The deep underground magma deep pit was quiet, but it was far from safe.
The Earth-Core Magma Giant beast had settled peacefully upon its black glass shelf. Even so, three hundred years of trapped earth-heat energy had turned the enclosed fiery chamber into a huge pressure vessel. Heat radiated from every square inch of the towering cave walls. The surrounding air shone with distorting mirages. The stone floor was so hot that even Tie Shan’s heavy dragon-scale boots began to emit thin wisps of bitter, curling smoke.
Land-mapper Lu-Lu crouched low on the dark rock ridge, shielding his whiskers with a wet otter-hide towel. He held a brass hydrometer and a slate deep-rock tablet. He tapped the instruments with trembling claws.
“Lord Lin Xiao!” Land-mapper Lu-Lu called out, his voice hoarse against the dry, scorching air. “The hydro-heat counts are terrifying! For three hundred years, the Giant beast’s bulk acted as a dam. The magma chamber behind it has white-hot to over thirteen hundred degrees of fire heat! Meanwhile, the trapped underground ice-slow river is high-pressure to nearly two crushing deep-sea pressure of crushing pressure! If we break the seal right now, the sudden crash between sub-zero ice-slow meltwater and liquid rock will trigger a flash vaporization disaster!”
