Chapter 54: Fifty two

How long has it been? 

I’d lost track of time as I sat within the fiery inferno. The flames continued to burn with no signs that they would cease, despite the lack of things in the stone room to fuel the fire. 

After collapsing the tunnel, and sending out a wave of power to thicken the sandstone walls of the lab in an attempt to prevent a cave in. I’d reverted to my true form having drained my core to the point that I could no longer sustain my human guise. To my surprise, the flames did not consume me. I felt no heat from their fury and was able to move freely around the lab, completely unaffected by the fire in my vulpine form. 

I’d never encountered any fire other than my own in this form, and no one had told me I would be immune to fire while in true form, so it had come as quite the shock. What was even more shocking, was the power contained in the flames, power which I’d been able to absorb. My depleted mana reserves had already recovered. So I was now actively working to absorb as much additional power as I could, though expanding my core was far slower than refilling it. 

I felt like I’d just eaten a twelve course meal, and now I was trying to force myself to finish a thirteenth course. I didn’t let that stop me though, as this opportunity was one I hadn’t thought I would receive before reaching the dungeon. 

Yuki said that to create my first wisp core, I needed to flood my core with power, to push it to a point that it was full to bursting. I needed to push as much power into my core as possible, until my core rejected the additional power that it couldn’t handle, and my body compensated by forming a secondary core. 

The method Yuki used was by killing as many foes as she could in the glacial dungeon they’d been farming at that time. Upon death, a being's mana would be released from their core, and could be absorbed by those in the vicinity. This was why a body needed so long to reform after death, as it took time for our cores to naturally regather enough power to restore our physical form. 

Power could also be absorbed from Mana crystals, or even directly from the world around us, but the latter was difficult if someone wasn’t in a location with a high mana density. Places like the magical academies, or the four main cities were all mana-dense areas. However, the location where someone could absorb the most amount of mana was within the dungeons. 

It had been my intention to use my time in the dungeon to gather the needed power to form my first wisp core. But with the power swirling around me, I’d be a fool not to absorb as much as I could. 

Eyes closed, I sat on my haunches, tail swishing in slow rhythmic arcs that matched my breathing. As I sat in meditation, drawing in power with each inhale, a burning sensation built within my chest. It felt as though I’d swallowed a flaming ember, and it was being forced back up through my body.

 I shuddered and let out a whimper of pain as the burning sensation reached my throat. My focus was shattered, as I hunched over, choking and wheezing as my airway became blocked by something solid. As I continued heaving, the thing jammed in my throat dislodged itself. With one final hacking cough, I spat out a small orb onto the sandstone floor of the lab. 

That fennec fox bitch didn’t tell me I’d vomit the core up, I thought venomously, as I stared down at the white orb laying beside my front paw. 

Finally, I can continue my wisp experiment. I want to see what happens if I put a pure wisp core into something like a healing potion. 

As I admired my very first wisp core, I noticed the white color of the core start to change. Lunging forwards, I tried to cover it with my front paws in a vain attempt to stop it from absorbing any of the fiery element that surrounded us. Instead, I accidentally knocked the orb further away from myself, sending it rolling into the flames. 

The flames surrounding me grew even more chaotic, and swirled around my wisp core like a fiery hurricane, being sucked into the orb as though the core were a tiny vacuum. In a matter of seconds, the lab that was once consumed by a blazing inferno was empty of any flames, aside from a small ball of fire which now surrounded the wisp core. 

Why is it so chubby looking? 

Tilting my head in confusion, I stared at the ball of fire, which looked nothing like the wisps I’d seen Yuki summon. Yuki’s wisps were all slender looking creatures that looked almost like a tiny person made from the elements. This wisp looked like a fat blob with arms, nothing at all like the pretty wisps the other Kitsune had. As I stared at the wisp, two big wide eyes slowly opened within the flames. 

A pair of stubby legs appeared from within the ball of fire, and hesitantly the wisp stood. With a slight wobble, the fiery blob closed the distance between us, stumbling and falling into a sitting position right in front of my front paws. 

Why is it walking? Yuki’s wisps all float around...is it..too fat to fly? 

 On close examination, the wisp also didn’t look as incorporeal as Yuki’s fire wisp, its flames appearing thicker in the center of its body. Reaching out with a paw, I nudged the wisp gently watching with interest as its body jiggled from the impact. 

How intriguing. 

A second nudge sent the little wisp jiggling again. As I sat back on my haunches, my vulpine form shifted back into that of a human. Cautiously, I stretched a hand towards the wisp, hovering it just above the flames. When the fire did not burn me, instead giving off the familiar heat I felt when interacting with my inner fire, I poked the wisp with my index finger. 

It feels gelatinous. I mused, pulling back my finger. 

During my examination, the little wisp simply sat staring up at me with big wide eyes which looked far more expressive than what I’d seen Yuki’s wisps display. Though, perhaps I was biased where my wisp was concerned, considering it was a creature so deeply connected to me. 

Holding the wisp in the palm of my hand, I tried to remember what Yuki taught me about Kitsune wisps. The fennec Kitsune told me our wisps could be summoned at will, and also something about them being attributed to our tails. Yuki informed me, that if our tails were cut off or we died too many times it would be lost, and if that happened the wisp bound to that tail would also be lost. 

Narrowing my eyes at the wisp, I tried to order it away, imagining it dissipating into thin air as Yuki’s wisps did when she de-summoned them. In response, it looked up at me blinking rapidly for several moments before clumsily jumping down from my hand. Confused, I watched the wisp as it wobbled around me and leapt onto my tail where it vanished. 

Surprised, I jumped to my feet, and grabbing  my tail, pulled it around in front of my thigh. As I inspected the fur for any signs of the wisp. The little ball of fire reappeared, clinging to the bushy white tip of my tail. After mentally sending the wisp away again caused it to sink into the fur of my tail, I concluded that I’d need to have a long chat with Yuki about this whole ‘wisps bound to our tail' thing. 

With the wisp sent away for now, I walked around the ruined lab, admiring the glossy walls. The fiery inferno had melted the sandstone walls and workbenches fusing the sand into glass. Where the furnace had been, large jagged shards of glass rose up from the floor, with smaller melted clumps of sandstone turned glass scattered around.

“Damn it, that was my last fire stone.” I grumbled after a search of the area where the furnace had been showed the stone was no more. 

Moving to the collapsed tunnel entrance, I pressed a hand to the jagged glass that formed over the crumbled stone and pushed at it with my mana, focusing on reforming the tunnel. Power flowed through me, and the glass melted away, molding itself back into the tunnel it once had been. I relished in the feelings of strength and power that filled me as I made my way through the tunnel, easily opening up the space ahead of me as I went. 

 As I broke through the last section of the collapsed tunnel, the scent of smoke filled my nose as the bright sunlight glared blindingly into my eyes. Hearing loud voices to my left, I turned with a hand raised to shield my eyes, and before me I saw a large crowd of people gathered. 

“Kadia!”

The loud, angry voice of the guild leader had me considering a retreat back into my lab. But the black-haired Okami reached me before the thought of fleeing had fully formed in my mind. 

“Er, hi.” I mumbled, as I took in the site of three piles of sand, two of which had small plumes of smoke drifting off them. 

Oh, shit. I thought I collapsed the tunnel before the fire got out of the lab. I thought as I looked around, but relaxed somewhat as I saw dozens of tents nearby that looked perfectly fine with no signs of the all-consuming fire that had blazed through my lab. 

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“Start explaining.” Darius growled, towering over me with his arms crossed. 

 

“Umm, I had an accident in the lab.” I said hesitantly, not entirely sure why he was so mad. 

The encampment seemed fine, aside from a few smoking piles of sand. 

Sand, which was where my tent, and those of my teammates had been I realized suddenly, eyes widening in concern as I scanned the crowd for any sign of my team. Then relaxed when I saw all four of them pushing through the crowd towards where I stood with Darius. 

“No shit.” The guild leader snapped. “You set three tents on fire. A fire which doubled in size the moment we tried to douse it with water. It almost spread to the entire encampment. We had to smother the tents in sand to put it out.” 

“I’m sorry, I thought I’d contained the fire when I collapsed the tunnel leading out of the lab.” I explained, staring at the pile of sand that my tent was apparently buried beneath. 

“It could have been worse, the entire lab was still burning until about ten minutes ago.” I informed Darius. 

“How did you survive if your lab was on fire?” Pia asked, the team reaching us in time to overhear what I’d told the guild leader. 

“She’s a Kitsune, Pia, they’re immune to fire.” Rainy told the Faun, before giving me a reassuring look. 

“I got Zosimos and Leo out of the tent as soon as the back wall caught on fire. I was also able to save your saddle bags, but that was all I could carry.” The Dryad said, her voice sounding apologetic. 

“The back wall? Ah, I forgot the chimney.” I groaned, shoulders slumping. 

“What happened, Foxy?” Victoria asked, her tone less angry than Darius’s had been.

Which was surprising considering I was pretty sure the other two piles of sand were covering my teammates' tents. 

Taking a deep breath, I told them all briefly about how I’d been working on a few ideas for improving the Drakus orbs. Mentioning how I’d taken precautions against an explosion, but they’d failed. 

“I collapsed the tunnel trying to prevent the fire spreading above ground, but I forgot I’d dug out an air vent for the furnace. I’m so sorry,” I told my team, as I fought back tears of shame and guilt at the knowledge I’d caused my team to lose their tents along with any possessions within them. 

Seeing my expression, Rainy was quick to assure me they’d managed to get most of their bags out of the tents before they were overwhelmed by the flames. They'd not lost anything of importance aside from the tents, which were owned by the guild. Teams were assigned tents by the guild, who purchased them for their members' use. The tents were given on loan, with the understanding that if the tents were destroyed the team would need to pay off the cost of the tent through contributions. 

“I’ll pay for the tents,” I told Darius who inclined his head. 

“I’ll have Noctus deduct it from your book royalties.” The guild leader said, then looked at the pile of sand which was my destroyed tent. 

“We don’t have any spare tents, so once yours has been reformed. I see no reason why you can’t share with your team until new tents can be allocated to them.” 

“I don’t suppose you have a spare high grade Mana crystal on you?” I asked Darius hesitantly and he sighed shaking his head. 

“No,” he said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I take it you have none left?” 

“I have one, but it’s been partially used so won’t be enough to reform my tent or the furnishing crate.” 

“Ohh, I have an idea.” Pia chimed in, and I glanced over to see her pointing to the tunnel entrance.

“Kadia can dig us an underground house until we can mine enough Mana crystals in the dungeon.” 

“Kadia?” Darius queried, raising a questioning brow and I nodded in response. 

“I can do that, for now we can sleep in the lab while I dig out some more rooms.” 

“Good, you can also clean up the damaged tents, seeing as it’s your mess.” The guild leader said, waving a hand to indicate the piles of sand. 

Without another word Darius turned on his heel and left, shouting at the gawking crowd to disperse as he went. 

“The guild leader was really worried when we couldn’t find you. We knew you weren’t hurt because of the team rings, but he was still worried you’d been trapped and were unable to get out. We were about to start digging.” Pia said, watching the guild leaders retreating back.  

“Well, do you remember what you did at least?” Kip asked suddenly, looking at me expectantly. 

“What I did?” 

“To make the fire,” the Dwarf exclaimed, waving a hand at the smoldering sand. 

“That stuff is exactly what we need.” He said cheerily, though his delighted expression quickly disappeared as a red fist thumped down onto his head. 

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