Chapter 1013 True Fire Blossoms
It was still perfectly clear inside Ugrok's mind.
He still remembered the time when he fought Rex inside the Cluster Domain.
Back then, Ugrok was frustrated and bored within his territory and found Adhara wandering inside the forest and stumbled across him which made him decide to toy with her to better his mood alongside the Ogres under him.
Seeing the injured Adhara, Rex instantly launches his assault in blatant anger.
It's worth to mention that he won the first fight against Rex.
During the night of the Blood Moon, he encountered Rex for the first time and defeated him before being chased by other Awakened who spotted him. So being confronted with Rex for the second time, he was not at all afraid and confident in his victory.
However, Rex proves him wrong and beats the living heck out of him.
Cyclops and Werewolves have one similar power, and that is anger made them stronger.
But Rex managed to overpower him thanks to what he did to Adhara.
Now that the Fire Elemental King was giving her the opportunity to improve her elements, it's good but has the possibility of creating a misunderstanding. Ugrok feared that Rex would be able to sense her getting hurt and came barging here.
Knowing Rex, he would have his own way to reach this place if he wanted to.
Meanwhile, the trial continues.
Previously, the Fire Elemental King explained that Adhara must rely on herself to enhance her elemental prowess and cultivate the True Fire. She could do this through being buried alive within the Flame of Truth.
It was a fire that was created specifically through the Fire Elemental King's true essence.
Her goal was to endure the flame until eight True Fire nuclei were formed.
Adhara needed to endure long enough until these eight True Fire nuclei formed inside her heart media and also her spirit's soul in order to complete the True Fire within her violet flame element.
Due to that, she willingly let herself be burned inside the Flame of Truth.
Currently, she was in her Werewolf form plus her Gladiator form.
Even though her power was soaring high, the burn from the Flame of Truth still prevailed.
Before the platform of the Fire Elemental King, a lethal yet enchanting crimson blaze soared to the underground canyon's ceiling. At the center of the blazing fire, Adhara grimaced, she was striving to withstand the Flame of Truth's intensity.
One could see that her skin was bubbling, like a body of heated water.
It was the most pain she had ever felt in her entire life.
Each time a True Fire nucleus formed, her body blasted a powerful, fiery shockwave.
Like a beating heart, her aura pulsated as this process continues.
Boom!
Another minute passed with another resounding boom coming from Adhara.
She managed to endure long enough to form eight True Fire nuclei inside her spirit's soul and is now halfway through the process. All she needs right now is to endure until the same amount forms within her heart media.
Essences of True Fire course through her skin and gathered at the center of her chest.
Slowly, it seeped into her skin to reach for her heart media.
Like tentacles from hell itself, the essence of True Fire went deeper, heading straight to her heart media. When the tip of these tendrils touched Adhara's heart media, the pain dawned on her instantly and made her hack up blood, her face contorted in pain.
Even her spirit came out of her body in an astral form behind her, letting out a wailing cry.
It was a grim reminder of her internal turmoil.
Contrary to her expectations, the agony of the True Fire nuclei forming within her heart media far exceeded the pain when they formed in her spirit's soul. Blood continued to gush out of her mouth as she crumpled to her knees, gasping for air.
Despite her regenerative ability and resistance, the Flame of Truth started to devour her.
Adhara was obviously reaching her limit.
"Stop! No more!" Ugrok shouted at the Fire Elemental King from the side.
Observing from the outside, he was extremely worried that Adhara would be devoured inside and command the Fire Elemental King to stop. Even though he initially thought that she could handle it, he seemed to be wrong.
No point in going further than this when she could resume another time when she recovered.
It's better to end it here for now.
Forcing through this would only be reckless.
Upon hearing this, the Fire Elemental King raised her hand and mused in a hushed tone when she heard Ugrok's shout and also saw Adhara falling to her knees, "Seems like this is the limit if she couldn't keep up with the damage. Even with her strong constitution, she needs several sessions before completing her True Fire"
On his side, the humanoid Fire Elemental nodded, "I believe so too, this is her absolute limit"
While looking at Adhara, the Fire Elemental King sighed.
'Guess I'll give it to her the easy way. It's good that she wanted to heed to our tradition, but ultimately, she's not strong enough. As a token of goodwill to Rex, I'll complete the process myself' He pondered, deciding that he would help Adhara out a bit.
But as he was about to vanquish the Flame of Truth, a stubborn shout halted his movement.
"Don't stop it!" Adhara shouted, turning her face to the Fire Elemental King.
Surprised by the sudden shout, the Fire Elemental King looked at Adhara and was greeted by her vicious look that is telling him to not stop the trial. He was stunned for a second before a smile crept to his face.
It seemed Adhara wasn't going to give up just yet.
Contrary to the Fire Elemental King, Ugrok was stressed when he heard what she said.
Resisting against the scorching flame that he barely could endure, he advanced toward the Flame of Truth, managing to cover about twenty meters before being halted by the vigilant Fire Elementals, warning him that venturing closer would be fatal for him.
"Adhara! Ugrok thinks stopping is better! Continuing is bad!" He tries to convince Adhara.
However, his words fall on deaf ears.
Adhara's eyes glimmered with resolve as she clenched her jaw, determined to endure the relentless flames to the very end. Her violet flame which was akin to a small candle inside the darkness of the Flame of Truth, gradually flickered and waned.
Slowly being overwhelmed by the seconds.
Moreover, her skin was also slowly being peeled off, exposing her fleshy insides.
But even then, she kept on enduring with all her might.
Seconds stretched to minutes, the trial reached the peak of intensity as Six True Fire nuclei had already formed within her heart media, with only two more to go. However, at this point, she was already on the brink of collapsing.
It has become hard to look at the trial.
Her arms' skin was already relinquished, exposing her skeletal bone.
A couple of parts of her body were experiencing the same while most parts had no more skin anymore, leaving only the gnarly flesh for the onlookers to see. Even her spirit was already knocked unconscious, leaving her alone to sustain the burn.
When the seventh True Fire nucleus was formed, her eyes held a vacant, far-off look.
Clearly, her consciousness was slipping away.
Even the Fire Elemental King was on the edge of vanquishing the Flame of Truth since if Adhara fell unconscious, then it would've been lethal, and death would certainly have been the outcome. So he was hesitating whether he should stop it right now or not.
His eyes were fixed on the last True Fire nucleus which was on the edge of completing.
Another minute or two then it would definitely be completed.
Despite going through several sessions to complete the True Fire within her elements was possible, the resulting quality would undeniably weaker compared to those who finish in one seamless attempt. Should he choose to assist her, the True Fire's quality wouldn't drop as much but would still fall short of the excellence she could attain by completing the trial independently.
But even though it would be a shame to stop it, with one nucleus to go, he has to.
Adhara will not survive the next minute or so.
Once again, when the Fire Elemental King was about to end the trial, the small ember that Adhara fed earlier suddenly jumped towards the Flame of Truth. "Wait! Don't go in there or you might be devoured too!"
Ignoring the warning from the Fire Elemental King, the small ember did the unthinkable.
Not heeding the danger, it leaped towards Adhara.
Perching delicately on Adhara's shoulder, the diminutive fire ember expended its energy to envelop her in a gentle, protective layer of flame. Instantaneously, the thin layer provided a noticeable alleviation of the searing pain she had been enduring.
Blinking her eyes one time, she snapped out of her daze and looked around in blurry vision.
Glancing at her shoulder, he found the small fire ember.
It was suffering the same pain as Adhara and was gradually becoming smaller.
"What- What are you..."
Half-awake, Adhara wanted to ask a question but was unable to form more words.
Eventually, the two suffered through the horrendous minute.
As the minute elapsed, the last True Fire nucleus completed its formation, spreading its light throughout Adhara's entire being before unleashing an even stronger shockwave. It was also different than the previous shockwaves.
Compared to the ones earlier, this one is colored violet, the color of Adahra's fire element.
Boom!
"One..."
Boom!
"Two..."
...
Boom!
"I can't believe it! She has unlocked ten blossoms! Five within her spirit's soul and five in her heart media!" Gasped the humanoid Fire Elemental beside the Fire Elemental King, shocked by the count of the purple shockwaves that erupted following the completion of the last True Fire nucleus.
A True Fire nucleus could turn into a True Fire blossom.
It was also the gauging factor of the quality of the True Fire that was achieved by an entity.
Since there are sixteen True nuclei for fire elements, theoretically, one has a chance to turn all sixteen True Fire nuclei into True Fire blossoms. But in the span of long centuries, there were only a couple that could reach thirteen True Fire blossoms.
But all of them are cultivated and developed.
Recorded True Fire blossoms when achieving the True Fire was at most ten.
It was only achieved by one person.
Astoundingly enough, Adhara became the second person who unlocked ten instantaneously.
No wonder that the humanoid Fire Elemental was this surprised.
Even the Fire Elemental King couldn't hide his smile anymore, there was relief in his eyes as he was thankful that he didn't fold so fast, or else he wouldn't see such a rare event occur in front of his eyes.
Despite the very big risk, the reward was extremely worth it.
Kaboom!
With another powerful blast, the Flame of Truth was pushed away without the Fire Elemental King needing to do anything. Coming out of it was Adhara. Her injuries were starting to heal at a visible pace, and it didn't take long before she turned to normal.
Around her was her violet flame which was now brimming with newfound light.
It was glistening, and within is dancing flaming petals.
Remarkably, the diminutive ember, now reduced to half its original size, resiliently clung to her shoulder. It had weathered the ordeal and was clearly exhausted, its form can be seen slightly melting on her shoulder.
Fortunately, it found rejuvenation from Adhara, focusing her new flame on it.
Ignoring the onlookers around her who were astounded by what she managed to achieve, Adhara turned to look at the small ember and used her finger to pat it in appreciation, "I wouldn't be able to endure it without you, you have my thanks little Fire Elemental"
Upon hearing this, the small ember smiled and morphed its fire to form a thumbs-up.
Seeing this made her chuckle pleasantly.
Had the small ember not helped her in that last moment, then she would've been knocked unconscious and things could have ended up badly. But now, as she raised her hand to observe her new flame, a smile crept to her face.
"Worth it... All of that pain was worth it" She mused to herself.
Read latest chapters at f(r)eewebnov𝒆l Only