Inflame (The Completionist Chronicles Book 6) Dakota Krout (sci fi books to read TXT) 📖

prism on the plinth that he had slammed into, reducing it and activating Essence Cycle at the same time. He stared at his uplifted arms and the ritual engraved upon them… and his head exploded, showering the area in gore.

Lady Elfreeda stared at the bloody mess left behind for a long moment, then shook her head and sighed. “Fool. All you did was save me a trip.”

She was about to go find the island that he had been placed upon and begin the interrogation herself, but the sound of a crystal shattering drew her attention. One of the plinths she had been standing near had gotten a full dose of Joe’s acid, as well as being greatly weakened beforehand. Another shattered on its own, the beam coming from the ceiling too intense for it to handle. A few more broke over the next few seconds, and the Lady paled as she whirled into action, attempting to stabilize the spell on her own. “Chain reaction of destruction? Follower of Havoc indeed. Get someone out to him, and get the Shapers growing new foci, now!”

Joe didn’t open his eyes to the respawn room like he had expected. Instead, he found himself on a large rock surrounded by molten… Joe still hadn’t decided for sure if it were magma or lava, no matter what the Elf had said. He checked his notifications, trying to learn where he had gone wrong.

You have been caught in a capture field! All major forts have the option of respawning a small number of the enemies killed into a ‘jail’ area instead of allowing them to actually die. Escape, be released, or be rescued if you want to get away!

Joe stood, almost gagging when he realized that his entire body hurt. Checking his health, he saw that it was only at one hundred, and an attempt to heal himself only resulted in a loss of mana. “Looks like I can still cast spells, at least. I didn't lose experience… so they must be paying the cost of my death instead of me? That must be one of the faults of something like this.”

He limped around the rock, searching for anything he could use to help himself. The surface which had not actively melted was only about five feet in diameter, and the entire area was surrounded by a light illusion, creating a shifting wall that completely blocked his vision. He could be right next to more land, or surrounded by lava for hundreds of feet. There was no way to know without testing. Not giving himself a second option, he jumped as hard as he could, going higher and higher… then blinked, finding himself on the island once again. “Can’t go through the illusion, then? Or… did I even jump? That makes things difficult.”

Joe sat down and tried to think of a plan, but found that he could only groan and close his eyes. He was exhausted. He wanted a nap… he could plot his escape later. It would be better to just wait until—he jolted himself into motion as he realized that something was impacting his way of thinking. “That’s not good. That illusion was insidious. I need to do something at all times, or I’m gonna give up.”

There was only one thing that he could think to do while stuck on a rock with nothing else on it. He needed tools, and to prepare himself. When he escaped, Joe fully planned to be ready. “So… what should I make? Should I… can I reduce magma? I give up; it’s magma. I can’t exactly touch it, but maybe…”

Joe activated Field Array, the lines of mana arching out and dipping into the magma. He let his hand get close to the lava, but jerked it away with a hiss. An idea sparked to life as he activated Exquisite Shell, and he put his hand directly into the molten stuff.

-4 damage per second. (Bonus resistance to elemental effects.)

Joe flooded the small patch of magma with mana, finding that it was all rated as ‘Common’. With the array active, he started reducing the boiling earth; content to just pull in aspects until his mana ran out. The magma poured back into position as it was reduced, slower than water, but it was so hot that it was fully liquid. Joe checked his aspects after the third time his mana ran out, seeing only one thing that he hadn’t expected.

Special Aspect, Molten: 400.

“Molten?” Joe looked for more information, but just like with the other aspects, it seemed he was destined to use them to learn of their effects. “I want more of this… should I make a special aspect jar?”

After looking at his inventory, Joe found only a single Uncommon Core, four regular Common ones, one Synthetic Common Core, and a small sack of Damaged versions. “Let’s see… I have over eleven thousand Trash aspects. No real point in making a great container for them, since they’re… literally trash. Common is really the only type where it starts to matter, so how about we start with that? Common aspect jar, here we come.”

Using the Field Array that he still had active, Joe pushed the first Common Core into it and began the process of creating an aspect jar. It only took a few seconds and the low cost of two hundred and thirty Common aspects, and he was holding:

Natural Common Aspect Jar: 0/1,820 Common aspects. This jar can be used to store and retrieve Common aspects. As it is a naturally formed aspect jar, it will collect Common aspects from its surroundings over time. Current rate of collection: 3 Common aspects per hour.

Reductionist class experience gained: 50

“Wait.” Joe stared at the information. “Wait. This means I can create self-generating aspects? How many per hour would a Mythical Core generate? How would I even get one, though? Wait. Let’s say I get a Mythical Core, somehow. Then I get the bare minimum of aspects I would need, because I