Chapter 244: Evolved Vermilion Flame

As the Vermilion Flame devoured the Fire Mandawa, its power continued to increase.

When William had first obtained the Vermilion Flame inside the Howling Desert Rift, it was only a small seed.

William had refined it, and the seed had assimilated itself with his Aether Core.

Currently, the seed of Vermilion Flame within his core was trembling violently, and dark red flames were flickering across its surface.

Vermilion Flame was one of the strongest flames in the world, and it not only contained terrifying vitality but also possessed extremely powerful destructive power.

Crack!

Suddenly, a crack appeared on the surface of the seed.

Woosh!

Instantly, the dark red flames flickering on the seed’s surface flared up, and their power increased greatly.

Hiss!

William couldn’t help but hiss in pain as he felt as though his entire body were burning from the inside.

Even his Aether Core, where the seed of Vermilion Flame was located, was trembling, shaking under the power of the flame.

Taking a deep breath, William sat down on the ground and closed his eyes, focusing entirely on the flames erupting from the seed.

The Vermilion Flame had already refined more than half of the Fire Mandawa, and as its power increased, the speed at which it refined the plant was also increasing.

William estimated that in about fifteen minutes, the entire Fire Mandawa would be refined by his flame.

’This energy should be enough to make Vermilion Flame fully sprout from its seed...’

William thought as he focused entirely on controlling the berserk flames inside his body, trying to ease the burning pain he was feeling.

Time passed, and soon, ten minutes went by.

The entire seed was already covered in cracks, and the dark red flames flickering out of those cracks were so powerful that it was becoming difficult for William to control them perfectly.

As a result, his entire body was now covered in dark red flames, making it look as though he were being burned alive.

Number One and Eve also noticed William enveloped in flames, but because William had told them earlier to stay there, they didn’t approach him.

"Dadda..." Eve tilted her head slightly, wondering what kind of game he was playing.

’Damn it! No one told me it would be so painful to evolve a flame...’

William gritted his teeth as he endured the burning pain.

’Normally, the evolution of a bound flame wouldn’t cause any pain to its user. It’s mostly because your bound flame is Vermilion Flame that you are experiencing this burning pain,’ Eva suddenly spoke upon hearing his thoughts.

William actually didn’t want to talk to Eva right now, as he was too busy keeping the Vermilion Flame under control.

Without him actively controlling it, the flame might directly burn him.

However, to distract himself from the burning pain, he still asked her.

’What do you mean by it’s because of Vermilion Flame? Is there a problem with this flame?’

’Not really,’ Eva shook her head. ’Vermilion Flame is related to Nirvana. Now that it’s sprouting from its seed state, which is the most important phase of its life, you’ll obviously receive some additional benefits as its owner.’

Hearing the words Nirvana and benefits, William felt his spirits lift, and even the pain he was experiencing seemed to decrease considerably.

’What kind of benefits?’ He asked quickly.

’The most obvious one for you should be the Nirvana of your physical body. You can’t feel it right now, but the Vermilion Flame is actually tempering your body, making your physical body undergo Nirvana. Once completed, your physical body will definitely become far stronger than it is now...’

Eva paused before adding.

’In fact, if this weren’t its first evolution, the Vermilion Flame could even allow your soul to undergo Nirvana, enhancing the quality and strength of your soul in all aspects. However, right now, its level is too low to make your soul undergo Nirvana.’

’Nirvana of my physical body...’

William ignored the latter part of Eva’s explanation, as soul Nirvana was still too far beyond his current level.

Instead, he focused on the physical Nirvana.

He had been so focused on controlling the Vermilion Flame that he hadn’t paid attention to anything else before.

However, now that he observed carefully, he could indeed feel that his physical body was becoming stronger.

In fact, it wasn’t just a raw increase in his physical attributes, such as strength, agility, defense, and other things.

His entire physical body was being elevated to the next level, including its potential.

’No wonder people are crazy about top-grade flames. These flames can change a person’s life forever...’

William took a deep breath and, after hesitating for a moment, gritted his teeth and stopped controlling the Vermilion Flame.

’It’s just the pain of being burned alive. What’s there to be afraid of? As long as it makes me stronger, it’s worth it.’

He comforted himself, and the next second—

Woosh!

The dark red flames covering him erupted with their full power.

’Fuck my life...’

William couldn’t help but curse as his skin turned charred black in an instant, and the flames began burning his flesh, blood, bones... Every part of his body.

Just to stop himself from burning to death, William had to use Super Regeneration and Immortal Blood Heart to their full power.

His flesh, skin, blood, and other parts of his body burned, recovered through his regeneration, and then burned again.

The process repeated itself, and William could feel his physical body becoming stronger with each passing second.

Not only that, as the Vermilion Flame approached the final phase of its evolution, even the Aether Energy inside his core was refined by the flames.

The intensity of William’s Aether Energy was already far higher than that of Evolvers at the same level because of his Origin Grade Vampire Bloodline and Time Star Codex.

However, under the Nirvana effect of the Vermilion Flame, it increased even further.

Because the Vermilion Flame had assimilated with his Aether Core, the level of his core also slowly increased as the flame became stronger.

William had been sent to the Trial Realm right after reaching the Star Commander level, so he was only at the early stage of Star Commander.

However, as the Vermilion Flame grew stronger, his core’s level also increased, advancing toward the middle stage of Star Commander.

The ground around William slowly melted under the intense heat, and if he hadn’t been wearing the World Devourer Wolf Coat, he would have been naked long ago.

A few more minutes passed, and the Vermilion Flame finally finished devouring the entire Fire Mandawa.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

One crack after another appeared on the seed of Vermilion Flame, and dark red flames burst out of them like a tsunami.

A few seconds later, the entire seed suddenly shattered, and a blob of dark red flame appeared inside William’s core.

Woosh!

A pillar of red fire suddenly shot upward into the sky, with William at its center and reached a height of over fifty meters.

Eve and Number One, who were sitting some distance away, were taken aback by the sight and instantly jumped to their feet.

An anxious look appeared in Eve’s eyes, and she immediately ran toward William.

However, she had taken only a few steps when Number One appeared in front of her, stopping her from approaching the pillar of fire.

Even though Number One could feel an incredible amount of vitality emanating from the pillar, it could also sense the terrifying power capable of turning it into ashes within seconds.

If either of them went too close to the pillar, it would be incredibly dangerous for them.

"Dadda..." Eve anxiously waved her hands and tried to push Number One away.

However, the Crawler was far stronger than her, and she couldn’t even budge it.

On the other side, as soon as the Vermilion Flame sprouted from its seed state, William felt his connection with it grow even stronger.

Not only that, the fully sprouted Vermilion Flame didn’t cause him any harm or pain, as he had imagined it would.

Instead, the moment the flame sprouted, all the burning pain he had been feeling disappeared, and his body seemed to be bathed in gentle energy as his physical strength soared.

Even his core’s rank increased to the middle stage of Star Commander, and the intensity of his Aether Energy increased tremendously, giving him a qualitative leap in strength.

William took control of the now fully sprouted Vermilion Flame, and the pillar of fire surrounding him slowly disappeared.

Taking a deep breath, he tried to rein in his increased power, and a look of ecstasy appeared on his face.

Not only had the Vermilion Flame become far stronger than before, but his realm and physical strength had also increased greatly.

Just as William was savoring the feeling of his increased strength, he suddenly sensed the blood in his body churning.

He was taken aback by the sudden development and was about to examine what was happening when, the next second—

BOOOOOOM!

A brownish-gray aura filled with the power of Chaos suddenly erupted from his body, shooting straight into the sky of the Trial Realm.