"Is this furnace fire actually alive?"

After receiving this information, Lin Yu made his judgment in just a few seconds.

He walked straight to the side of the furnace, stretched out his foot, and gently kicked the lower edge of the furnace.

"Hey, come out."

Fern was greatly shocked by Lin Yu's actions, but she quickly reacted.

"Wait, does that mean the medical staff is hiding inside the furnace?"

"He's inside," Lin Yu said calmly, "but not exactly hiding."

He truthfully explained the situation to Fern.

And then, the flames leaped, coalescing above the furnace into a vague, indistinct face.

"Hey, neither of you is injured, what do you want me for?!"

"The Healing Station isn't a place for cowards like you to hide from the fight!"

The fire in the furnace rumbled, speaking in a rough, gravelly tone.

Fern was utterly astonished by this sight.

"What kind of life form is this?"

"Ignorant human contestant, I am a Monster," the "mouth" on the fiery face opened and closed, spewing sparks and scorching heat, "I am an ancient and mysterious existence, the most perfect life form. Even among Monsters, I am one of the most powerful."

"A Monster?"

Upon hearing this, Lin Yu slightly frowned.

He recalled that in the information Shen Bingmiao provided, there were indeed Monsters.

This was a rare life form, mostly existing as "energy bodies."

There were three more common types: Earthquake Monsters, Hurricane Monsters, and Thunderstorm Monsters.

They were often born from various natural disasters in the Black Marsh, could not reproduce, had long lifespans, but were also extremely rare.

A single Monster could often live for three to five hundred years.

Monsters were the favorite "assistants" of powerful human shamans and the Spiritkin. Good Monsters were even treated as a kind of inherited treasure, passed down through generations until they completely dissipated.

Since the information didn't mention "flame" type Monsters, Lin Yu hadn't noticed at first.

But he quickly realized that if this fire was alive, it perfectly fit the definition of a Monster.

It was likely a Monster born from a mountain fire.

The fiery, face-shaped visage spoke again, rambling and proud.

"I have survived since ancient times, witnessed countless battles and life-and-death struggles... So you two fools, you should feel fortunate that I came to this Glory Festival today to manage the Healing Station and heal your wounds!"

As the Flame Monster spoke, Lin Yu narrowed his eyes.

Survived since ancient times?

He began recalling the information Shen Bingmiao provided about the weaknesses of Monsters.

Although this life form moved as an "energy body," their essence wasn't some ghost-like existence;it was just that ninety percent of their bodies were composed of energy.

Deep within the energy bodies of Monsters, there was still a solid part that was wrapped and surrounded... The great human shamans called that thing the "Eye"—and depending on the type of Monster, the specific name for the Eye varied.

Usually, it was a simple word combining the Monster's form of existence with "Eye."

Like "Wind Eye," "Mountain Eye," and so on.

To kill a Monster, you had to destroy its Eye: Compared to the often exaggeratedly large, even actively expandable outer energy body, this "Eye" was often relatively fragile.

For this, Shen Bingmiao's annotation suggestion was: "Use high-penetration long-range attacks or disrupt the outer layer with energy interference, then use explosive projectiles."

After running this method through his mind, Lin Yu quickly thought of the best way to kill this thing.

"This Monster is probably some kind of Flame Monster, raised and kept here by some Barbarian or Blood Rakshasa, so the outer furnace itself imposes restrictions on it. Its outer flames can't expand infinitely."

"If we want to kill it, we can use the surrounding freezing effect of [Frost Blessing] to forcibly neutralize the high temperature inside the furnace, weaken the outer flames, then throw a self-destruct robot inside to blow up its 'Eye'."

"Or, we could refresh the [One-Shot Pistol] and just shoot it..."

After figuring out how to quickly kill this thing, Lin Yu instantly felt much more at ease.

He didn't implement it immediately—just having the plan was enough.

Lin Yu even showed a friendly and peaceful attitude towards this Flame Monster for which he had just formulated an effective killing plan.

"We just want, as individual contestants, to obtain the weapons that this edition's rules can provide for us."

He spoke calmly. The flames composing the Monster's face flickered for a moment, as if it were "clicking its tongue."

"Ha, alright, weapons... there is such a thing."

As it spoke, the face thought for a moment, then conjured a large, purplish-red flame hand.

This flaming hand, blazing fiercely, flew out of the furnace's range and began "rummaging" through the surrounding sacks and wooden crates.

Surprisingly, this purple flame hand didn't ignite anything around it.

As the hand flew past him, Lin Yu quietly assessed it. The temperature was very low, probably just slightly higher than his own body temperature.

It might even be slightly inferior to his own temperature when he had a fever! 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

But that made sense. If this thing was a Monster that indiscriminately burned everything, it wouldn't be in charge of a Healing Station!

At least, with no one else here, those eight severely injured, near-death contestants should be its responsibility for treatment, bandaging, and other care.

After a bout of rummaging, the large flame hand soon dragged out a rare metal chest.

This chest was enormous, practically like a huge, wholesale ice cream freezer.

"Boom!"

The large flame hand roughly ripped the lock off the metal chest, opened it, and revealed the arrayed, gleaming, coldly shimmering bronze weapons inside.

"Here, pick one that suits you—they're all forged by Beastkin Craftsmen, every single one is no ordinary item!"

The flame spoke proudly, as if it had participated in the forging.

Looking at the dazzling array of weapons, Fern's face lit up with the joy of a bountiful harvest.

"Whoa, so many weapons!"

She squatted down and began seriously picking through them, as if shopping at a vegetable market.

Lin Yu could tell that Fern seemed very skilled with bladed weapons—even though she was an "archer" helping from a distance with a crossbow in the previous fight, she was clearly no ordinary hand in close combat either.

She picked up a straight blade about the length of her forearm, casually swung it a couple of times, thrust twice, then flicked it a few times, finally sheathing it, lightly tossing it up, and catching it again.

Her movements were incredibly fluid.

From this, Lin Yu could judge that she was definitely an expert with swords and blades.

Because only someone who frequently used weapons would test a weapon's length and weight like that and be able to do it so smoothly.

So...

Lin Yu asked directly.

"You're very skilled with bladed mid-to-short weapons, Hunter."