17: Chapter 17 The Firebringer's Game

5:21 AM.

Su Chen pushed open the door to his rental apartment.

He shoved his trench coat and mask into a cardboard box under the bed and collapsed into his chair.

He pulled out his phone and opened the banking app.

Balance: 101.35 yuan.

Taxi fare was 89.

Su Chen stared at the three-digit balance for two seconds, his lips twitching slightly.

A millennium-old Flame Keeper with a net worth of one hundred and one.

He turned off his phone and opened his notebook.

He put a checkmark under "Act III: Purge" and wrote next to it—

Combat Rating: 75.

The precision of controlling molten iron with flame guidance exceeded expectations.

Stamina distribution was severely unbalanced; his legs went weak during the retreat, and he had to lean against a wall in a dark alley for forty seconds before he could walk.

If there had been a second one, he would be dead.

He started a new line, writing in smaller letters:

Shadow Erosion Beast · E-Rank. Four reverse-jointed legs.

Black mist on the body surface = supernatural energy defense layer, immune to physical damage, can be weakened by high temperatures above 1500°C.

The core in the chest cavity is the only weak point.

Low-frequency tremors cause mental suppression.

Finally, he marked three words and underlined them.

Lowest rank.

He poked the paper with his pen tip.

E-Rank, the lowest.

Future threats will only be stronger, faster, and harder to kill.

And he hadn't won easily tonight.

Su Chen placed the notebook on the table and leaned his head back against the chair.

He muttered silently in his mind.

"System, panel."

A pale blue light screen popped up.

The first line remained unchanged—

"Current Points: 1050"

"Current Realism: 110"

"System Level: LV1"

But underneath, two new, never-before-seen entries appeared, glowing with a faint golden edge.

"Unlocked: Character Attributes"

"Unlocked: Transcendental Sequence · Creation and Bestowal"

Su Chen's drowsiness was cut in half.

He first clicked on "Character Attributes."

A sub-panel expanded—

"Host: Su Chen"

"Transcendental Rank: Tier 1 Transcendent"

"Strength: 13 (Human baseline limit: 10)"

"Constitution: 15"

"Speed: 13"

"Mental Power: 7"

"Transcendental Sequence: Flame Keeper"

"Sequence Rank: Tier 1"

"Abilities: Spatial Movement (100 meters), Flame Control (1350 degrees)"

Su Chen stared at the words "Flame Keeper" for five seconds.

This was the persona he had made up for himself in his notebook. The system had simply taken it as the sequence name.

He flipped through the sequence description. The definition of a Flame Keeper was simple—

Activate the sequence inheritance and bestow transcendence upon others.

Those Eastern Sword Cultivators, Western Paladins, and Soul Wizards in his notebook were all listed under the Flame Keeper sequence.

He was the trunk; others were the branches and leaves.

"System, using my abilities right now consumes a massive amount of energy. It's a good thing I have the physical constitution of a Tier 1 Transcendent, otherwise, I'm afraid I wouldn't even be able to manifest fire."

"A Tier 1 Apprentice only possesses basic physical enhancement; the transcendental energy system has not yet formed. All of the host's current skills—Flame, Teleportation—operate at the cost of overdrawing physical stamina."

"After breaking through to Tier 2 Watcher, an independent transcendental energy cycle will be established. Skill activation will no longer rely solely on consuming physical stamina, and the inheritance activation will be synchronized."

Tier 2.

Su Chen switched to the second interface.

"Transcendental Sequence · Creation and Bestowal"

"Create Kindling: Requires Exotic Beast Crystal × 1 + Points. The grade of the Kindling is linked to the grade of the crystal."

"E-Rank Kindling creation cost: 1000 points."

"After creation, you may choose: Use yourself (break through to Tier 2 Watcher) / Bestow upon another (activate Tier 1 Transcendence)."

Su Chen's fingers tightened.

He had an E-Rank Exotic Beast crystal in his possession.

One thousand and fifty minus one thousand, leaving fifty.

His finger hovered over the confirm button.

He paused for three seconds.

Give it to himself first, or save it for Liu Yuyan?

Liu Yuyan was a designated candidate for a Xinhuo member; bestowing transcendence upon her would be like adding a blade to Xinhuo.

But there was only one Kindling, and he didn't know when the next Exotic Beast would appear.

Su Chen closed his eyes for a moment.

What flashed through his mind wasn't Liu Yuyan.

It was himself in the dark alley, legs weak, having to lean against the wall for forty seconds before he could move a step.

If the chess player falls, the whole game is lost.

He was not a chess piece.

"System, create E-Rank Kindling. Use for self."

"Confirmed. Points deducted: 1000. Balance: 50."

"E-Rank Kindling creation complete."

Something appeared in his palm.

A thumb-sized crystal, golden-red, with a tiny cluster of flames dancing inside.

It wasn't hot, but he could feel the thing sealed inside breathing, its rhythm identical to the ancient tree at Torch Base.

Su Chen did not hesitate.

He pressed it against his chest.

Golden light exploded outward.

It wasn't the gentle infiltration like when he created the base last time.

It was a torrent rushing out from the very center of his chest, filling every channel simultaneously—along his blood vessels, meridians, bones, and muscle fibers.

The ceiling fan rattled and spun wildly from the shockwave.

Ten seconds.

The golden light receded.

Su Chen looked down at his hands.

He opened his palm, and a ball of flame rose silently.

Deep red, stable, a fist-sized fireball condensed three centimeters above his palm, radiating heat precisely upward, causing the paint on the table thirty centimeters away to start smoking and bubbling.

He clenched his fist.

The flame extinguished.

A charred ring was left on the table, emitting a burnt stench.

The panel jumped.

"Breakthrough successful. Current Rank: Tier 2 Watcher."

"Strength: 22 | Constitution: 24 | Speed: 21 | Mental Power: 10"

"Teleportation Range: 1000 meters"

"Flame Temperature Limit: 2000°C"

"Transcendental energy cycle established. Skill activation switched to energy-driven mode; no longer solely overdrawing the physical body."

Su Chen clenched his fist.

His knuckles cracked.

Something brand new surged within his body.

It wasn't the bloating pain of raw force being poured in, but a sense of fullness after a precise, self-consistent circulation system had been built.

Energy flowed from the core, distributed through the meridians, reaching his fingertips, the soles of his feet, and every inch of muscle, then was recycled after use.

It was like having a perpetual motion machine installed.

"Now, I finally have a mana bar for casting skills."

Su Chen stood up and stretched his limbs in the six-square-meter room.

With a casual grip, he left five finger indentations on the metal armrest of the chair.

2000°C.

That Shadow Erosion Beast from tonight, which forced him to go all-in with everything he had, borrowing molten iron and oxygen just to barely burn it to death—

Now he could burn it to ash with a single palm strike.

But as satisfying as it was, he couldn't stop thinking; his points were about to bottom out, so he had to find a way to harvest another wave of points.

Su Chen sat back down on the chair, which had been knocked crooked by the golden light, opened the computer search bar, and typed "Chengdong Industrial Zone."

The first push notification—

"Breaking! A chemical plant in the east of Jingzhou exploded due to aging equipment."

The comment section was scrolling rapidly.

"I thought it was an earthquake in the middle of the night."

"They talk about production safety every day."

"It's too scary; I hope the workers are safe."

Su Chen watched for two minutes and closed the page.

The official speed of suppressing information was faster than he had expected.

From the incident to the news going live, it took less than three hours.

The wording was the standard "aging equipment + explosion" template, understated and inconsequential.

This indicated that a specialized department was handling it.

And it was an experienced one at that.

Su Chen wrote a line in his notebook:

"Official reaction speed—extremely fast. A specialized anomalous event handling agency exists. Be vigilant."

He closed the computer and his gaze fell on another page of the notebook.

A circle was drawn next to that name.

Wang Hao.

Rideshare driver, Chengdong Industrial Zone.

Son named Huzi, six years old, in senior kindergarten.

Wife Chen Xiaohui, pregnant with their second child for over four months, works in the cafeteria of a steel structure plant.

He rammed the front of his car into the steel beam wall and used bent rebar to shield his pregnant wife.

Su Chen's pen tip paused on the paper for a moment.

He circled Wang Hao and the officials.

—

12:00 PM, courtyard house.

Su Chen walked through the front courtyard and the middle courtyard, then pushed open the door to the innermost room.

Pale golden light spilled out from the door crack, shining on his face.

The temperature at Torch Base was constant, and the air was clean.

The virtual imagery of the ruined palace in the distance stood silent under the firmament, making this altar appear both tiny and solemn.

He sat on the stone steps.

The ancient tree breathed behind him, golden light flowing from the branches to the roots, then spreading from the gaps in the stone bricks to his feet.

His notebook was spread out on his knees.

The rustling sound of the pen tip across the paper intertwined with the rhythm of the ancient tree's breathing.

Su Chen flipped to a blank page and first drew a pattern.

Flames cradling stars.

Like an open palm holding a ball of fire, the tip of the flame split into three petals, with a hexagram embedded in the center.

It wasn't complex, but it was highly recognizable.

He stared at this pattern for a few seconds and wrote four words next to it—Act IV: Descendants.

Su Chen stopped writing and looked up at the pale golden firmament.

Fifty points.

Enough to make two small items—a bronze piece, a scroll.

"System, 50 points."

He checked off a line in his notebook, his lips curling slightly.

"Begin the layout."