About an hour after the detonation I finally recovered enough to get up. It was still hot, with the area surrounded by an inferno formed into a barrier but it was not unbearable. looking at the damage it was apparent that this was not an eruption since the air was clear and the crater remained intact with no continued release of volcanic matter. Casting my gaze into the lava pool I realised what had happened, a planetary flame had been born.

The earthfire which I was originally looking for was a relatively common small orange gem created naturally in the planets mantle and expelled with lava. Whereas a planetary flame was a larger blue gem that contained a much more potent source of power created in the outer core, only superseded by the large white Gaia flame crystal produced in the inner core.

It became apparent that the planetary flame had obviously released its energy as it breached the surface of the lava and came in contact with regular mana. The originally bright crystal normally surrounded by fire had become a dark blue piece of obsidian. This did not mean it was ruined, simply that it would have to be recharged.

Unlike the one would normally expect from a volcanic reaction there was no poisonous gas. With elemental fire being the bane of impurity, the surge of pure fire mana had incinerated anything its nature had deemed tainted. The poisonous gasses would return with time but for the moment the air was clear, hot and invigorating. It was filled with the spark of life, the nurturing nature of flame lingering as if trying to count the destruction its predecessor had wrought.

I searched the surroundings knowing I was safe inside the firewall until I took the planetary flame which acted as the core to this naturally formed ritual. After some searching, I managed to find a few dozen earthfire gems scattered thought the landscape. As I wandered further I noticed a still intact corpse under some rubble. Realising it could not be the head priest that was turned to ash or the sacrifices that would have had no protection it became obvious that it had to be the holy knight.

Digging through the igneous rock I uncovered the burned dracon. Both fortunately and unfortunately for me, the man was dead. It was sad because as shown by his act of selflessness he was one of the rare non-asshole dracon nobility but I was slightly happy because his armour contained a dragon stone saving me a lot of time and trouble. I stripped the stone from the behind the chest plate and placed it into my back pocket.

Suddenly I felt the hairs on my skin rise. Turning back to the lava I saw two eyes from a draconic head watching me. I almost had a heart attack before realising the dragon-like head was attached to a turtle-like shell. The dragon-turtle was a relatively high-level monster and to be the size it was it had to be very old. I knew exactly why this ancient creature was here, it wanted the planetary flame.

I had no immediate use for it but it was still a beneficial resource so I teleported it to me before teleporting back to the tent.

Arriving back at the tent I heard a massive roar over the panicking commotion. Obviously the dragon turtle was pissed! I began cleaning everything up and eliminating any trace of the rituals, it did not take long as I had designed it in such a way as to cover my tracks in an emergency. Walking outside amongst the hundreds of people running around I began moving towards the exit. I could spot torrents of flame being belched into the air atop the volcano and the holy knights had gathered to defend the temple. With any luck, they might conclude this all to be a result of the monster's emergence and not the creation of a precious treasure.

I eventually reached the carriages and paid five gold, courtesy of the holy knight, to leave for the nearest town. During the one week trip, I heard a worrying rumour. Apparently, there had been a coup in the wind spirit kingdom. While I was travelling to the mountainside the princess, who was actually a queen during our second meeting, was getting deposed by her older brother.

With the assistance of the Narith empire, the non-magical and thus ineligible prince used an artefact to teleport an elite squad of dracon into the palace to slaughter the royal family. The queen managed to escape to the holy dragon empire however they were ambushed at the border by the holy dragon army. The latest rumour had it that the queen is currently missing and has not been confirmed dead.

Unfortunately for the princeling, he was betrayed and the very same dracon who simply left after the raid leading to him being killed by the remaining palace soldiers. His corpse left hanging in front of the royal castle for all to see. The dracon meanwhile set to work installing an elven puppet council to fill the power vacuum and it was easy for anyone to see the shadow of the puppeteers holding their strings. The wind spirit kingdom citizens themselves, however, could do nothing about it as the dracon had changed the runic password to the teleportation gate system located in the castle allowing instant reinforcement in the event of a rebellion. Combined with the majority of their own elite soldiers being killed in two surprise attacks and the dracon countries on both sides had rallied against them all they could do was hope.

The dracon could not, however, commit genocide since that would start a world war with the elves. What they did intend to do was take a large amount of the fertile lands for themselves and create an exploitative trade agreement for the mined materials. In truth, the spirit wind kingdom was actually stronger than the Narith empire and if it was not for the recent death of the level 90 king combined with the prince turning traitor even the combined forces of the two dracon countries would have struggled.

Finally, I arrived at the next town west of the holy mountains. I was a small place much like the first town I had encountered with wooden walls and a tent city outside. It was only recently I discovered how stupid I had been in that first town since there was an hour each morning and evening that people could freely enter before it was limited to the rich, nobles and royalty. The lodging inside apart from the taverns were also places for the elite with the common travellers staying in the tents located around the wall.

Knowing better I approached the tents before picking up a connection to the south. Concluding that this was my oath confirmed that the queen was alive and left me with a decision. I could either use my Ki to break the oath and leave her to her own devices or help a monarch in their time of need. Realising that breaking the oath would be balanced against me as negative karma during one of my future exploits I wandered into the nearby forest, changed my appearance and started heading south.

During the next three days of travelling, I once again attempting flight resulted in me launch myself into the air before gliding to the ground. Despite the fact, this ability would have proven useless in the volcano due to the nature of the explosion I was still determined to learn how to fly. I noticed I was slowly approaching the ocean since the breeze carried a slight smell of salt.

Following the oath bond, I approached a lonely camp. Unlike her set up in the first forest, the princess was not surrounded by luxuries. The tent looked worn and there was an actual fire pit as for the princess herself she looked exhausted. She reacted violently as I approached quickly reaching for a wand before coming to the realisation either through sight or the oath that it was me.

“I half expected you to find some method to break the oath rather than help me.” She muttered in a low tone. “Well I half expected to be called in a few years rather than in a few weeks, but fate plays fools of us all,” I replied. After the awkward silence returned I spoke as if trying to console a child, “You know I'm not strong enough to take your kingdom back?”

“I know, but you were my last hope. The only person I have left to call upon.” Looking like she was about to cry she continued, “I don't even know how or if you can help.” With that, the feelings overwhelmed her and crystalline tears rolled down her pale cheeks.

She sobbed for an hour and I did not have a heart of stone. This desperate girl had just had her whole life destroyed and family slaughtered, never getting the chance to say goodbye as I had. I decided to help her and exploit the hell out of it when she regained the crown. Little did I know this woman would later decide that being a queen was too boring and start an adventure to track me down. What did you say that's a spoiler? Well, I already told you in back chapter 2 that she would become one of the biggest pains in my ass this side of the universe, how could the queen of a single country on an insignificant planet in the 7th layer be a problem for someone destined to either reach the pinnacle or at the very least die in the upper layers. It's about as much a spoiler as knowing I'm alive to chronicle my history. after all, aren't all good stories about the journey, not the destination.