The world had never felt so still.
Thane stood on the edge of a platform forged from glowing, layered glass. Lava pulsed beneath the surface like a beating heart. Above him... stars. Or maybe not stars. Maybe fragments of spells. Remnants of every cast, every burst of flame, every geyser he'd forced from stone and sweat and will.
There was no visible ceiling.
No tablet.
No walls.
Only one thing before him: a stairway made of flame.
It rose into the air, unsupported, step after burning step leading upward into pure black.
He inhaled.
Didn't ask questions.
Didn't wait.
He climbed.
The heat changed with every step.
Not temperature—texture.
The warmth turned to weight.
The weight turned to memory.
He saw flashes. His first Firebolt. The hungry first time he'd eaten poison. His trembling hand casting Flameblade. The terror of plummeting through the Skyfall Crucible.
With each step, the Archive pushed memory back at him.
But he didn't waver.
He had nothing left to fear.
At the top of the flame staircase stood a platform made of ash and obsidian. Hanging above it—just suspended in the air—was a single rune. Circular. Wide. Carved of fire and written in gravity.
It pulsed once.
And the Archive spoke.
"Trial Ten: The Spell You Cannot Cast."
"Objective: Accept, internalize, and prepare for spell Sovereign-class: Meteor."
"Warning: You do not have enough mana."
"You are not expected to succeed."
He narrowed his eyes.
The Archive was being honest.
It had no illusions.
This wasn't a challenge of passing or failing.
It was a challenge of embrace.
He summoned his full status screen one last time before the fire changed him.
[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
• Fire Affinity
• 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
• Lava Geyser – Lv. 1 — EXP: 5 / 100 — Mana Cost: 18
• Scorch Zone – Lv. 1 — EXP: 0 / 100 — Mana Cost: 20
📈 Level: 1
🧪 EXP: 30 / 100
Thirty mana.
It wouldn't even be enough to ignite Meteor.
But he stepped forward anyway.
The rune above him dropped.
Not onto his body.
Into his mind.
And for the first time...
He saw it.
[New Spell Blueprint Received: Meteor]
🌋 Meteor — Tier ??? (Uncastable)
• Calls a colossal molten meteor from high atmosphere
• Impact radius: Cataclysmic
• Prerequisites:
• Mana: 500
• Magma Control: Rank 4
• Flame Sovereignty: Initiated
• Current Status: Blueprint internalized
• Progress: 0.00%
The weight dropped into him like a god slamming its hand into his chest.
He collapsed to his knees.
But he didn't cry out.
He breathed it in.
He let the pressure settle in his veins like iron turning molten.
This wasn't a spell you learned.
It was a thing you became.
Meteor wasn't for today.
It was for someday.
And from this moment on, every battle, every cast, every kill, every decision—
Would feed that someday.
The Archive pulsed again.
Soft.
Final.
"All trials completed."
"Candidate 0013: Archive status—Ascendant."
"The Archive will now open its gates."
The platform beneath him shook.
Far below—hundreds of floors below—the ceiling of the dungeon cracked open.
The real world waited beyond.
Thane rose.
And took his first step toward it.
He wasn't the same boy who had been abandoned in the dark.
He wasn't the same human who lit a spark to keep the shadows away.
He was something new.
Something dangerous.
Something born in lava...
...and raised by flame.