The elevator of obsidian that carried him from the lava trial moved slowly.
Too slowly.
Thane stood silent, sword strapped across his back, arms crossed over his chest. The air here felt thinner, but hotter. Not from external heat. From within.
The magma hadn't cooled in him after Trial Six.
It had settled.
Coiled. Waiting.
He flexed his hand. His palm still bore the imprint of the molten sword's grip. Not burned, not scarred... marked. Like the blade had recognized him in return.
Above, a flicker of light expanded into a vertical slit. The ceiling opened, and a new chamber revealed itself.
Circular. Empty. Dark.
But not silent.
The Archive was breathing again.
He stepped off the platform.
The instant his foot touched the stone floor, the tablet appeared in front of him.
This time, the message came not with calm observation—but with urgency.
"Trial Seven: The Living Blade."
"Objective: Manifest weaponized magma."
"Tool: Internal."
"Duration: Until Success."
He stared at the words.
No time limit. No fallback.
Not a performance.
A transformation.
He summoned his screen.
[STATUS]
🧍 Name: Thane🧬 Race: Human🌍 Origin: Unknown Plane❤️ Vitality: 4💪 Strength: 3⚡ Agility: 5🧠 Intelligence: 6🔥 Mana: 3 (30/30)🔁 Passives: • Law of Absolute Repetition(Active) • Quiet Casting • Flow Casting • Magma Affinity – Active • Poison Resistance – Lv. 2 — EXP: 4 / 25🎒 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 • Flameblade – Lv. 1 — EXP: 3 / 100 — Mana Cost: 10📈 Level: 1🧪 EXP: 30 / 100
The new line pulsed faintly.
Magma Affinity – Active.
The Archive was giving him a chance to forge something few had ever touched.
He dropped to one knee and drew the blade from his back, setting it flat in front of him.
He rested both hands atop it.
Closed his eyes.
And waited.
The silence stretched.
The heat rose.
Not from outside, but from within.
Deep in his chest, near the well of mana he'd grown used to, another current stirred. Not fluid. Not clean. It churned slowly, like stone melting under pressure.
Magma.
It didn't respond like mana.
It didn't flow.
It rumbled.
He focused.
Not on casting.
On shaping.
He pictured the blade not glowing with fire... but filled with liquid stone. A body of metal encasing a living, burning core.
A sword that bled magma when swung.
He whispered in his mind.
Molten Edge.
A surge of resistance met him.
It wasn't a spell yet.
It was potential.
He focused harder.
Breathed slower.
The heat crept down his arms, into his hands.
The blade vibrated.
A line of bright orange spread down its center, like a fault line breaking open.
Then it burst.
The sword ignited—not with flame, but with roiling magma, slow and thick along the edge. Sparks danced off its surface. Every breath steamed against it.
He stood.
The blade pulsed like a heartbeat.
The screen lit.
[New Skill Acquired: Magma Sword – Lv. 1] • Enchants a melee weapon with flowing magma for 10 seconds • Inflicts burn damage and slows targets • Mana Cost: 16 • EXP: 0 / 100
Before he could test it, the ground rumbled.
From the chamber's edges, four massive columns of stone rose and broke apart.
From each emerged a golem—each one twice his height, formed from cooled lava and obsidian, their joints glowing faintly from within.
They didn't charge.
They circled.
Waiting.
The Archive wants me to fight them. With the sword.
He took a breath, then moved.
The first golem swung.
Thane ducked low and activated Magma Sword again, the heat pouring into the blade like breath into lungs. He came up in a tight arc, cleaving through the golem's arm.
The blade didn't bounce this time.
It cut.
The magma clung to the wound, sinking into the joint and slowing the stone as it tried to recover.
He struck again.
Shoulder. Neck.
The golem cracked and collapsed in a pile of glowing rubble.
The other three charged.
He rolled right, activated Flame Ward mid-motion, absorbing the impact from the second golem's fist.
The barrier held.
He spun, stabbed the blade into its thigh, and cast Burning Chain through the sword itself—binding it mid-strike, pinning it down as molten rock hardened around its joints.
The third struck him in the ribs.
Pain lanced through his side.
He staggered, dropped to one knee.
Firebolt.
He cast instinctively, up close, blasting the golem back just long enough to recover.
Then he rose.
Last one.
He charged the fourth golem, activated Magma Sword again, and let the heat lead him.
One strike.
Two.
A third through the core.
The golem exploded outward into shards of steaming black glass.
The tablet reappeared.
"Trial Seven Complete."
"Melee channeling confirmed."
"Magma Sword integration successful."
"Candidate now eligible for dual-state shaping."
Thane stood in the ruin of the test chamber, blade still glowing with slow, heavy heat.
He had shaped flame.
He had endured fire.
But this...
This was something else.
This was magma made manifest.
And soon, he wouldn't just use it.
He'd become it.