Almost instantly, Lumian's entire body seemed to be on fire.
From his body to his soul, he was suffering from burning pain everywhere.
Lumian was no stranger to this feeling. Whether it was the serious injuries he suffered while hunting fire monsters, or the experience of being on the verge of losing control when accepting the gift, he had truly been ignited.
But at this moment, such burning and such pain could not cover up the fire in his heart, the fire that wanted to resist fate, to change everything, and to burn away all the repression and despair.
This made Lumian not fall to the ground and curl up to relieve the pain, but he stood there straight, gritting his teeth, twisting his face, and refusing to bend down.
Gradually he could no longer bear it and his back gradually bent down, but Lumian tried his best to straighten his back, just like when he was facing the parish priest Guillaume Bennet and Thermopylae who brought devastating disaster to the village of Cordu.
His body bent down and then rose up little by little, a burnt smell lingered at his nose and a terrifying sound rang in his ears, which seemed to come from infinitely far away and yet very close.
A familiar, intense stinging pain shot through his entire head, causing him to scream in agony. Cracks appeared on the surface of his skin, and a faint magma-like liquid flowed out of them.
Lumian placed his hands on the desk in front of him to support himself.
The places he touched quickly turned black and charred, and the smell of burning wood filled the air.
Lumian's instinctive screams could no longer be heard, and his mouth opened wide, gushing out hot air.
He did not open the bottle of gray amber perfume immediately, relying on the fire in his chest to fight against the pain from inside and outside and his increasingly blurred thoughts.
As time passed, Lumian, who had been gritting his teeth, felt the flames in his chest burst out and merged with the burning sensation throughout his body.
The various pains subsided and his fuzzy thoughts gradually became clear.
Lumian pushed himself up with his hands, and stood up again, looking towards the full-length mirror in the room.
In the mirror, his blond hair still had a hint of black, his clothes had been burnt into tatters, and there were numerous burn marks all over his body, which were rapidly forming scabs and falling to the ground, revealing his pale skin.
At the same time, Lumian saw that there seemed to be two balls of red flames burning in his blue eyes. After he tried to calm down and ease his condition, they disappeared little by little.
The next second, Lumian raised his right hand, and a ball of red flame suddenly condensed in his palm.
He successfully advanced to Sequence 7 of the Hunter Path and became an Arsonist!
Flames continued to emerge from Lumian's palms, entwining with the original red and continuously compressing inwards.
After more than ten seconds, the red flame turned into a blazing white, and both the temperature and the explosiveness were increased by more than one level compared to before.
"You can directly use the scarlet, weaker flame, or you can accumulate and compress it for a period of time and then use the more powerful white flame..." Lumian's palm seemed to be unafraid of burning, allowing the white flame to burn quietly there.
He had already taken a preliminary look at his own state and the mystical knowledge he had acquired, and had a relatively complete understanding of the Arsonist's extraordinary abilities:
First, the spirituality of the 'arsonist' has been greatly improved, which has brought about a qualitative change in Lumian's "clairvoyance" - not only can he use it to set up a more hidden and faster way to open it, but he can finally see the colors of the various parts of the "etheric body" described by his sister, and no longer just a chaotic and single picture.
This helps the "hunter" grasp the target's physical condition and target it more effectively.
Secondly, his intuition about danger has also been enhanced. Currently, Lumian no longer only senses when a problem is about to break out. He can stimulate his intuition in this regard by observing the environment and collecting information. Accordingly, he is more aware of whether he is being followed and can apply his anti-tracking skills more fully and perfectly.
Third, with the ability to control fire, there are several spells that come with it.
Now Lumian can mainly control the flames that come from himself and are created by himself. He has an affinity for flames and flammable materials in the surrounding environment, but he cannot exert enough influence. Once he has initially digested the "Arsonist" potion, or promoted to a higher sequence, there may be corresponding changes.
In addition, Lumian can use the fire he creates to attack the enemy, but once the fire leaves his body, it is difficult for him to control it unless he has hidden some spirituality in it in advance.
In other words, it is quite difficult to make a launched fireball turn midway, and it requires a lot of extra spiritual energy to do it.
The control of flames is mainly divided into seven aspects:
The first is condensation and compression, bombarding the target in the form of a fireball. The longer the compression time, the more flames accumulate and the greater the power;
The second is to let a layer of flame burn on the body surface, so as to defend against attacks such as freezing, poison gas damage, etc. to a certain extent;
The third is to use flames to create different temporary weapons, which can cause high-temperature cutting, burning and piercing damage. This can also be divided into red and white according to the different charging time;
The fourth is delayed explosion, relying on additional spirituality and structural changes to allow the manufactured "fire bomb" to explode at a predetermined time instead of being detonated on the spot;
The fifth is the range effect, which ensures that the flame is controlled by itself by extending the flame instead of throwing it out, so that it explodes at the desired location or burns in different forms;
The sixth is "fire injection", which uses the pressure brought by physical contact and force collision during close combat to inject flames into the enemy's body little by little, and then finally detonate;
Seven is to add fire damage to your own weapon.
The few fire spells Lumian had acquired were all applications for these aspects, but they relied on some techniques to achieve effects that he could not normally create.
Those spells are: "Fire Crow", "Blazing Spear", "Burning Wall" and "Giant Fireball".
Among them, the "Fire Crow Technique" is the most magical. It allows Lumian to quickly condense a group of flaming crows around him and allocate a little spirituality to each fire crow, so that after they leave the body, they can still be manipulated to a certain extent, thereby simply adjusting the trajectory and initially locking the target.
Without this spell, Lumian, who had just been promoted to "Arsonist", would need to consume at least three times the spiritual power and energy as it currently does to achieve a similar effect, and the Fire Crow would be much more clumsy and rigid.
"White Spear" is a spell that can condense white flames more quickly, but it can only exist in the form of a spear. With its spiritual power, it can also roughly guide the fireballs created by Lumian.
The "Burning Wall" uses the earth as a medium and itself as a source. It creates two fire snakes that leap toward the enemy and build a blazing wall around him.
The "giant fireball" takes more than ten to twenty seconds to launch, which is equivalent to compressing multiple red fireballs into one launch.
The flames of the "Arsonist" all come from himself, mainly causing physical damage, but they can also initially burn spirits. Lumian is no longer helpless against soul-like creatures and has to rely on external forces.
Fourth, after being transformed by the magic potion, his body had a strong resistance to fire. Even if he was doused in animal fat, lit with a torch, and burned for half a day, the damage he suffered would not reach a serious level. However, the shock wave caused by the fireball explosion could still hurt him normally.
Lumian believed that when his sequence reached a higher level, his body might be able to directly merge into the fire.
He shook his right hand casually, causing the ball of blazing white flame to dissipate in the air.
Then, he clenched his hands, and a long sword made of red flames appeared out of thin air.
Lumian waved his sword a few times, shook his head in disappointment, and muttered to himself: "It can only hurt the enemy, but it can't block or parry..."
The flaming sword had no substance, and Lumian suspected that it would take a higher sequence for such a weapon to become real.
He immediately let the flaming sword dissipate and took out the dagger from the perverted Hedsi.
As Lumian's fingers ran over the surface of the dagger, a layer of blazing flames covered the blade.
Lumian gripped the handle and stabbed the dagger several times. He saw a few red sparks remaining in the air that were quickly dissipating. The scene was quite dreamy.
“It can block and deal fire damage. Although it cannot generate high temperatures in this form, it is still very useful.
"The problem now is that ordinary weapons cannot withstand the burning of flames for long..." Lumian nodded thoughtfully.
After confirming the extraordinary abilities of the "arsonist", he quickly cleaned up his desk and changed into a linen shirt, brown jacket and dark trousers.
Lumian looked at himself in the mirror again, the corners of his mouth curled up into a smile.
He then put on the dark blue cap, turned around and walked towards the door.
Behind him, balls of red flames emerged silently, bright and dazzling, and disappeared in an instant.
Market Avenue, outside the khaki four-story building where the congressman's office is located.
Lumian once again sat among the homeless people at the opposite end of the alley, watching the comings and goings of the target house.
Because of the explosion at the Goodville Chemical Plant, which killed many workers and injured even more, journalists from all over Trier flocked to the office, so Hugues Artois's office was still lit by the light of the gas wall lamp, busy receiving visitors with different purposes.
The congressman did not go home, so the staff who depended on him naturally had to stay in the ochre-colored building, where lights seemed to be coming from every room.
Lumian leaned against the wall on the street, observing the visitors to the congressman's office while thinking about the strategies he could adopt.
He wants to light a fire!
He wanted to "burn" the bastard who brought the disease!
He knew that this would have serious consequences, and he knew that as an "arsonist", he was not strong enough to fight against the evil gods surrounding Hugueartois on his own.
He just wanted to do something. He felt that even the most ferocious fire started with a spark.