Chapter 58 – Heart Burner

4 days passed by in the blink of an eye.

The landscape around the rectangular pit had completely changed.

On the surface, geysers ran on the two longer east and west sides of the pit.

Every geyser was connected to each other by a channel of hundreds of gullies that looked like veins. All of which came together and connected to form a small pond at the south short end.

The geysers along the edges didn't erupt forth as much as their counterparts on the edges of the mountain range due to some of the water being drained away. This did not mean that they did not erupt and spout water.

Every so often a geyser would erupt and rain down. With the accumulation of the hundreds of dug up geysers… The rain of scalding water was endless.

Every time one geyser would end its attempt at reaching for the skies, another two would take its place.

The constant blasting noise on the surface drowned out all other sounds.

The south side where the water accumulated was a little calmer. With water trickling in through the hundreds of streams, a serene sound of flowing water permeated the air.

All that flowing water formed a pond at the edge of the cliff on the south side. The previously placed elevator and pulley systems were uprooted and nowhere to be seen.

Only a large pond stood on this edge of the pit.

Of course, this constantly flowing water had to lead somewhere right?

A 3-metre wide waterfall.

The south edge now housed a 3-metre wide waterfall. The boiling water emitted a layer of steam while in the pond and gave the pond a natural misty layer but this effect was only heightened as the water fell with the waterfall.

With the free fall, came the cooling of the water. A 30-foot drop caused the water to rapidly cool as it fell. A thick mist covered the falling water and defied gravity as it flowed against the current in puffs.

These changes were a world apart from the previous desolate surface top that the trio had first seen but it was nothing compared to the actual pit.

Caves and log water stoppers still dotted the walls of the pit. The only difference being that they had all been reinforced in small ways. Just enough to ensure that they wouldn't give way anytime soon.

The bottom of the pit had now been divided up into three distinct zones.

The south zone where the waterfall was, was a zone of water. A similar pond as to the one on top occupied most of the south portion of the pit.

The centre was a wide open area. The floor on this specific zone had been cleared out and elevated to an extent of half a metre. This space completely divided up the north and the south. The flat elevated rock portion almost looked like an arena.

The most eye-catching part was the north zone. It was eye-catching not because it topped the waterfall in splendour but because of how out of place it seemed.

All the loose soil that had covered the original floor of the pit had been neatly stacked into this zone. With the constant warm drizzle that fell, the soil had a natural damp texture to it now.

Rows of evenly placed bumps could be seen In the ground where seeds seemed to be planted and a few odd weeds stuck out.

It looked like a newly planted vegetable farm. The contrast with the surroundings was astounding.

The only unchanged part of the whole pit was the northern surface. A broken down pulley and elevator were still the only things that occupied this spot. If a difference were to be searched for then it would most probably be the new ropes that had replaced the old insect eaten and worn ones that were used to operate the contraptions.

....

"Phew! Finally done." Elaine said as she wiped the sweat off her brow with a handkerchief.

She stood at the top of the north edge of the pit. Next to her were the seated Adam and Luna who had their legs dangling at the edge.

They were overlooking the fruits of their backbreaking work of the past few days.

The loud geysers kept erupting while the splashing of the waterfall created a wonderful spectacle. Right underneath them were the planted weeds and seeds. All the plants and seeds that were chosen had the fire attribute.

Adam had not expected to be able to cool down the water to the extent that they had in his initial plans and as such only purchased plants with the fire attribute.

As a result, all the weeds that stuck out either had leaves and flowers that had red or a hue of the shades of red. A very picturesque scene could be imagined when these seeds and weeds grew out.

"Yeah, thanks to Elaine we finished up early," Adam smirked from the side. A clear tone of sarcasm in his voice. It was obvious that he was teasing the girl.

"What do you mean by that?!" She turned toward him and gave him a glare. Flames emitting from those crystal clear eyes and a redness enveloping her cheeks.

"Mhmm. We would have finished much earlier if Elaine hadn't pulled out that log stopper." Luna who had her eyes closed this whole time, finally awoke and spoke as well.

"It was an accident. I thought we had to remove them to reinforce them! How was I supposed to know?" She gave an aggrieved look of being wrongfully exposed.

"HAH?! Sister, please don't say such stupid things with such a straight face. People will think you are a moron. Thank god that its just us here…" Luna put on a sincere face of relief.

"It was my first time. It was an honest mistake…Uwuwu" She was on the verge of tears.

"Okay, it is enough. It is Elaine after all. It's to be expected. I'm just glad that it was close to the bottom and you could raise a wall in time to block it. If not the whole place would've been submerged in water." Adam said as he raised his palms to the level of his shoulders and gave a 'nothing you can do about it' shrug.

"Agreed." Luna nodded her head in delight at the praise.

Elaine's face turned tomato red. She looked like she was about to erupt like the geysers around her.

When Adam saw this he immediately spoke up. "Haha, I'm just kidding don't get so upset."

"Sorry, sorry." Luna chipped in the effort as well.

"Hmph!" Her anger at their teasing did not last long as it dissipated like a cloud of smoke with that huff. She had truly blundered and almost wasted all their effort with that one mistake after all.

She knew that they only teased her to bring the topic out in the open, rather than to let her simmer in its guilt. Though they did seem to take some pleasure in it, she held a sense of unspoken gratitude toward their actions.

The three continued their light banter as they recalled their last few days of painstaking labour.

Luna was the one who had truly shined in all of this. Her earth territorial skill only allowed her to create a rectangular or slightly bent rectangular wall that was just good enough to cover her height. For her to layer the spell countless times to create elevations and depressions was a feat that required a level of concentration and magic power that was way beyond her current grasp.

She had also done a perfect job, where it was hard to separately identify two of her earth territorial spell walls apart on the smooth ground of the central zone.

To a mage, this level of spellcasting was a form of training in and of itself. Luna was at a level where she did not even have to consciously chant the spell for her earth skills anymore.

Pressured by this level of improvement, Adam and Elaine had also taken a few measures.

They were in charge of most of the manual labour during this remodification of the pit. They decided that they should increase the weight of their training weights. This would help strengthen their bodies and not hinder their work too much.

They did just that.

Luna spent all of her time in the pit while Adam and Elaine would make runs to town for food and any supplies that they hadn't prepared for.

On one of their earlier trips, they made a stop at the armoury store and tried on different weights. They put on heavier weights till they once again felt the same sensation as they had when they first put on their current weights.

Adam picked up weights that totalled up to 70 kilograms while Elaine picked up weights that were 75 kilograms. The difference in raw bodily strength of the classes was beginning to show. Adam's class sacrificed raw strength for a durable body so he would most definitely be unable to match up to Elaine in this regard.

With regards to this, the trio was truly a bunch of training maniacs. They motivated each other constantly and this cycle further enhanced their drive. They never let a moment go idle as one of them would take that chance to exceed the others.

As for their body refining manuals… Luna could not achieve her first realm without the blood of a Luan while Emily had already accomplished her first realm of heart burner and had successfully lit an essence flame in her heart. Emily's first two realms were foundation realms and as such did not require her to absorb the blood of a Poisonous Wyvern. However, for her to accomplish this task so quick was a testament to her ability.

Adam wondered if the girl was a natural talent at body refinement.

He himself was still struggling to accomplish his first realm. This was not mentioning the fact that he was using the headstrong approach and aiming to light all three elemental bonfires simultaneously.

He was a monster in a category of his own if comparisons were truly made.

"Let's make a trip and check on our first batch of monsters as we leave?" Luna asked with anticipation as if she was longing to see a pet.

Adam had almost forgotten about those monsters during their last few days of efforts so he agreed impassively. He did not expect them to have gotten up to much in such a short while since they were all injured, to begin with.

Elaine, on the other hand, was the same as Luna and was eager to go check on their status.

"A quick stop at the mountain and then we leave. We have already spent a few days without returning to the lodge. It will not be good if this absence leads to suspicions from mother." Adam warned as he led the group to the mountain in question.