Chapter 336: Wind-Blown Fierce Fire, Forged Steel Melting Fire

[You have tamed the Warfire. Under the guidance of your Will, the Power of Fire is born and has begun to change…]

Faraway’s body was still not under his control, but three options, each wreathed in flames, slowly appeared in his vision.

[① Power of Fire: Burning Heart]

[Effect: When not suppressed, consuming Power of Fire will grant your attacks an additional bonus, making it easier to force enemies into an agitated state and reveal their weaknesses. You can also choose to directly perform a “Burning Heart” strike.]

[② Power of Fire: Wind-Blown Fierce Fire]

[Effect: When not suppressed, consuming Power of Fire will make your dodges and movements more effective at seeing through enemy attacks and finding their weaknesses. You can also choose to use “Wind-Blown Fierce Fire” to evade an attack.]

[③ Power of Fire: Fire Injection]

[Effect: When not suppressed, consuming Power of Fire will enhance your Fire Seed. The bonus from your Fire Seed’s form will become more powerful, and your Talents and associated Skills will also be strengthened accordingly.]

[Please select your Power of Fire.]

“…”

Seeing these three Power of Fire options, Faraway, for once, fell into deep thought.

He wasn’t sure if it was because he had tamed the Warfire, but all three Power of Fire effects seemed pretty good to him.

However, the information provided was clearly insufficient. After all, the true strength of certain effects could only be determined in actual combat, and it didn’t look like the Spirit Candle was going to give him a chance to compare them.

In that case, Faraway could only choose based on his gut feeling.

Soon, he no longer hesitated and made his choice.

[Do you wish to select “Wind-Blown Fierce Fire” as your Power of Fire?]

[Warning: Once chosen, this decision cannot be changed.]

Yes.

Faraway calmly confirmed his selection.

At the same time, the Warfire above the Candle Spirit Body’s head seemed to be battered by a formless gale, yet it stood strong, burning even more fiercely.

The next moment, the Warfire flowed back into the Candle Spirit Body. Everything returned to calm, and the surrounding scenery began to shift and reassemble.

[The Fire Worship Ceremony is complete.]

[Your attributes have been moderately increased. You have gained 10 Free Attributes.]

[Your Fire Seed Tier can now be promoted.]

Faraway’s Fire Worship Ceremony was over.

Seeing the final notification about the Fire Seed Tier, Faraway became thoughtful.

Before leaving, Faraway took a moment to glance at the changes to his personal information.

[Poems and the Faraway Place]

[Tier: Flame]

[Level: 41]

[Warfire: Iron-faced Warlock (Initial Stage)]

[Power of Fire (Click for details): Wind-Blown Fierce Fire]

[Ability Value: 10 Free Attributes]

[Power: 15]

[Constitution: 10]

[Agility: 28 (+1)]

[Spirit: 42 (+3)]

[Faith: 8]

[Talent: Clear Thoughts (Molten Slag), Law’s Blessing]

[Ability: Dodge (70%), Recovery Wax Block (5), Block, Lethal Strike (75%), Candle Bone Whistle]

[Skill: Execution Step, Executioner’s Hand Blade, Blood Stone Burst, Mithros Starlight, Full Moon Bow, Mithros’ Replacement, Thief Illusion Body]

His Attributes were, naturally, primarily skewed toward Spirit and Agility, but he had also slightly increased his Power and Constitution.

This was, of course, to meet the requirements for wearing and using certain equipment. As for Power, it was to allow him to use some physical attack methods.

Mainly for Bow and Arrow, of course. With his current Attributes, trying to fight in close combat with a Dagger would mean he’d barely scratch his enemies, and it would also be dangerous.

After all, there were already quite a few dungeons in Spirit Candle, and some monsters, like the skeletons in the caverns, had Magic Resistance. On top of that, some of them appeared in groups, which was very troublesome.

In short, Faraway’s build was still focused on Agility and Spirit, but he dabbled in all sorts of methods to avoid having any glaring weaknesses that would be hard to compensate for.

After a moment of thought, Faraway didn’t immediately assign the ten Free Attributes he had just obtained. Instead, he saved them to be allocated when needed.

Then there were his Talents and Abilities.

He had spent the most effort in this area, as he’d discovered his luck didn’t seem to be very good… his enhancement attempts often failed.

However, as one of the more accomplished “Prison Players” in Spirit Candle, he could still make up for this minor deficiency in luck with enough Wax Oil.

As for his Skills, Faraway’s choices prioritized versatility and utility; he wasn’t particularly concerned with raw power.

In that short time, the surrounding environment had almost finished reassembling, and the massive Spirit Candle was already faintly visible.

But Faraway was now reading the detailed information for his Power of Fire.

‘Hmm… A separate Energy Bar. It only recovers over time at a Spirit Candle or increases through combat…’

After reading the details about the Power of Fire, Faraway was lost in thought.

Just as he’d thought, the Power of Fire was easy to use but difficult to restore.

Unlike Physical Strength and Spiritual Power, it couldn’t be restored with Recovery Wax Blocks, nor would it recover quickly just by sitting next to a Spirit Candle.

It could only be restored through combat or a long wait, which was a significant restriction.

However, Faraway wasn’t too concerned about it.

After glancing at his surroundings, he turned his gaze to Niuniu and Shore, who were standing nearby. Both of them looked as though they were questioning their very existence.

“Are you guys okay?” Faraway asked, a little confused when he saw their grim expressions. “Were you not happy with your Power of Fire choices?”

Before Shore and Niuniu even had a chance to see who was speaking, Faraway’s words felt like a cold dagger plunging into their chests.

‘What does he mean, not happy with our Power of Fire choices?!’

Turning to see it was Faraway, Shore couldn’t help but say with a long face, “I failed at Serving Fire! Faraway Lord…”

“I failed too. And I think… I was killed by the Explosive Bull I developed myself…” Niuniu still hadn’t quite recovered from the shock.

“…” Faraway was speechless.

Alright, it seemed he had overthought things. He’d originally assumed Shore and Niuniu had finished faster than him.

“Wait a minute.” Shore suddenly stopped looking miserable. He glanced at Faraway, belatedly realizing something. “Faraway Lord, you mean you succeeded at Serving Fire?”

“So fast?”

He was in disbelief.

“You cleared the Fire Worship Ceremony bare-handed? That’s insane!” Shore had never felt so useless.

Niuniu’s reaction was similar, but he was also a bit confused. “Are you able to get Weapons and equipment later on?”

Hearing this, Faraway fell silent for a moment.

“…The notification said it would be influenced by your Will… You guys didn’t use your Will to manifest equipment?”

Shore didn’t get it at first. He looked completely baffled. “What do you mean?”

Niuniu, on the other hand, was smarter. With just that hint from Faraway, he understood, smacking his fist into his palm in frustration. “Fuck! How could I forget about that!”

“…” Faraway shook his head. These two clearly hadn’t even figured out the basic rules. But it was too late to say anything now. “Is there a penalty for failing at Serving Fire?”

At his words, their faces fell. They told Faraway about the “Fire Sacrifice Loser” debuff.

They had also looked up the condition for removing the debuff… 800 Wax Oil, which was almost the same as the cost of the Fire Worship Ceremony itself.

Niuniu was fine; he removed the effect right away. But Shore, the broke Mage, didn’t have enough Wax Oil and could only suffer with the debuff.

“Try again after some time.”

“I’m going to find the Storyteller first and compile the basic information about the Fire Worship Ceremony.”

Faraway nodded at them and then left the Candlefire Hall, which was his way of offering some small comfort.

The two of them watched Faraway leave with longing eyes.

“Damn, it’s normal for Faraway Lord to succeed. Most other people definitely failed!” Shore said with conviction.

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a familiar figure slowly emerged from the Spirit Candle and appeared before them.

“Miaozi!”

Shore raised an eyebrow and quickly scurried over to Li Miao, looking at him expectantly.

“Did you succeed?”

Seeing Shore, Li Miao fell silent for a moment, then let out a heavy sigh.

“Sigh… Wei Zai, I’m afraid Papa is going to disappoint you this time…”

Hearing this, Shore’s eyes lit up, and his heart leaped with joy.

‘Haha! I knew it! That punk Miaozi couldn’t have done much better than me. He probably only made it a little farther before failing.’

But even though he was happy on the inside, he put on a sympathetic face and said, “Ah, it’s okay. If you fail, there’s always a next time. I failed too…”

However, before he could finish, Li Miao bounced up, leaned close to his ear, and grinned smugly.

“I succeeded, hehe!”

BOOM!

Shore felt as if he’d been struck by lightning. The words that were on the tip of his tongue were forcefully swallowed back down.

“Hahaha!” Li Miao roared with laughter, even striking a bodybuilding pose to show off his pecs. “If you don’t believe me, take a look at your daddy’s amazing Attributes.”

[Brother Miao Won’t Fail the Exam]

[Tier: Flame]

[Level: 41]

[Warfire: Law Knight (Initial Stage)]

[Power of Fire: Forged Steel Melting Fire (When not suppressed, consuming Power of Fire gives your Attack and Defense a chance to apply “Vulnerable” to the enemy, adding extra damage on hit and weakening their balance. You can also choose to directly use “Forged Steel Melting Fire.”)]

[Ability Value: …]

[Power: 24 (+2)]

[Constitution: 50 (+4)]

[Agility: 10]

[Spirit: 8]

[Faith: 8]

[Talent: Steadfast Body (Molten Slag), Proof of the Law]

[Ability: Dodge (70%), Recovery Wax Block (5), Block (25%), Lethal Strike, Candle Bone Whistle]

[Skill: Law Oath, Gulard Heavy Strike, Full Moon Bow, Knight Charge, Crescent Moon Sword Qi, Mourning King’s Ash Annihilation Spear.]

Compared to Faraway, Li Miao’s stat allocation was much more simple and brutish, without a doubt focusing on Constitution and Power. He hadn’t neglected his investment in Talents and Abilities, either.

As for his Skills, they were self-evidently focused on spears, Greatswords, and Shields.

However, having been tormented by flying monsters in previous dungeons, he had also specifically learned the Full Moon Bow Combat Skill to deal with such enemies, making him prepared for both ranged and close-quarters combat.

However, compared to Faraway, he clearly had one less Skill slot, which meant this hoarder still hadn’t brought himself to use his Spirit Candle’s Blessing…

As for his new Power of Fire, it was clearly offense-oriented.

Seeing this, Shore’s face turned ashen. He was on the verge of losing it. “Fuck you, this is what you call disappointing me?!”

Li Miao shot him a sidelong glance. “You think I don’t know what you were thinking?”

“You were definitely hoping I’d fail at Serving Fire so you could laugh at me, am I wrong?”

“I succeeded at Serving Fire, so of course that’s a disappointment for you.”

Sure enough, Shore’s expression darkened.

A father knows his son best; Li Miao had seen right through his petty thoughts.

“By the way, what were you just saying? That you failed too…?”

“Piss off!” Shore, now completely red-faced and triggered, punched him through gritted teeth.

However, not only did the punch not hurt Li Miao, but Shore himself ended up wincing in pain, which only made him even more furious.

Li Miao laughed so hard his stomach hurt.

“…” Watching from the side, Niuniu couldn’t help but give a speechless laugh.