GLOBAL AWAKENING: My 10,000x Exp Multiplier-Chapter 21: []The Scorched Earth, Fire Immunity Protocol

Chapter 21: [21]The Scorched Earth, Fire Immunity Protocol

The gate to the 12th floor was a massive archway of carved obsidian.

According to the standard progression guides, the 12th floor was the Jade Canyons. It was a lush vibrant labyrinth of deep ravines, rushing rivers, and wind elemental beasts. It was designed to test a party’s mobility and crowd control mechanics.

But as Vahn Ryker and his team stepped through the teleportation matrix, they were not greeted by rushing water or gentle breezes.

They stepped into an absolute suffocating inferno.

"What... what is this?" Sia gasped.

She instantly raised her heavy iron tower shield to block the blistering wave of heat that washed over them.

The Jade Canyons were gone. The towering stone walls of the ravine were melted into slag, glowing with veins of liquid magma.

The rivers had boiled away, leaving behind deep cracked trenches filled with choking gray ash.

The artificial sky was obscured by thick toxic black smoke that rained embers down upon the scorched earth.

"This isn’t right," Aria coughed, pulling her white robes tight over her mouth to filter the ash.

She raised her staff, casting a faint golden barrier of localized healing magic over the team to stave off the environmental heat damage.

"The environmental data is completely corrupted. This looks like a deep spire volcanic zone."

Vahn didn’t flinch. His deep purple eyes scanned the burning wasteland.

His [Chronos-Sight] mapped the chaotic violently erratic mana currents tearing through the air.

The system was accelerating. The boundaries between Aetheria and the real world were fraying faster than he had calculated.

The game’s engine was desperately trying to compensate by dropping high tier anomalies into low tier zones.

A shadow, immense and terrifying, blotted out the glowing magma pools.

A deafening roar shattered the silence of the canyon. It was a sound so loud it physically vibrated the ground beneath their boots.

From the thick clouds of black smoke above, a massive monstrosity descended.

[ANOMALY DETECTED][Labyrinth Boss: Mutated Inferno Drake]

↳ Level: 40 (Mythic)

It was a nightmare of obsidian scales and liquid fire.

The Drake possessed a wingspan of over sixty meters. Its body radiated a heat so intense the air around it warped and distorted.

Its eyes burned like miniature suns, and magma dripped from its jagged razor sharp maw.

This was a beast meant to wipe out fifty man raid teams on the 40th floor.

"Commander," Sia said, her voice dropping into a dead terrified monotone.

She planted her feet, adjusting her grip exactly two inches down on her shield just as Vahn had taught her. She stepped cleanly in front of him, turning her back to the monster to look him in the eyes.

"I will hold the line. Evacuate Hana and the Priestess."

"Sia, your shield will melt in exactly two seconds," Vahn stated factually.

"Then I will buy you two seconds," Sia replied, her silver grey eyes blazing with absolute unyielding devotion.

Above them, the Inferno Drake reared its massive head back.

The magma in its throat ignited, condensing into a blinding swirling vortex of pure cataclysmic dragon fire. It was preparing to unleash a breath attack that would glass the entire canyon floor.

Aria screamed. She poured every ounce of her remaining mana into her golden barrier, fully prepared to burn alongside them.

Hana grabbed Vahn’s hand, her grip trembling.

Vahn gently pulled his hand free from his sister’s grasp.

He stepped around Sia, casually walking past her heavy shield to stand completely exposed in the center of the molten battlefield.

He didn’t draw a weapon. He didn’t adopt a defensive stance.

He merely opened his holographic system interface with a flick of his wrist.

"System," Vahn commanded.

His voice was cold, absolute, and echoing with the authority of the Architect. "Access the EXP Converter. Target: Primary Avatar Base Code."[Conversion Interface Opened. Select parameter for mutation.]

"Parameter: Thermal Resistance. Force an evolutionary override. Dump ten million experience points directly into my physical infrastructure."[WARNING: User possesses zero base stats. Direct injection of ten million EXP into defensive parameters carries a 99.9% probability of fatal structural collapse. Do you wish to proceed?]

"I dictate the probability," Vahn said flatly. "Execute."

The Inferno Drake snapped its jaws forward.

A torrential ocean of blinding roaring hellfire erupted from its maw. It was a tidal wave of destruction that crashed down upon the canyon floor, obliterating the stone and vaporizing the air itself.

The fire slammed into Vahn.

It didn’t burn him. It didn’t push him back.

As the catastrophic heat enveloped him, the ten million experience points sitting in his reservoir violently rewrote his fundamental existence.

His skin absorbed the thermal data. The cheap brown cloth of his commoner’s jacket was instantly shielded by an invisible localized code override.

[Mutation Successful.]

↳ Acquired Permanent Status: Absolute Fire Immunity.

To Sia, Aria, and Hana who were cowering behind the rapidly failing golden barrier, the sight was incomprehensible.

The sea of dragon fire parted around Vahn’s body like a river breaking against an immovable stone.

He stood perfectly relaxed in the center of the raging inferno, the flames licking uselessly against his face.

The Drake cut its breath attack, landing heavily on a molten outcropping.

It stared down at the tiny human, its predatory eyes blinking in absolute confusion.

The beast had just unleashed its ultimate attack, and the human hadn’t even lost a single hit point.

Vahn tilted his head, letting out a soft satisfied exhale as the ambient heat washed over him harmlessly.

He reached to his hip, his hand closing around the dark shadowy hilt of the [Soul-Bound Shadow Blade]. The dagger instantly elongated, humming with hungry violet energy.

He looked up at the towering Level 40 Mythic boss.

A genuinely terrifying smile broke across his face.

"My turn."