Vale lay sprawled on the ground, his chest rising and falling in deep, ragged breaths. The weight of exhaustion pressed down on him, but despite the fatigue that gnawed at his limbs, a faint smile crept onto his face. The exhilaration of victory coursed through his veins, filling him with a fleeting sense of triumph.
"We did it," he thought, his mind still reeling from the battle.
Turning his head to the side, his gaze fell upon Klein, who lay motionless beside him. For a brief, heart-stopping moment, dread seized him—until he saw the steady rise and fall of his companion's chest. Relief washed over him.
Klein was alive.
Vale took a few more moments to steady his breathing before he forced himself upright. His muscles ached, protesting every movement, but he pushed through the discomfort and got to his feet.
His eyes drifted toward the massive corpse of the centipede. The creature's grotesque, segmented body stretched across the battlefield, parts of it still partially buried underground while the rest sprawled around the gaping crater it had emerged from.
But before he approached the carcass, something else demanded his attention—his reward.
With anticipation coursing through him, he summoned his status window and focused his mind on the new name that had just appeared.
Hellfire Artifact Description: [ Forged in the depths of the Demon Realm, the weapon rains fire on its enemies. ]
Hellfire Enchantments: [ Ignis ]
Vale's eyes widened.
To think he had received another enchanted item so soon—and a weapon, no less.
Ignis Enchantment Description: [ The weapon channels fire through its blade. ]
He lingered on the description, his pulse quickening as he absorbed the weight of his reward. A weapon infused with raw fire—its power surged through his imagination, setting his mind ablaze with endless possibilities.
With barely contained excitement, he closed the status window and summoned the weapon.
In an instant, a double-edged sword materialized in his grasp. The silver blade gleamed under the dim, eerie glow of the Demon Realm, its polished surface reflecting the faint, flickering light around them. A series of dark runes run across its blade. The sword was long, yet it felt almost weightless in his hands.
Vale swung it experimentally, slicing through the air with fluid ease. The balance was perfect, the grip molding seamlessly to his hold—it was as if the weapon had been forged just for him.
But then, a sudden, heavy strain tugged at his core. His already depleted essence wavered under the weapon's power.
With a sigh, he dismissed the Hellfire, letting it vanish from his grasp.
Satisfied with the short introduction, he would have to save wielding it for another time.
Vale made his way toward Klein, who was already standing next to the carcass of the creature they had just slain.
"Good shot' Vale said, just as he arrived next to Klein.
"Thanks… I can't believe we just fought that thing," Klein responded, as he eyed the enormous body of the lifeless centipede.
"I received an Artifact," Klein added, before summoning what appeared to be a bracelet.
"It has an active enchantment, allowing me to create a temporary shield"
"Shield enchantment?" Vale wondered how strong a shield from an A-Rank Awakened Artifact would be.
"I got a weapon artifact, it also has an enchantment", Vale responded.
Klein's eyes gleamed with excitement, but before he could ask, Vale spoke again as if able to read his mind.
"I'm out of mana essence, you will see it later." He said.
Klein let out a deep sigh before turning his gaze toward the lifeless body of the massive centipede.
"Any idea where to find the mana crystal?" he asked, his voice carrying a hint of exhaustion.
Vale contemplated the question for a few moments before shaking his head.
The two students strolled toward the creature's remains. Each step was a battle against exhaustion. Klein kept his grip firm on his shortsword, while Vale held his ordinary katana, deliberately avoiding the use of his newly acquired weapon as it drained his already weakened core far too much.
For the next hour, they painstakingly searched through the centipede's remains, sifting through layers of its dense, chitinous body. Just as frustration threatened to settle in, they finally stumbled upon something buried deep within—an unusual, dark, sphere-like object nestled within the creature's insides.
Klein's eyes widened in surprise as he instinctively reached for it.
"Look! It didn't break!" he exclaimed, holding the mysterious sphere up.
Although extremely rare, there were instances where a core remained intact, instead of shattering into a mana crystal. When that happened, it didn't simply become a refined source of mana—it remained in its pure, unbroken form, brimming with raw essence.
Vale fixated on the dark, pulsating object in Klein's hands. His mind wandered to his unique ability—the Ravenous Spark. He wondered how much larger it would grow if it consumed a whole core.
Wait—why was he even thinking about that? It wasn't as if the damn thing had ever done anything useful for him.
Just as he was beginning to doubt the worth of his peculiar ability, Klein took a step closer.
"You should feed it... You know, to the thing," he said.
Vale lingered for a moment.
"You sure?" He asked hesitantly, glancing at his companion.
"Yeah. I'm already feeling better. My core will replenish soon," Klein assured him, a faint smile on his face.
Vale gave a slow nod and reached out to take the core. His hand moved with a hint of hesitation. But, as always, before his fingers could even graze its surface, the dark spark materialised into existence.
Like a liquid shadow, it appeared in an instant, moving with a will of its own. It stretched its shape and swallowed the core whole before shifting back into the spark's fluid-like form.
This time, something was different. The spark didn't just grow—it expanded far more than before. Its shape shifted, its structure becoming less like a flickering ember and more like a twisting, undulating flame.
It lingered in the air, burning with an eerie intensity, before vanishing once again.