The grass rustled as a beast crept forward, its lumbering form compacted the ground with every step. Gigantic footprints dotted the landscape in the beast's path. The clawed appendages scraped against the ground while it traversed the hilly plains. Its nose twitched as it licked up a unique scent, slashing its paw forward fell every tree in the small forest. The jagged fangs bit into the soil as countless medicinal herbs disappeared in a flash, filling the body of the beast with strength. An earth-shattering growl rumbled across the land, instantly killing every creature in a 20-mile radius.
Gigantic, curved horns grew from the scaled head of the monstrous lizard and an explosion resounded as the red scales shed front the creature. Abyssal black scales coated the body of the creature, standing on its back legs the spikes along its spine began glowing ominously.
A purple beam of fire shot from its mouth as earth walls erupted from the ground, surrounding the creature and attempting to limit its movements. The wall in front of it and all those around the beast exploded from the shock wave surrounding the beam. The purple fire raged across the landscape in front of it, reducing the grass land into a barren dried out husk of land. A minuscule dot of the horizon stood in the path of the beam and in the face of an outrageously hot and sinister flame, it only executed a single movement.
The world halted, the stillness permeated through every creature as the beam imploded. Replacing the beam, a tiny arc of energy traced the same path that was formerly occupied by a purple cyclone of fire. A pitch-black flame composed the slash which instantly teleported in front of the colossal lizard, exploding on its hardened black scales.
For a moment it seemed that the black flames exploded in a minuscule part of about 30 square feet. The flames surged once they came in contact with the scales, spreading in every direction. They raged across the scales of the beast, covering half the torso of the creature.
At the point of impact, the extremely sharp slash shredded the scales and sliced it deep into the muscle. The flames almost as if they were alive seemed to concentrate on the wound, while the spread flames began to retract to their source. As the flames consumed the flesh of the wound they grew, and by the time the entirety of the flames had retracted to the wound they were 60 feet tall and concentrated exclusively on that spot. With a wave of the man's hand the flames contorted, becoming more concentrated and the
The colossal beast howl in rage as the pain and its inability to put them out. Its rage concentrated onto the creature that had cause the wound and it exploded forth, reaching the individual on the horizon in less than a second. Its claws glowed with an ominous energy as if slashed towards the armored individual.
"Naughty beasts who act up only have one fate, they must be punished". The man calmly raised the scythe in its hands and slashed down toward the beast. Its movements immediately halting, as the beast slammed on the ground with a massive black flaming slash colliding with its mid-section.
The beast split in half as the man stood victorious in the air, the armor retracting as he stared in a strange direction. With a green glow radiating from his hands, he spoke: "Young one, you're not ready for this sight yet". With a wave of his hand a magic circle appeared and shot toward the direction he was staring at.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
John jolted awake his mind unsure of what he had just seen, in the last moments of his "dream" the man revealed his face and John felt confused as the man's features resembled his own. The armor, scythe and flames seemed to resonate with him, and he felt a deep connection to them.
He jumped out of bed and quickly ran to his desk, opening the leather-bound book on it with haste. He honed his concentration to its max as he recorded everything he had just witnessed. The black flames etched in his mind and an overwhelming desire flooded him as he thought about the bizarre scene. That flame was insanely powerful, and the man used it without a sign of difficulty shocking him intensely. What shocked him more was the chime that recounted through his ears as a translucent screen appeared in front of him.
[ You have witnessed true mastery of the Purgatory inferno, the dao of combat, dao of earth, dao of blades. The training module for these have unlocked and daily missions are now available]
[Specialized training methods for Dao cultivation have been created; the following secret realms are now available for you: Ashen Grove, Stoneheart Hollow, Echoing Blade Sanctum, and VerdantCrucible.]
Ashen Grove (Purgatory flames)
Stoneheart Hollow (Dao of earth)
Echoing Blade Sanctum (Dao of blade and combat)
Verdant Crucible (Dao of farming)
"What the.... I've never heard of the system bestowing such things to hunters. I wonder if it's because of my secondary class or my constellation. Speaking of her, I haven't heard anything from her in a while. How weird". He stood up closing the book as he did, moving to the door as he pondered. As he stepped out he saw a scene he had become acquainted with at that point.
Three shiny metal golems rushed about, collecting ready crops and pollinating those which needed it. The golems bowed slightly as he stepped out, before they continued rushing about the farm.
It had been about a week since he caught the bizarre centipede beast and in that time he had felt himself grow close to the point of evolving his four dao, but he could not figure out how to bridge the gap between his introductory mastery and the intermediate initial stage of them.
He felt his excitement raising with the new prospects the system bestowed onto him. Deciding to start he selects the Ashen Grove secret realm, which will set him up for the next trial he wants to do.
As he clicked the button on the screen, he felt his body jolt and a similar feeling to when he initially entered the tower welled up in him. He landed firmly on the ground once the teleportation had ended, feeling slightly nauseous he braced on a nearby tree.
The nausea passed quickly and he began analyzing his surroundings, discovering that he was in a bizzare forest. Colossal trees soared into the sky, they had not foliage and they were ashen white. What struck him most was the flames that coated the vast majority of the trees bodies.
White ash fell from the trees continuously as if it was snow. He began to walk further into the forest as he looked around making sure he was ready for anything. After he had walked for half an hour he finally witnessed a change in his surroundings. A large clearing spread across his vision and he heard the systems chime once more.
[First trial: necrotic flames refinement. In order to pass this trial you must concentrate your flames and refine them using the left over essence of the demon centipede]
He stepped into the clearing after throughly reading and rereading the task. As he reached the middle of the clearing a platform materialized on the ground with a traditional seating mat for his meditation.
Calming his breathing he sat on the mat and closed his eyes, sinking his consciousness into his mental realm. A palace formed around his metal projection as he entered the meditative state. His daos were organized into their separate rooms, he quickly moved to the area for the dao of necrotic flames.
As he entered he saw the white flames fluctuating with a slight blue tint on the edges, along with a floating crimson orb containing the form of a centipede curled up. He moved with purpose as information flowed into his mind, showing his what he needed to do in order to refine the flames and properly absorb the centipedes essence.
He sat in the middle of the flames, perched on an alter and closed his eyes. The white fire coated his form and calmed his nerves, he drew the orb towards himself with his will. The orb passed through the flames safely and landed in his hands. He placed the orb directly above where his heart would lie on the ethereal projection. It stayed still and floated as his hands came together in a circle over where his dantian would lie.
He felt his qi flowing into the circle between his hands from his body. The qi transformed into blue flames and roared at the center of his hands, as his sigil glowed brightly with power. He let his hands rest on his legs with his palms facing up, as he willed the flames to begin moving.
They reached the orb quickly and coated its exterior, causing the orb to lose its hard exterior and begin compressing. The orb shrunk from the size of a basketball until it reached the size of a marble. He willed the orb to move into the ethereal figure and halt directly in the heart. The blue flames erupted from the figures chest as it reached his heart, quickly merging into the white flames around him.
The flames took on more of a blue tint once the process had completed, opening his eyes he saw that the origin of the flames had been replaced by a vibrant blue and strong streaks of blue flowed and blended into the white flames as it flickered.
He stood up from the alter and willed his consciousness back into his body. The palace fade from his vision and his vision was replaced by the clearing once more. He stood up and received another message from the system.
[First trial has been cleared, continue into the forest for the Second trial]
As he treaded deeper into the forest, the trees got larger and flames hotter. He could feel some weird energy penetrating into his body. The energy didn't seem malicious and with out any way to stop it he had no choice other than continuing into the forest. For some reason he could only walk steadily, something seemed to be restricting his movements slightly and not allowing him to move at full speed.
He traveled for over two hours before he reached the next clearing, and the pressure immediately disappeared along with the energy that had been permeating in his body. For some reason he felt his body had become stronger but couldn't figure out how.
[Ding]
[Second trial accomplished, user has withstood the curse of binding and has had their physique enhanced. Ashwrought Frame unlocked]
"I see, I was wondering what was up with the physique being locked. To think the trek through the forest itself would be a trial. It was definitely unusual with the mysterious pressure pressing down on me and that strange energy". He continued toward the center of the clearing, his feet treading through the ash coated ground. As he got close to the center a building materialized, easing from the ground hastily.
[Ding]
[Third trial: Soul reaping blade, Infuse the power of the Necrotic flames into the artifact {Reaping blade of the grim} to advance the weapons power and gain a more profound control over the flames]
As he walked into the building he realized what it was, a large but empty furnace on the far wall, numerous hammers and tools neatly organized and the classic anvil immediately drew his eye. It was a smithy, a very well stocked smith at that.
He saw no materials, but he didn't need any. With a wave of his hand the scythe materialized in his hand, when it had evolve it gained the ability to turn as small as a ring which he kept on his finger at all times. Scythe in hand he walked over to the furnace, reaching it quickly he extended his left hand. The sigil activated as bluish-white flames poured into the furnace. He quickly thought of something and aimed his focus on the scythe in his hand. It glowed with light as it transformed into a solid black ingot. With the fire burning hot, he stuck the ingot in and began the arduous process of reshaping the ingot.