Dawn broke over the Rulwood Forest with a cacophony of sound that was entirely different from the cultivated peace near M'lod. Here, seventy-five hours into their journey, the forest was wilder, denser, untouched by regular logging operations. Ancient Rulwood trees towered overhead, their thick canopies filtering Ulth'rk's early light into dappled patterns across the forest floor. Birds called to each other in harsh, unfamiliar voices. Something large moved through the undergrowth in the distance, its passage marked by snapping branches and rustling leaves.
Misaki woke to the biting cold that settled into these deep woods during the night cycle. His breath misted in the air, and frost had formed on the edges of their makeshift camp. The fire they'd built the night before had burned down to embers, providing barely any warmth.
He sat up carefully, mindful of the leather armor he'd slept in—a necessity in hostile territory—and focused inward on the warmth in his solar plexus. The Manipura chakra pulsed eagerly, stronger than it had ever been, almost fully awakened now after days of constant meditation and practical application.
Misaki extended his hands toward the dying fire and concentrated.
Heat. Thermal energy. Not creating fire, but manipulating what was already there, coaxing the warmth from the embers and spreading it outward. He felt the chakra flow down from his core, through channels that had been slowly opening over months of cultivation, and into his palms.
The air around the campsite began to warm. Not dramatically—he couldn't create a furnace-like environment—but enough to drive away the worst of the morning chill. The frost on nearby equipment started to melt. The other team members, still sleeping in their bedrolls, visibly relaxed as the temperature rose to something more comfortable.
[Heat Manipulation: Active]
[Chakra consumption: 2/hour]
[Effective radius: 4 meters]
[Manipura Chakra: Stirring (91%)]
Vellin's eyes opened first, the scout's instincts making her alert to any change in her environment. She observed Misaki's glowing hands for a moment, then sat up with a slight smile.
"Useful skill," she said quietly, keeping her voice low to avoid waking the others unnecessarily. "Heat manipulation?"
"Just awakening," Misaki confirmed. "Still not fully stable, but functional enough for basic applications."
"Better than nothing. And definitely better than freezing our asses off in this forest." Vellin stood and stretched, her small frame belying the deadly competence Misaki had witnessed over the past day of travel. "Keep practicing. The more you use it, the faster you'll reach full awakening."
She moved to stoke the fire properly, adding fresh wood from their supply and coaxing the flames back to life. The combination of Misaki's heat manipulation and the rekindled fire created a comfortable pocket of warmth that finally roused Riyeak and Deylos.
"Morning already?" Riyeak groaned, his massive form unfolding from the bedroll like a bear emerging from hibernation. "Feels like I just fell asleep."
"You did," Deylos said dryly, already up and checking his bow for any damage from the night's humidity. "Three hours ago. You snore, by the way. Loudly."
"I don't snore, I breathe enthusiastically."
While the team went through their morning routines, Misaki maintained the heat manipulation, using it as training to build his control and endurance. He could feel the chakra flowing more smoothly now, the channels less resistant, the energy more responsive to his will. It was like learning to use a new muscle—awkward at first, but becoming more natural with practice.
[Manipura Chakra: Stirring (93%)]
Vellin produced a small kettle from her pack and set it near the fire to boil water for tea. From another pouch, she pulled out dried leaves that gave off a sharp, medicinal scent when added to the hot water.
"Sha'tyum tea," she explained, seeing Misaki's curious look. "Helps with alertness and settles the stomach. Good for travel."
Breakfast was simple but filling: dried Rook'wook jerky, Thornbread that had gone slightly stale but was still edible, and a handful of preserved starc pieces that Millia had prepared specifically for the expedition. They ate in companionable silence, watching the forest wake around them as Ulth'rk climbed higher into the sky.
After the meal, Vellin spread out a worn piece of leather on the ground—a hand-drawn map marked with various symbols and notations. She used a stick to point at different features as she explained their route.
"We're here," she indicated a spot marked with an X near the edge of the forest. "The Ruins of Kel'shara are approximately forty hours northeast, just past where the Rulwood transitions to scrubland and then desert. The dungeon entrance is in the ruins themselves—an ancient temple complex that predates the current kingdoms."
"How many other teams will be there?" Misaki asked, studying the map's details.
Vellin and Deylos exchanged glances. Finally, the archer answered.
"This year, we're the only team from Ul'varh'mir."
Misaki's head snapped up. "The only ones? Why? I thought the dungeons were valuable resources."
"They are," Vellin confirmed, her expression grim. "But M'lod is small, and we're already stretched thin with defense and basic survival. Most other villages in Ul'varh'mir sent teams to different dungeon sites—ones closer to their territories or with resources they need more urgently. The Ruins of Kel'shara are technically M'lod's ancestral claim, but they're also in contested borderlands between Ul'varh'mir and Vel'koda'mir."
"Which means," Deylos continued, "we'll be sharing the site with teams from Vel'koda'mir. And those teams are... different from what you're used to."
"Different how?"
Riyeak, who had been quiet until now, spoke up with unusual seriousness. "Brutal. The mages from Vel'koda'mir don't just kill dungeon beasts—they kill for sport. For practice. Sometimes for fun. They view the dungeon expeditions as hunting grounds, and they don't particularly care if their prey is monster or human."
A chill ran down Misaki's spine that had nothing to do with the morning cold. "Surely there are rules? Protocols to prevent teams from different kingdoms fighting each other?"
"There are," Vellin confirmed. "But Vel'koda'mir is run by its military, and their military doesn't care much for rules when there's no one strong enough to enforce them. Officially, they'll respect claim zones and shared safe areas. Unofficially..." She shook her head. "Let's just say that every year, teams mysteriously disappear in the dungeons. Equipment gets salvaged. Resources get claimed. And no one can prove whether it was dungeon beasts or rival teams responsible."
"The worst part," Deylos added, his lean face hard, "is that Vel'koda'mir's teams are state-sponsored. Their government provides them with superior equipment, professional training, experienced leadership, and the best mages available. They go into dungeons with every advantage while we—" he gestured at their modest equipment and small team, "—we make do with what we can scrape together."
Misaki felt anger building in his chest. "Why doesn't our royal family sponsor dungeon expeditions? Surely King Vaur understands the value of dungeon resources?"
The temperature around the camp suddenly dropped despite Misaki's heat manipulation still being active. All three of his teammates had gone very still, their expressions carefully neutral in a way that spoke volumes.
Finally, Deylos spoke, his voice low and controlled. "King Ashtherion'vaur is a tyrant. He cares about maintaining his power and enriching himself and his favored nobles. Villages like M'lod exist to provide taxes and serve as buffers against threats from neighboring kingdoms. We're not valued citizens to be supported—we're expendable resources to be exploited."
"It wasn't always like this," Riyeak added, his usual cheerfulness entirely absent. "Chief Shy'yao told me stories about when he was young, before Vaur took the throne. The previous king sponsored village expeditions, provided equipment grants, sent royal hunters to assist with major threats. But Vaur..." The young warrior's hands clenched into fists. "Vaur consolidated power by cutting support to frontier villages and redirecting those resources to the nobles who keep him in power. We're on our own now."
Vellin's voice was sharp as a blade when she spoke. "Which is why we don't talk about the king where others might hear. Criticizing the crown is technically treason, and Vaur's tax collectors would love an excuse to squeeze even more copper from M'lod or arrest someone as an example. We keep our heads down, we survive, and we remember that the capital doesn't care if we live or die."
The bitter truth settled over the camp like a shroud. Misaki understood now why the tax collectors had been so casually cruel, why the village received minimal support despite being on the dangerous frontier, why his five-gold debt had been imposed without any consideration of fairness or his ability to pay. The system was designed to extract value while providing nothing in return.
"Then we'll just have to succeed without state sponsorship," Misaki said, surprised by the firmness in his own voice. "We might not have fancy equipment or professional training, but we have something those Vel'koda'mir mages don't."
"What's that?" Riyeak asked.
"We actually need this. For them, it's sport or career advancement. For us, it's survival. That makes us more dangerous than they realize."
Vellin's expression shifted into something that might have been approval. "Well said. Now pack up. We have forty hours of travel through increasingly hostile territory, and I'd like to reach the ruins with time to scout and establish our position before other teams arrive."
They broke camp efficiently, burying the fire and scattering evidence of their presence. Misaki maintained his heat manipulation throughout the process, both for continued training and because it made the cold morning work more bearable.
As they set off northeast, the Rulwood Forest began to thin. The massive trees grew more sparse, the undergrowth changing from thick ferns to hardy scrub brush. The soil beneath their feet gradually shifted from rich loam to sandy earth that crunched with each step.
By midday, they'd left the forest entirely and entered the scrublands—a transitional zone of scattered vegetation, rocky outcroppings, and increasingly arid conditions. The temperature rose steadily as Ulth'rk climbed toward its peak position, and what had been uncomfortably cold in the morning became uncomfortably hot in the afternoon.
Misaki felt sweat beginning to soak his clothes beneath the leather armor. The heat was oppressive, radiating up from the sandy ground and beating down from the massive sun above. Around him, his teammates were clearly suffering as well, their pace slowing and their water consumption increasing.
Then, almost without thinking, Misaki inverted his heat manipulation.
Instead of gathering warmth and radiating it outward, what if he absorbed heat and pulled it away? The principle was the same—manipulating thermal energy—just in the opposite direction.
He focused on the air around the team, visualizing the heat as something tangible that he could grasp and redirect. His Manipura chakra responded eagerly, the technique coming naturally as if it had always been there waiting to be discovered.
The temperature in their immediate vicinity dropped by several degrees. It wasn't cold—that would have been too dramatic a shift—but it was noticeably cooler, enough to provide relief from the worst of the desert heat.
[Heat Manipulation: Advanced Application]
[Thermal Absorption - Area Cooling]
[Chakra consumption: 3/hour]
[Manipura Chakra: Stirring (99%)]
Ninety-nine percent.
Misaki felt something shift deep in his core, as if a barrier that had been holding his chakra back had suddenly thinned to the point of transparency. He was on the very threshold of full awakening, standing on the edge of transformation from potential to actualization.
One more percent. Just one more push, and he'd achieve what had taken most chakra users years to accomplish.
"Misaki," Vellin said, interrupting his thoughts. "What are you doing? The air around us is cooler."
"Heat manipulation," he explained, slightly breathless from the concentration required. "I'm pulling heat away from our immediate area and dispersing it into the wider environment. It's less efficient than warming, but it works."
"Can you maintain it while we walk?"
"I... think so. For a few hours at least."
"Do it. We'll make better time if we're not being cooked alive." Vellin increased their pace, clearly taking advantage of the improved conditions.
As they traveled deeper into the scrublands with the desert proper visible on the horizon, Misaki maintained his cooling technique. Every hour of use brought him closer to complete mastery, every moment of controlled chakra flow strengthening the channels and deepening his connection to the Manipura element.
The sun beat down. The team pressed forward. And somewhere ahead, in ruins that had stood for thousands of years, a dungeon waited—filled with treasures, terrors, and perhaps the solution to an impossible debt.
[Quest Progress: Flames and Foundations]
[Manipura Awakening: 99/100%]
[Status: Threshold reached - Full awakening imminent]
[Distance to Ruins of Kel'shara: 40 hours]