Seraphina woke the next morning already regretting everything she was about to do.
This, unfortunately, did not stop her.
She lay there for a moment beneath the violet canopy, staring up through drifting leaves, replaying yesterday's events in her head. Fireballs. Burns. Self-inflicted chest-based arson. Personal growth.
"Alright," she murmured, pushing herself upright. "Fire exists. I survived it. Time to weaponize my poor decision-making."
She rose, stretched, and immediately hissed as tender skin protested. Two days of fire mishaps had left her regenerated but not comfortable. Her body still radiated vitality—curves pronounced, posture powerful, movement fluid—but now there was an added edge to her presence. Heat clung to her like an afterimage.
She cracked her knuckles.
"Step one," she said, pacing the clearing. "Stop throwing fire like a drunken mage in a tavern fight."
Fireball was fine. Great, even. But it was slow, obvious, and had an alarming tendency to aim itself at her chest like it held a personal grudge.
She needed integration.
Fire inside movement.
Fire through technique.
Fire that didn't try to assassinate her breasts.
She centered herself and drew Qi inward, slow and steady. The familiar warmth bloomed—then sharpened. Yang-aligned energy vibrated faster, coiling along her arms.
She clenched her fist.
Flames licked across her knuckles.
She immediately froze.
"…Okay," she whispered. "Nobody panic."
The fire didn't explode. Didn't burn her. It wrapped around her hand like a gauntlet, heat intense but controlled.
Her lips parted.
"Oh. Oh that's—"
She punched the air.
The shockwave cracked like a whip, fire trailing behind her fist in a short arc before dissipating.
She stared.
Then grinned.
"Fire Fist," she said reverently. "You and I are going to get along."
She practiced slowly at first. Punch. Step. Pivot. Each movement drew fire along her limb, Qi acting as both fuel and barrier. When she rushed it, the flames flared too hot. When she hesitated, they died.
By noon, she was sweating, clothes singed in places, hair faintly smelling like smoke.
By evening, she was laughing.
"Okay, okay," she said between breaths. "Note to self: fire likes confidence, not desperation."
She slept that night with heat still humming beneath her skin.
---
The second day was worse.
And better.
She woke sore, irritated, and stubborn enough to scare gods.
"Today," she announced to the trees, "we add fire to everything."
The trees did not object. This was a mistake.
She began with movement drills. Dashes with bursts of flame from her feet. Spins with heated air slicing outward. Kicks that left scorched arcs in the moss.
The first time she tried a flaming roundhouse, she overshot the rotation and face-planted into the ground.
She lay there, cheek pressed to dirt, fire sputtering uselessly from her foot.
"…Graceful," she said flatly.
She rolled onto her back and stared at the sky.
"I trained for three weeks to be elegant," she muttered. "And now I'm a falling torch."
She tried again.
Slower.
This time, she let Qi lead the motion instead of forcing fire to keep up. Heat flowed after movement, not before it.
The kick landed cleanly.
Flame followed like applause.
She blinked.
"Oh," she said softly. "That's the trick."
From there, everything clicked into place.
Fire Palm sent controlled bursts forward without recoil.
Fire Step ignited the ground briefly beneath her feet, launching her in short explosive dashes.
Fire Guard wrapped heat around her forearms, deflecting impacts with sizzling force.
She chained techniques together, sweat dripping, breath controlled, Qi cycling continuously. Her body adapted as she moved—muscles tightening, balance refining, endurance climbing without her even noticing.
By midday, she stopped and summoned the system, half-curious, half-exhausted.
---
[Status Interface]
Name: Seraphina Vale
Height: 5'5"
Cultivation Path: Body Building — Layer 8
Basic Stats:
Strength: 20 → 21
Agility: 21 → 22
Endurance: 20 → 22
Balance: 21 → 22
EXP: 20/45
Shop Points: 0 SP
Techniques:
• Qi Infusion Technique (Mastered)
• Form Suppression (Active/At Will)
• Fireball Technique — Level 2
• Fire Fist — Basic
• Fire Palm — Basic
• Fire Step — Basic
• Fire Guard — Basic
---
She whistled.
"…So this is what indirect training feels like."
She dismissed the screen and went right back to work.
Fireball was next.
She practiced compression. Rotation. Density. Instead of launching it immediately, she shaped it, fed it, held it. Let it rotate faster, tighter, hotter.
It burned longer.
Harder.
By sunset, she could throw three in succession without collapsing or setting herself on fire.
Progress.
That night, she dreamed of heat spirals and laughing flames.
---
The second evening of the second day was… dramatic.
She attempted to integrate Fireball into melee.
This was, in hindsight, ambitious.
She formed the fireball mid-motion, compressing it between her palms, then shoved it forward with a spinning strike.
The fireball destabilized.
Exploded.
Sent her flying backward into a tree.
She slid down the trunk and sat there, smoking lightly.
"…Okay," she coughed. "New rule. No hugging the fire."
But she learned.
By breaking it down. Fireball became Fire Burst—short-range detonations released away from her body. She used recoil deliberately, stepping into the blast instead of being thrown by it.
By the time the sun dipped low, something shifted.
Her Qi flowed smoother. Fire responded faster.
She launched a fireball.
It held.
She launched another.
Still stable.
A third.
Perfect.
ďing!
---
[System Notification]
Fireball Technique leveled up
Current Rank: Level 4
---
She dropped to her knees, laughing breathlessly.
"Yes! Stay stable, you beautiful menace!"
She lay back in the grass, chest rising and falling, heat shimmering faintly around her skin. Her body felt stronger, denser, more alive—fire no longer an enemy, but a partner.
She summoned the system one last time.
---
[Status Interface]
Name: Seraphina Vale
Cultivation: Body Building — Layer 8
Basic Stats:
Strength: 21
Agility: 22
Endurance: 22
Balance: 22
EXP: 42/45
Techniques:
• Fireball Technique — Level 4
• Fire Fist — Intermediate
• Fire Palm — Intermediate
• Fire Step — Intermediate
• Fire Guard — Intermediate
---
She smiled.
Two days.
No beasts.
No hunting.
Just heat, pain, and stubborn brilliance.