Remnant of Ash

Divine

Kai stared blankly at that one singular word, his mouth wide open as he failed to comprehend how insane it really was.

He, while trapped underground in some strange church while having to traverse an incredibly steep mountain, had received a Divine Rarity item.

How the hell did that make any sense?

More importantly, how were those flames Divine in the first place? Sure they were incredibly beautiful, eye catching and could almost be described as Divine, but did that really warrant a Divine rarity?

Kai swallowed nervously.

A Divine item...

Honestly, he was really excited to see what the item was capable of. The only other thing he had seen that was Divine was back in the Tutorial Shop, how he could buy a glimpse of his own future.

Actually, now that he thought about it, quite a few of the images had already come true.

Snow, a dungeon, a rat, which was presumably Remy...

Okay, now that he thought about it, only three of the images had actually happened, the rest of them Kai still had no idea what they meant.

There had been quite a few people in his visions, each one stranger than the last, and there was still that random number at the end.

Still, Kai felt that maybe he could scratch one more off the list of visions.

Glancing backwards, he admired Cecilia for a few moments. A beautiful black haired woman...

Kai sighed softly.

One of the people in his vision was definitely Cecilia, no doubt about that. He just hadn't realised it until now because he hadn't thought about it, he had been too busy under a mind hex and trying to escape a prison made of ice after all.

The blue thread he had seen also looked like Cecilia's Mana threads, but he had no idea as to why those would be so important to show up in his visions of the future.

Kai shook his head.

It wasn't really important to think about all that, what was much more important was to get back on track.

He still had a Divine rarity item to inspect after all.

What would it even be capable of? Was it a weapon, or a support item, or even an upgrade?

Kai had no way of knowing.

At least, not until he actually looked at the description.

When ... appeared and threatened the very existence of this Subdimension, the one true Lord fought back and prevented catastrophe. The flames that were produced as a result of their battle of wills were spread far and wide. Sadly, the flames died out, leaving only remnants of their power. This is a one time use item. It can be used to boost the abilities of any fire based skill or item. The size of this boost relies on the capabilities of the skill or item.

Kai blinked.

That description was... a lot.

When something appeared and threatened to destroy the Subdimension, the one true Lord fought back?

Well, it was sort of obvious what these flames originated from. It was obviously a result of that firebal from billions and billions of years ago.

But what the hell had caused it that could possibly have its flames survive up until now?

Kai sighed.

There was no real reason to worry about things like that, it had happened a long time ago after all.

No, he was more focused on the second part of the description.

It's an upgrade.

Upgrade a fire based skill or weapon. Kai had no weapons that fit that criteria, but he did have two skills that did.

Soul Flame and Ignition.

Both of those skills relied on fire, and both of them were incredibly useful, but only one of them could be upgraded.

The question was, which one?

Kai frowned slightly.

Was this remnant item going to upgrade the abilities or the rarity of the skill, or both? If so, how exactly would a Unique Skill get upgraded? Would it lessen the backlash? Would it allow him to boost his stats by triple? Both of those looked like pretty good upgrades.

But when it came to Soul Flame, Kai also knew how immensely valuable that skill was. It was just too good, and had no backlash at all, at least, none that he had suffered from just jet.

Plus, it seemed like if he upgraded that skill it would probably benefit a lot more than Igntion would.

Kai sighed.

Inwardly, he already knew what skill he was going to pick from the beginning.

So, after taking a deep breath, Kai summoned the Remnant of Ash.

A small ember manifested in the palm of his hand. It was bright red, but also strangely looked like a different colour, one he couldn't even begin to describe, it was strange.

Do you wish to use this item?

After mentally confirming his thoughts, Kai selected which skill he was going to upgrade.

The next moment, his body was engulfed by the red flames. They covered every inch of him, like a phoenix being reborn.

It was a nice feeling, it didn't hurt at all, it was like he was sitting by a fireplace at Christmas.

It did tingle softly, but it almost felt like he was getting a massage.

The entire process lasted no longer than five seconds, and by the end of it Kai found himself feeling strangely rejuvenated.

The flames died out, leaving him exactly as he was before the entire process.

Kai sighed.

Just like that, the first, and probably one Divine item he would have for a long time, was gone. He probably would have been happier if it was an OP item of some sort, but a skill upgrade would still prove to be invaluable.

If it was actually a good upgrade.

So nervously, Kai looked at his Status to see the skill he had upgraded.

Soul Inferno (Rare)

Kai grinned madly.

So the description of Soul Flame hadn't been wrong, his flames really had evolved into an inferno.

Of course, there was still the fact that the skill was still Rare rarity, but Kai had known for a while that the rarity of the skill was directly tied to the rank of his soul, so that came as no surprise to him.

What did come as a surprise, however, was how different the skill description actually was.

Blessed by the Remnant of Ash, the ember inside your soul has evolved into a beautiful and fiery inferno. The strength and resilience of your flames have been amplified massively. Your flames are immune to any impact of Water type Mana. Your flames can be separated from your body and are no longer bound by a distance limit, however, the longer they are from you, the weaker they become. Your flames can be used to coat items, strengthening different aspects of them. User now has even more control of the abilities of their flames. May your Soul Hearth continue to prosper.

Kai blinked.

That was... a lot.

It seemed that he had gone full circle, returning back to the extremely long descriptions after the skills and items he received recently all had rather short descriptions.

But this description was long, and practically all of it was important.

The strength and resilience of his of his flames getting upgraded? Great, thank you very much.

Immunity to water Mana? Even though Kai was still yet to come across anyone or anything that used that type of Mana, that upgrade was sure to be incredible. Water was fire's biggest weakness after all, and his skill was immune to it.

No more distance limit, which was great. Kai could throw balls of flame at his enemies and just chip away at their health for however long it took to kill them, who wouldn't want to fight like that?

He could coat his items in his flames? He was already able to do that, but it didn't give his items any bonuses. But now, now it did. Esurient would become sharper, his armour would become sturdier and stronger, it really was a great upgrade.

And to top it all off, the system once more wished his Soul Hearth well. Kai still had no idea what it was, but he was happy that the system was wishing him well.

Kai looked up at the roof of the chappel and grinned madly.

He was happy, no, he was more than happy. This skill upgrade was sure to make their journey up the Royal Peak a little more bearable.

Still, there was another day or two before he could actually make use of the skill, but Kai didn't mind. He had all the time in the world.

Plus, they had already completed the first trial and they hadn't even taken a step up the mountain, meaning they only had four left.

But if all the trials were going to be as tough as this one...

Kai shook his head, a wide grin still on his face.

Everything was going to go well. As soon as his soul was fixed, he was going to fully test out his newly upgraded skill and a few other things he was curious about.

Sighing contently, Kai was just about to say something when Cecilia called out to him.

"Sir, I've found the way out!"

Blinking, Kai turned to look at the ex-Queen.

She was standing where the altar that had once held the divine flames once stood. She had stored it in her spatial storage, which had ended up revealing...

A creepy staircase leading downwards?

Kai sighed softly, shaking his head as he made his way over to them.

"Good job. Now, let's get the hell out of here."