After a week of relentless burning—destroying paintings, vintage cars, and pallets of luxury goods—the system delivered its first real reward.
[Ding! Host has consistently met burning quotas. Demonstrating sufficient commitment to destruction. Unlocking Tier 1 Perk: Pyrokinesis (Minor).]
A new surge of knowledge flooded Mo Chen's mind. It was a simple, brutal technique: the ability to generate and control a small, intense flame from her fingertips. It wasn't enough to fight an army, but it was a start. A literal spark of power.
She tested it in her warehouse, focusing her will on a piece of scrap wood. A tiny, blue-white flame flickered to life at her fingertip. With a thought, she sent it flying. It hit the wood and clung, burning with an unnatural heat until the wood was nothing but embers.
It was a direct weapon. And it was fueled by her rage.
The burning also had another, unexpected effect. The constant, violent expenditure of energy was honing her body. Her reflexes were sharper, her senses heightened. She wasn't cultivating Qi like her mother; she was forging herself in a crucible of consumption.
She used her new "art project" cover to make a purchase that was both a burn and an investment in her future vengeance. She bought a private, decommissioned airfield in the Nevada desert for $5 million. It was a physical asset. And she "destroyed" it by using her plasma cutter to sever the control tower's support beams, sending it crashing to the ground in a cloud of dust.
The system approved the massive burn, netting her a significant $25,000 in personal funds. The airfield was now hers, a ruined, private place where no one would ask questions. A perfect base for whatever came next.
She was building her arsenal: a pittance of cash, a spark of elemental power, a hidden base, and a cold, burning hatred that grew with every dollar she turned to ash.