NOVEL NEXT Chapter 34: Pyromance.
I truly, truly hate the depths with all of my heart.
There is shit.
There are rats eating the shit.
There are slimes made up of trash and sewage eating the rats that are eating the shit.
One of those fuckers actually landed on my head.
The concept of slimes for me has been ruined for me, forever. I of course ripped that thing apart with force but I can still vividly remember the feeling. I actually puked. A feat that is rare to achieve considering the shit I went through(quite literally at this point).
And this place was a goddam maze. If I find the architect that built this place I will put one of these slimes in my inventory and sic it on him. At some point I had to rely on various marks I placed to be slightly less lost.
Did I forget to mention the rats?
The fucking dozens of oversized rotting shit-eating, sludge-covered rats?
To keep whatever sad shred of sanity I had left intact I relied exclusively on ranged and long-distance combat. Now I admit, I may have taken it a bit too far.
My spear proficiency leveled up 3 times. And lightning spear leveled up 2 times.
Oh, did I forget to mention the big-ass rat? I mean, it was grotesque but at this point, I had adjusted to the depths. And it was surprisingly easy to kill.
All it took was a strong hit from the demon's great hammer to shatter its spine into a million pieces.
The thing that gave me the least trouble in this place was actually somehow basilisks. They are slow, and predictable not to mention their clouds are easily scattered by force.
Plus I got {Elementary Curse Resistance lv.2} from what little exposure I got to the cloud of curses. What wasn't as pleasant was the literal mounds of solidified /something/ stuck on the walls around the basilisks.
Yes truly, I hate this place more than anywhere. At least after killing that... Dragon I will never have to visit here again.
Wait.
/Blighttown/.
Dammit.
You know what... I think I should visit Laurence in the shrine for my pyromancies. It seems like enough time passed.
I cast homeward and returned to Firelink Shrine. The only place that feels safe in lordran. I walked to a location where nobody could see me and reattached my nose. Then pulled my visor back down and walked toward Laundry's location.
I found Laurenticus sitting in a cross-legged position on a ledge overlooking the bonfire. When he saw me he started talking.
''Well, I see you made it out! Yeah, I made it out safely, too. I have my Pyromancy of the Great Swamp, so I can usually manage, with a bit of care. Oh, yeah, by the way, er, I can share my spell with you. I think you have a knack for it. All you need are the materials. I'd be please to help you. … Ah, unless you find the magics unsavoury?''
''Sure, I have always been interested in pyromancy.''
''Yeah, wonderful! I'm sure they'll be of some use, some assistance. Why, let's get started right now.''
I sat down in front of him in the same position as he took out multiple tomes and worn-out papers with red tinges to them. He, like Solaire, first started by explaining the very basics. Like what is pyromancy and all that stuff.
''Pyromancy is the art of casting fire. Produce flame, then channel it; just as our ancestors did. A pyromancer must be in tune with nature herself. My home, the Great Swamp, is an abundant store of nature. You will understand, one day; it only takes time.
It has a, well, rather primitive aspect to it. It meshes poorly with advanced culture, and pyromancers are considered rather unsavoury. Which is fine, as I never got along with anybody anyway. So, for me, turning Undead didn't change a thing! Hah hah hah hah.''
Its simplicity is the precise reason I like it more than sorcery, I admit, I am not the smartest egg in the bunch. So for now, sorcery may be too difficult for me. Unlike miracles that scale with faith and your own willpower.
Pyromancy is more primitive and simple, and thus far easier to use. And they don't scale with a specific stat. And compared to sorcery it has way more good pyromancies I have access to at the moment.
But as I listened to Launtrentius I noticed something... strange. I felt something very vague and unknown off of him. Like if I just focused enough I could see it. I used my max-level focus on the ungraspable feeling I got and I could actually see something.
There was something like a very faint aura emanating off Launtious. Shaped like an orange calm and warm fire. If I had to throw a guess, I think this would be what a pyromancer like Laurentius' soul would look like, but how?
< You have acquired the skill {Soul Sight lv.1} >
I should look more into that later, L man has started looking at me strangely. After explaining pyromancies to me he handed me a small ember which I slowly and gently took into my own gloved hands. It was warm instead of hot, it felt more like I was standing by the fireplace in winter than holding a flame. How strange.
''A pyromancer's flame is a part of his own body. The flame develops right along with his skill. … When I gave you that flame, I gave you a part of myself. Please take good care of it.''
''I will treasure it, thank you.''
I felt a bond between me and the flame. And something else that I didn't know quite well. Like an invisible string tying itself to me. After that, I spent a week or so buying and learning all of the pyromancies Laurentius had. But the most unusual thing was what happened a few days ago when I had learned some pyromancies from Laurentius and was practicing them on my own.
I felt the string connecting the flame and me. And in curiosity decided to focus on it. Meddling and messing with it for a while before I got the feeling that I could do something to it with /something/ inside me. So I focused on the thread and visualized connecting them in hopes of something happening. And I got a screen I didn't expect.
< Subsume the {Pyromancy flame lv.4}? >
I absentmindedly gave confirmation and the moment I did, black smoke emerged from my hand and swallowed the flame whole. Leaving nothing behind and absorbing back into my hand like it never happened.
And now I felt like I could understand pyromancies far, far more. And the most unbelievable part was that I felt like I could cast any pyromancy from anywhere on my body. It was like I was the pyromancy flame. But it did not stop coming.
< [Traits] section has been changed to [Abilities] >
What followed was s splitting headache And true to its words the layout had changed traits to abilities. I felt something change something alongside me as well like my soul had been organized. And inside that skill section was.
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[ Pyromancy (lv.4) ]
[Fireball lv.4], [Fire Orb lv.1], [Combustion lv.6], [Flash Sweat lv.1], [Iron Flesh lv.3]
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Over the past weeks, I learned that pyromancy wasn't just the art of shaping flame, though that made up a majority of it. It is more like the art of shaping spells from flame. Though due to its nature, while it is flexible it is also limited. And I already have a few favorite spells.
Fireball is the swiss army knife of pyromancy. You can basically use it in all situations. Incredibly cost-efficient, decently strong, and good range. A solid ranged option for conserving focus. Though the power behind it can be underwhelming at times. And after getting it to level 5 alongside my pyromancy flame, I could launch it straight from my hand like a normal spell instead of chucking it like a softball. With every level, it got stronger and hotter.
Next was the fire orb. The meaner, older, and stronger brother of the fireball. It wasn't cheap to cast but the power behind it was worth it. It was several magnitudes bigger than a normal fireball, and it hit like it too. Making an explosion upon contact. Very good for both ao and single-target damage.
Flash sweat... Existed I guess. I mean being able to reduce your body head is useful and all but I won't have much use for it currently. But I imagine it will be very useful in Izalith and demon ruins.
Next up was probably the best one out of all of them, Iron Flesh. Which strengthened my defenses by surrounding my skin and armor with an iron like aura film thing.
It had incredible potential. Though it made me extremely heavy which made it cumbersome to use, at higher levels my defense will be a force to be reckoned with.
And the next one. My favorite.
Combustion.
It was incredibly quick to cast as it was the simplest of all pyromancies. And on top of that, it was basically a reusable short-range grenade. High power, low cost, incredibly flexible. And thanks to my subsumption(?) of the pyromancy flame I can cast it from any limb or both.
And in addition to that, it is incredibly useful for mobility too. Allowing sudden acceleration and change of movement. Hell, I think I could even use it to replicate flight at higher levels.
The downside was the recoil of it. As one would expect creating an explosion in your hand creates a hell of a lot of recoil. But that was just a skill issue I would have to deal with. Other than that it is excellent overall and as the skill level rises it will become even better.
And while I was in the Firelink shrine I also checked the others using soul vision.
Solaire's was as expected, was a glowing bright orange light. Like the sun itself personified.
Gerald's was like murky and heavy dark blue water dripping off of him. That made sense, I guess.
Petrus' was a sickly and greasy-looking piss yellow. Quite fitting of the fucking rat he is.
The firekeepers was like a swarm of humanity that I couldn't fully discern.
And mine was...
Just not there.
When I looked at myself using it I saw absolutely nothing. I will check back on that when the skill level rises.
Now, it was time to head back to the Depths.
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Bonus chapter at 400 power stones!