Orange-red firelight, like clusters of fireflies shimmering with a moist luster, danced and circled around Xia Nan.
It did not scorch him, nor did he feel any burning heat.
He only felt streams of comfortable warmth flowing through his entire body, as if he were soaking in a hot spring. Even his somewhat weary mind eased along with it.
In his mind, fragmented images quietly flashed past:
A faint flame on the verge of going out, yet stubbornly holding itself together as it swayed;
A spark appearing with the passing wind atop firewood that had burned completely away and turned to charcoal;
Ash drifting down through the air like snowflakes, carrying the last traces of warmth.
Ruin, hope, desolation—the massive flood of information left in his mind stirred his emotions, making Xia Nan feel as though he, too, had been placed within that despairing world where the fire was about to die.
At that moment, he finally learned the name of the Combat Skill the foreign Priest had called "Kindling"—[Ember Echo].
Unexpectedly, it was not the kind of Combat Skill Xia Nan urgently lacked right now, the "ranged" or "defensive" type that represented the final two corners of a "hexagonal warrior."
According to the information he had grasped in his mind, the category of [Ember Echo] as a Combat Skill seemed to be—"status-type"?
It could greatly improve his physical qualities for a short time and grant additional effects besides?
Most of the information that had surged into his mind with the orange-red flames had already sunk deep into his consciousness, waiting to be slowly excavated in the future.
And just like [Whirlwind Slash] and [Tooth Hunt] before, although Xia Nan had already mastered the training method for this Combat Skill, and even knew its crucial key points because of the