Kaden let out a breath of relief as he sat down and quickly activated Healing Touch. Fighting in this terrain was going to be tricky, but hopefully, his extreme environment conditions would activate soon.
He leisurely jogged back to the spot where the snake had first popped up. The entire area was completely destroyed now. On the plus side, everything had become even hotter.
After an hour of meditation, Kaden actually observed a chunk of his health disappear. He blinked at the notification flashing before his eyes.
[Ding! You are suffering from extreme heat exhaustion.]
[Ding! Your body is adapting…]
A slow grin stretched across his face. Finally.
He had been waiting for this. The extreme environment was finally starting to trigger the adaptation he needed. It wasn’t just about enduring the heat—it was about pushing his limits to the point where his body had no choice but to evolve.
Kaden closed his eyes again, ignoring the warning signs of his dwindling health. He continued meditating, breathing in and out, syncing himself with the oppressive atmosphere around him. The volcanic heat battered him, but he stayed still. Explore new worlds at Freewebnovel
Minutes passed. Then an hour.
His skin burned, his muscles ached, and his vision blurred from the strain. But he used Healing Touch on rinse and repeat and kept going.
[Ding! Your Fire Resistance has increased.]
Another notification popped up. "Alright," Kaden muttered to himself. "Now we’re getting somewhere." The searing heat no longer gnawed at his skin as aggressively. His body still burned, but it was adapting.
"Not bad," He mused, cracking his neck. It wasn’t much, but it was progress. If he kept this up, the environment here would soon be nothing more than an inconvenience rather than a constant threat.
But this wasn’t enough. He needed to push further.
Kaden glanced around the molten wasteland. The air shimmered with the sheer intensity of the heat, the lava rivers bubbling hungrily as if waiting for something to fall in. The land was alive in its own violent way—volatile, unpredictable, and completely inhospitable.
Exactly the kind of place he needed to train.
He made his way deeper into the volcanic terrain, taking slow, deliberate steps. With each movement, he could feel his body straining against the temperature. His breathing grew heavier, but his steps remained steady.
The deeper he went, the more the air burned in his lungs. The ground beneath him felt like it was ready to melt his feet at any moment. His skin was drenched in sweat, but he didn’t falter. He walked for a couple more minutes when things suddenly took a turn for the worse.
The heat spiked up a notch, and now he couldn’t take another step forward. Retreating a couple of steps, he once again sat down to meditate.
A few more hours passed like this. Meditate, push forward, recover, and repeat. His Healing Touch was working overtime, but it was worth it. He encountered a few more lava golems and lava serpents, but none of them were nearly as threatening as the first lava serpent. They were swiftly dealt with, and Kaden continued his training.
An entire day soon passed by in the blink of an eye when Kaden suddenly received a notification.
[Ding! Settlement Core Ownership in contest]
[Ding! A challenge has been issued to your ownership of the Settlement Core. You have 48 hours to respond.]
Kaden’s eyes twitched. Of course, this was going to happen. He just didn’t expect it to happen so soon. Well whatever. He still had 48 hours to respond, and that was more than enough to make it back there.
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He once again focused on his meditation and used Healing Touch and Mana Circulation to continue pushing himself. Soon, the next day went by, and then the final day was here.
Just 24 more hours and he would be done with the entire body tempering quest. However, things did not go smoothly. A few more hours went by when suddenly the heat started mellowing down, or rather it looked like his body had started adapting.
[Ding! Your Fire Resistance has increased.]
Kaden groaned in frustration as he checked his stats. His Fire Resistance had increased significantly, which was good, but it also meant he wasn’t feeling the full brunt of the heat anymore. He needed to go further in.
With a deep breath, Kaden stood up and looked toward the depths of the Emberforge Abyss. He needed harsher conditions—something even worse than what he had already endured. His eyes locked onto the volcanic spire towering in the distance, spewing molten rock into the air like an unrelenting inferno.
Without hesitation, he sprinted forward, navigating through the deadly terrain with the confidence of someone who had already embraced the madness of this place. The deeper he ventured, the less stable the ground became. Chunks of hardened lava cracked beneath his feet, and geysers of boiling steam erupted unpredictably around him.
His Healing Touch worked overtime, counteracting the damage he was taking. But he could feel the difference now—his body wasn’t breaking down as easily. The pain wasn’t as sharp. His resistance was solidifying.
And then, just as he was about to reach the core region, the ground beneath him collapsed.
Kaden barely had time to react before he was plummeting straight down into a pit of molten death. Instinct took over—he twisted midair, using the last solid foothold he had to propel himself toward an outcropping of jagged rock. He barely managed to grab onto the ledge, his fingers digging into the burning stone.
For a moment, he just hung there, panting. The pit beneath him wasn’t just lava, something else was there.
It was alive.
A massive, glowing core of pure, swirling magma pulsated at the bottom, like the very heart of the volcano itself. It churned, roiling with unimaginable heat, and from it rose something enormous.
A huge, serpentine form slithered out of the molten depths, its scales like blackened obsidian, its veins glowing with fiery mana. Its eyes locked onto Kaden—two burning suns of pure destruction.
Kaden gritted his teeth. "Oh, come on. Another one?"