolt.
The bolt burst from his palm, crackling as it slammed into the illusion's chest.
The figure exploded in mist.
The platform lit up with a flare of light.
One down.
He stepped forward into the second rune—the orange one.
This illusion was wide, split into three figures standing shoulder to shoulder.
Area control.
He didn't hesitate.
Flame Arc.
The wide flare of fire swept out in a crescent, searing through all three illusions in one fluid motion.
They burst into smoke.
The rune glowed.
Two down.
Third rune. Silver.
The final figure shimmered and moved erratically—darting left and right, crouching low, arms spread.
Fast. Unstable.
He gritted his teeth.
This wasn't a test of attack now.
This one had to be restrained.
He shaped the spell in his mind.
Burning Chain.
Flame surged out and wrapped the figure. It jerked once, then locked in place... then dissolved like the others.
The platform fell still.
Then the entire floor pulsed once, bright white.
"Sequence Completed."
"Efficiency: 94%."
"Instinctual Alignment Confirmed."
"Unlocking Bonus Pathway: Chain Spells."
New text appeared beside it.
"Passive Unlocked: Flow Casting." • Reduces mana cost by 10% when casting three or more spells in immediate sequence. • Further tiers require advanced chaining techniques.
He swayed slightly as the spell rush faded.
His mana had dropped to 3.
But the weight in his chest... was satisfaction.
Not the kind from surviving.
The kind from progress.
Real, measurable growth.
The world stopped seeing him as prey a while ago.
Now, it was starting to look at him like a puzzle.
And he was starting to solve himself.