Edison pushed open the heavy stone door to his chamber.
Before he could step inside, a white ball of fluff crashed into his legs.
"Hey Snubby," Edison laughed as the little poro jumped up to lick his hands.
"Okay, okay, I get it." He swiped his hand across the purple orb on his waist and pulled out a Poro-Snax for him.
"It's a her," Guide corrected.
"Does it really matter?" Edison asked, holding the treat just out of reach as Snubby danced on her tiny feet.
"In your old world, people got very upset about this sort of thing."
Edison groaned. "Don't remind me about that nonsense."
He tossed the treat and Snubby caught it mid-air.
"Even if World War III broke out, those psycho would still be debating about their pronouns."
"I just find it funny," Guide admitted.
Snubby finished her snack and looked up expectantly.
"And you're really gonna keep that name?"
"What? It suits her!" Edison defended.
Then he froze.
"Guide... I think it's ready."
The playful tone vanished from Guide's voice.
"Hm... So, you want to do it now?"
Edison grinned. "Damn right. I've waited five months for this."
He sat on the stone bed, every muscle taut with concentration.
His breathing slowed to near stillness as he turned his focus inward, visualizing the swirling strom of Primordial Flame compressed within his body.
The heat pulsed through his veins like liquid fire, contained only through months of disciplined control.
When he'd first discovered his ability to channel the forge's primordial flames, excitement had overwhelmed him.
But Guide pulled him back into reality.
"This is just a Minor skill," Guide had explained. "You're not creating fire - you're absorbing it from the forge around you."
"Think of yourself as a waterskin. You can hold water from a spring, but the moment you're removed from the source..."
A pause. "You understand."
For weeks, Edison had tried everything to make his body generate the flames naturally but it was impossible.
True generation required containing a flame source - a self-sustaining fragment of the flame from this mountain.
But the biological constraints were absolute: no mortal vessel could withstand that power.
it's like trying to build a nuclear reactor inside the human body.
He'll melt from the inside out.
Guide offered another solution: "Store the source in an object."
That's when he remembered Petricite - a rare Demacian mineral that could contain magic.
A vessel made from Petricite could contain the source.
But even the most simple one would cost 5,000 SP.
So Edison saved all of his SP he obtained from the challenge and commissioned Guide to design a Petricite vessel.
He also stopped using his flames unnecessarily.
For five long months, he absorbed and compressed, absorbed and compressed, storing every spark he could gather.
Now, pressed deep in his core, he felt it - a swirling ball of fire at its absolute limit.
Snubby whimpered, sensing the heat radiating from him.
Sweat dripped down Edison's face as he whispered through clenched teeth.
"Guide, give me the vessel."
With a flash of blue light, the Petricite vessel materialized before Edison, hovering at chest height.
It was a palm-sized white stone, its surface etched with intricate runes that formed what appeared to be a stylized crest, the markings pulsing faintly.
Edison grasped the vessel with both hands, his fingers fitting perfectly into subtle indentations along its sides.
He took one deep breath before beginning the transfer.
The process was agonizingly slow.
Five months' worth of compressed Primordial Flame surged through his hands like molten steel, each thread of fire leaving searing trails as it traveled from his body toward his hands.
The vessel grew hotter with each passing second, the runes along its surface glowing brighter as they activated in sequence.
Inside the stone, the transferred flames rebelled - lashing against their new confines like a caged beast.
Edison gritted his teeth as he felt the unstable energy through his palms, the vessel trembling violently as it struggled to contain the raw power.
Sweat evaporated instantly from his brow, creating a halo of steam around his head.
"Stabilization at 47%," Guide reported, its voice strained. "The containment runes are holding, keep going."
Edison responded by pushing harder, his Hyper Adaptability working overtime to mitigate the feedback burns crawling up his arms.
The compression process reminded him of his earliest smithing lessons with Fabby - the way raw ore needed to be folded upon itself countless times to become something greater.
Hour marks passed unnoticed.
The chamber's temperature fluctuated wildly as Edison wrestled the primordial energy into submission.
At last, when his muscles trembled from exhaustion and his vision blurred at the edges, the vessel's vibrations subsided.
He opened his hands.
The Petricite stone rested calmly in his palm, its surface now bearing a faint blue luminescence. When Edison focused his inner sense, he peered through the stone's layers to see the result of his labor.
A tiny blue flame no larger than a candle's wick pulsed at the center. As he watched, the color shifted gradually through the spectrum - blue to white, then settling into a steady golden-orange glow.
A hoarse laugh escaped Edison's cracked lips.
He collapsed backward onto the stone bed, the vessel clutched protectively to his chest.
His entire body ached as if he ran a hundred miles, but the triumphant grin never left his face.
"I did it..." he gasped, staring at the ceiling as his breathing slowly normalized.
The vessel's warmth against his chest felt different now - not the borrowed heat of the forge, but something intimately his own.
Snubby crept forward, sniffing cautiously at the glowing stone.
Guide's interface flickered to life.
[Primordial Flame Vessel]
[Flame Source Stability: 97%]
[Estimated Duration: Permanent (with proper maintenance)]
Guide's voice cut through Edison's exhausted euphoria. "Before you celebrate too hard, there's a limitation you should know."
Edison raised an eyebrow, still catching his breath. "What now?"
Guide explained. "That flame source is stable and self-sustaining, but it is also tiny. You can only draw small amounts of flame at a time. Drain it too fast and—"
"And it goes out. Got it," Edison finished, finally sitting up.
He examined the glowing vessel in his palm, watching the steady pulse of golden flame within.
Despite the warning, his grin didn't fade. "Still better than nothing."
"Actually, it's better than I expected," Guide admitted. "97% stability is... impressive for a first attempt."
Edison snorted. "Was that a compliment? I might faint."
"Don't get used to it," Guide deadpanned. Then, after a beat: "So, are you going to name it?"
"Name it?" Edison blinked.
"You're not seriously going to call it 'Primordial Flame Vessel' forever, are you?"
Edison turned the stone over in his hands, considering.
The glow reflected in his eyes as he thought.
After a long moment, he nodded to himself.
"How about... The Source," he declared. "The Primordial Source!"
Guide's sigh was almost physical. "Just call it The Source."
"Yeah... let's just call it The Source..."