It took two full days for Seren to prepare.
Every item she packed was chosen with care—nothing wasted, nothing extra. The volcanic zone was unlike anything she had encountered, and the system's warnings weren't vague for once. High heat, unstable ground, possible toxic fumes.
She needed to be ready.
Her kiln ran non-stop. She fired three more clay-sealed water jugs, two pitch-treated storage flasks, and crafted a layered filtration mask using dried moss, charcoal, and a tight-weave cloth salvaged from an old vault banner. She didn't know if it would work perfectly, but it was better than walking blind into poison.
The system helped where it could.
[New Blueprint Unlocked: Ember-Threaded Cloak (Prototype)]
[Crafting Feasibility: 46% — Missing Materials: Heatweave Fabric, Cooled Ember Flakes]
She laughed when she saw that.
Nice idea. Not today.
By the third morning, the pack sat heavy on her shoulders. She wore reinforced boots, double-wrapped in resin-treated cloth, and a long scarf soaked in kiln ash—her own crude temperature buffer.
[Ding! — Status: Prepared for Journey]
[New Objective: Reach Relay Two Coordinates — Estimated Time: 4.6 hours on foot]
She closed the shelter door, sealed the outer layer with clay, and started north.
The world changed as she moved.
The air thickened. The terrain hardened. Patches of scorched earth replaced moss, and black ridges of cooled magma rose like the spines of ancient creatures.
She walked for hours, drinking sparingly and pausing every twenty minutes to check her system and scan the ground.
At last, she reached a ridge overlooking the impact zone.
It was beautiful, in a dangerous way.
Canyons of obsidian. Pockets of steam hissing from fissures. Pools of molten glass scattered like bloodstains on the rocks.
And at the center, barely visible—
A pillar.
Cracked, leaning, and half-melted. But unmistakably artificial.
Relay Two.
Seren knelt at the ridge, surveying the route down.
No clear path.
The ground was split by deep crevices, and heat distortion shimmered above the rocks like ghosts. She activated thermal scan mode—an emergency utility the system had unlocked for her during shelter upgrades.
[Scan Active – Surface Heat Levels: Moderate to Critical]
[Suggested Path: Southeast descent curve – Risk Level: Manageable]
She descended with slow, deliberate steps, testing each foothold. The rocks crumbled beneath her once, sending a cascade of gravel tumbling into a fissure that hissed back with sulfurous steam.
By the time she reached the valley floor, her limbs ached and her mask filter was darkened by soot.
She approached the pillar.
Up close, the damage was worse. The structure bore signs of corrosion and high impact. Something had struck it—or erupted through it.
Still, her system lit up as she neared.
[Relay Two – Status: Dormant]
[Core Interface: Semi-functional]
[External Stabilizer Required – Energy Flow: Disrupted]
Stabilizer?
She circled the pillar. Half-buried near its base was a dish-shaped module. It had once connected to a radial anchor, now shattered.
[Missing Component: Heat Stabilizer Ring]
[Nearby Material Match: 12m – Subsurface Layer]
Seren set her pack down and dug.
The heat grew more intense with each layer of soil she removed. She had to swap hands every few seconds, but finally, her fingers touched metal.
She pulled free a scorched ring etched with the same relay markings as the Harmonic structure back home. It was cracked but whole.
She carried it to the pillar's side port.
The system guided her through alignment. When she turned it, a low rumble vibrated through the ground.
The relay lit.
A pulse of molten red shot upward, then split into three arcs of flickering light—each racing into the sky in different directions.
[Ding! — Relay Two Reactivated]
[Triangulation in Progress – Additional Relays Required: 4]
[New Nodes Unlocked – Thermal Research Archive, Ember-Thread Crafting Tree]
Seren slumped to the ground, breath ragged behind her mask.
Another relay. Another step.
The world was changing again.
And she was the one lighting the fuse.
The heat around the pillar gradually faded as the system settled into a stable output. The red light dimmed to a warm amber glow, and faint hums of power rippled through the surrounding stone.
Seren pulled off her mask briefly to breathe. The air was still hot, but no longer choking.
A new alert blinked across her vision.
[System Update: Signal Grid Expansion in Progress]
[Harmonic Relay 2 Online – Regional Signal Strength Enhanced]
[Archive Access Unlocked: Ember-Thread Applications – Basic Tier]
She tapped the archive panel.
Dozens of new blueprints lit up—clothing, tools, even insulation wraps designed for volatile environments. Most were still locked behind material restrictions, but one stood out:
[Craftable: Ember-Treated Thread Bandage]
[Function: Enhanced Heat Recovery and Wound Sealing]
A practical gain. Useful. Grounded.
Still catching her breath, Seren turned her gaze toward the horizon. The beam from Relay Two arced toward a distant mountain chain, marked on her system as an "Unstable Geo-Zone." The map faded into static beyond it.
Not yet unlocked.
Not yet ready.
But soon.
She stood, gathered her tools, and left a small symbol etched at the base of the relay—a sun glyph circled once, the sign she now used to mark what was hers.
She took the long route back, collecting samples of cooled glass and unusual ash deposits flagged by her system. The volcanic zone still felt hostile, but it had given her what she needed.
At dusk, she returned to the shelter.
The torch was still lit.
The kiln hummed.
And as the first stars blinked into view—real or system-projected, she didn't care—Seren knelt by her notes and wrote one more entry:
"Relay Two active. Path continues. The world grows warmer."
And for the first time, she welcomed the heat.
Before she slept, Seren reviewed the newly unlocked Ember-thread archive. Most items were still grayed out, but one tab caught her eye:
[Environmental Suit Framework: Adaptive Layering Enabled]
The design was modular—clay-laminated fabric, embedded cooling threads, vent-compatible wraps. She couldn't build it yet. But now she knew it was possible.
A full suit designed for extreme terrain. That meant the next relay, or the one after, would be even worse.
She tapped the blueprint and added it to her active watchlist.
Then she crafted two ember-treated bandages, using salvaged fiber and cooled ash. The system processed them with a subtle orange glow and a faint hum of embedded heat-control magic—or science, she reminded herself, even if it felt the same here.
[Ding! — Inventory Updated: Ember Bandage ×2]
She sealed them in a pouch at her side.
Finally, she opened the harmonic relay log and scrolled through the flickering entries.
1 of 6 — Activated
2 of 6 — Activated
3–6 — Unknown
A long way to go.
But the world wasn't gray anymore. Not entirely. Little sparks lit her map, traces of color and energy where once there had only been silence.
She turned off the interface and pulled her blanket around her.
Tomorrow would bring a new direction. A new climb. A new layer of truth.
But tonight?
Tonight she slept with light at her side.
And the heat of a world beginning to wake.