"If you burn that meat any further, Han, we’re going to have to use it to patch the hull instead of eating it."Xiao Mei wiped a streak of grease from her forehead, laughing as she nudged Han Chen away from the makeshift iron grill. They were on the lower observation deck, away from the roaring furnaces of the main forge and the suffocating pressure of the spire. For the first time since the sky had cracked open, the heavy soot of Arkas had been blown away by a clean, high-altitude breeze, leaving a rare pocket of cool, breathable air.Han Chen looked down at the blackened skewer of spirit-beast flank in his hand. His amber eyes, usually burning with the cold intensity of a primordial era, softened slightly. "It’s a matter of thermal density, Mei. The outer tissues require high-intensity sealing to preserve the juices.""It's a barbecue, not an alchemical refinement," she retorted, snatching the metal tongs from his metallic, gray hand. "Look at Tigor. Even he won't eat that, and he’s

The gravity of the Second Tier was a constant, crushing reminder that they were no longer playing by the rules of the old world."The party's over, Master."Tigor climbed the ladder, his massive frame casting a long shadow across the deck. He had thrown his worn military jacket back over his bare chest, but the fabric struggled to contain his expanded, jade-skinned musculature. His amber eyes, though clear of the previous night’s liquor, held a sharp, restless edge."The men are clearing the lower decks," Tigor continued, leaning heavily against the railing. "Old He is back in the machine shop, trying to figure out why the water filtration system keeps growing green moss. Veronika’s already up in the crow's nest. She says the jungle is moving."Han Chen did not open his eyes immediately. He breathed in, drawing the toxic, high-density mana of the continent through his nose, filtering the predatory spirits within it through his soul-forged bones before exhaling a thin stream of gray va

The march toward the Altar of the Devouring Sun was conducted in a heavy, tense silence. Elder Kaelen walked at the front of the column, his back rigid, his unrefined hide-armor creaking with every step. The Black Sun hunters who had been hiding in the canopy now walked alongside the Eternal Guard, though they kept a polite, terrified distance. They kept looking at Han Chen’s bare, gray left hand, which had crushed a high-tier volcanic crystal as if it were a dried leaf.Tigor walked near the center, his hand resting lazily on the pommel of his greatsword, his eyes scanning the ancient ruins that began to poke through the emerald loam. "Han, the temperature is spiking. It’s not just the humidity anymore. It feels like the ground underneath us is running a fever.""It is," Han Chen said, his amber eyes tracking the pulsing lines of raw mana running through the roots of the giant ferns. "Sargon built the Altar over a geothermal vent, but he didn't use an exhaust system. He used a filtra