Chapter Twenty-One: The Hand of the Flame Demon

Rockworms have poor eyesight but are extremely sensitive to sound; as soon as they heard their companion's anguished cries, a swarm of them poured out of the mine.

“Damn, Pike is really unreliable. There must be at least fifty or sixty rockworms here.”

Moreover, among the horde, Chu Yun spotted a black rockworm that looked distinctly formidable—it must be a second-tier specimen.

Fortunately, Chu Yun’s power had grown considerably. He decided to test his chaos laws.

Though he could bypass the rockworms and enter the mine via the Mirror World, he had to consider how to escape should the rockworms return and he failed to exit in time. If he exhausted his mental strength, he’d be forced to return to the real world regardless, or risk vanishing between worlds, like the water he’d left behind earlier.

The Mirror World is a double-edged sword; improper use would inevitably lead to disaster.

Watching the swarm race toward him, Chu Yun couldn’t claim he wasn’t afraid. But their speed was relatively slow, and after putting some distance between himself and the horde, he began his spellcasting.

He started chanting the incantation for Burning Hand, his mental energy constructing the spell model. The words and gestures, paired with his mental power, accelerated the process, but this time, Chu Yun infused the model with the chaos law.

At the moment of completion, the concentration of magical elements surged, and the spell model expanded to several times its usual size. Instead of collapsing, the model grew even more stable.

The chaos law could forcibly elevate the spell’s tier without altering its essence. Chu Yun’s result was an enhanced second-tier Burning Hand, and he gave this upgraded spell a mighty name.

“Burn! Hand of the Flame Demon!”

The fire that erupted didn’t cease instantly with the spell’s release, but instead continued its furious spray. Chu Yun manipulated his gestures, directing the flames to sweep across the advancing rockworms.

Ordinary rockworms perished on contact; the second-tier worm endured for a moment, but after five seconds under the relentless blaze, it too exploded and died.

The base duration of the Flame Demon’s Hand is ten seconds, and with attribute bonuses, it lasted a few seconds more—more than enough to annihilate the horde.

[Received 88 points of class experience]
[Received 11 points of class experience]
...

A string of class experience notifications floated by, and Chu Yun’s level instantly rose to Lv3. He compared the experience points to the number of rockworms, then used Mana Blast to finish off two survivors, before entering the Mirror World to collect a second wave of public experience.

[Received 10 points of experience]
[Received 12 points of experience]
...

In reality, killing a target guaranteed class experience; in the Mirror World, though experience wasn’t guaranteed, it could yield other interesting skills and proficiencies.

This battle earned Chu Yun a total of 703 class experience points and 345 public experience points.

Not only did he level up, he was close to the next tier.

[Traveler Mage class level raised to Lv3 (146/700)]

[Health +5]
[Mental power +6]
[Skill points +7]
[Class level reached Lv3, gain 3 free attribute points.]
[Warm reminder: Reaching Lv4 grants a random spell reward]

Chu Yun’s other attributes were already strong, so he invested all free attribute points into intelligence, the most crucial stat for mages.

He continued to allocate skill points to Meditation and Spell Identification. As the level rose, skill points increased, but so did the cost per upgrade—wasting skill points was not an option.

Besides, Chu Yun picked up a few interesting abilities in the Mirror World.

[Mineral Identification Lv1: You can identify the general type of minerals.]
[Dark Vision Lv1: You can see clearly within five meters in darkness.]

Chu Yun already possessed Dark Vision; acquiring it again upgraded the skill to Lv2 without spending skill points.

At Lv2, his vision sharpened and the effective range increased to six meters.

Beyond these basic abilities, the black rockworm dropped a valuable skill.

[Stone Skin]
Tier: First-tier Protection
Casting time: 1 action
Range: Touch
Spell components: incantation, gestures, materials (various stone powders)
Duration: 10 minutes
Effect: The skin of a willing creature you touch, or your own, becomes as hard as stone. Defensive bonus varies by material.
Spell note: Using attribute stone powder as a component raises resistance to corresponding attributes.

Mages typically wore robes inscribed with runes to enhance spell effects or meditation speed, rarely donning armor. Yet in the wild, circumstances were unpredictable, and close combat or ranged attacks were sometimes unavoidable.

Without shield or protective spells, Stone Skin was a solid choice. Moreover, it could be cast on allies, making melee fighters far more formidable.

Similarly, the Rage spell, previously dismissed as useless, could be applied to willing subjects as well.

Name: Chu Yun
Class: Traveler Mage Lv3 (146/700)
Experience: 382

Camp: Chaotic Neutral
Health: 24/24
Mental power: 25/32
Attributes: Strength 16, Agility 20, Constitution 16, Intelligence 21, Perception 17, Charisma 19
Core Abilities: Meditation Lv5, Spell Identification Lv4, Dark Vision Lv2, Mineral Identification Lv1… (unchanged abilities omitted)
Extra Skills: Stone Skin 1, Rage 0

Chu Yun familiarized himself with his new abilities and spells while distancing himself from the mine to meditate; the stench of the rockworms was overwhelming. He had no choice but to retreat or risk suffocating.

Half an hour later, his mental power recovered significantly, and the odor dissipated. He returned to the battlefield.

Unexpectedly, the rockworms had another surprise in store. When Chu Yun cut open the black rockworm with a short blade, five gleaming red crystals appeared before him.

With Mineral Identification, he could determine their type.

[Second-tier Fire Crystal x3]
[First-tier Fire Crystal x2]

Excited, Chu Yun searched the other rockworms and found even more Fire Crystals.

After slaughtering the entire horde, he had ten second-tier Fire Crystals and twenty first-tier ones.

A sense of unease crept into his heart. Normally, rockworms would not contain so many Fire Crystals.

Sure enough, when he carefully followed the mine map to the designated spot deep within, he found Pike’s supposed stash destroyed. Judging from the marks, it was the work of the rockworms!

Most of the Fire Crystals Chu Yun harvested from the rockworms likely came from that very stash.

“How should I handle this?”

These crystals were both his spoils and the goods for the commission. The thought of handing them all to Pike as agreed left him dissatisfied—especially since the situation was nothing like Pike had promised, which was only about a dozen first-tier rockworms.

Whether the rockworm numbers changed later or Pike intentionally concealed the truth, Chu Yun hadn’t found the goods at the specified location.

He decided to return to the Kalos Camp, but as he stepped out of the cave, a sharp arrow shot from the shadows.

His keen perception allowed him to dodge instantly, but the attack was so sudden that his left arm was still struck.

Worse yet, the spot where the arrow pierced began to tingle—the arrowhead was coated with poison!