SSS Ranked Awakening: All My Skills Are at Level 100

Chapter 730: Heat Worth Keeping

Leon caught the first rising slab before it struck the hearthseal’s bed.

The stone stopped a handspan above Ira’s fingers. Around it, smaller fragments lifted from the channel, turning as the reversed current pulled them upward.

Ira moved her hand out from beneath the slab and tested the seam again.

”That side,” she said, indicating a narrow connection to the court. ”If it twists there, the skin will split.”

”I see it.”

Leon steadied the rock supporting the specimen, then extended his control across the space above them. A section roughly ten paces wide stopped shedding debris. Broken stones hung where he held them while loose pieces outside his reach continued rising.

He had no intention of interfering with the current feeding the whole court. That was keeping the deposit accessible. He only needed the surrounding rock to stop battering what Ira wanted.

On the western half, Tobin’s people withdrew onto the bare ledge behind their work. Two disciples dragged a covered frame clear before the last collectors stepped away. Their response was quick and orderly.

A long slab rose beyond Leon’s held section, caught another current, and swung toward the ledge.

Seraphine crossed its path. Her sword flashed twice, breaking it along empty seams. She turned the pieces down toward an unoccupied stretch of stone before they could reach the Hall workers.

”Keep behind the wall,” she told them.

Tobin moved his nearest collector back without arguing.

Vyra had two open boxes still on the bed. She closed one, passed it to Leon for storage, and drew a narrow curtain of flame above the other. It diverted the smaller fragments long enough for her to secure the lid.

Loriel came up from the lower shelf with her final container tucked beneath an arm. She set it on bare stone and looked toward Ira.

”Is the specimen sound?” she asked.

”So far.” Ira crouched beside the hearthseal. ”I’m separating the last seam.”

There was room to step out whenever she wanted. She remained because the larger piece was worth keeping intact, and because Leon had given her the steady working space she needed.

He watched her place two fingers against the surrounding red rock.

A fine thread of her flame entered the seam. It heated only the narrow connection to the channel bed, softening an edge that had already begun to part. Ira kept the hearthseal itself well clear of the contact.

The detached rock shifted.

Leon adjusted his hold to support it from beneath, and Ira slid her hands under the freed block. She lifted the whole bed without twisting it and walked onto the bare step beside him.

”Clear,” she said.

He guided the suspended debris away from the opened seam. A few fragments tried to rise again, but the reversed current was already weakening. When the steam returned to its earlier direction, he lowered the remaining stones into the cleared patch.

The last slab landed with a heavy scrape.

Ira stood with a block the size of a loaf in her arms. In its center, the dark hearthseal remained unmarked.

She looked up at him, pleased enough that he almost forgot to check the rest of the court.

”That,” she said, ”was worth staying for.”

Leon brushed dust from its supporting bed. ”Let me see the underside.”

She turned it so he could inspect the place she had heated. The seam was clean, and her flame had stopped well short of the specimen.

He nodded. Ira’s smile widened.

Across the boundary, Tobin was checking his people. None had been struck. One man was complaining about a broken hook, but he stopped when the older disciple pointed at the replacement tied to his pack.

Only after the Hall had accounted for everyone did Tobin approach Leon.

”You held that section still,” he said.

”Yes.”

”Through the reversal.” Tobin glanced at the broken slabs, then at Ira’s intact block. ”I’ve never seen anyone harvest during one.”

”We didn’t want it cracked,” Leon said.

”I gathered that.” The young man studied him for another moment before bowing. ”And your guard kept a slab off our ledge. Thank you.”

Seraphine inclined her head from beside the boxes.

Tobin did not ask for a demonstration or an explanation of Leon’s technique. He returned to his own people and had them examine the ledge before resuming work.

Leon approved of him a little more.

The warmth in their section gradually declined. They finished the remaining accessible seams without chasing the supply as it moved elsewhere. There was already enough in his ring to make him reluctant to risk the quality by taking everything indiscriminately.

Vyra completed the tally on a clean corner of her slate. Twenty-three lined boxes held hearthseal specimens in their supporting beds. Loriel’s work had added eleven boxes of Earth- and Water-bearing deposits. They had also collected plainer fire ore suitable for refinement.

The two pieces Ira had selected for herself were listed separately. The smaller one stayed in its padded case; the larger required a deeper container from Sella’s order.

”Several useful batches,” Vyra said, passing Leon the slate. ”Depending on what survives preparation.”

He looked over the quantities. There were damaged pieces among the lesser material, but those were marked, and the best specimens had been packed before the current turned.

Bai Heng is going to want to open every box before he lets me eat.

He found himself looking forward to that argument.

Tobin came over once more while they were packing the tools. This time, he stopped at the boundary and pointed toward the upper vents.

”How early did you feel the supply moving?”

”Before we reached the junction below.”

”Our instrument didn’t register this bed until we were above it.” He considered that. ”Were you following the Fire alone?”

”More than one current,” Leon said.

Tobin accepted the limit of the answer. ”I’ll have our people record the signs from this opening. The old notes put the eastern turn later.”

”Was the previous one weaker?” Leon asked.

”I’d need to compare the records. My teacher measured it.” Tobin glanced at the opened seam. ”If you’re still here when he finishes below, perhaps we can compare observations.”

”Perhaps.”

It was a useful acquaintance to have. Leon would decide what to share when he knew what the Hall could offer in return.

They left the worked terrace in the early afternoon and descended to a quieter row. The pale court they chose had mild currents, room to sit, and a wall high enough to give some privacy from the busier approaches.

Seraphine checked the stair while Loriel unpacked water. Vyra put away the tally and accepted a portion of food without trying to count anything else.

Ira asked Leon for the deeper case before she sat down.

He took it from his ring and set it between them. She opened the lid, looked at the dark stone, and rested her hand on its red bed with a care he had rarely seen her give an object.

”What?” she asked when she caught him watching.

”Nothing.” Leon sat beside her. ”I was wondering what you’re going to try first.”

Ira looked back into the case.

For once, she did not answer immediately.