atching Lyria before she could leave. "You said the dungeons open in twelve days, but Chief Shy'yao just told me Team Seven departs in three days. Which is it?"
Lyria paused, a slight smile playing at her lips. "Both. The dungeons open in twelve days—twelve fifty-hour cycles—but your team departs in three days to travel to the dungeon site. The nearest accessible dungeon, the one M'lod has historical claim to, is about seventy-five hours of travel northeast, deep into the contested borderlands between Ul'varh'mir and Vel'koda'mir."
"So we travel there, set up camp, and wait for the barriers to drop?"
"Exactly. Multiple villages and groups will be converging on the same location. There are protocols—established claim zones, dispute resolution procedures, shared safe camps. It's organized chaos, but it works. Mostly." She gestured toward the training yard. "Which means you have three days to prepare, not twelve. One hundred and fifty hours. I'd suggest using them wisely."
After she left, Misaki made his way to the training area with renewed urgency. Three days. One hundred and fifty hours to get himself as ready as possible for an environment where the mortality rate for inexperienced delvers was over one in three.
He started with physical training—push-ups, squats, combat forms with his staff. But his mind kept returning to the one advantage he might have that others didn't: his chakra awakening. The Manipura chakra, the fire element, had been stirring for months. Thirty-four percent awakened, according to his last meditation session.
But he'd never actually manifested fire. Never produced so much as a spark.
Misaki sat in the meditation position, closed his eyes, and focused inward. The warmth in his solar plexus was familiar now, a constant companion that pulsed with his heartbeat. He tried to push it, to channel it outward through his hands the way he'd seen Riyeak manipulate earth.
Nothing happened.
He tried again, visualizing flames, imagining heat flowing from his core down his arms and into his palms.
Still nothing.
"You're doing it wrong."
Misaki's eyes snapped open to find Lyria watching him from the edge of the training area, arms crossed.
"I thought you left."
"I did. Then I realized you'd probably try to force your chakra awakening and hurt yourself." She walked over and sat across from him. "Manifesting elemental abilities isn't about forcing anything. It's about understanding what you're actually awakening."
"I'm awakening Manipura. The fire chakra. So I should be able to create fire."
"Maybe. But probably not at first." Lyria held up a hand, and golden light—her healing energy—flickered around her fingers. "I have Anahata awakened, the air chakra. But I don't manipulate wind. My power manifests as healing because that's the branch of air that aligned with my nature and training."
Misaki's frustration must have shown on his face, because Lyria's expression softened.
"The chakras have branches, Misaki. Sub-manifestations of the core element. Manipura—fire—has at least five major branches that we know of, and probably more that haven't been documented. You'll awaken whichever branch resonates most strongly with who you are, not necessarily the primary element itself."
"What are the five branches?"
Lyria settled into a more comfortable position, clearly preparing for a longer explanation. "The first and most obvious is Pure Flame—the direct manipulation of fire. Creation, control, projection. That's what most people think of when they hear 'fire chakra,' but it's actually one of the rarer manifestations. It requires a very specific temperament: aggressive, destructive, consuming. Does that sound like you?"
Misaki thought about it honestly. "Not really. I'm more... methodical. Problem-solving."
"Exactly. Which is why you'll probably manifest one of the other branches." She held up a finger. "The second branch is Heat Manipulation. Not creating fire, but controlling thermal energy. Raising or lowering temperature in objects, sensing heat signatures, potentially even resistance to extreme temperatures. This is common among blacksmiths and anyone who works with forges."
That resonated more strongly. Misaki had spent hours in Torran's forge making the saw prototypes. He'd felt a strange affinity for the heat, an intuitive understanding of when metal reached the right temperature for working.
"The third branch," Lyria continued, "is Kinetic Enhancement. The fire element translates into explosive movement, enhanced speed, rapid reflexes. Some of the fastest warriors in the kingdom have Manipura awakened to this branch. It's all about channeling the fire's energy into motion rather than literal flames."
"Fourth branch is Metabolic Acceleration. Internal fire, if you will. Enhanced healing, increased stamina, the ability to push your body beyond normal limits by burning your own life energy as fuel. Dangerous if misused, but incredibly powerful in the right hands."
Misaki was taking mental notes, his engineer's mind cataloging the information. "And the fifth?"
"Illumination. The light aspect of fire without the destruction. Some people awaken Manipura and manifest abilities related to vision, revelation, clarity. They can see in darkness, detect lies, illuminate hidden things. It's the most subtle branch, often overlooked, but invaluable for scouts and investigators."
Five branches. Five completely different expressions of the same core element. And Misaki had no idea which one he'd manifest—if he manifested any at all.
"How do I know which branch I'll get?"
"You don't. Not until it happens. But there are ways to encourage certain manifestations." Lyria pulled a small journal from her pouch and flipped it open to a page covered in geometric symbols. "These are sigils and glyphs—focusing patterns that help channel chakra energy in specific directions. They're not strictly necessary for basic manifestation, but they can guide the awakening process and significantly increase the power of whatever abilities you do develop."
She pointed to a complex spiral pattern. "This is a heat-manipulation sigil. If you draw this on your hands or weapons and meditate while focusing on it, you're more likely to awaken heat-based abilities. This one—" she indicated a series of sharp, angular lines, "—is for kinetic enhancement. And this—" a circular pattern with radiating lines, "—is for pure flame generation."
"So I can choose?"
"You can influence. Your nature will ultimately determine your path, but sigils can nudge you in a preferred direction. Many practitioners draw them on their bodies before meditation or combat. Some have them tattooed permanently once they've fully awakened a branch." She looked at him seriously. "Before you go into the dungeon, you should decide which branch you want to pursue and start using the appropriate sigil. It might not manifest in three days, but it could give you an edge if your chakra activates under stress."
Misaki studied the patterns in the journal, his mind already analyzing their geometric properties. Heat manipulation made the most sense for his skill set—it complemented his forge work and could potentially be applied to tool-making and material processing. But kinetic enhancement could save his life in combat...
"Can I try multiple sigils?"
"You can, but it's not recommended. Divided focus usually means slower awakening overall. Pick one, commit to it, and practice."
After Lyria left, Misaki spent another two hours meditating with the heat-manipulation sigil drawn on his palms in charcoal. He focused on the sensation of warmth, of metal heating under flame, of thermal energy flowing and concentrating.
[Manipura Chakra: Stirring (36%)]
A two percent increase from a single focused session. Not dramatic, but progress.
Eventually, hunger and the passage of time drove him back to practical matters. He had a saw to build for Riyeak, and six more orders to complete. The forge beckoned.
Torran had given Misaki permission to use the smithy whenever it wasn't occupied, and the massive blacksmith had even left notes on metal composition and forging techniques. Misaki suspected the old craftsman was curious about the saw design and wanted to see if the sky-faller could actually produce quality work.
The forge's heat enveloped Misaki as he worked the bellows, bringing the coals to the right temperature. He'd prepared the metal blank earlier—a long strip of steel that would become the saw blade. Now came the delicate work of shaping, tempering, and cutting the teeth.
As he worked, something strange began to happen.
The metal seemed to respond to him more readily than it should have. He could sense—actually sense—when it reached the optimal temperature for hammering, even without the usual visual cues. His hammer strikes fell with unusual precision, each blow shaping the metal exactly as intended. The teeth, which had taken him hours to file on the first prototype, seemed to form almost naturally under his tools.
[Skill Synergy Detected]
[Heat Manipulation (Latent) + Crafting = Enhanced Metalworking]
[Bonus: +15% quality, -20% time required]
The notification made Misaki pause mid-strike. He looked down at his hands, at the faint heat shimmer that seemed to surround them when he held the hot metal. The sigil he'd drawn was barely visible now, smudged by soot and sweat, but something about it had activated. Not a full manifestation, but enough to create a tangible effect.
He finished Riyeak's saw in ten hours instead of the fifteen it should have taken, and when he quenched the blade, the steel sang with a clear, pure note that even Torran would have approved of. The balance was perfect, the edge already keen enough to shave wood, the teeth aligned with mathematical precision.
[Item Created: Custom Pull Saw (Superior Quality)]
[Durability: 100/100]
[Bonus: +10% cutting efficiency due to enhanced crafting]
Exhausted but satisfied, Misaki checked his interface and froze.
[Manipura Chakra: Stirring (70%)]
Seventy percent. It had jumped from thirty-six to seventy in the span of twelve hours. That wasn't normal. That couldn't be normal.
He found Lyria in her hut, grinding herbs with a mortar and pestle by lamplight. The village had transitioned into its night cycle, with most people either sleeping or working night-specific jobs. She looked up as he entered, her eyes immediately going to his hands.
"Your chakra spiked," she said, not a question.
"How did you know?"
"Your hands are glowing faintly, and the air around you is warmer than it should be. What happened?"
Misaki explained the forging session, the strange sense of the metal responding to him, the notification about skill synergy, the sudden massive jump in his awakening percentage.
Lyria set down her mortar and stood, examining his hands more closely. The golden light of her own chakra pulsed as she analyzed his energy flow.
"Fascinating," she murmured. "You achieved partial manifestation through practical application rather than pure meditation. The act of creating something, of applying your will to transform raw material through heat... it resonated so strongly with the Manipura chakra that it accelerated your awakening dramatically."
"Is that common?"
"No. Most people awaken their chakras through dedicated meditation and ritual practice. But you—" she looked at him with something approaching wonder, "—you're a Jack. Your class is built around learning through action, through varied experience. It makes sense that your chakra would respond more strongly to practical application than passive meditation."
"So if I keep forging, I might fully awaken faster than through meditation alone?"
"Potentially. Though you'd still need regular meditation to maintain the awakening and prevent atrophy. But this is actually perfect timing." Lyria returned to her herb grinding, though her expression remained thoughtful. "You're at seventy percent. If you can push it to full awakening before the dungeon expedition, you'll have access to actual heat manipulation abilities. That could make the difference between survival and... not."
"How close am I?"
"Seventy percent means you're on the threshold. The final thirty percent is often the hardest—it's the leap from potential to actualization, from theoretical understanding to practical manifestation. But given your progress..." She paused, clearly calculating. "If you spend the next one hundred and fifty hours alternating between focused meditation with the heat sigil and practical forging work, you might reach full awakening just in time."
Misaki felt something ignite in his chest—not his chakra, but determination. He had three days. One hundred and fifty hours to prepare for a dungeon that killed one in three inexperienced delvers. One hundred and fifty hours to transform himself from a struggling Jack-class with basic skills into someone who might actually survive.
One hundred and fifty hours to awaken the fire within.
"Then I'd better not waste any time," he said.
Lyria smiled. "Get some rest first. Sleep for at least eight hours. You can't forge through the entire night cycle and expect to meditate effectively during the day. Your body needs recovery time, even with enhanced vitality."
She was right, of course. But as Misaki made his way to his half-finished dwelling and lay down on his simple bedroll, his mind was already racing ahead. Training schedule. Equipment preparation. Meditation sessions interspersed with forging work. The remaining saw orders that would generate crucial income.
Three days until departure. One hundred and fifty hours.
Twelve days—six hundred hours—until the dungeons opened.
And somewhere in that narrow window, Misaki would either find his power or discover the hard limits of what The Jack class could achieve.
Outside his window, the rings of Vulcan slowly rotated across the night sky, their surfaces reflecting the distant light of stars and planets. Ulth'rk had set below the horizon, and the darkness of the night cycle had deepened. Somewhere out there, deep underground in ancient structures no one fully understood, dungeons waited with their treasures and terrors.
Misaki closed his eyes, focused on the warmth in his solar plexus, and began to meditate even as sleep tried to claim him.
[Manipura Chakra: Stirring (71%)]
One percent at a time.
He could do this.
[Quest Updated: Flames and Foundations]
[Objective: Achieve Full Manipura Awakening (71% → 100%)]
[Time Remaining: 3 days (150 hours)]
[Bonus Objective: Complete all saw orders before departure]