Chapter 358: Furnace

A human with balls of brass.

After hearing Rod explain the wager, Grey and Kira both felt a stifling gloom settle in their chests.

They had actually been defeated by a man like that—and so disgracefully at that.

And in the end they'd been used as stakes, as part of this damned flower thief's group party!

However.

When the two of them were placed inside the ritual cave by Rod on the pretext of supervising the stakes, both of them were completely thrown off.

Burning the "fire groom" is a sacred affair.

It must be carried out within the sacred ritual cave.

And at this moment, inside the pitch-dark cave, seven or eight female fire spirits voluntarily extinguished their flames and squeezed into the not-very-large space; even the passage they'd come through was lined with a queue of eager candidates.

The hair all over their bodies transformed into flames in its place, revealing pale-red, exquisite figures.

The only one standing was Rod alone.

He rose to his feet amid the female fire spirits sprawled across the ground—some trembling, some passed out—looking like a saint newly come into the world, holy and commanding.

Won.

One could even say it was a crushing victory.

Of course.

Part of the reason was that Rod had spent a full month running six-person parties.

From his initial discomfort at the start to growing ever fiercer with each battle later on, his 【Second Heart】 had improved by more than a little.

Compared to the six-person team that had Tally and Vivian—two desire beasts—those two alone were each the equivalent of five to seven female fire spirits.

So these twenty-three female fire spirits were nothing special.

To be fair, the 【Second Heart】 was pounding away, running at full throttle.

The female fire spirits' high temperature was still quite, quite nice.

The burning sensation was intense, and there was a localized sauna-roasting feel to it.

Only recommended for those with high fire resistance to sample—the temperature inside their bodies is even higher, otherwise you can easily get melted straight through.

There's also one more point that has to be mentioned.

This involves the issue of friction causing fire.

Ordinary carbon-based lifeforms don't run into this dilemma—if it doesn't work, add some lubricant; gears can still get a bit of lubrication between them when they mesh.

Fire spirits won't do.

The high temperature dries it up in an instant.

This also meant Rod's 【Charm Secretion】 was almost useless, as one after another they kept pouncing on him,

Luckily though.

Because their affinity with fire was extremely high, once that thing was lit with flame it could still function normally.

So, once again, a reminder.

Anyone with low fire resistance absolutely must not come—you can easily end up getting yourself burned away.

Apart from the novel experience, this fire spirit challenge also brought him an unexpected delight.

【Comprehended a portion of the authority of 'Flame Domain'】

【Domain Details: Fire resistance greatly increased; fire-attribute skill effects increased by 30%】

【Obtained Domain Skill: Myriad Phenomena Furnace】

【Details: Able to nurture, transform, and manifest the forms of all manner of life. This skill can fuse one's own vitality with flame, causing treasures, weapons, magic, spiritual arts, and the like to exhibit transformations in life-form.】

He didn't understand this description at first glance.

But it faintly hinted at something high-end; it looked pretty badass.

Rod had his slime Little Black split off a black sword.

He used 【Myriad Phenomena Furnace】 on it.

A sphere of flame appeared in his palm and, with a whoosh, sucked the black sword inside.

At the same time, wisps of Rod's life essence were drawn out and poured into the 【Myriad Phenomena Furnace】 as well.

Before long, a prompt arrived.

【Smelting Successful】

【Name: Blazing Slime Sword】

【Details: This slime sub-body is too low-grade and cannot produce a higher life-form.】

【Rating: 12 points】

Poof—

The fireball acting as the furnace spat out a longsword wreathed in raging flames, identical in style to the one thrown in earlier—only now white instead of black.

"Oh!"

Rod exclaimed inwardly.

Although the result wasn't anything special, the skill had quite decent potential.

He picked up the blazing sword, and an unhappy yet fawning emotion immediately came through the 【Mind Link】 with slime Little Black.

Uh.

Well, slimes get jealous too.

Rod had her swallow the blazing sword back up—after all, the thing wasn't very strong, and if he wanted to play with fire, the 【Devotion Body Sword】 also had Heart Flame to play with.

Then he tossed several slime swords into the 【Myriad Phenomena Furnace】 one after another.

The results were all mediocre.

Not only weapons, but even water cups, umbrellas, and arm guards—this chaotic assortment—could all be farmed; the randomness was quite high.

Then again, it might be related to the Slimes themselves having no fixed form.

With such a thick reserve of Life Essence, Rod had no fear of consumption.

After a round of farming that lasted over a dozen attempts, he finally farmed one that had produced a High Life Form.

—【Blazing Holy Grail】.

A hollow, cylindrical object; inside, a tongue burning with flames could be faintly seen, lying quietly within.

【Details: A Holy Grail of special purpose, possessing the personality of a 'clingy brat'; it is best to pamper it once daily. Otherwise, this one will throw a tantrum, you know.】

【Evaluation: 38 points】

Rod: "..."

What the hell is this thing?

His face darkened with irritation; he was just about to toss it to Little Black to swallow.

But then he thought better of it; who knew that one day Tally might not be by his side.

He couldn't always rely on encountering a group of female Fire Spirits to solve problems like he had just now.

Rod took out a fresh set of clothes and put them on.

He turned aside into a corner.

He glanced lightly at the two 【Heroes】 and 【Hero Givers】 in that corner, who still wore expressions of shock.

"A-are you really human?"

The half-deer woman, Kira, expressed her disbelief.

"Tch, disgusting man..." Hero Gre muttered, clicking her tongue with a face full of disgust.

"Oh? Is that so? Anyway, I'm not yet satisfied. How about I take the two of you as well..."

The two women's faces stiffened; they turned pale and twisted their heads away, refusing to look at him.

Rod laughed loudly, fastening his collar as he strode out with vigorous momentum, looking nothing like someone who had just gone through a fierce battle.

He walked all the way to the outside of the Sacrificial Cave.

The male Fire Spirits gathering around let out cries of "Ouch," revealing expressions of unwillingness.

Others were overjoyed, cheering loudly.

Since he had walked out unharmed, the ones who had naturally been defeated were their wives, daughters, sisters, and younger sisters.

Rod could see that some among them were even exchanging Jin Along; clearly, they were betting on something.

Fine then.

Not everyone possesses moral concepts like humans do.

(End of this chapter)