The ash from the broken golems still floated in the air when the floor beneath Thane dissolved.
This time, there was no gentle descent. No platform. The world simply fell away, and he dropped.
Weightless.
Heatless.
Silent.
Until the light returned.
He landed on both feet. Hard. But steady.
The new chamber was vast. Wider than any before. The floor wasn't solid stone—it was hardened lava crust, black and red with glowing veins crisscrossing it like living scars.
The walls were distant. The ceiling—if there was one—was hidden behind a smoky haze that pulsed like slow breath.
And beneath him... he could feel it.
Lava.
Not as a hazard.
Not as an enemy.
As a resource.
The tablet emerged from the ground before him, its symbols already glowing.
"Trial Eight: Shape from Range."
"Objective: Command the field."
"Restriction: Melee interaction disabled."
"Terrain is your weapon."
He exhaled slowly and opened his status 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 • 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 • Magma Sword – Lv. 1 — EXP: 0 / 100 — Mana Cost: 16📈 Level: 1🧪 EXP: 30 / 100
"Terrain is your weapon..."
He knelt and placed a hand on the lava crust beneath him. It was warm. Not burning. Waiting.
He reached inward—not toward his mana, but toward the weight he'd only recently unlocked. The magma flow in his chest. The heavy, slow-burning pressure just behind the usual mana pool.
You want me to move it. To command it.
He closed his eyes and focused.
He pictured the ground rising beneath an enemy.
Then melting beneath their feet.
Then erupting upward into a geyser.
He reached toward the lava beneath the crust—not just feeling it... asking it.
It responded.
A tremor rippled through the stone.
He opened his eyes.
The crust ten meters away glowed brighter, cracked, and burst.
A column of molten lava shot upward like a geyser, then collapsed back into a glowing pool.
The tablet pulsed.
[New Skill Acquired: Lava Geyser – Lv. 1] • Erupts lava from beneath a targeted point • Short-range, delayed cast • Inflicts burn and area denial • Mana Cost: 18 • EXP: 0 / 100
He smiled.
Then the enemies appeared.
This time, they weren't slow golems or molten beasts.
They were constructs of stone and metal, tall and angular, each with multiple legs and jointed arms like drills. Three spawned in a triangular formation across the chamber, their eyes glowing with blue heat.
They began to move.
Fast.
Too fast for direct confrontation.
The crust beneath them cracked and shifted as they charged—each one disrupting the terrain behind it, trying to push Thane toward the center.
He backed up.
Then dropped to one knee.
Lava Geyser.
He cast toward the first one's feet.
The spell landed a second too late—the construct jumped, launching on thin metal legs to a nearby ridge—but the explosion of lava behind it forced it sideways, off-balance.
He tracked the second construct's approach.
Lava Geyser.
This one hit.
It burst beneath the enemy mid-step, launching molten rock high. One of the construct's legs melted outright, slagging metal against stone. It crashed and screeched, half its body torn away by heat.
The third reached him before he could recast.
He dodged left, sprinted toward a glowing vein in the ground.
Mid-run, he slammed his foot into the lava crack.
Cast again.
Lava Geyser.
The ground burst upward behind him, catching the third construct mid-charge and launching it backward into the wall.
It didn't get up.
He turned and threw one last geyser at the first construct, now hobbling across the rim.
It tried to evade.
Failed.
Heat devoured its frame.
The trial paused.
And the screen appeared.
"Trial Eight Complete."
"Magma shaping confirmed."
"Terrain control unlocked."
"Candidate may now progress to Flame Sovereignty Tier One."
The lava beneath his feet no longer felt distant.
It listened.
He hadn't just walked on fire anymore.
He had shaped the world beneath him.
And soon...
He would cast from above.