My Charity System made me too OP

He leapt forward, sword drawn—but before he could strike, the creature pointed a finger—

And Leon's blade ignited in white fire.

He staggered back, nearly dropping it.

But it didn't burn him.

It accepted him.

Roselia shouted, "Leon—your arm!"

He looked.

His right forearm was glowing—a sigil of flame, newly burned into his skin.

And he understood.

This wasn't an attack.

It was a trial.

The Trial of the Pyre Core

The fire elemental slammed its fists into the earth, sending molten shockwaves across the chamber. Aris vaulted clear, landing on a side spire. Kael erected a kinetic shield for Roselia, who launched a blast of water glyphs—but the heat vaporized them before impact.

Leon tightened his grip. His sword now shimmered with a flame he didn't know how to control—but it responded to his will.

"Fine," he muttered. "Let's try this your way."

He charged.

The blade met molten skin—and sliced through.

Not because of strength.

Because it belonged here.

The elemental reared back, and this time it roared aloud—a bellow of ancient pain and fury.

Leon leapt again—this time wreathed in fire.

It didn't burn him.

It empowered him.

A flame-shield encased his limbs. His eyes glowed orange.

The elemental raised its arms for a final slam—

And Leon drove his sword into its heart.

BOOM.

The chamber went white.

When the light faded, the creature was gone.

Only the molten pool remained—cooling.

And in the center, rising slowly from the lava, was a glowing shard.

Leon walked forward and reached for it.

When he touched it, the flame-mark on his arm blazed—and then settled.

Kael's readings spiked. "Leon… you just absorbed a Primordial Flame Core."

Roselia stared. "He's not rhythm-bound anymore."

Aris nodded once. "He's something else now."

Leon didn't speak.

He turned his palm upward—and a small, controlled flame flickered above it.

Not magic.

Not Pulse.

Just fire.

Alive.

Waiting.

The Hollow – Temporary Encampment, Depth Sector B.5

The flames from the Pyre Cradle still danced in Leon's memory.

Even now, as he sat alone beside the faint glow of their makeshift heater, the flicker of fire traced his fingertips. It didn't burn. It obeyed. Like an extension of his body—waiting for his command.

He closed his hand and the flame vanished.

Behind him, the rest of the team regrouped.

Roselia ran diagnostics across her glyph systems, recalibrating them to deal with high-altitude pressure and constant motion. Kael was sketching a rough terrain model based on seismic and heat signatures from the layer ahead. Aris stood off to the side, leaning against a cracked stone pillar, watching Leon—not as leader, not as superior, but as someone different now. Changed.

Leon finally stood and faced them.

"All right. We're not done," he said.

No surprise.

They all turned toward him, listening.

Leon pulled up Kael's data projection—Sector C, codenamed The Breach Below. It was a spiraling crevasse stretching down hundreds of meters, with unpredictable updrafts and suspended stone platforms floating without any visible support.

"Wind sector," Kael said. "Or something close. All physics go weird there. Think anti-gravity meets vertical maelstrom."

"No pulse network either," Roselia added. "That means no anchor. If we fall, we fall forever."

Leon nodded.

"But it's where the Wind Core is. And like Flame, we'll need to take it before the next sector opens."

Aris spoke quietly. "Do you feel it? The pull?"

Leon looked at his hand again. "Yeah."

Roselia crossed her arms. "And if this Core doesn't give you power? What if it takes something instead?"

Leon glanced at her—and for a second, the fire in his eyes dimmed to something calm.

"Then it takes. We didn't come this far to stall. We complete the Hollow, or we don't make it out."

Kael smirked. "So the fire's not just in your hands now, huh?"

"No," Leon said. "It's in all of us."

He turned back to the Breach schematic.

"We go together. Formation: Vertical diamond. Aris and I up front. Kael anchors the base. Roselia controls lateral platforms with sealcasts. This isn't a charge. It's a climb."

Aris nodded. "What about the element itself?"

Leon hesitated—then held up the glowing shard from the Pyre Cradle.

The moment it was exposed, the flames around it flickered strangely.

Then bent.

South.

Toward the deep wind sector.

Kael blinked. "It's pointing us?"

Leon smiled faintly. "The Cores want to be found."

He turned, sheathing his fire-marked sword.

"Let's not keep the wind waiting."

Descent into Sector C: The Breach Below

Hours later

The rock beneath their boots gave way to nothing.

No floor. No walls. Just air and stone—floating.

Platforms hovered mid-void, drifting in slow arcs. Wind whipped past them in silent howls, though there was no sky above—only endless Hollow darkness.

Kael clung to the cliff edge, eyes wide. "Okay, this is not wind. This is sentient sky madness."

Roselia cast anchor glyphs into thin air to give them safe jump paths.

Leon stood at the cliff's edge, eyeing the largest of the floating platforms far ahead—and the silver-blue beacon flickering gently atop it.

"The Wind Core," he said.

But before he could give the jump order—

A shape appeared mid-air.

No wings.

No noise.

Just drift.

A humanoid made of feathers and cloud, cloaked in wind and silence, floated before them. It tilted its head toward Leon.

Then its chest cracked open—

And a piercing blast of wind shattered the ledge.

The team fell.

And the Wind Trial had begun.

Substructure One – Sector C: The Breach Below

Vertical Descent: Unstable Air Domain

The world spun.

Stone, sky, wind—all blurred into a single roar as Leon plummeted through the endless drop. His squadmates were falling too, scattered across different columns of updraft and crosswind. But he didn't look back.

Because right in front of him—

The Wind Warden hovered with unnatural grace, arms spread, surrounded by dozens of floating rings of slicing air.

Its face was blank. Its body translucent like mist wrapped in armor.

And it wasn't falling.

It was flying.

Leon twisted midair and forced himself to stabilize his position—spreading his limbs wide, riding the pressure like he'd been trained to on zero-g drills. His flame core flickered at his side, flaring as he reached deep—

But the fire sputtered.