Wild Era, Ch 36: Coral Sea Pearl

In a Mansion in Highmist.

“My lord,” a butler said as he bowed, careful not to look his master in the eye. “One of the Wind Hunters was arrested by the Stars Alliance yesterday.”

“Which one?” The voice was calm and cultured as its owner looked up from his desk. “An important one, I assume, or you wouldn’t have come to tell me about it.”

“Yaris Nellen, son of the second in command, Orest Nellen, who is one of yours. Orest has requested you intervene.” 

“Requested, is it, or begged?” The man chuckled. “Which branch of the guard arrested him? The adventurer branch, the spy branch, the military branch, the city guard branch, or one of the others?”

“It seems like the military branch, sir,” the butler replied, sounding puzzled. “It probably should have been the city guards, but the captain who took charge is more associated with the military and those are the forces she called on to assist.”

“Interesting, I suppose, but not uncommon,” the man replied. “What did he do?”

“The official reason is that he threatened a guild member who was exiting a dungeon and attempted to assault him. He has been arrested as a bandit.”

“If he was going to act like a bandit, he should have been better at it,” the man said. “That’s just embarrassing. Are you sure he’s one of mine?”

“His father is, sir, and the boy was planned to be when he grew up a little more. He shows some promise.”

“Very well,” the man said with a sigh. “Send messages with my merchant seal to the vice guild master of the Stars Alliance, the captain of the city guards, and the treasurer of the merchant council. 

“Ask all three of them to give me some face in this matter and to look past this. Say that the young man has been indiscreet and that he will be punished, but that if he’s not released within three days, I’ll look into the issue more deeply. Then remind his father to work harder.”

“Very good, sir,” the butler said as he bowed more deeply. 

Then he withdrew and closed the polished mistwood door carefully behind him.

***

In the Coralfire Dungeon

As Kelin headed deeper into the dungeon, he encountered a few more groups of the Coralfire Tribe.

For each of them, he rotated through all of his abilities, and then he ignited Blaze and used empowered Soulfire Bolts or a soul arrow to finish them off.

It was complete overkill, but it was good practice for the ability. 

The stress of handling the denser mana was a training cycle for his meridians, since it stressed them and then required minor healing. The denser soul mana was a burden on his soul too.

Every spell was like training under a crushing weight.

He didn’t use his efficiency enchantments for it, so every time he used it, it left him nearly out of energy. If his mana pool were larger, he could have gotten more practice in, but two or three shots would have to be good enough.

He stopped to meditate after each group.

It took a while, but he had no need to rush back. The kids were safe at the guild, and with his new bracelet to block scrying, it was unlikely anyone would be able to find him.

After a couple of groups, he gained enough experience to reach Level 66. 

He debated adding some points to Constitution, since he wanted it to be around 200 by the time he reached the First Evolution, but he decided to hold off for a bit.

The training he was doing right now was hard on his body, and the repeated stress might result in some natural gains, which would be less if he put the points in now.

His Constitution was at 129 right now, so he’d have to add about 14 levels worth of points into it to get it to 200. 

That was a lot, so whatever he could earn naturally would be a good savings.

He tossed the points into Intelligence, which took it to 540, and then he moved on.

He continued to study the monsters’ use of coralfire, but he would have to learn a new rune before he could create another ability.

As he continued west, he kept an eye out for any strange features in the dungeon that might signal an Elite. The monster density was swiftly increasing, so it wasn’t long before he ran into a challenge.

A group of five monsters was guarding a pond of flames. 

The pond was about fifty feet across, but where there should have been water, there was only liquid blue fire. The flames washed across the area around the pond, making the coral pillars nearby shine with brilliant hues.

At the center of the pond, there was a small island that looked like a pearl rising from the flames. It was a shimmering white with a touch of pink luster, and the top was flat, creating a place to stand.

In the middle of it, there was an altar. 

The altar was constructed of two short coral pillars for supports, on top of which was a giant opalescent clam shell. It was ten feet across and its mouth was open, revealing a giant blue pearl inside.

A dense sense of mana and coralfire radiated from the pearl, much higher than what would have been in a high-grade mana crystal.

Four of the monsters were standing around the pond, but the fifth was by the altar and seemed to be bathing in the radiance of the pearl.

The one by the altar was clearly an Elite, and Kelin recognized two of the monsters as Coralfire Guardians, but the other types were new.

He scanned the area and pulled out a couple of talismans as a backup, but he didn’t activate them. Gaius was already standing by in case he needed help.

Four spells were orbiting his staff and his reactive sigils were charged, so as he came into range, he analyzed the monsters.

Sacred Trident Bearer. Level 78. Elite.

Coralfire Shaman. Level 78.

Coralfire Guardian. Level 75.

Flying Coral Fish. Level 74.

The Sacred Trident Bearer was a muscular, silver-scaled version of the Coralfire Tribe. He had a tall silver trident in one hand, and a faint sheen of blue flames surrounded both him and it. 

The analysis was quick, but it was easy to see that he was a dangerous combatant. He had a high Agility and Strength, as well as some innate abilities to bind his enemies in place before he stabbed them.

The shaman was one of the monsters that the guild notes had warned Kelin about. It had a strong Fire manipulation ability, as well as healing, curses, blessings, and more. It was a well-rounded support and healing class.

He’d already seen what the two Guardians could do, so he turned his attention to the last monster, the Flying Coral Fish.

It looked like a colorful, slender dart in the air, with scales matched the color of the coral pillars and the blue flames. It was about four feet long and a foot tall, with a narrow body that was six inches wide at the broadest part, and there were two slender tusks that extended from its jaw like rapiers, one set above the other. 

Its primary attributes were Agility and Constitution, as well as some magical abilities that helped it to harden its body and stab its enemies.

As the analysis swept over them, the monsters let out a hiss of anger and spun to face Kelin. He was still camouflaged, but that didn’t stop the trident bearer from raising his trident and hurling it across the almost two hundred feet that separated them.

The coral fish shot forward at the same time, turning into a flickering light in the air. It was so swift that it effectively disappeared.

The guardians started running forward and the shaman began casting, but they were too slow to enter the first round.

The trident reached Kelin in a blur of silvery-blue light and slammed into his mana shield. The three tines blazed with coralfire as they dug into the shield. The entire shaft hummed in the air, levitating there as it tried to drive itself forward.

Behind it, the Trident Bearer let out an angry warble as he raised his hand and pointed at the weapon, commanding it to advance.

At almost the same time, the coral fish slammed into the barrier next to the trident. Its tusks pierced in like a sword as it waved its tail and tried to force its way through.

Kelin let them batter at his shield, since it was good practice for the ability, and then he sent a soul arrow at the fish, followed by another one at the shaman in the distance. 

The arrows were only a flicker of light as they disappeared into their souls and began to burn.

Then he turned his attention to the two Guardians.

He poured mana into the two Soulfire Bolts orbiting his staff, intensifying them to double their usual strength, and then he hurled one at each of the Guardians.

He’d already had a decent amount of practice with those guys, and he knew their weaknesses.

The bolts seared through the air and tore through the coralfire shields around each of the monsters. Then they exploded through their heads, sending scales and chunks of bone flying away.

The shaman and the coral fish were staggering as the soul arrows did their work, and rainbow smoke was beginning to drift up from each of them, so Kelin focused on the Elite.

He deactivated his efficiency enchantments and then ignited his mana and soul pools, channeling his energy into Blaze. 

Twenty percent of his maximum energy disappeared in an instant as it compressed in on itself and sent a torrent of power flooding into his meridians.

He wove the intensified energy into a Soulfire Bolt, which appeared above his hand in a brilliant flash of light. 

Then he looked at the trident in the air, which was still trying to dig through his shield.

A wave of ultra-dense mana flooded into his mana shield as he split his attention. The barrier hardened in an instant and released a massive pulse of mana as it hurled the trident away.

The air around Kelin warped in response as a shockwave passed through it. A loud boom of sound like a dwarven drum echoed around him.

The Sacred Trident Bearer’s eyes widened as he looked at the trident that was flying through the air. He reached his hand out to call for it, but a chaotic field of mana had surrounded it.

Wisps of soulfire had wrapped around the weapon and were suppressing the coralfire, which was retreating instead of facing them, like a sheep in front of a wolf.

Kelin’s mana was already burning away, so he didn’t give the Elite time to try anything else. 

He hurled the enhanced Soulfire Bolt at its head.

The bolt was a golden comet that split the air as it flew forward. It crossed the two hundred feet between them in an instant and kept going. 

There was a fire shield around the Trident Bearer that was more powerful than anything the Guardians had, but the bolt seared straight through it without stopping. 

Then it tore through the Elite’s head, creating a six-inch hole before it shot into the distance.

The Trident Bearer froze in place as half of its head disappeared. 

Its hand was still raised to call for the trident, but that weapon froze now as well, shuddering in the air. Then the flames around the trident disappeared and the weapon tumbled to the ground, landing on the sand.

The Elite fell at the same time, slowly slumping in place as his knees gave way, and then he toppled over, landing on the surface of the pearl.

A moment later, the shaman and the coral fish also fell to the ground as rainbow smoke poured  away from their bodies.

Kelin glanced across the area to make sure everything was dead, and then he let the Blaze disappear.

There should have been a longer fight there, but overwhelming force was always a good answer to straighten that out.

He recreated the four spells around his staff and pulled the Soulfire Sigil out of his shirt, setting it to float above his shoulder as he walked forward.

His mana was just under half, but his soul energy was at 76%, so meditating could wait for a moment.

He searched the corpses, extracting cores and a few materials from the fish and the regular mobs. 

The shaman had a new type of item that looked like a sapphire made from crystallized coralfire, but there was a strong sense of Fire and vitality to it.

When Kelin analyzed it, it showed up as a Coral Sea Gem (Uncommon). 

It looked like it would be useful for alchemy in making healing potions, or perhaps as the core of an enchantment. He wasn’t sure if he would sell it or not, but he could decide later.

He stored it away with everything else.

Then he studied the pond of flames as he debated how to cross the distance to the pearl island at the center. It was about twenty feet from him to the edge.

His Agility was high enough now that the distance was within the range of a good jump. He would just need to get a running start and boost his speed with some Wind manipulation.

He could also levitate across, although his use of that spell was shaky with his regular mana density. The simplest form would use a current of pure mana to move him.

After studying the pond of flames for a little while, and then looking at the pearl again, he decided on a different method.

There was an opportunity here that he could sense, so he decided to try for it.

A shield of golden flame surrounded him and he walked forward, dropping straight down into the pond. He sank in an instant and his feet touched the bottom, which was covered in sand.

The pressure of the pond’s energy battered at his shield, crashing against it in a tide, but his soulfire was dense and strong, keeping it outside.

It was similar to being surrounded by a coralfire inferno, and his mana was dropping steadily, but since it was a form of fire, it was manageable. 

It also wasn’t as hostile as it might have been. Instead, it was swirling around his  shield like it was trying to get inside.

After a moment, he thinned out his shield and let a trace of the coralfire crash against his body. His skin swiftly began to heat up as he absorbed the energy inside it.

The heat was fierce, but it was also gentler than he’d expected.

It twisted through his bones and muscles, tempering them, and then it drove deeper, swiftly settling into his organs as it started to do the same there.

As an experiment, he drew a thread of the coralfire into his meridians, keeping it carefully shielded so it didn’t harm him, and then he let the tiniest trace out to flow around.

The second it came near the soulfire that infused his body, it pulled away again, flaring as it tried to escape.

He chuckled, but he released it, and the energy diffused, disappearing as it merged into his meridians on its own, ever so slightly strengthening them.

He withdrew more of his shield as he continued his trek across the pond, taking his time to sense the nature of coralfire all around.

It was what he’d thought.

Dungeons had many opportunities, if you were capable of seizing them.

This pond was condensed from the high mana density in the dungeon, and it looked like it had the potential to temper a person’s body with coralfire, perhaps even to grant an affinity for it to those who were able to absorb it.

The second part wasn’t as useful to him, since he already had soulfire, but he could still take advantage of the tempering.

The pearl island was just in front of him now and as he reached the area below it, he noticed there was a column of coralfire rising from a crack in the ground.

It was the source that was filling the pond and the intensity near it was a dozen times stronger than near the shore.

He drew in a shallow breath of the flames, testing them out. They seared through his lungs as the energy dispersed, but it proved that it was possible to breathe here.

His air purification spell made it unnecessary, but he started to breathe in the flames, taking tiny breaths at first as he adjusted to the feeling. 

The fire was a raging force that left a scorched feeling behind, but it wasn’t really harming him. With each breath, threads of fire energy flowed into his lungs and tempered everything they touched, and then they moved on to the rest of his body.

At the same time, he began drawing more energy from around him, testing out an increased rate of absorption.

A study of the effect showed that the coralfire essence was changing into pure energy as it flowed into him, leaving nothing behind except a stronger physique.

There was no worry about it affecting his affinity or clashing with his soulfire. From the way it had fled, it seemed to be afraid of his soulfire anyway.

The pearl island hung above his head as he sat down beside the source.

He slowly thinned out the shield around him, letting more of the coralfire strike his body, and as he did, the burden on his mana pool faded away.

He continued to let it dissipate as he adjusted to the feeling, until finally his mana barrier disappeared completely.

Raw waves of coralfire battered him, sending shocks of elemental essence through his body. 

Near the source, the intensity was like being hit by hammers several times every second, and now and then he twitched as tried to refrain from jumping straight out of the pond.

After a few minutes, he tucked away the Soulfire Sigil into his storage, since it might interfere with the process.

Then he closed his eyes and began to meditate, doing his best to take conscious control of the energy and to push it to every part of his body, from his muscles and organs to the marrow in his bones.

For the first couple of hours, it was easy for his body to absorb the energy, and they gave rise to crackling changes as his tissues strengthened.

As time passed, however, each wave had less of an effect. Where before it had taken one wave to improve his body, eventually it took two waves to do the same amount, and then three.

The hammer blows of the essence became softer, and his twitching faded away.

Half a day later, he sat peacefully within the flames, breathing in the coralfire essence like it was regular air.

When he noticed that the changes had stopped, he opened his eyes and let out a sigh, releasing a wave of blue flames back into the pond.

Notifications were ringing in his mind, so he turned his attention to them.

Congratulations, Lord of Wildfire.

You have stumbled upon a secret of the Coralfire Chaos Remnant.

Coralfire is an element highly attuned to Fire and Life.

The monsters of this place use an offensive form of it, but the element has many aspects. For those who dare to grasp its more beneficial side, it is well suited to tempering your body and strengthening your vital energy.

You gain 5 Strength, 10 Constitution, and 5 Agility.

As the voice of the Path faded away, Kelin stood up and looked down at the source in the earth.

He gave it a bow of thanks, which he meant as much for the Path as for the opportunity itself.

Improvements like this were uncommon in dungeons, but not that rare in ones with a high mana density.

Like this one, they were often focused on physical traits rather than mental ones, which tended to require more unique opportunities, but that didn’t mean they were bad for mages.

On the contrary, it was exactly what he needed. 

The more of these he could find, the better, since it meant he could continue to devote his attention to improving his mental traits.

Then he looked upward at the pearl island.

After absorbing the energy here for so long, he had some understanding of this place, as well as the nature of coralfire. 

The elements were part of the world, and with the basic gift for them that all humans had, all that was needed was understanding and power.

He reached out to the energy around him and a wave of coralfire answered him, mixing with his mana. It gathered below his feet in dense currents and lifted him upward.

He ascended through the flames and his head broke the surface of the pool, followed by his shoulders and the rest of his body. 

A moment later, coralfire twisted below his feet into a stable surface as he stood on top of the pond.

Then he stepped onto the island.

The Sacred Trident Bearer’s body was still there, lying next to the clam altar. The pearl inside it hummed with energy, radiating a dense energy that was similar to the coralfire in the pond below.

Kelin gathered the core from the elite, as well as an enchanted bracer that a quick analysis told him was linked to its trident. 

Trident Bearer’s Sacred Bracer (Uncommon: Elegant).

This bracer is part of a twin set with the accompanying Sacred Trident, allowing the bearer to summon the trident back to their hand. Additional mana and effort can allow the trident to be controlled at a distance.

It was a good enchantment, but not something Kelin needed, so he stored it away to sell later. He’d have to pick up the trident to complete the set, but it was still lying where it had fallen. He could get it in a minute.

The Trident Bearer also had another Coral Sea Gem and a couple of scales. 

He stored those away and then he turned his attention to the pearl.

The clam was a massive thing and at this distance, the iridescent sheen to the inside of the shell looked like a rainbow.

The pearl inside was even more brilliant. It had a deep cerulean hue like the ocean with a rainbow iridescence that made it shimmer. Tiny flames flickered around it. 

He analyzed it.

Coral Sea Fire Pearl (Rare: Elegant).

This pearl is condensed from pure Coralfire essence. It is one of the treasures of the Coral Sea. It takes a thousand years for one to form inside a Coral Sea Clam, and once one does, it is sought out fiercely by everyone who is able to sense it, from natural beasts to monsters and adventurers.

Consuming this pearl can strengthen a Fire-based physique and there is a chance that it will grant a Coralfire affinity.

Kelin smiled at that. 

He could tell that it wouldn’t be able to improve his physique any more, so he didn’t need it for that, but it would be very good to sell or trade. 

Perhaps he could swap it for some clothes that wouldn’t disintegrate.

He set his staff inside the clam’s mouth, and then he reached in and pulled the pearl out. As soon as he pulled his staff away, the clam slammed shut.

Then the entire island below his feet began to sink.

It was designed to look like a trap, where the pond would burn the adventurer who took the pearl, but it was actually a second chance to fall into the flames and discover the secret.

He just chuckled as he let the island disappear below the waves, and then he walked across the surface of the pond as he headed for the shore.

When he got there, he picked up the trident that was nearby and analyzed it.

Trident Bearer’s Sacred Trident (Uncommon: Elegant).

This trident is part of a twin set with the accompanying Sacred Bracer, allowing the bearer to summon the trident back to their hand. Additional mana and effort can allow the trident to be controlled at a distance.

He stored it away with the bracer, and then he glanced around the area, making sure there was nothing else, before he headed farther west.

The monster density was continuing to increase, so it shouldn’t be long before he picked up a few more levels.