Chapter 299: Miracle’s Afterglow: Tribulation Flower

Chapter 299: Chapter 299: Miracle’s Afterglow: Tribulation Flower

Lance marveled inwardly.

Its most formidable aspect wasn’t the sheer damage it could output, but the way it completely subverted the traditional logic of Spell casting!

For a normal Caster to cast a Spell, they first had to consume their own Ethereal Magic Power to construct a complex spell model within their Sea of Consciousness, and only then could they guide the elements to unleash destruction.

But now, Lance didn’t need any of these tedious steps.

He didn’t even need to consume a shred of his own Magic Power.

The only factor limiting his casting speed was that his current Spirit Attribute wasn’t high enough, which made the gathering and compression of elements somewhat slow.

But even so, for the three minutes his Combat Continuation state was active, unleashing magical attacks of this magnitude was completely resource-free!

As long as the Ether in the surrounding environment wasn’t drained dry, he could become a tireless mobile turret, unleashing a relentless barrage of firepower.

’Using a "heartless" body to draw all creation into a furnace... I’ll call this special Combat Continuation state Heartless Furnace Mode from now on.’

While naming the new form in his mind, Lance walked to the edge of the huge, scorched crater.

At the bottom of the crater, the massive carcass of the Iron Guard was slowly melting and disintegrating in the residual heat.

Amidst a pile of dark red slag, a square, palm-sized iron plate stood out conspicuously.

The iron plate was being carried along by the fiery, molten runoff, and was just about to slip into a deeper crevice of the crater.

Lance immediately bent down, reached out, and picked up the slightly warm iron plate.

The instant his fingers touched the plate, the bronze piece suddenly transformed into a stream of light that shot up from his fingertips, burrowing into the back of his hand.

After the light dissipated, a clear, faintly glowing cross-shaped mark was left on the skin of the back of his hand.

’So this is the Seal, the clearance credential for the final tally of the individual leaderboards.’

Lance looked at the mark on the back of his hand, his brow furrowing involuntarily.

’It can’t be transferred in physical form?’

He had originally planned that if the Seal was a physical item, even if the system prohibited direct trades, he could use his [Royal Armory] to forcibly strip it from someone, thereby controlling the distribution of clearance rights.

But now that it had become a mark, that shortcut for exploiting the system was completely closed off.

’I wonder if the will of the Underground City was already prepared for me to try something like this.’

Lance shook his head with a sense of resignation.

Just as he was studying the mark on the back of his hand, the three minutes of Combat Continuation time finally came to an end.

Lance’s head suddenly lolled to one side, and his body fell backward uncontrollably.

But just as he was about to hit the ground, the resurrection mechanism of [Resist Death] activated instantly.

A gentle, miraculous power swept over his entire body. The terrifying, charred fissure in his chest healed instantly, the depleted Ethereal Melting Furnace roared back to life, and all his severe injuries vanished in the blink of an eye.

Lance stood up straight and steady, reopened his eyes, and gave a big, comfortable stretch.

’After that test, this Iron Guard trial really isn’t that difficult.’

He assessed inwardly.

Nieve was about to level up anyway. Once he got back, he just had to take her to the second area to grind a few times and raise her Level to 4.

Then, using his current prestige, he would borrow a few top-tier pieces of equipment from the Grand Guilds for her to wear.

Finally, he’d stack her with buffs right before she went in. With Nieve’s Mage Tank build, getting a Seal by herself shouldn’t be a problem.

After planning his next steps, Lance used his Great Work to check if his recent death had brought him a new "Hardship" orb of light.

Sure enough, within the furnace-like vision of his Great Work, a sphere of black light, as thick as ink and clearly distinct from the others, was quietly and slowly orbiting.

Lance focused his senses on the sphere of light.

He immediately noticed something different about it.

This "Large Hardship" that represented death didn’t just record the single result of "life reaching zero."

It actually included details about the environment, the degree of pressure he experienced, and his own psychological state during the event.

’In other words, even if I use the resurrection mechanic to farm deaths countless times, the resulting "death hardship" will be completely different each time depending on the enemy I faced, the way I died, and my state of mind.’

Lance speculated.

This mechanism meant he couldn’t use a single method of dying to repeatedly and reliably farm the same fixed buff.

Without a second thought, Lance issued the command.

He tossed the large, ink-black Hardship into the Melting Furnace.

[Incineration of Large Hardship successful.]

[Warning: Your Melting Furnace has entered an overload cooldown state from incinerating a major Hardship. Cooldown: 7 days.]

’So burning any Hardship above the Micro Level comes with a cooldown cost.’

Seeing this notification, Lance had a moment of realization.

It made sense. If this method of trading death for high-level buffs could be used without limit, the Great Work would be far too overpowered.

Immediately after, a new status notification popped up on his panel.

[A matching Miracle’s Afterglow has been extracted for you.]

[Effect Evaluation: The fire of extinction has burned out your Melting Furnace. But you know well that after a wildfire, a forest often returns more lush than before. Hardship is not just fuel for the fire; the resulting ashes are fertile soil where miracles are born.]

[Miracle’s Afterglow: Tribulation Flower]

[Status Description: For the next 2 hours, all of your Basic Attributes will be forcibly reduced and locked to the limit of an ordinary human (All Attributes at 10). During this period, all of your abilities, excluding those derived from your Talent, will be unusable.]

[During these 2 hours as a mortal, every heartbeat, every ounce of fatigue, even the pain and joy you feel, will be treated as the authentic experiences of a mortal and converted into pure nourishment to cultivate the Tribulation Flower.]

"What?!"

Reading those descriptions, the relaxed expression on Lance’s face instantly froze.

Then, without giving him any time to react, he felt the power belonging to a Professional within him rapidly receding like a tide.

This feeling wasn’t the weakness of having his power drained, but rather the sensation of his body being forcibly put into a set of shackles.

’I was too hasty!’

Lance cursed inwardly.

He had completely misunderstood the mechanics of his Great Work.

This extracted Miracle’s Afterglow wasn’t necessarily a buff that could be used to turn the tables in battle!

It could even be a developmental status effect!

Luckily he had tested it out in advance today.

If he had impulsively saved this Hardship, waiting to use it as a trump card during his next life-or-death battle against a strong foe, he would have truly become a powerless weakling, left to be slaughtered at will.

’The process was a bit terrifying, but at least I’ve now cleared a major minefield.’

Lance let out a long sigh of relief, feeling incredibly fortunate.

However, he was also looking forward to it.

He was excited to see what kind of amazing fruit the "Tribulation Flower," currently buried deep within his Melting Furnace and being nourished by his mortal experience, would bear after its two-hour gestation period.

This place wasn’t too far from camp, anyway. As long as he was careful to avoid the wandering Low Level Demons on the way back, he could easily get through the next two hours.

Besides, with Nieve by his side, safety wasn’t a problem.

Before leaving the room, Lance checked his system for any other rewards.

He checked the [Extreme Path] panel for his Summer Crown title evaluation.

Thanks to the recent battle where he had crushed an opponent far beyond his Level, his ratings in the sub-categories of "Slaughter Battle," "Rebellion," "Lonely and Isolated," and "Insight" had all risen sharply. The golden progress bars were a pleasant sight.

’For the next few days, Felix and the others will be keeping an eye on the assault back at camp, so there shouldn’t be any major issues.’

’I’ll arrange for the Iron Guard trial then, and just leave the coordinates for Nieve.’

Lance mentally planned his upcoming schedule.

’I just need to use this free time to take Nieve monster grinding for a few days and raise my Main Profession Level.’

’While I’m at it, I can max out these Extreme Path ratings. Kill two birds with one stone and aim for an unprecedented, epic title when the final settlement happens.’

’Everything’s set. Just have to clear this and get going!’

’Nice.’

After confirming he hadn’t missed anything, Lance turned and walked toward the Bronze Gate.

He stretched out his hands and pressed them against the bronze surface. Because his power was sealed, he had to struggle and use his entire body weight to slowly push the Bronze Gate open a crack.

However, just as he stepped out of the Bronze Gate—before he could even open his mouth to tell Nieve, who had been waiting faithfully outside, that he was safe—he suddenly felt a biting cold wind rush toward him.

Then, a figure carrying a faint, lovely fragrance crashed into his embrace.