Tanafyam teleports back to the Snake Pyramid and runs straight to the second floor, lighting the monsters ablaze as he passes them. The bosses won't respawn until next week, so there’s nothing on the first floor capable of slowing him down. Descending the stairs, Tana takes a small break, so he is fully ready for the next speedrun.

Since this is the second floor, the monsters will be stronger, and he is definitely going to need a break or two to get through it. However, he won't let that deter him. The more he levels his Bond, the more powerful he will become, and the best way to do that is to embrace both the life-sustaining and destructive properties of fire.

"What do you think fire is?" Tana flashes back to a conversation he had with Alysara when he was younger. At the time, he didn't understand her words, but now he does.

"It's a chemical reaction." Alysara turns her head toward him and smiles softly. "Fire needs air to live, right? It uses the air just like we do. The air combines with what's burning, and that produces heat which then makes the fire hotter. In a way, we use similar processes; we eat food which nourishes us, although it's not the exact same thing."

In other words, fire isn't just about the flame itself; it is... something else... a process that happens, it consumes, but the result can either nourish or destroy.

After resting, Tana stands back up, bracing himself on the sandstone walls, the flickering of torches lighting the way forward.

The 'flame' inside me gives me energy, and with this energy, I should be able to run faster and for longer.

It's not just about healing, it should also give him the energy needed to run through this without a break. He'll need to replace a Bond skill, so he'll need to think of which one is least helpful, but being able to rejuvenate his stamina will be a better ability to have.

Tana charges forward, lighting ablaze as he activates his skills. His vitality is consumed to ignite the flames, but his generation far exceeds his consumption. Barreling through room after room, he sends blade-like waves of flame slashing through the surprised and confused monsters, the flames spreading and burning, feeding off their vitality.

Tana runs into the first boss room and, without stopping, immediately attacks, launching several fire waves at it that cut deeply into its hide. Tana dodges, ducks, and flips over attacks, trying his best to avoid getting hit with as close a margin as possible. He successfully manages to counterattack, cutting the tail and side of the head as it lunges.

The fight lasts longer than the ones on the previous floor, and he gets hit more, not timing his dodges as well against the slightly faster foe. Venom burns his veins… like his flames burn the monster's vitality.

My flames are behaving kind of like a poison, lingering and causing damage… Can I do something with that idea?

Instead of just burning the outside of the monster, what if his flames can seep into the wounds and burn the insides? But fire needs air; how can it do that without air?

There's air in the body; we breathe it in, right? So there has to be air in the body too. Tana realizes.

Gathering his willpower and focusing on his Bond, Tana sweeps his hand over the flat of his sword, infusing the flames with more potency, the potency of venom.

Ting! Your Bond skill, Vitality Burn, has evolved into Vitality Venom Flames!

The blood colored flames coating his sword turn purple, and he launches another wave of fire with a swing of his sword. Purple fire cuts into the snake as it tries to dodge and only barely fails, the small contact with the edge of the wave enough for the flames to spread out and infest the open wounds. Now it's only a matter of time before it dies.

* * *

Tana stands before the slain floor boss, his arm regrowing; his clothes are tattered, but he brought a spare set. He obtained a stamina regenerating skill a couple months ago, which let him keep up despite his marathon: he had not realized how much exhaustion lowered his fighting capabilities, but now that won't be an issue.

Tana gathers the monster materials, going back to the previously slain bosses and harvesting them as well before replacing his clothes. He usually sells the materials from these solo trips along with the other materials he gains during the Den dives with Esofy and the others, to not give hints that he is gaining materials on his own.

It's not prohibited, exactly, to fight by oneself but it is frowned upon, and Esofy will definitely not be happy. Tana teleports back to his secret Waystone that came with the key; however, when he appears in his hidden location out in the forest, there is a beautiful girl standing in front of him, arms crossed with a disapproving frown.

"Where were you?" Alysara asks. She isn't accusatory, but says it more as a question.

"I, uh..." He doesn't know what to say; she must have seen him teleport out of the village and found this Waystone.

"You were out fighting monsters by yourself; I know that much," Alysara says, her tails swaying side to side.

"Y-you do too..." Tana tries to defend himself.

"You know as well as I do that is a poor excuse; I fight the monsters, they don't fight me, there's a difference."

An awkward silence falls between them, only broken by the chirping of birds and insects.

"...I can handle myself," Tana says defiantly, staring at Alysara. She remains silent for a minute.

"...I know, otherwise you wouldn't be here," Alysara finally says. "But, you have not seen some of the monsters in this Dungeon. Not all are weak, some have very strange abilities that can really endanger you, or even me if I’m not cautious despite my safeguards, and some are vastly more powerful than any other monsters in their area. You need to be careful; being in a group with a proper scout is best for your safety, and only going into places that are confirmed to not have extra-dangerous monsters inside!"

Being next to her, in front of this beautiful girl, makes his heart race and pang. He doesn't want her to worry about him, he needs to show her that he can protect her, that she doesn't need to take the weight of the world onto herself anymore.

"L-let me show you!" Tana forces himself to say. "Let me show you w-what I can do!"

"Tana..." Alysara pauses for a moment before continuing. "What will you do if you encounter an Exalted-tier monster, one that is over level one thousand and has three Classes? They are in this Dungeon, Tana, there's nothing I nor anyone else can do about them and they are in some places you won't expect to find them."

Level one thousand, Exalted-tier? Alysara is clearly worried about that. If that's the case, then...

"I'll get stronger! If they are Exalted-tier, then I'll become Legendary! If they are level one thousand then I'll get to level two thousand!" Tana boasts.

Alysara sighs and shakes her head incredulously.

"That isn't something you can just do, Tana..." Alysara says.

"But it has happened before, right?" Tana says with a reassuring smile. "T-the world messages prove it! I-I'l become Legendary-tier, Alysara. But in o-order to do that I need to be able to fight on my own! I need to prove to the world that I can take on anything!"

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I'm conflicted. On one hand, I don't want to see my friend be hurt, but on the other, how can I deny him his desire to be stronger? I am doing the exact same thing, even at my own peril. I take equally dangerous risks, if not even more so, every day when scouting the Lunaley islands and, to a mostly lesser extent, this Dungeon. He has a third more Class levels on me and his Bond level has even jumped up significantly since last time I looked at him.

I'm in quite a difficult position. Again, on the one hand I can't exactly tell Tana not to do this without being at least a little bit of a hypocrite, but on the other, I promised Esofy I'd look into this, and I shouldn't lie to her about what's really happening.

"I'm… going to have to tell Esofy" I say at last, gauging Tana's expression.

"Please don't, I need this to get stronger" Tana pleads, with an edge in his voice that I dislike.

"What do you want me to do? I'm not going to lie to Esofy, and she asked me to investigate what you are doing." I say.

"Let me prove to you that I can do this!" Tana takes a step closer, desperation in his eyes.

"You don't need to prove anything to me," I retort. "You do, however, need to prove something to Esofy."

"She won't listen—"

"—That's... not my problem." Tana takes a step back, looking hurt. "Tana, you are my friend and I don't want to see you get hurt. I don't care if that makes me a hypocrite or whatever, but Esofy knows best; if she agrees that you are fine acting on your own, then I'll trust her judgment, but if she disagrees, then that is the best for you. You are not even thirteen years old, you have plenty of time to get strong."

"I-I'm doing this for you! So you don't have to worry about me or anyone else." Tana sounds desperate, almost begging now, and this level of desperation makes me very nervous.

"Tana, you need to live your life for yourself, not for me. Ever since we were kids you've been learning how to fight, but why? I was good at my Bond, and suddenly you wanted to learn how to fight. You… always compare yourself to me, right?" I say, looking at his expressions to try and see what he is thinking even as the implications of what I’m working out hit me.

"Even now, after all of this time, it's still always about me." I continue, "You are so singularly focused on me that you are ignoring everything else. Tana, you need to find something you want to do for yourself."

"I want to help you! This is what I want to do!" Tana raises his voice.

"Tana," I shake my head. "You can't just live for other people, eventually that will break you."

"Isn't that exactly what you are doing?! How can you tell me that, when you are doing exactly the same thing?!"

"But I do other things that only interest me!" I almost shout back "Yes, I help the village. Yes, I sacrificed a lot for our people, but in those cases it was either fight the glass eels, the Aydomr, and the super storm, or we all die! But what else do I do? I study mana for myself, I learned tailoring for myself, I learned music for myself! What have you done for yourself?!"

"I..." Tana looks defeated, lowering his gaze and drooping his ears.

My stomach turns in knots, I don't like arguing with my friend but this is what he needs, not what he wants. Perhaps it's best we part ways until he can find himself.

"Tana," I say with a tone of finality. "I think we need to reconsider our friendship." Saying those words is like biting into the bitterest and sourest thing in the world, but I need to do this for him, as hypocritical as it is.

Tana looks up, tears welling in his eyes.

"Don't look at me like that, Tana." I harden my heart for my next words. "Were we really friends at all? The way you think about me is not how a friend thinks… it’s how a follower thinks."

"Why are you saying this to me?" Tana says, on the verge of tears.

"So you can live your own life, rather than always chasing after mine," I say and fly away, leaving Tana there.

I tell Esofy what happened and air out my feelings.

"You did the right thing," Esofy says, sitting next to me and patting my head. "Tana needs to move on, just as you said. Don't worry about her, I'll take care of her.”

With Esofy's task and my scouting done, I can focus on grinding some levels. It'll be tedious, but at least now there are enough Dens to visit that the change in scenery will help.