Chapter 508: I Told You

Julius spat out the ash from his mouth. The acrid and burnt smell filled his nose like a stubborn fart that wouldn’t go away, no matter what he did.

“I told you it was a bad idea,” Aubrey said with a severe frown. Her clothes were covered in soot as well. Despite being far away from him, the ash managed to blow everywhere and even got on her.

He nodded as he accepted the scolding. His skin slowly healed from the burns inflicted by his own rushed actions. [Phoenix Renewal] was healing him more slowly than usual. He suspected that this was some kind of aspect of his new flames.

It was like something was preventing him from healing as easily as he was used to. However, it wasn’t able to stop the skill entirely. His skin still regenerated at a visible pace, and within several seconds, all his wounds were healed over.

It was only then that he looked around at the destruction his little orb had caused. Everything within twenty feet was scorched black. However, ten feet of that destruction was from before. At least that was what he told himself to make himself feel better about his mistake.

The little orb had been created successfully, but it only took one moment of lapsed concentration for everything to go south. The orb blew up right in his face, blasting outward with fire so hot that it blew through his own fire resistance like it was not even there.

However, despite the accident, he was very thrilled by what he had sensed. All of his fire mana had been focused through the crown on his head. When that happened, he could feel the crown forcibly changing the nature of his flames on its own.

He could see where the name Ruinflame Crown had come from. The flames were truly ruinous; he could detect several similar aspects of the fire that were in his aura. The endless hunger and desire for destruction were formidable.

He had a feeling that he was going to experience something similar to what he had gone through with his aura when he received [Pyrokinetic Embodiment of Ruin].

The pain was a little annoying, but honestly, it was how his mind was affected that worried him. He hadn’t realized it during the time he was using it, but the power he felt from the crown was absolutely addictive. He could already feel himself craving to taste that power again.

Was this another test from the crown? Was this what the description meant by tempering his willpower?

He wanted to send the crown back into his soul, shoving it away until he felt comfortable handling it. In all honesty, it would have been the most logical decision. He clearly wasn’t prepared to handle the item quite yet. It was too powerful and too mysterious.

However, his gut was telling him that if he chose to do that, he was already subconsciously admitting defeat. Avoiding it might be just as bad as giving in to the temptation. If he retreated now, it might cast a shadow on his confidence.

In the long term, that might be an even worse outcome. So he ultimately decided to leave it alone for the time being. Letting it float over his head as the blue embers flickered in the light. He didn’t completely throw caution to the wind, though.

He had already figured out how the item worked to some extent. It was really quite simple and had many similarities to a magical focus. It was for that reason that he believed he could limit or somehow restrict how much of his fire mana would be fed into the crown.

Just moments ago, when he used it, the crown had consumed every bit of fire mana he gathered without any regard for his actual wishes. What he had managed to scrap together was immediately transformed into the ruinous flames that powered this crown. However, he wanted to test if he could somehow prevent that.

With the flames being as powerful as they are, it was overkill. If only a small amount of his fire mana was converted into the ruinous flames, then he suspected it would be more than enough for his purposes.

But then again, he could be completely wrong and end up combusting in flames. At this point, he would not be surprised if that was the outcome. If anything, he would be grateful if that were the worst possible scenario. At least he had some experience with blowing himself up, so he wasn’t too worried.

***

He and Aubrey decided to stay in the forest for the time being. Their decision was based on the fact that they still needed one token apiece. They hoped to find some in this forest. After all, the forest was an interesting place, and there were bound to be some locations where tokens were hidden.

They took their time, and he used this opportunity to get familiar with the crown floating on his head. It was a fickle and sadistic little thing. Each time he so much as moved a tiny bit of fire mana through it, he was assaulted by pain and suffering.

Not the good kind either. Just the painful kind.

And while a lot of his focus was placed on his new item, he made sure that nobody ambushed them as they traveled throughout the forest. Aubrey was also keeping a close eye on things. She had already sent several clones to scout out the area.

He was a bit jealous of her clones. They were handy for both fighting and auxiliary aspects. Hell, now that he thought about it, she could probably use them to help her with chores such as cleaning and cooking.

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He scrunched his nose at that thought. Life wasn’t fair. She got special clones and a lovely willpower treasure, while he got a cursed crown that was currently doing its best to kill or drive him to madness, whichever came first, he supposed.

He glared upward at the floating crown. It was constantly pulsing as if mocking him for trying to control it. He didn’t know if he was being paranoid, but it was like the item was sentient or something.

He was currently playing with a small thread of fire between his fingers. The thread glowed a brilliant blue and constantly flared outward with each movement. However, he kept control of it. He made sure that it bent to his will, not the other way around.

Julius had wanted to test other things, but those attempts had ended badly. Each time he tried to bite off more than he could chew, the fire would go wild and blow up in his face. It was only because he was using such a small amount that he didn’t destroy the entire area in the process.

To his embarrassment, he had already burned off half of the skin from his face several times in the past hour. Drasil was working overtime to help Julius overcome the hindering effects of the fire. The little spirit’s assistance was very useful.

For some reason, while Julius had a hard time dealing with whatever effect these flames had on his regeneration, Drasil didn’t seem as impeded. His support allowed Julius to heal normally, which was why he was much less worried about playing with the dangerous flames.