Primal Tinder

However, as Olivia Melianne withdrew her hand, a look of surprise flashed in her eyes.

In this day and age, there were still people who chose to use forbidden artifacts when facing her?

That's... simply wonderful!

A crimson light suddenly bloomed in Olivia's left eye. Her heterochromia made her appearance take on an eerie quality, and her entire aura shifted instantly.

At that moment, the torch in Erbane Cliff's hand was spewing torrential flames toward Olivia, as if they could incinerate everything in the world.

But the moment Olivia's eye changed, the mass of flames surging toward her suddenly froze in place.

In that instant, time itself seemed to stand still, and the entire scene was frozen in a tableau.

In reality, time was still flowing; it was only the flames rushing toward Olivia that had completely halted, turning into a static image.

It was an incredibly bizarre sight—at least to Erbane, it was so uncanny that he couldn't comprehend what was happening.

He looked at the torch in his hand, then at the transformed Olivia, his face full of bewilderment.

He even gave the torch a shake, but nothing changed.

“What's going on? Why is the Primal Tinder...”

Before Erbane could finish his sentence, the erupting flames finally moved. However, they were no longer attacking Olivia. Instead, they swirled back, blasting toward Erbane with extreme ferocity.

“***!”

Seeing this, Erbane couldn't help but let out a string of curses.

In the next moment, he was engulfed by the infinite flames. He felt a sharp, agonizing pain from every inch of his skin, and his internal organs felt as if they were about to melt.

“Aaaagh!”

The agony forced a wretched scream from Erbane. He flung the Primal Tinder away and retreated rapidly, desperate to distance himself from the malfunctioning forbidden artifact.

But his efforts were in vain. The flames clung to him like maggots to bone. No matter what he did, he couldn't truly back away; wherever he retreated, he was surrounded by surging flames that continued to burn him.

In this situation, Erbane could only endure the pain and grab the Starry Rift, intending to pull out another forbidden artifact to combat this unspeakable agony and try to turn the tide once more.

But just then, a hand extended toward him with incredible speed. As if immune to the flames, it reached Erbane's side and snatched the wallet-shaped Starry Rift directly from his grasp.

Feeling his hand go empty, Erbane subconsciously cried out, “My Starry Rift...”

“No, it's my Starry Rift.”

Olivia gave a light chuckle in response as she withdrew her hand, holding the wondrous forbidden artifact.

She had known about the existence of the Starry Rift through the Magic Mirror for some time. She was quite interested in this highly unique forbidden artifact because its ability to store other forbidden artifacts gave it extraordinary value.

As she held it, Olivia sensed a feeling of resistance emanating from the Starry Rift. The artifact seemed to favor those from the Time Chamber of Commerce and resisted anyone else.

Olivia didn't mind. She simply scanned the Starry Rift with her left eye, and the artifact immediately ceased its trembling.

Before long, an entirely different emotion emanated from the Starry Rift.

It was an emotion of submission.

“In the end, it hasn't reached the level of a destruction-grade forbidden artifact. But what grade is this exactly? It doesn't seem like a sealed-grade either,” Olivia murmured.

She asked the Magic Mirror in her heart, and the answer it provided surprised her slightly.

The Magic Mirror actually considered this artifact to be a rule-grade forbidden artifact.

Although the Starry Rift had no external rules and seemed only to serve a storage function, it contained layers of internal rules. These rules allowed it to contain other forbidden artifacts and prevent their powers from affecting the outside world.

“What an interesting thing.”

Olivia weighed the Starry Rift in her hand, then looked back at Erbane, who had been burned into a sorry state by the Primal Tinder.

However, as an Evolver who had survived for over five hundred years, Erbane was naturally not going to be finished off so easily by a single forbidden artifact.

A deep blue shield surrounded him, protecting him tightly and resisting the combustion of the Primal Tinder.

He was a transcendent on the path of an elemental mage, masterful in the manipulation of elements. Since he was currently on the ocean, he had quickly condensed a massive amount of water elements to surround himself and counteract the flames from the Primal Tinder.

Logically, fire was also an element, but at this moment, Erbane was unable to control the fire elements. Wherever the Primal Tinder was present, all fire elements belonged to it; an elemental mage simply could not seize control of fire from the Primal Tinder.

Olivia looked at Erbane, then at the Primal Tinder.

When Erbane encountered danger, the fact that he brought out the Primal Tinder first instead of any other forbidden artifact meant it was naturally powerful enough.

In fact, the Primal Tinder was considered a destruction-grade forbidden artifact!

It was just that the artifact was damaged, so it hadn't truly reached the full potential of its grade.

This was also why Olivia could still suppress the Primal Tinder using the peculiarity of her left eye—because the artifact was incomplete.

“A damaged destruction-grade forbidden artifact... though I don't know how you were broken, if you follow me, I have a way to repair you.”

Olivia smiled faintly.

Hearing Olivia's words, the flames on the Primal Tinder flickered even more intensely. Then, bursts of fire erupted continuously, madly striking toward Erbane.

It was as if a child had suddenly become diligent when faced with the prospect of a reward.

This situation made Erbane want to cough up blood. He couldn't understand what was happening at all. Why had the forbidden artifact he controlled suddenly turned and fallen under Olivia's control?

No, calling it control wasn't quite accurate. The artifact seemed more like it was trying to please Olivia.

A forbidden artifact trying to please a transcendent?

Even with five hundred years of life, Erbane had never heard of such a thing. It was simply absurd.

Is this a Protagonist of the Era?

Everyone said that a Protagonist of the Era defied all logic and was synonymous with the absurd. Today, he had finally witnessed it in the truest sense.