“May this flame devour,

bring forth its fire.

make them in woe cower,

in this fiery mire.

Fireball”

While Irwyn was carefully pronouncing his chant a ball of flames formed in between his hands; he then glanced at the small horde of feral green midgets also known as goblins. They were currently stacked in the entrance of a cave where a group of 6 burly armoured men held them.

“Out of the way!” Irwyn yelled as he released the infernal sphere from his grasp. The men were just barely fast enough to avoid the blazing inferno that scorched the inside of the cave.

The dusk was momentarily overshined by the infernal blast before quickly returning to normal.

[Killed 25 creatures. Awarding a total of 100+15 essence.]

[Flame manipulation level increased to 45/1000]

That killed most of the creatures. The rest were easily finished up by the armoured men. When that was done with the leader of the group approached Irwyn and took off his helmet. His face was disfigured by at least a dozen scars of various sizes, but his features remained soft and his smile genuine.

“Lord Irwyn, you never cease to amaze us. You are barely six years old yet you are already casting second tier spells with such great speed and confidence,” Said the man with heartfelt astonishment.

They were a group of wannabe adventurers hired by the Blackburg family to take Irwyn hunting for some weaker monsters. The family had more than enough forces to not bother with hiring, but traveling with mutual strangers on cheap horses on even cheaper supplies was supposed to grant him more experience than going out with a luxurious entourage.

The good thing was that what he lacked in comfort he received in privacy. The continuous mental bombardment that Shade dished out on daily bases had stopped ever since he departed. Unfortunately Irwyn couldn't be sure whether or not that meant that Shade left him entirely because he couldn't quite perceive a master of stealth like him, at least not yet, however, the fact that they got him a new bodyguard implied that Shade might had finally left him for good after the 4 years. His new guardian was unfortunately no less eccentric: Tora was a skilled ranger and sorceress, but acted more like a monkey than a human. Irwyn had yet to see her talk or at least leave a tree branch. That was not an exaggeration; the nut job rather jumped from tree to tree at an exhausting pace rather than riding a horse or carriage. It was only by the virtue of her physically focused attributes and training that she could keep up.

“It will be dark soon. Let's head back to the camp,” Irwyn emotionlessly said and turned around. Killing few bottom feeding monsters was not particularly fatiguing, but it would be alarming to others if Irwyn showed the actual depth of his stamina.

“Of course. Men, gather! We are heading back.”

““Captain”” they all saluted and followed Irwyn. He almost wanted to sneer in disdain: he saw far too many groups of former mercenaries like them. Average men who believed themselves to be destined for greatness and picked up adventuring. Exactly the type that would die once they bite off more than they could chew.

The camp was not too far away, but they still only reached out after the sun had set. It was set up crudely with only 7 basic tents

“I am very tired and need a long rest. Try to be at least remotely quiet,” Irwyn announced to the mercenaries and entered the largest tent in the camp. He didn't actually expect them to be bearable, but that didn't matter too much as he could shut off his sense of hearing. He was not afraid of a nighttime ambush as the Blackburg duchy had a distinct lack of bandits. He also seriously doubted whether Tora actually slept: he did not yet have the opportunity to check her status screen. Speaking of status screens...

[Showing status]

[Name: Irwyn von Blackburg]

[Race: human (pure)]

[Soul grade: peak transcendent (sealed)]

[Mana: 560/1000]

[Active Classes: Herald of flame (T 1/7) 30/30]

[Worship: none]

[Essence: 1,489]

[Unspent points, level: 60, attribute: 6, upgrade: 0]

[Titles: Herald of Lumen, Herald of Ignis, Reincarnator, Martyr to the crown, Ignis Lumen]

[Magic: flame magic, general magic]

[Skills: Overseer, Requiem, deception 19/100]

[Dormant classes: Herald of light, sorcerer, flame sorcerer]

[Attributes:]

[Magic capacity: 100]

[Constitution: 20]

[Strength: 20]

[Intellect: 40]

[Dexterity: 20]

[Soul: ###]

A month before leaving for this trip he had finally finished all of the enhancement rituals and now had ridiculously high attributes for a six years old. He also could finally spend his points without feeling any guilt over being wasteful, but he did not yet do so. There was something that had to be done first. Something that he just barely managed to complete today.

[Change T1 class from Herald of flame to Herald of light? All attributes and levels will be temporarily removed while a class is dormant.]

[Change successful. T1 class is now Herald of light (T 1/6) 0/25]

[1,450 essence utilised for level ups. Class Herald of light is now level 10/25. granting 15 level points.]

[Opening skill tree]

At the final words Irwyn suddenly felt as though his head was about to explore. Agonizing pain spread from his brain as it was overloaded with an ungodly amount of information.

When an average person opened their skill tree for the first time they would only see 1 to 5 slightly glowing points separated by long blackness. From there they would choose their starting location where they would initialize their class and point by point reveal more of the skill tree.

What few people knew was that the skill tree was not something handmade for each person individually: It was a single astronomically large web of trillions upon trillions of notable nodes that were all connected with each other.

Irwyn's skill [Overseer] had a simple effect. To reveal all and any information within Logos.

When the migraine finally receded enough to allow conscious thought Irwyn found his mind inside infinitely spanning web of dim nodes. He had no time to lose since he had to finish everything before morning came and someone decided to try waking him up. He couldn't be sure how long he had spent writhing in agony, but it definitely wasn't just few minutes.

Once recovered his mind quickly began to move forward through the web, looking for a landmark to find out where exactly he was. It took him what felt like days before he finally stumbled upon something.

It was a large crimson red statue. It depicted a feral man in a fur shawl feasting upon a chunk of flesh in his hands. There was blood dripping from his hands and mouth, there was blood raining from the piece of meat and there was yet even more blood present in the form of tears. Irwyn did not need anything more to remember what this statue was.

[Sanguine avatar - keystone

Effects:

double the effect and power of all blood magic. All blood magic passively leeches a portion of damage done. All leech effects are instant. The user will be permanently haunted by unbearable hunger. Multiply constitution from all sources by 0.5. The user can no longer heal wounds through any other means than leech.

“One can only truly taste the bliss of life after they devour a thousand.” - Gluttony, the third son of Tiamat.

Note: A keystone's effect can never be removed once it is accepted. It will remain active even if the class becomes dormant.]

Good, he finally stumbled upon a keystone. Since the keystones were completely unique he could use it as a landmark. And he knew the skill tree better than his own boots.

With a quick push he was immediately on the edge of his previous area. In front of him opened vast emptiness of the transition zone. It was a large nothingness through which the individual clusters of nodes were connected by few and far in between nodes.

Looking beyond that nothingness he saw beauty beyond compare. There were three gargantuan clusters of nodes positioned right next to each other.

Directly in the middle was a burning sphere; it's outer flame tongues wriggled through the vast emptiness as though they wanted to beckon for him to approach. When he stared deeper into the ignited sphere he saw the flame become purer and purer. He knew that at the very middle there was even a reflection of a true flame. The cluster represented Ignis and the immaculateness of his flame.

Next he looked to the left. There was a shapeless darkness. At first sight it might seem ordinary, but at some places a something which was much more seeped through. The depth of the void within was incomprehensible to mortal senses and even the beholder himself did not fully understand the vast impresence that reigned supreme at the very core. That represented Umbra and the nothingness of her void.

Finally he laid his eyes upon the most alluring of the three. It was a majestic star which would without a doubt illuminate even the darkest of nights and brighten the most gloomy of minds. Even after all those times he saw it Ignis Lumen still wanted to cry in joy just because of its undisputed perfection. The star shone its warmth throughout his entire being and once again made him feel firm about all the decisions he made and the sins he committed because of them.

He wanted to reach within that warm embrace and firmly grasp the stainless spark at the very core more than anything else at this moment.

But he knew he could not.

Since his mind was currently free of his body he could regain control over his rampaging emotions and instead looked at the outer regions of that star.

What was there was not the light he remembered, but only its shadow: radiance. Radiance was to light what darkness was to the void. It could not even begin to compare in neither vanity nor power, but it existed nonetheless. Mostly for those far too weak or untalented to wield true light.

With reluctance he headed to the outer regions of the star where there was no longer any actual light and only the imperfect radiance prevailed. As he approached he clearly saw many of the nodes that the web of the skill tree was constructed off, but this time some of them were not dim, but instead shone with golden light.

It did not take him long to find exactly what he was looking for: A shining node at the absolute edge of the radiance.

With a nudge a message appeared.

[Scholar of radiance - lesser initiation. +1 to all attributes.]

[Do you wish to initialize the class Herald of light? This decision cannot be changed in the future.]

[Process successful. Class Herald of light has been initialized]

Then the node sparkled with golden brilliance before once again growing dimmer as it was accepted. Although it did no longer shine there was a visible golden hue which differated the node from the rest.

Then another one changed to the golden hue, and then another as they were accepted; they were, however, not directed towards the middle of the star, but outside into the vastness of a transition zone. 14 nodes in total obtained their golden aura before he finally reached what he sought. Each of them provided just a minor bonus to attribute, but those were not Irwyn's goal either way.

It was another statue depicting an elderly robbed man with a tome in one hand and a vortex of magic in the other. It was as though the statue was alive as the white hair waved and the pages in the book flipped infinitely from the sheer pressure of its own magnificent magic.

[True mage - keystone

Effects:

Multiply amount mana from all sources by 10. 200% more to all resistances. Removes magic tier cap for the user. All effects which apply to systematic magic also apply to true magic. User will no longer be able to utilize assistance to manipulating mana in any form. Completely disables and removes all sorcery and all skills lower than Ascended and all classes unrelated to magic. All magic cast by the user will be considered true magic by Logos. User will be abandoned by creation.

“Creation is a fetter for lesser beings such as us. We are unhindered only by destruction.” - Bated Breath, the second to ascend the Spire.

Note: A keystone's effect can never be removed once it is accepted. It will remain active even if the class becomes dormant.]

[Accept the keystone True mage? This choice cannot be undone.]

[Keystone True mage accepted. Beginning metamorphosis.]

Irwyn was shocked awake by the unrelenting surge of force within his chest. He felt a mind shattering agony. It was as if an unbound wild beast contained behind his ribs relentlessly attempted to break out of its prison of flesh and bone.

Mana was in nature not a tool. Everything from the smallest particle of matter through souls to the omnipotent form of Ignis himself was defined by it. It could condense and reshape itself infinitely, easily slipping from pure power of change into semi-sentience and vise versa. However, each of those changes would bring about volatile and unpredictable consequences.

Changes like increasing the amount of mana contained within a restricted space by ten and also suddenly removing the artificial fetters put in place by Logos. The keystones all had one thing in common: amazing power came at an even much greater price or risk. If someone was not aware what accepting the keystone brought upon them they would stand absolutely no chance of survival; and even those who made ample preparations often failed to reign in their rebelling half conscious mana.

Irwyn naturally had a solution for his predicament as he had solved it countless times before. Ignis Lumen reached deep within Irwyn von Blackburg and immediately found the incarnation of mana: it was a pristine rose of perhaps all colours Irwyn ever saw. Its stalk and bloom looked almost comically enormous in the surroundings which were filled with individual flowers smaller than splinters of the main rose's leafs. The incarnated mana's casual stroll seemed calm when compared to the throbbing pain it caused. Stroll might not be the correct expression as the thing did not have legs, instead it simply slowly moved from side to side. With each motion it crushed countless smaller flowers who were in its way as they desperately attempted to avoid that exact fate. The incarnation seemed to utterly ignore their pleas and sometimes it even went slightly out of its way to crush a few more or perhaps finish some of those who believed they reached their salvation.

“Pride and self importance with a bit of cruelty mixed in. Not the healthiest spirit, but far worse were forced down my throat. There is only so much privilege one birth can entitle me to,” Ignis Lumen smiled at the thing.

The rose was jolted into stillness. Despite not being capable of speech or thought it instinctively understood their relationship. Without hesitation it plunged at the holder of its reigns. Within a breath it reached him fully determined to utterly shatter his mind and body in order to claim them as its own.

“Kneel!” through a small gap within the seal a less than a droplet left the ocean that a transcendent soul was.

And despite all its pride and vanity the rose immediately knelt in existential dread.

“Obey!” a second command was enforced through that indomitable might as the source was once again cut off. The giant rose remained kneeling as it dispersed together with the surroundings scenery, and Irwyn once again found himself conscious.

At first he only felt the swelling numbness inside his chest. Then he slowly unblocked his senses and began to perceive what state his body was in: his everything hurt badly; especially his head and chest area. When he tried to move he noted that his hair and shirt were soaked in his own blood as he was continuously bleeding from all his facial orifices. That enormous damage was the main problem with unleashing his soul for even a split second: if he had done so before accepting true mage his body would implode immediately leaving it very much dead. A mortal body simply could not withstand being a vessel for such power.

[Obtained resistance: Soul pressure resistance 1/10.]

He scuffles through the tent with gritted teeth as he searched for the healing potion he snatched a few days ago. Only Tora could have noticed and she wouldn't care what happened to it so he wasn’t afraid someone would call him out on it. After chugging the thing down the continuous bleeding stopped and the pain became significantly less acute. Irwyn sighed in relief as he did his best to wipe off the blood with a towel, before proceeding to hide all the evidence he could among his personal belongings, meant for later disposal.

He now listened to any sounds from the outside. It was obvious that all of the mercenaries has already stopped drinking booze and went to sleep, which implied that the night was already advanced, but the lack of light affirmed him that it was not yet dawn.

He still had plenty of time then.

[Change T1 class from Herald of light to Herald of flame? All attributes and levels will be temporarily removed while a class is dormant.]

[Change successful. T1 class is now Herald of flame (T 1/7) 30/30]

[Opening skill tree]

This time around Irwyn was not assaulted by a painful surge of information, but instead once again appeared in front of the mage's statue. It was now enveloped in golden radiance and seemed even more alive than before, while the other nodes he used to travel to the statue were once again dim.

He did not spare it another glance as his consciousness shifted towards the infernal cluster which represented Ignis. As he headed for its core he passed thousands of nodes which begged him to initiate them, but those were not worthy in his eyes. Instead he found what he sought at the exact centre of it.

It was a single node a distance away from the other node. Instead of of the golden hue it was surrounding by a something indescribable. The closest thing to which it could be compared to was the concept of everything. Even just a mirror image of it could bring mortals and immortals alike to their knees in awe yet he knew full well that it could not even begin to compare with the real thing back when it still existed. He suppressed his suddenly rising emotions and focused on it.

[Flame of Ignis - true initiation. +25 to all attributes, +25 to magic capacity, 200% more resistance to flame]

[Do you wish to initialize the class Herald of flame? This decision cannot be changed in the future.]

[Process successful. Class Herald of flame has been initialized]

He felt a choir of sensations as he transformed beyond recognition in a single instant. Even the mana within him grumbled at the sudden growth, but it did but dare to rebel again. It was partially because of that thing that he did not initiate his class the first night after he was done with the enchantments. If his mana was that more powerful before he accepted the keystone it might have obliterated his body before he had a chance to put it under control.

The node itself seemed perhaps ridiculously overpowered, well, it most definitely was, but there were also harsh conditions to fulfill to access such overpowered things. Namely this note was exclusive to the class herald of flame and could not be initiated by any other class. That didn't change how utterly ridiculous that attribute gain was for a first tier class, enough to surpass most people after they advance to second class and even some less attribute focused in the third tier. Of course Irwyn would abuse this advantage the best he could. He also had the entirety of 59 level points left to spend so he was far from done.

First he had to spend 5 points on pathing, which meant uninteresting attribute increase, although even these each increased individual attributes by 1. Then he reached what he aimed for: a cluster of different nodes which together formed the shape of a tower shield.

[Notable of Greater aegis. Increase all resistances by 10%]

Without hesitation he accepted all 20 of them. The difference in wording was minor, but significant. Increased by % and % more may seem synonymous, but the system perceived them differently. That meant that it also calculated them separately.

His current state could be taken as an example: from his keystone he received 100% more to all resistances and each of these notables would gave him 10% increase for a total of 200%. If his body's natural resistance were to be represented by number 10 it would first apply increase and make that number 30; then it would calculate more multiplier from the already increased value of 30 making the resulting value 60 instead of just 40. Thanks to his initiation bonus his flame resistance would instead have a total of 300% more and reached a total value of 120, making it far higher than the 70 if they were calculated together.

As a result of such a powerful scaling any more multipliers were extremely rare and often low in their values. Anything above 50 was almost exclusive to keystones.

Irwyn looked back at the tower shield formation and focused on the last notable that was not yet shining. It was on the opposite end of where it was connected to the rest of the tree.

[Completion of Greater aegis. 5% more to all resistances.]

When he accepted the entire formation shone with brightly before it was swallowed by a flicker of flame. Where before was just a vague shape now stood a tremendous tower shield of raging flames ready to block even gods if need be.

[Completion bonus - granting skill Greater aegis, epic.]

[Failed - prevented by keystone: True mage.]

That was the unfortunate part of accepting keystones: they were always give and take. The skill he lost was however nowhere near powerful enough to even compare with the power of his keystone. In fact, for someone like him just the removed max tier on cast magic was powerful enough to justify losing out on all skills.

He pathed 10 nodes further and reached another cluster, this one far bigger than the aegis. If he remembered correctly it contained 40 nodes that needed to be accepted for completion. It outlined a vortex if raging flames which spiraled down to the bottom where the source of its power dwelled.

[Notable of Crucible of greater flames. Increase power of all systematic flame magic by 1%. Increase casting assistance provided by chants by 1%. Keystone True mage - this node’s effect applies to true magic.]

He used his remaining 24 level points on accepting as many as he could, getting a bit over half-way down the vortex.

When Irwyn returned back to reality it was already past dawn. He heard clangs of metal, voices and steps outside which likely meant that the mercenaries were already packing up the camp. Before doing anything else he quickly checked his status screen, also spending his few attribute points in the process.

[Showing status]

[Name: Irwyn von Blackburg]

[Race: human (pure)]

[Keystones: True mage]

[Soul grade: peak transcendent (sealed)]

[Maximum mana: 15,000]

[Active Classes: Herald of flame (T 1/7) 30/30]

[Worship: none]

[Essence: 39]

[Unspent points, level: 0, attribute: 0, upgrade: 0]

[Titles: Herald of Lumen, Herald of Ignis, Reincarnator, Martyr to the crown, Ignis Lumen]

[Magic: flame magic, general magic]

[Skills: Overseer, Requiem]

[Dormant classes: Herald of light]

[Attributes:]

[Magic capacity: 150]

[Constitution: 56]

[Strength: 48]

[Intellect: 69]

[Dexterity: 49]

[Soul: ###]

He wanted to smack his lips when he looked at those attributes, ignoring the slight modifications to the status screen caused by his keystone. The attributes did not yet grant him inhuman strength or endurance as they only multiplied the limits of his body, but he would experience a tremendous growth curve as his body and brain developed. He was still only 6 years old afterall. The only attribute that would not increase its effect overtime was his Magic capacity, but that did not bother him as he had great mana reserves thanks to his keystone. The soul attribute was not even worth mentioning, of course.

He was just about to stand up and head outside when he was shaken by a blood curdling scream coming from outside. As he was jolted into alert he quickly realised that the noise of colliding steel was not that of transportation, but instead that of clashing blades and that the voices were far too on edge to be the idle chatter he assumed.

Before Irwyn managed to move; one of the mercenaries from his group rushed into his tent: he was bleeding heavily from a deep gash in his chest. Just a single look at him told Irwyn the man would likely not live past the hour. The fact that he immediately collapsed on the floor implied that he likely did not run inside the tent, but was instead kicked or thrown. The half dead man barely noticed Irwyn and with audible strain whispered: “We are under a-atack,” before he prematurely lost consciousness or perhaps just his ability to look conscious.

Irwyn subconsciously grinned as he got up and went on full alert. At least this trip finally got interesting.