Chapter 8 – Kindling
Jason stood in front of a cracked mirror inside the church's decrepit bathroom. The morning light that filtered through the stained glass painted him in fractured reds and golds. His side was still tender where the bullet had grazed him, the makeshift bandage now stained a dark brown. He peeled it away and winced. The wound wasn't deep, but it was a reminder.
"You got cocky," he muttered to his reflection. "You're not bulletproof."
He opened the system.
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Gamer System – Status
Name: Jason Emmerson
Level: 3 (XP: 45/300)
Skill Points Available: 3
Attribute Points Available: 4
Attributes
Strength: 10
Dexterity: 12.3
Speed: 11
Durability: 11
Stamina: 10
Intellect: 12
Abilities
Pyrokinesis – Beginner (43%)
> Can create, shape, and project fire. Intensity and control improve with mastery.
Passive Perks
Heat Intuition (I): Detect heat signatures within a 15-meter radius.
Ember Echo (I): Hear faint whispers of street-level rumors.
Titles
Street Ember (F): Minor presence recognized in Gotham's underground.
---
He allocated two points into Durability and two into Speed. Last night proved he needed to move faster and take hits better.
---
Updated Attributes
Strength: 10
Dexterity: 12.3
Speed: 13 (+2)
Durability: 13 (+2)
Stamina: 10
Intellect: 12
---
He left the church at dusk. No patrol tonight. Tonight was for information.
Jason hit the streets in civilian clothes—black hoodie, jeans, and a cap pulled low. He needed to learn who the recruiter from last night worked for. And to do that, he had to dip a toe into Gotham's darker alleys.
He found himself at a bar called The Cut Vein—a low-level hangout for former henchmen and unaligned enforcers. Not a place for fights. A place for stories.
He stepped in and felt eyes on him.
"You're new," the bartender said, scrubbing a glass with a rag that looked dirtier than the glass. "You a buyer?"
Jason pulled up to the bar. "I'm a listener."
The bartender grunted and gestured to a back booth. "Then listen quietly. And don't start fires."
Jason sat. Hours passed. He bought drinks but didn't sip. He let stories drift around him. Names. Movements. Whispers.
Then—bingo.
"Some guy in a silver suit's been buying up local freelancers. Polite type. Talks like a professor. Said he's got 'plans for Gotham's renewal.' Creepy eyes."
Jason leaned in. "Where?"
"Old courthouse downtown. Hasn't been used in years. Word is he's squatting there, got tech, even a lab."
Jason left a generous tip and vanished into the night.
---
The courthouse was silent when he arrived. Vines crawled up the sides, and broken windows gaped like wounds. But inside, faint light pulsed from behind the heavy oak doors.
He didn't knock.
Jason crept through the back, using his heat sense to count three bodies—one stationary, two moving. Armed. He opened his palm, letting a thin flicker of flame spiral up. It danced in silence.
He burst through the back hall, catching the first guard unaware. A flash of fire to the face. The second raised a taser. Jason rolled, came up, and launched a firebolt that knocked the weapon away and lit the man's sleeve.
They screamed, scrambled, ran.
The main hall was wide, empty—save for a table, a laptop, and the recruiter.
"You again," the man said calmly. "You're early."
Jason flared up. "You've been tracking me."
"We've been watching everyone. You're not special. Yet."
Jason stepped forward. "No more games. Who do you work for?"
"I answer only to vision."
"Wrong answer."
Jason hurled a concentrated flame blast. The man vanished—an illusion. The laptop sparked and died. Smoke filled the air.
---
System Notification:
Sub-Quest Failed: Source of the Silver Flame
Objective Incomplete
Optional Target Escaped
Consolation XP: +25
New Quest Unlocked:
Tracking the Silver Tongue (I)
Search for the organization behind the recruiter
Intercept their communications
Avoid detection
---
Jason stood in the smoke-filled hall, fists clenched.
Whoever these people were, they weren't playing small.
And neither could he.
He returned to the church hideout just before sunrise, exhaustion clawing at him. As he closed his eyes, the system chimed again.
---
System Hint:
Milestone Unlocked: Ability Progress 50%
Pyrokinesis Level: Intermediate Available – Begin Mastery Trial
---
Jason sat up.
"Trial?"
The air grew warmer, and a single line of fire wrote itself across the cracked church wall:
"Prove you understand flame. Survive what it brings."
He swallowed hard.
"Okay," he whispered. "Let's burn brighter."
-
The night air was cold, but inside the old church, heat radiated unnaturally. Jason stood in the nave, his hands clenched, heart pounding. The fire-text on the wall had long since faded, but the words echoed in his mind:
"Prove you understand flame. Survive what it brings."
He opened his system, needing answers.
---
Gamer System – Trial Mode Activated
Mastery Trial: Pyrokinesis – Intermediate Tier
> You must demonstrate refined control, stamina, and creativity with flame-based abilities. Survive constructed challenges within the trial space.
Trial Environment Initialization: 00:10…
---
Jason barely had time to steady himself before the world melted around him. The church disintegrated like ash in the wind, replaced by a surreal, infinite desert. The sky burned orange. The sands radiated heat.
Then came the flame wraiths.
Humanoid shapes of living fire emerged from the dunes, shrieking silently. They were fast, aggressive, and radiated temperatures far above his own flames.
Jason flared his aura wide, sweeping arcs of flame to intercept them. But brute force wasn't enough. Each wraith absorbed his fire, redirecting it.
"Control, not power," Jason muttered. "Focus."
He shifted tactics—smaller flames, pinpoints of precision. He wove fire into threads, laced them into traps, tripped a wraith mid-charge, then blasted its exposed core. It burst in a harmless puff.
---
System Update:
Wraith Defeated – 1/5
+5 XP
---
He grinned.
The next wave was faster. Jason ducked, rolled, and launched a flame tether—a new trick he hadn't used before. It latched onto a wraith, and with a yank, he slammed it into another. Both evaporated in a flash.
---
Wraiths Defeated – 3/5
+10 XP
---
The last two flanked him. He closed his eyes, breathing deep.
He formed a dome of flame around himself, not hot—but steady. Controlled.
The wraiths struck it—and the dome held.
He lowered it, stepped forward, and ignited blue fire from his hands for the first time. It wasn't heat. It was focus—every ounce of his will channeled through his control.
One strike. Two.
The wraiths vanished.
---
Trial Complete
Pyrokinesis: Intermediate Tier Achieved
> Flame Control greatly increased. Can now shape fire into weapons and advanced constructs. Access to temperature modulation unlocked.
New Active Skill Unlocked:
Fire Construct (I): Create temporary weapons and tools from condensed flame. Durability and duration scale with Intellect and Dexterity.
XP Gained: +60 XP
Skill Points Earned: +2
Attribute Point Earned: +1
---
Jason dropped to his knees as the trial space crumbled, his breath ragged.
The church reformed around him.
He was back.
Sweat clung to him. Every muscle ached—but he felt... sharper.
Better.
Stronger.
He checked the system again.
---
Pyrokinesis: Intermediate (4%)
Fire Construct: Level 1 (0%)
Skill Points: 5
Attribute Points: 2
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He allocated both attribute points into Stamina. He needed more endurance. Then dumped two skill points into Fire Construct.
---
Fire Construct: Level 3 (Passive Duration Bonus: +6%)
---
Jason stood, rolling his shoulder.
The trial was done, but the real world hadn't paused.
He had mysterious recruiters to track, whispers to silence, and a city that burned quietly every night.
He stepped out of the church and let a small blue flame flicker in his palm.
"Let's see who wants to play with fire next."
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End of Chapter 4