Chapter 1450 - 936: Steel

Chapter 1450: Chapter 936: Steel

In this realm governed by rules, amidst fantastical spaces.

Vane felt the steady pressure brought by the fine steel heavy armor, which had accompanied him for years, already as familiar as a second skin.

He felt the coolness and weight of the tower shield in his hand, engraved with his surname, having endured countless impacts yet remaining solid as ever.

He felt the power within him, as stable as the earth, as tough as steel, how it gathered and surged with each deep breath, safeguarding himself, able to transform into a thunderous shield strike.

Guard! Solid! Immovable as the mountains!

These are his path, his belief, the foundation of his power.

In this space, at this mystical moment where the spirit expands infinitely and deeply merges with the body.

He completely opened his heart.

However, the first thing he distinctly felt, was himself—his rock-solid will, his pure and mighty soul.

At this moment, an intense sensation from deep within his bloodline and soul, suddenly drew him like unseen chains.

He abruptly opened his eyes, gaze sharp as electricity, piercing through countless fantastical scenes around him, precisely locking onto a seemingly inconspicuous object in the distance.

It quietly floated there, not lively and nimble like leaping fire elves, not lightly flowing like winding streams, nor meticulously complex like rotating silver cubes.

It was just a... square metal block.

Its entire body presented a profound, cold hard, non-flamboyant dark steel gray.

Its edges are crisp, its lines straight as if carved by knives or axes, without any excessive decoration or dazzling luster.

It wasn’t emitting scorching heat like the nearby dark red hot iron block, nor containing the deep power of earth like that pitch-black coal mass.

It possesses only the most pure, seemingly able to withstand the relentless erosion of time and the furious impact of all things—absolute solidity!

An indescribable attraction from within the soul continuously emanated from that steel block, drawing him like iron filings to a powerful magnet.

Vane felt his inner power intensely resonating, blood flowing faster in his veins, even the tower shield gripped in his hand seemed to let out a silent but strong longing hum at the spirit level.

He hesitated no longer, following that almost instinctive call from deep within his soul.

His body, as if freed from the constraints of weight in this mystical space, followed his thoughts, lightly "drifting" forward like a feather, firmly reaching out his arm towards that square steel block, embodying the essence of "solidity".

His fingertips, with a warrior’s resolve and a longing for the truth of power, slowly yet unwaveringly, touched that cold and hard metal surface as if it were eternal.

Buzz—!

At the moment of contact, an irresistible, vast force like the sea instantly engulfed the entirety of Vane’s consciousness!

The fantastical scenes before him spun wildly like a shattered kaleidoscope, swiftly fading away until utterly disappearing.

In its place came an overwhelming heat, almost incinerating his soul to ashes.

Beneath his feet was a blistering ground cracked with countless abyss-like fissures, allowing dark red viscous lava to flow freely, the air filled with the acrid stench of sulfur and waves of destructive heat enough to melt gold and iron.

Above him, a crimson sky akin to boiling blood pools churned with gigantic flame vortices, innumerable burning rocks fell like doomsday meteors, dragging long trails of flames, crashing down, creating lava pits on the charred ground.

In front of him, a colossal volcano composed purely of lava continuously roared, erupting overwhelming flames and poisonous smoke, emitting earth-shaking growls that trembled the land.

It was by no means a natural volcano; its terrifying twisted shape resembled a giant beast crawling from the depths of Hell’s abyss, constructed from blazing mountain rock and raging flame, exuding a frenzied suppression to destroy all life.

The trial! Begun!

The moment his fingertips touched the cold steel block, Vane’s consciousness was completely engulfed by this world of frenzied flames.

He was no longer the humanoid warrior Vane.

He "is" the hot viscous earthfire lava flowing relentlessly in the earth’s veins.

He "perceived" the unparalleled hot pressure deep within the earth, felt the hard cold rock underneath him being mercilessly dissolved and assimilated in a slow yet intense process.

He "wandered" within the volcano’s massive, boiling, destructive energy-filled "heart"—the magma chamber.

The vast heat is its wild pulse, the surging lava its scorching blood.

He was completely immersed in this primitive, frenzied, power-filled torrent of destruction and rebirth, as if his soul merged with the volcano’s own will.

Until the energy, accumulated over countless ages, could no longer be contained, abruptly exploding like a creature oppressed to the extreme!

Engulfed, like an angry red giant python, he surged upwards through narrow steep rocky passages, bursting through all obstacles and constraints.

The earth painfully tore beneath him, the sky turned an eye-searing orange-red of doomsday’s purgatory.

Ultimately, with an unstoppable force, he erupted forth, with a thunderous roar of destruction and rebirth, transforming into a rain of fire, violently raining down on the cold, desolate, lifeless land below.