CHAPTER 56: FLAME FOREST

Finding an extreme flame-based aether location didn’t need to be difficult, but the system had specified three.

A flame forest. A volcanic cavern. Or a firestorm.

There were various other locations with high flame-based aether saturating its atmosphere but with only three to choose from, Jethro assumed that he would have to do a lot of walking.

However, like Old Man Map had said, there was a flame forest not very far from where he was.

In fact, the map disc, with its pulsing amber marker blinking, showed the flame forest just a mile away. Very close.

But in Sector One terms, ’close’ meant navigating a labyrinth of mech buildings.

Patting Scorch on the head and sinking the map into his pocket, Jethro set out for his first adventure in a Higher Sector.

Following the holographic path felt like descending into the city’s diseased bowels.

Even with how beautiful and imposing the capital sector was, it still had its rough edges. Just like every other city.

In time, the towering neon spires receded, replaced by crumbling ferrocrete canyons choked with rusted pipes venting acrid steam. Fungus stuck on old signs, bioluminescent, eerie.

Jethro heard the constant thrum of hover traffic behind him slowly fade, swallowed by the gurgle of unseen runoff and the skittering of unseen things in the dark.

There was graffiti on the walls. Nothing artistic, just scary. Crude skulls daubed in phosphorescent paint, bones and a middle finger wreathed in flames.

If this was a different tactic than the usual warning signs to scare away intruders, then it was working.

Almost.

A crunch sound caught his attention, and when Jethro looked beneath his feet, he realized that he stepped on a clutter of small mech-insects fused to the ground.

They were Trap Bugs that were supposed to capture passersby with the sticky goo it emitted after being crushed to death. Unfortunately for whoever placed them, those Bugs had died years ago.

It seemed people had abandoned this Flame Forest for a while now. Jethro wondered why. High aether regions were usually the best for cultivation.

He heard his beastlinker chime and lifted his hand to take a look.

[DANGER: VOLATILE AETHER FIELD]

[RESTRICTED ZONE: AETHER POISONING RISK EXTREME]

Jethro ignored the corroded signs, stepping over a cracked coolant pipe. Scorch’s grip was getting weaker, so he picked the mechbeast and held it gently with one hand.

The lizard let out a tired chirp.

"I know, Scorch," Jethro murmured, stroking the tiny beast’s head with a finger. "Just a little further. This is what we need. This is where you get strong."

After a few more steps, they rounded a final, massive slag heap.

"Here it is," Jethro said, gazing ahead, fire glinting in his eyes. "A Flame Forest."

The Flame Forest was just as its name suggested. Even in a world of metal and technology, places like this were what reminded the people that Nebulon was simply a world of magic.

The trees were obsidian and raw, with branches covered with embers of yellow fire, sizzling but never burning the trees. The ground was almost as black, though streaks of liquid fire, just as yellow as the fire-leaves, zigzagged through them, connecting in a large fire lake at the center of the forest.

Jethro could sense that he was not alone in the place, though he hoped that the mechbeasts would find him curious from a distance. Even if they attempted to attack, he was assured that he could handle the common ranked mechbeasts found in forests like this.

He could also feel the aether present. It was dense, viscous, almost crawling up his skin, seeping into his bones.

His Beastlinker on his wrist suddenly flared crimson, throwing urgent warnings across its interface:

[WARNING: AMBIENT FLAME-AETHER CONCENTRATION CRITICAL]

[RISK: AETHER POISONING - PROGRESSIVE AETHERIC NECROSIS]

[RECOMMEND IMMEDIATE EVACUATION]

Jethro dismissed the alert once again, his jaw clenched. The warnings meant nothing now. It wasn’t him he was worried about tonight.

He stepped forward, entering deeper into the forest. His eyes scanned the fiery lake, seeing how its surface reacted. The heat sizzling above it, the embers of fire moving like waves of a golden river.

It was perfect for this.

Ignoring the searing heat radiating from the ground, Jethro approached the lake’s edge. Even from there, the heat was still intense, slightly blurring his vision.

He crouched, carefully moving his hands towards the lake. Scorch whimpered, legs shaking in fear.

"I know, bud," Jethro whispered to it. "I know it’s scary. But this is it. Trust me," Then, swiftly, before he could hesitate, he lowered Scorch towards the surface of the pool of fire.

Jethro pulled his hand immediately after, hissing. To his surprise, the flames had hurt and it actually burnt through his finger even though he barely touched the fire itself.

The aether must really have made it incredibly hot.

Which was why he understood when Scorch let out a shrill cry of shock and terror as it sank slightly into the viscous fire, only its big head poking out.

Jethro stumbled back, clutching his reddened, blistered fingers and staring at his mechbeast with a pang of fear and guilt in his eyes.

Even though this was necessary for Scorch’s evolution, Jethro knew it was because of him that Scorch was in that river at that moment, screeching against the heat of those liquid embers.

It looked so small and impossibly fragile inside the fire. But it had to remain there. At least until the first phase of evolution was complete.

The beastlinker activated with a ding.

[Profile: Jethro Merrick]

[Occupation: Student, Tamer]

[Rank: Class E, Grey Rank]

[Mechbeast: Red Lizard]

[Beast Rank: Grey Rank]

[Bond Synergy: 98%]

[Shared Abilities: 1

1: Thermal Regulation]

Jethro scrolled past that interface, selecting his mechbeast and heading to evolution.

[Note: Grey Rank mechbeasts cannot evolve]

[Skip / Go back]

Jethro selected [Skip].

Ding!

[Red Lizard Evolution]

Jethro sank to his knees, staying just close enough to the lake so Scorch wouldn’t feel alone.

"Alright, Scorch," Jethro called out, his voice straining to be heard over the roar of the firefall and the bubbling magma. "I know. I know you’re hungry and scared. I know that fire is biting at you right now, trying to burn you up."

He watched the tiny lizard shiver violently in the fire. "But that’s exactly why we have to do this. That’s why you have to harness the aether inside of it."

Scorch whimpered again, its eyes reflecting the flames and pure terror.

"It’s difficult, I know," Jethro continued, his gaze with the mechbeast, willing it to understand. "But you have to do it. You have the heart of a dragon, remember? 60% Core Signature has to mean something when it comes to this. So, come on, bud. Harness it."

"Just open your Soul Core and let it in."