The System Awakens: Rise of the Champion - Chapter 48

Chapter 48: Chapter 48: A New Skill

Damian dashed at full speed, rapidly ascending the fiery mountain.

Within minutes, he had already reached the peak of the infernal mountain.

As soon as he arrived, he sensed several presences becoming active.

He could feel the overwhelming presence of fire, or rather, the essence of fire, radiating from them.

[You have entered the territory of the Earth Flame Guardian Spirit.]

[Earth Flame Guardian Spirit: The strongest spirit within the Infernal Mount. It ascended through the ranks by absorbing the immense amount of Fire Essence from the Fire Essence Stone that sustains this realm.]

[Defeat the Earth Flame Guardian Spirit and obtain the Fire Essence Stone.]

As Damian read the system notification, the ground beneath him began to tremble.

The shaking quickly intensified into violent quakes.

He sensed something massive and menacing rising from beneath the earth.

The ground cracked open, the fissures widening until an enormous hand, larger than a car and made entirely of stone, emerged.

Fiery veins coursed through it, glowing with molten energy.

Another colossal hand followed, slamming onto the opposite side of the widening crack.

The fissure split further as an intimidating, giant head slowly rose from the depths.

Using its massive arms, the creature hoisted its towering body from the chasm.

Its rocky form, laced with streams of burning flames, loomed over Damian.

It stood nearly 50 feet tall, with gaping holes on its face burning with fierce, earth-born flames.

The beast opened its jagged, rock-formed mouth and emitted a sound like cracking stone under intense heat.

The sound was deeper and more monstrous, accompanied by flames spewing like a living flamethrower.

Damian tilted his head upward, staring into its blazing, hollow eyes and the flames erupting from every crevice on its face.

—–

[Name: Earth Flame Guardian Spirit]

[Level: 110]

—–

As soon as the guardian spirit locked its burning gaze on the unwelcome intruder, it began condensing a fiery orb in its mouth.

A ball of fire, radiating like a miniature sun and the size of a car, shot toward Damian.

The fireball collided with the ground, erupting into a massive explosion.

The earth trembled, and violent, scorching winds blasted outward.

Flames exploded in every direction, releasing all their compressed fury.

The explosion raged for ten full seconds before it finally subsided.

As the smoke cleared, Damian remained standing in the center of a small crater.

His face bore no expression of concern.

He was entirely unharmed, save for a few scratches scattered across his bare body.

Though the searing flames hadn’t hurt him, the force of the blast and the flying debris had caused minor injuries.

Damian sighed and shook his head.

“Oh, you poor bastard. You’re big, slow, and your flames don’t do a thing to me.” He smirked. “You’re nothing but free experience and now a punching bag for me.”

He smiled confidently at the towering guardian spirit. He wasn’t planning to kill it just yet.

He wanted to use it for training, specifically to create and refine new spells.

[Magic Cultivation: 2nd Circle (Perfected)]

{Fire – 2nd Ring (Perfected)

Wind – 1st Ring (Perfected)

Earth – 1st Ring (Perfected)

Water – 1st Ring (Perfected)}

Even though Damian’s comprehension of the [Fire Element] had already surpassed the 2nd Circle, he hadn’t broken through to the 3rd Circle.

He knew why.

He hadn’t achieved enlightenment yet.

Enlightenment couldn’t be forced.

It had to happen naturally.

Still, he could deepen his understanding of magic, potentially reducing the time it would take to reach that breakthrough, even if he couldn’t predict when enlightenment would strike.

“Well then, until that happens, I’ll create spells using you as my target,” Damian declared, raising his hand toward the Earth Flame Guardian Spirit.

With his innate talent, [Rumination Clarity], which granted him perfect memorization and immense mental processing power, his mind rapidly began constructing a new spell.

Drawing on all his knowledge of elemental magic, complex structures of energy and form began to take shape in his thoughts.

Mana surged from Damian’s [Mana Core] as six deep ocean-blue magic circles materialized around the towering figure of the Earth-Fire Guardian.

From each of these water magic circles, chains formed, crafted entirely from water, and coiled around the guardian like serpents.

They wrapped tightly around its head, arms, legs, and torso, desperately attempting to restrain the massive creature.

[You have created the Water Elemental Spell: Tidal Grasp]

However, it took only a few seconds for the monster to shatter the watery bindings.

With a deafening roar, it launched its enormous fist toward Damian, aiming to crush him beneath its weight.

Yet, the guardian’s immense body, composed entirely of stone, made its movements unbearably slow.

To Damian, with his [Eyes of Clarity] active, the monster seemed to be moving in slow motion.

The sluggish attack gave him more than enough time to effortlessly sidestep the blow.

“Of course, that spell wasn’t enough to hold it,” Damian muttered.

He already had a grasp of how to utilize his magic.

His arsenal of fire-elemental spells provided him with powerful offensive capabilities, but now he sought to develop spells designed for restraint.

Defensive spells to shield against projectiles and long-range attacks, and perhaps even techniques to lock energy in place, were what he needed.

His mind raced, recalling everything he had learned about the elements.

His focus narrowed on the [Earth Element], searching for a way to create a spell capable of pinning the monster down.

Mana flowed steadily from Damian like a rushing stream.

A large, earth-brown magic circle formed beneath the guardian.

In the next instant, the ground trembled and split apart in four directions.

Massive walls of solid rock erupted from the earth, closing in to trap the Earth-Fire Guardian within a stone prison.

[You have created the Earth Elemental Spell: Earth Wall]

But even this could not contain the monster for long.

With a single devastating punch, it shattered the stone walls and charged directly at Damian.

Of course, Damian easily evaded the attack.

Damian grabbed his swords in both hands and dashed toward the approaching monster.

The Earth-Fire Guardian Spirit, possessing high intelligence, quickly realized its fire-based attacks were ineffective against Damian.

Adapting to the situation, it switched tactics, using its massive body to launch physical attacks instead.

It swung its massive fist at him, but Damian swiftly dodged by leaping upward.

He landed on the creature’s enormous head and, without losing momentum, propelled himself toward its face.

However, instead of attacking, he paused and glanced into its large, burning eyes.

A slight smile curved his lips as an idea sparked in his mind.

Without hesitation, he dove straight into the creature’s fiery eye socket.

GROWL!

The Earth-Fire Guardian Spirit roared in panic.

It slapped its own rocky face in a desperate attempt to crush the intruder, but it was futile.

Its gigantic, stone-like fingers were too large to reach inside its own eye socket.

Meanwhile, Damian sat comfortably within the narrow space, his mind racing.

He began processing all the information he knew about elemental magic, focusing specifically on the [Fire Element] and [Wind Element].

A faint, light-grey magic circle materialized before him, and a ball of compressed wind formed from nothing, drawing on Damian’s surplus mana.

[You have created the Wind Elemental Spell: Wind Blast.]

But Damian didn’t cast the spell.

Instead, using boost from his [Class], innate talent, and the enhancement from his [Eyes of Clarity], he began analyzing the Wind Blast spell.

He combined this analysis with his deep knowledge of the [Fire Element].

[Your understanding of the Wind Element has increased.]

[Your understanding of the Wind Element has increased.]

[Your understanding of the Wind Element has increased.]

Behind him, a light grey-colored ring manifested.

[Your understanding of the Wind Element has increased.]

[You have formed the outline of the 2nd Wind Elemental Ring.]

The outline of a second wind elemental ring began to solidify behind the first Wind Elemental Ring.

[You have formed the Shaded 2nd Wind Elemental Ring.]

The second ring begins to be filled with light grey energy.

[You have fully formed the 2nd Wind Elemental Ring.]

Simultaneously, his understanding of the Fire Element deepened.

[Your understanding of the Fire Element has increased.]

[Your understanding of the Fire Element has increased.]

Damian extended both hands, summoning two magic circles: one for wind in his left hand and one for fire in his right.

From the fire magic circle, a ball of flame began to form, while a sphere of compressed wind manifested from the wind circle.

Slowly, both spheres condensed and intensified.

After a few moments, Damian brought his hands together, aligning the two magic circles.

As soon as they merged, the wind sphere began to feed the flames, intensifying them.

The fire burned hotter and fiercer, the compressed elements becoming more volatile and devastating.

Minutes passed as the energy built up to a critical point.

Damian released the spell directly in front of him, unfazed by the impending explosion.

[You have learned the skill: Elemental Fusion.]

[Elemental Fusion: Allows you to merge different elemental spells to create stronger and more effective magic.]

[You have created the Wind-Fire Elemental Spell: Flame Tempest.]

Outside, the Earth-Fire Guardian Spirit continued to frantically claw at its own face, desperate to rid itself of the invader.

BOOM!

A violent tremor rippled through the creature’s body.

Then, an enormous explosion erupted from within its head.

A massive inferno expanded outward, resembling a miniature sun suddenly igniting from inside the monster’s skull.

Flames engulfed the surrounding mountain, and shards of the Guardian Spirit’s rocky body were hurled in every direction, accompanied by a colossal, glowing core.

Damian landed amidst the smoldering wreckage.

Although the flames did not harm him, the force of the explosion and the barrage of debris inflicted injuries across his body.

Jagged rocks, propelled by the blast, tore through his flesh, leaving him bloodied and bruised.

It took several minutes for the devastating effects of the [Flame Tempest] spell to finally dissipate.

Once the flames settled and the air cleared, a familiar notification echoed in Damian’s mind.

[Experience limit reached.]

[You have leveled up.]