Chapter 279 A New Foundation (2/2)

Although he had shi+elded the entire valley ards when he arrived, his skill in that area wasn't yet good enough that he could blindly trust it If he wanted to use his full strength without worry, he would need a better barrier — and an entire mountain would certainly do the trick

He walked inside the cave until he had passed half its lengths Then, he faced the far wall, fifty paces ahead of hile Fla only a fraction of his full strength Yet even that was enough to burn a fist-sized hole in the dense rock, and he looked at the result with a pleased sed by the effect, he quickly launched a second, more powerful attack And this time, the streak of white-hot fire that shot forth froth into theeven er portion of his power And his attacks kept co crashi+ng into theaway the rock wherever it hit

After barely an hour he had already doubled the length of the cave, a hundred paces of dense rock seared away by the unnatural heat of Arran's Fire Essence The ground was littered with pieces ofred as they had yet to cool off

But then, when he launched another Fla unexpected happened Rather than crashi+ng into the wall of rock, the streak of fire passed straight through it, leaving nothing behind but a small hole

Another two attacks suffered the same fate, and Arran frowned in wonder as he realized there must be an empty space behind the rock — some sort of cavern, buried deep within the mountain

At once, he ceased his attacks, then headed toward the wall at the end of the cave He avoided the round — his feet could withstand the heat, but his boots were another matter — and a few moments later, he reached the rock wall

There were three large holes inside it, and behind theht, he launched a slow-h it to see what lay behind the wall Yet although he spent so the space beyond the wall, all he found was a large, empty cavern, at least a hundred paces across

He frowned once h the hole, figuring that his Shadowsight would be of more use than his eyes

This suspicion proved to be correct Exploring the cavern with his Shadowsight, he quickly found that it wasn't merely an empty space On either side of it, wide tunnels led deeper into the ht

The discovery filled hiotten about the starht where he had chosen to train seeer to see if his luck could really be this good

Yet a moment later, he shook his head, then stepped back from the wall

Whatever treasures thewas more important In the past, he'd let hi new treasures and pohile ignoring to develop the ones he already had

That was at least part of the reason his skill in ic had advanced so slowly, and it was a ain

First, he would finish the task that had brought him here And once he'd learned all he needed, perhaps there would be time left to explore the cavern

But either way, he would not interrupt his training — not when he was progressing so well

Over the next two hours, he carefully sealed off the path into theboth rocks and wards to block the way If the caverns held any people or creatures, he did not want therounds

Once he was satisfied with the protections, he left the cave and returned to the valley

He had relearned Flamestrike, and the results had surpassed his expectations Now, it was time to discover what his new foundation would do for his Shadowcloak