incredible attribute boost

Now that he had taken out the crystal, James took some time to compose himself, in his previous life he had only ever fused with a [Tier 3] mystical flame with thunder element, and that was one of the most painful things he had ever experienced, it felt like his whole body was getting burned and electrocuted at the same time, it also lasted forever. He simply couldn't think of how painful the soul fire would be, but he had to persist, if he lost consciousness during the process not only would he lose the flame, but he would also heavily damage himself. After about a minute of thinking a notification popped up.

System: the item [Wisp of soul fire] wants to absorb [eternal flame], would you like it too?

James at that moment decided to stop hesitating and just go for it, he thought yes. The crystal shattered and evaporated, a normal person would think it had disappeared, but James could see it, the extremely condensed and pure eternal energy flew into him, it didn't take long after that for another system message to appear.

System: congratulation, you have completed the legendary quest [Resurrection of the soul fire], as a reward for this incredible achievement, you will get: 50 Mastery Points, 5 levels, 25 Legacy skill points, and the opportunity to fuse with the [Tier 7] mystical flame, black destruction soul fire.

James instantly leveled up to level 9, considering that most players weren't even level 1 yet and experts had at most gotten to level 2, this was an incredible achievement, but James didn't have time for all of that because the soul fire was already beginning to fuse with him.

The flame grew from the small Wisp that was sitting near his soul to a big flame that was seemingly trying to devour him whole.

Successfully fusing 1%..2%...3%...

The first couple of seconds were fine, but then it all changed, the flame stopped lightly heating his soul and just started straight up trying to pummel it. James had never felt this kind of pain before, his whole being felt like it was on the verge of instantly dying every second, after about 5 minutes of this James looked at the fusion bar.

35%

"fuck this shit"

James couldn't help but curse, he knew this was going to be hard, but what the fuck is this. He could scream all he wanted, but at the end of the day he just had to endure it, and so he did. The short moments of him being on the verge of going to the afterlife and then being pulled back at the last moment seemed to last longer and longer, he also felt that with every new tug he was getting closer and closer to death. The only thing that kept James sane where the thought of having the soul fire.

90%

Now that he was so far into the fusion, it didn't feel like being close to death anymore, dying wouldn't even describe it fully, it felt like his entire existence got ripped out and decimated every second, James couldn't do anything but lay on the ground in silence, foam coming out of his mouth, liquids running out of practically every place where it could, after 60% even the screaming stopped, he was simply in too much pain to even move, much less scream.

95%

The pain had all become a blur, James was on the verge of losing consciousness every moment, if he let his focus slip for even a second he wouldn't be surprised that he got obliterated.

100%

System: the black destruction soul fire has been bound as player one's personal belonging.

James couldn't even read the message, as soon as he saw a vague blue color through his blurry eyesight he let go.

It was only 2 hours later that James, whit a massive pain in his chest, felt that he was being lightly shaken, on closer inspection, it was Iron forge.

"seems like you are awake, God fucking dammed, what the hell was that, I came in running when I heard you scream out in agony, but when I arrived you stopped, you were just laying there in your piss, mouth water, and tears, twitching from time to time. If you hadn't told me before not to disturb you no matter what I would have shaken you awake the second I saw you. I hope all of that was worth it."

James just looked at Iron forge with a little smile, he had the right to be worried seeing in what state he was in. Before James could reply he saw the system panel in the corner of his eye.

System: congratulation, you have fused with the Black destruction soul fire, you gain +5000 to all basic attributes, + 100% physique, +75% resistance from soul attacks, and complete control over the soul fire.

James was stunned by just the fusion benefits, these weren't even the benefits from using the flame, but normally only a high Tier player would be able to fuse with flames around this level, and these rewards were indeed just decent for them.

James then turned his attention towards the actual item benefits of the soul fire.

[Black destruction soul fire] (Tier 7 mystical flame)

Can be used in battle to increase damage by 100%, if enemies are burned by this flame they will lose 1% of their health permanently per minute when someone is killed by the flame their soul will get damaged or even destroyed. the flame effect has to be actively kept active. When used in crafting it increases the success rate of any product by 35%

James just laughed at Iron forge.

"yea, it was worth it, more than that even, look at this"

James then showed Iron the attribute panel of the soul fire.

Iron couldn't help but gauge at the panel, he wasn't a combat lover but he still had to admit, these effects were Ludacris, and he almost fainted when he saw the crafting benefits.

James could see stares in Irons's eyes, stars of hope, James immediately knew what this meant and shut it down, he had to learn his teammates what realistic was after all.

"Don't even think about it, even with my knowledge and skill, I was never even hoping to get this flame, it is so rare that I can pretty confidently say that I am the only one in any gods Domain to have a mystical flame above [Tier 6], you should feel extremely happy if you get a [Tier 5] one, but most likely you will end up with a [Tier 4]."

Iron looked a little sad after that but James had to set himself realistic goals, even in his previous life, he had never come across anyone with a mystical flame above [Tier 5], but he wasn't so ignorant to think that there weren't any with higher tiered ones, just not at [Tier 7].

"cheer up Iron, I can just place mine in your foraging room so you can get some benefits."

Irons's bad mood seemed to be going away after that, so James took the time to look at his status, it was utter insanity.

Character: one (Human)

Affiliated Kingdom: Black Dragon Empire

Title: None

Job: Origin Swordsman

Level: 9

HP: 100200/100200

Physical Attack Power: 10189

Defense: 19

Attack Speed: 500

Movement Speed: 350

Attributes: Strength 5029 Agility 5025, Endurance 5010, Intelligence 5002, Vitality 5002.

Hidden attributes: Luck 0, Concentration 1050, physique 100%, stamina 10, fortitude 0

Free Attribute Points: 40

Legacy skill points: 100

Weapon Mastery:

One-handed Sword Mastery +100 (Advanced Swordsman – Increases One-handed Sword Damage by 20%)

Two-handed Sword Mastery + 0 (Apprentice Rank – Increases Two-handed Sword Damage by 5%)

Free Mastery Points: 100

Job Talent:

Origin Swordsman Talent 1: Every Free Attribute point, Mastery point, and Legacy skill point gotten will be doubled.

Origin Swordsman Talent 2: Obtain 50 Free Mastery Points every 5 Levels.

Origin Swordsman Talent 3: Sword-related skills proficiency increased by 200%.

Origin Swordsman Talent 4: Gain the universal eyes.

Origin Swordsman Talent 5: gives you world affinity +4 at all times.

Skills:

[Chop]|Active skill| Requirement: Sword| Additional 30 points of damage| Cooldown: 2 seconds| Skill Level:3 (Proficiency 200/1500)

[time absorbing slash]| Active skill| Requirement: Sword| absorbed the element of time around the Sword to power itself, slows down all targets around by 60%, deals 175% damage.| Cooldown: 29 seconds| Skill Level: 2 (Proficiency 566/2000)

[Lightning discharge]| Action-type| rare| Requires: Sword| Charge your sword up with lighting, when you proceed to stick it in the ground the lightning will discharge in a radius of 30 yards around you, doing 185% damage and having a chance to stun every enemy hit.| Cooldown: 55 seconds| Skill Level:3 10/2000

[holy aura] | Active type skill| ultimate| Requirements: any weapon| When activated a holy light will surround your weapon for 5 minutes, this aura will increase any normal attack by 200% and you will gain the ability to shoot arcs of holy light at opponents by swinging your weapon.| Cooldown: 1 hour | Skill Level:1 0/100.000.

Equipment:

[Swordsman's Leather Shirt] (Gray Trash)

Level 0

Defense +2

Durability 10/10

[Decent iron Sword] (Bronze rank, One-handed Sword)

Level 3

Equipment Requirement: Strength 10

Attack Power +25

Strength +3

Agility +2

Additional passive skill: increases attack power by 5%

Durability 50/50

Restricted to Swordsman.

[Bastion boots](Bronze rank) (plate armor boots)

Level 3

Equipment Requirement: Strength 10

Defends +15

Strength +3

Agility +4

Durability 45/45

Can be equipped by all classes

---------

James could with confidence say that he was the strongest [Tier 0] player who ever lived. Besides the main stats, he was also pleasantly surprised that his concentration had gone up.

Now that he was all done here, he led Iron forge out of the cave to continue their journey, they had lost a lot of time after all. They only had about 20 hours left before the first update would arrive.

On the way James was also extremely excited to test out his new soul fire, but what he found out terrified him.

The first thing he tried was just activating the fire, when he did this his body would get covered in a light golden flame that was almost impossible to see, what terrified James wasn't its power, it did exactly as described, double his damage. The toll it took on him was unimaginable, it drained his concentration too fast, he already had around 2/3 of the concentration standard of [Tier 6], yet he could only code himself with the fire for 15 seconds before he felt his concentration sway. To use it comfortably he could at max use it for 5 seconds. Now not all of this was due to how much of a toll the flame took, some of it was also due to James not having experience in controlling high-level mystical flames, but even if he mastered it, he couldn't imagine using it comfortably for more then 30 seconds, the conclusion was that killing groups of people with this wasn't an option. To do that he had to at least go beyond the mental strength grandmaster level, but that was still a long way of.

This part of the journey went way quicker, it was roughly the same distance, but with his increased stats James could easily take care of all the monsters, this subsequently led to Iron forge reaching level 7.

After about 17 hours of travel, James saw it, a big dome made out of mana, it wasn't a physical object, just a spell Merlin put around his house that would make animals and monsters that were wondering about turn back whenever they got too close. James could see the spell getting closer and closer, of course, Iron was none the wiser, since he could see mana at all. Right before James was about to take his first step in the spell, he saw a figure flickering before him, it seemed to be a man that looked around 40 years old with white hair, like lighting, he was wearing a long deep purple robe with gold accents, in his hands was a rather plain looking staff.

"Welcome young adventurers, to what do I owe this visit."

The man said in a hoarse voice.