"You do," Master Raven said, idly stroking his beard. "The extraction process was successful. For a newbie, you did well enough."

"I think I was more than good enough," NukEncore said, watching the flames blossom around her hands as if they were already part of her performance.

Master Raven scoffed. "Bloomcast comes from the staff, and that staff belongs to the same equipment set as your gloves, correct?"

"Yes," NukEncore replied.

"Then chances are good that you will be able to imprint it onto them. That said, Bloomcast is only one skill. The staff itself significantly boosts your main attributes and provides another passive skill. If you stop using it as your casting weapon, can you afford that kind of loss?"

The room fell quiet around the question.

NukEncore had played the game long enough to understand the importance of those stats. At the same time, her fingers curled through the fire around her hands, and the answer she wanted was already burning there.

She looked to Martin, and Martin met her eyes before giving a small shake of his head.

Master Raven caught the exchange, and his fingers slowed against his beard. A faint trace of respect entered his eyes, but he gave NukEncore no answer in Martin’s place.

Her gaze drifted from Martin back to the fire in her hands. Then her eyes sharpened.

She turned back to Master Raven. "Old man!"

"It is Master Raven," he said in a strict, authoritative voice.

The correction slid off the diva without leaving a mark.

"Anything is possible when I am on the stage, because it is my stage," NukEncore said, lifting one hand as the flames coiled around her fingers. One of the old man’s eyebrows rose. "I just imagined myself at the highest level, with countless magic staves orbiting around me and highlighting my presence. I don’t want to give up this staff. I don’t want to give up any staff. I want them beside me, still part of my set, while I cast with my hands."

For a breath, no one answered.

Martin loved the idea immediately. His hands clenched into fists, and he cheered for NukEncore with such open excitement that Chaosgraphy studied his face from the side, then let out a soft chuckle. She liked the idea as well.

Master Raven brushed a thumb over his beard. "What makes you believe that is possible?"

"You made a wooden sword shake up the entire garden," NukEncore replied. "So there has to be a skill I can imprint onto the staff to make it float around me."

Master Raven regarded her for a long moment. Then the stern line of his mouth eased by the smallest degree.

"The Imprinter Class can bring forth miracles," he said. "The more skilled the Imprinter is, the fewer requirements remain. I will give you a gravity skill that you can imprint onto the staff to make it float beside you."

NukEncore’s eyes lit with open delight. "Now that is the kind of answer I wanted."

The flames around her hands flared brighter with her excitement.

"You will imprint it onto your staff," Master Raven said. "But first, take your gloves and place them in the Skill Anchor. Imprint Bloomcast onto them."

NukEncore’s excitement tightened into focus. She drew her gloves closer and turned toward the Skill Anchor, the fire around her hands settling into a steadier bloom.

The Skill Anchor waited in the middle of the chamber like a blacksmith’s anvil made for spells instead of metal. Its frame was carved from dark stone, and thin red veins ran through its surface, pulsing in time with the unstable flames around NukEncore’s hands.

She placed the Crimson Vein Ember Gloves on the anchor.

The cloth hand armor looked delicate compared to the Cindervein Staff, but the moment the gloves touched the anchor, their red crystal threads awakened. Heat rolled outward in a quiet wave. The finger seams glowed first, then the palms, as though the gloves had opened a pair of hungry eyes.

Master Raven stepped closer, his attention fixed on the channels running through the gloves. "Do not force it in all at once."

NukEncore lifted her chin. "I know how my own flames breathe."

"No," he said. "You know how to perform with them. This is the part where you learn how to house them."

The correction pricked her pride, but she swallowed the retort. His voice had lost its mocking edge. Now he sounded like a craftsman watching a blade enter the forge, and that made her listen.

She spread her fingers above the gloves, and Bloomcast answered at once.

The extracted skill coiled around her hands in layered petals of fire. First Bloom burned closest to her palms, dense and bright, while Second Bloom flickered along the edges, eager to burst outward. Third Bloom appeared as tiny red fragments, crystal embers that drifted in the air before trembling under their own instability.

Martin’s eyes narrowed as he watched them. Bloomcast was no longer a simple spell effect. Without the staff’s crystal core to hold it, the skill looked almost alive, as if it wanted to bloom in every direction before it tore itself apart.

Chaosgraphy’s smile thinned with interest. "Pretty, dangerous, and demanding. How very fitting."

NukEncore kept her attention on the anchor. "Of course it is fitting. It’s mine."

Master Raven gave a dry hum. "Then prove you can give it a home."

The Skill Anchor’s veins brightened, and a circular array rose from the stone surface, drawn in red light and thin lines of smoke. The gloves lifted slightly from the anchor, suspended palm-up, and the existing Scattercast skill stirred inside them.

Its mana moved differently from Bloomcast’s. Scattercast wanted room, branching routes, and a wider area. It tugged at the incoming fire as though trying to pull the bloom apart before it had properly formed.

NukEncore felt the conflict immediately. Her brows drew together, and the flames around her fingers shuddered.

Master Raven’s voice cut through the heat. "There is your problem. Scattercast widens first. Bloomcast pressures first. If you allow Scattercast to lead, Bloomcast will survive, but it will become sloppy."

NukEncore’s lips curled. "My flames are not sloppy."