Griffith tapped my shoulder with a small, knowing smile before turning away, casually mentioning that he’d be resuming his training. But just before he left, I stopped him—there were still questions I needed answered.

“Sir, have you gotten close to completing Earth Force purification?”

He paused, glancing back over his shoulder. Then he nodded. “Shouldn’t be much longer, I think. With every advancement, the process and my absorption rate accelerate. Or well... it approaches what it used to be, but cultivation has slowed since I gained an elemental essence.”

I sighed, already expecting that answer, but dreading it nonetheless. I remembered how my own progress had crawled when I first forged the Water Essence. Cultivation had dulled, then there was also core rotation to add on top of it. And speaking of that—“How about your core? My energy fused when it evolved. Did yours?”

Griffith stroked his beard, winding it slowly around his finger in thought. “Yes. It’s a curious thing, isn’t it? A perfect fusion, yet no increase in density. And still, somehow… my power feels exponentially more potent.”

“Right,” I replied, walking alongside him toward the pillar. “Glad to hear it. Seems like we’re all moving forward.”

He chuckled and settled down near the dragon vein, where Elric and Thea remained transfixed by the lingering vision. “Yeah… Sorry for dropping that on you earlier, Peter. I just wanted to warn you.”

Surprisingly, the Slime wasn’t clinging to Thea as usual. It had grown bold, inching closer to the enormous snake, inch by gelatinous inch, testing the waters, so to speak. The massive beast took notice, eyes briefly flicking toward the jiggling blob. But perhaps sensing it belonged to me, the serpent dismissed it.

And so did I.

Shaking my head, I raised both palms in front of my chest. “No, I’m glad you did. And Elric too when he said something. I’m not just responsible for myself anymore, so it’s good to have someone around to remind me not to be a complete idiot.”

Griffith lowered himself onto the stone, using one arm for balance. “Good. You should train then—purification and everything else.”

I let out a laugh and raised a finger, channeling a thin coil of Fire Force to its tip without releasing it. “I should probably figure out why I blew up first.”

He blinked, brows lifting. “Yeah… wasn’t that just a slip in your technique? What did you call it again, Big Wave?”

“Blasting Wave,” I corrected. “And no… I don’t think it was a mistake. I just, well, I tried making a needle with the fire element, and you saw what happened. Though, I don't think it had anything to do with the technique, but the Force itself.”

That threw him. His posture shifted forward, voice suddenly taut with concern. “Your match is in a few days. You haven’t fully gathered your Internal Force, and you’re telling me you can’t use your own abilities?!”

Maybe he was right. Maybe it really had just been a slip-up. And to prove it—Boom.

I barely drew a fraction of the energy I’d used earlier, but it was enough. The force threw me backward, a full meter off my feet, and I landed with a soft thud.

“Dear gods, Peter,” Griffith muttered. “This could be really bad. What about using it with intent? Or without it?”

I stared at my smoldering finger. Wisps of black smoke curled up from the tip. I didn’t feel pain, just embarrassment, but if that had been a true Blasting Wave, I doubted I’d be in one piece.

“You told me using a fireball was dangerous back when we talked about crafting my own skills,” I said quietly. “In the forest. At camp. Maybe this is just that.” I turned the idea over in my head, trying to believe it.

Surprise, fire is dangerous.

But I decided to try Griffith’s idea first. Last time, I’d attempted to form a needle, so this time, I didn’t care what shape it took. I just wanted something to happen. I stripped my will from the energy, using no intent, just a simple release. I pushed the energy outward through the same spot at the tip of my finger.

Nothing.

“Well?” Griffith asked, watching intently.

I shrugged, keeping my focus steady. “I’m doing it… give me a second.” I activated True Sight to confirm, and sure enough, there it was. Internal Force streamed from my body, quiet and invisible, indistinguishable from the natural forces around us. “It’s there.”

“No explosion is happening. That could be progress,” Griffith muttered, though even he didn’t sound fully convinced by his own reassurance.

A new voice cut in, dismissive and unimpressed. “That was totally useless,” Elric declared as he withdrew his hand from the Dragon Vein. The vision he’d been watching was over, and he turned to face us.

“Not totally,” Thea countered. “There’s so much history to learn from that place! What kind of abilities did they have? Miss Serith’s evolution alone. What if we could replicate something like that?” Her voice brimmed with enthusiasm as she looked between Griffith and me. But her smile faltered when she caught the tension in our expressions. “What’s wrong?”

“Trying to figure out my accident from earlier,” I said, eyes still locked on the faint, wavering trail of invisible heat drifting downward from my fingertip. It wasn’t dispersing like smoke, but it reminded me of something, kinda like... gas.

I took a step back to test a hunch. The trail followed, clinging to me like an afterimage.

I was nearly out of energy, but it was enough.

I snapped.

No fiery eruption launching me through the air.

Instead, like a spark racing along a hidden wire like something from an old film. A thin thread of flame ignited at my fingertip, raced along the invisible path I’d laid, and then—

Boom.

I blinked.

“Cool,” I whispered, more to myself than anyone else. The implications unraveled in my mind faster than the flame had traveled. With enough energy and assuming there weren’t too many limitations, I think I could turn any battlefield into a live minefield.

“Peter?” Thea called, snapping my attention back to the present. “What did you just do?”

I quickly described what I’d sensed and seen. how the force followed the path of flame energy before detonating at the endpoint.

Everyone went quiet.

“It exploded at the end, right?” Elric asked, pointing toward the still-glowing patch of ground where the blast had triggered. “So… what if you could stack it? Drop more energy at different points, and set off multiple detonations?”

He wore a strange, sly smile. The kind that usually made my skin crawl, but this time, I couldn’t help but admire the twisted brilliance in his idea.

“That sounds awesome. Chain explosions,” I breathed.

Elric nodded, self-satisfied.

“But it was slow,” Thea pointed out, her pragmatic voice slicing through our excitement. She walked closer, standing beside me. “In a real battle, people would see the trail light up as it goes. All they’d have to do is watch the path and dodge. It’s predictable.”

“Then thank your little sister—my student—for the solution,” I shot back, unable to resist the small, smug thrill of stealing some credit through her discovery. If I could compress water energy, why not fire? There had to be a way to both guide, and speed it up.

Thea raised a single brow, unimpressed. She crossed her arms, clearly waiting for an actual answer.

“I just need to practice,” I explained. “Same way I did with water. As you know, intent affects Force differently depending on how it’s used, but Velea discovered a method to control uncontrolled Force as you know. I just need to refine it for this.”

“In… three days?” Elric asked, voice lilting. “So you need to refill your channels, purify your body again, and master a technique you’re barely even practiced in?”

With vigor and finality, my voice rang out with chest puffed, aura radiating with borrowed confidence. “Yes. Yes I do.”

Thea sighed and placed a hand to her forehead, shaking her head slowly. “You should be more worried about this.”

I shrugged, unbothered. “Serith already said it herself. If I’m beaten, then I’m beaten. There’s no dramatic twist this time. Worst case? I embarrass her. Maybe bring her some political blowback or reputation damage. But that’s it.”

After a moment of silence, Griffith finally spoke, his tone calm but pointed. “Then start purification. Use your core to generate Water Force. You’ve already got familiarity with ice, so it’ll be more stable. You can circle back to the new element later.”

I scratched the back of my neck, reluctant. “Haven’t even tested the new core yet. Natural Force seemed to strengthen the second element. Water and Fire Force? Something tells me—”

I stopped mid-thought.

Actually… in the visions, water had always been shown calming fire. Not clashing with it. Maybe they wouldn’t war against each other inside me. Maybe they’d complement, or even merge.

Well, I’d find out soon enough.

Worst case? I dump all my fire energy into the egg and follow Griffith’s plan.

“I’m going to train,” he announced, closing his eyes as he shifted into a meditative posture. His voice softened into a final piece of advice. “Don’t waste too much time playing around.”

Thea stepped up beside me and gently placed a hand on my shoulder. “You train. I’m going to try forming another Fire Essence. Plus, I’ve got to keep up with Spiritual Refinement, so we’ll all need plenty of conversion time.”

I walked over to the stone pillar and settled beside it, the great snake still coiled nearby. As I got comfortable, something in the corner of my vision caught my eye.

The slime.

It had made its way across the clearing and was now gliding across the serpent’s vast, scaled body. A tiny blob next to an ancient beast, oozing along as if unbothered by the danger.

Thea took a seat in front of me, Elric off to the side.

They both noticed the slime, too.

“What’s it doing?” I asked her, watching the odd display.

She gave a half-shrug. “How should I know? Maybe it wants to make friends.”

The slime came to a halt right at a small injury.

At a patch of double-layered scales, where a new layer had begun to grow beneath the old. A wound that hadn’t quite finished healing. It seemed the serpent didn’t shed the usual way… though I wasn’t exactly an expert on snake biology or scale replacement.

Still, in that instant, I understood exactly what the slime wanted.

I closed my eyes, a smirk tugging at the corners of my mouth.

Guess we all want to get stronger.

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