Mana rolled around her, the world transforming into some kind of strange state. The world turned into a mixture of colors, chaotically combining like a bunch of toddlers had been told to try painting on a simple canvas.

Althea had been in too many illusions to not recognize one. The land was still firm beneath her feet. The air might be still, but that was easy enough to do. There was a stench of mana in the air, floating around as it overwhelmed the natural mana. A thin layer she could sense beyond. There was only one reason to make a thin layer like this, to give the illusion that the person was immensely powerful.

"So you claim that you are not related to the attacker." a voice boomed. Althea had claimed nothing of the sort, but this was something she would be glad to claim. There was, however, an issue that the attacker had failed to consider.

If there was someone immensely powerful on the island that resided in the lake, why had it not killed the attacker themselves? If it was the same person, then they had survived and gone on to hurt the Air trees.

"What are you?" she asked. There were two options before her. The creature was capable of killing people, either because it did not have the power, or, more likely, it had some kind of restriction on it. Perhaps it was trapped here.

On the other hand, the creature could be as powerful as it was showing and there were simply two people eager to damage the source of the precious magical fauna that they had benefited from. If that was indeed what had angered the creature. Perhaps the attacker it was referring to had attacked the creature itself.

A foolish endeavor if it was even half as powerful as it had shown. Not every beast looked fearsome, and it was easy enough for a beast as skilled in illusion as this one to act harmless. Now she was getting ahead of herself. The beast hadn’t even shown itself, and she was already presuming it was harmless.

The beast had not answered her as she thought over her situation, and it occurred to her that if it was making an illusion so well, it likely could read her mind too. Was that what it was doing? Why had she not detected it?

"What a curious thing you are." it said. "Why do you not break through to the Master stage?"

Althea furrowed her eyebrows. "I have not reached that level yet."

"Yes, you have. Do not lie to me. What you have accumulated is more than enough. What holds you back is you, you have not prompted your core to begin the process. If you had, then you would already be a Master."

Was the beast right? The only way she had to tell was to actually try breaking through. But she wasn't done with this stage yet. There was still so much for her to learn. Not to mention that she would be kicked out of the island the second she broke through, the space was too delicate for a Master stage.

"Do you want me or leave?" she asked, guessing what it had wanted with its suggestions.

"Yes, you are too powerful." the beast replied. "I sensed your mana attempt to reach beyond my illusion, nearly shattering it. That is not a power a Journeyman should have."

Althea shrugged, having no idea what he was talking about. Was her mana acting without her wanting it to, or something? "I am not a normal Journeyman."

"I am sure." the beast said. Even though she could not see it, she was sure the beast was staring at her.

"What do you want?"

"To keep you trapped here so that you get bored and leave. Then I can go forth and hunt."

Althea raised an eyebrow. "So you can kill. I had wondered if you were under a restriction."

The beast growled. "I am. I am sure you will discover it soon enough. But it does not matter, your kind are greedy enough to do the work for me."

Althea paused. The beast had agreed rather readily. So it really didn't have any intention of letting her back into the island.

"Do you guard this place?" she asked, changing tactics.

"No." the beast growled again, but did not clarify.

Althea had hoped it would supply her with some more information The Empires had used the island for a long time, but they didn't understand it very well. There was still much they did not know about it. The likelihood of something unknown being used to block them was very high.

"Why do you hunt?" she asked.

"There is one among you that has harmed this place. I must ensure he does not leave." the beast said.

"The one who chopped down the largest Air tree?" she asked.

The beast let out a low, deep purring sound. Althea did not think it was a complementary gesture. "I was not aware of this. I must heal it. Is it already dead?"

"No, but it is close." she said." The tree only had a little mana left in it." If the beast could not leave this place, then it might need help. And she was the closest mobile individual.

"If its trunk has been cut, then it is already dead." The beast thundered. Althea pressed her hands against her ears, but even she didn't expect that to make a difference.

“The attacker must die.”

The statement sent a thought shooting through her head.

"I can practically hear what you are thinking." the beast commented.

So it couldn't actually hear her thinking. How delightful. Now if only her head would stop pounding.

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"I shall offer you a Fruit of Alto and a Fruit of Fire if you promise to leave after killing the attacker." the beast said.

Althea paused, considering. There was little for her to do after that, but she could help others. On the other hand, the beast seemed powerful enough to keep her here, trapped in its illusion. Then she wouldn't get the fruits either.

“That might not be enough.”

"And what more do you want?" the beast asked in a dry voice.

"Just enough fruits for my friends." she smiled.

"I shall give you five each." the beast snorted. " Do not bother trying to get more, they're all I have. The volcano and the lake are blocked this time, buried under the island. There are none for even me to harvest."

Althea hadn't heard of the volcano being buried before. That was strange. Even if the beast was lying, she shouldn't be greedy. The beast might decide to kill her, or have someone else kill her while she was helpless in the illusion.

"I can do that." she replied. The illusion fell away, leaving her standing in the middle of a forest. A forest that looked eerily similar to the one that had closed in on itself.

A groan interrupted her concentration, making her turn towards its source. Isa lay on the ground along with the others.

Althea crouched down, trying to see what was wrong with them. There were no physical injuries that she could see. Ten fruits flopped down beside her. Althea scooped them up immediately, depositing them into her spacial artifact. That was still one fruit less than was necessary. There were three people from Diery, and three from the elemental sect.

That made six, and she had five fruits. Now she could just not give it to Vanessa, but she needed her to be as powerful as she could for the Human cup. And she needed it...actually, why did she need it? The fruit would not help her breakthrough, she was already at the peak of Journeyman.

Perhaps she should give it to them. But on the other hand, the fruit was precious. There could be some special meaning in it that she would regret missing. A fruit that helped every element breakthrough had to be different from a fruit that helped only one element.

A plop told the arrival of another fruit on the ground. A fruit of Alto.

Althea froze, looking up at the trees.

Couldn't the beast not read her mind? How did it... he’d lied, hadn't he. A groan escaped her as she realized she had been fooled. So convinced by the beast words that she hadn't cared what she thought, and given the beast whatever it wanted. Perhaps assurance that she would follow through with the deal. Yes, she should presume that. There was no reason to dwell on it. Or obsess about what information she gave him. Or why she was not even able to sense its intrusion.

"Is that..." Gerard said, staring at the fruit. Althea waves her hand, removing six other fruits, including two fruits of Fire.

"The fruit of Alto, yes. I made a deal with the beast." she said. "There are also fruits of fire for those that need them."

Sun got up almost immediately, hesitating as he looked towards her. Althea nodded, and he immediately snatched a fruit of fire up. Althea took one too, biting into it. Taking this one before the fruit of Alto was probably a good idea.

An image appeared before her, just like before.

A fire burning in the darkness.

Just burning, burning as time flowed.

Althea could distinctly feel the ages pass as the fire burnt. A near impossibility, the air would run out long before. But in her vision it did. The vision closed, leaving her puzzled. A part of her wanted to simply eat the fruit of alto, but she stopped herself. There had to be something she was missing.

What did the vision mean?

The fire was burning. That was the only thing she saw. Fire, burning.

Just burning.

The image appeared in her mind again, having a certain calming presence to it as she remembered the image. The fire was burning, and burning, a constant that defied the very laws of nature. Fire did not burn forever. Fire was not immune to change.

But had the laws of nature not been there, this would happen. And then it struck her. Like something had whispered it into her mind. A revelation she could not track to its source.

Fire was trying to tell her what it was. Fire was misunderstood. That was it was telling her. Fire did not want to consume, it just wanted to live. If it had a choice, it would seek to simply burn. Not consume like so many, including her, had presumed it wanted. Fire was simple, perhaps the simplest of the elements.

Fire just wanted to survive.

A calming presence filled her as she felt her core shift, power filling her. A part of her, or her magic, had found completion. And then grew heavy. There seemed to be too much fire in her core, enough to cause trouble, but she could feel that her understanding of fire was more than any other element.

Fire just wanted to burn. Althea was still reeling with how powerful that simple information was. So powerful that she could feel the barrier of Master stage before her, close enough that she could feel how easy it would be to breakthrough. Just a single thought, and she would be there, across that boundary that separated so many.

Opening her eyes, she found the rest of them staring at her again.

"What happened?" she asked.

"There was a...phenomenon. A massive rush of fire mana." Isa said.

"Oh." was the only thing she could say. A phenomenon was not exactly unexpected.

Sun looked upset.

"What did you see, your grace?" he asked hesitantly.

Althea sighed. "Fire burning in darkness."

Sun looked sad.

"And here I thought the fruit was faulty."

"No, I expect it is simply more powerful than normal. Remember what you saw, Sun, it will help you greatly in the future." she said, getting up. A dizzy feeling came over her as she felt the fire mana around her. For the first time, she could sense something primal, something powerful within it. A feeling that seemed to resonate with her.

A feeling of being alone, of sticking to her in hope. Fire was misunderstood, feared, and it felt alone. Even air avoided it, angry that fire dared to consume it. Wait, why was air so important? Fire spun in front of her, igniting in air as it consumed air in excess. Althea watched in fascination as the fire mana multiplied. The mana grew stronger, still remaining in the same position. And then it transformed. Transformed into something new, and powerful.

No, not new, she corrected herself. A combination of air and fire mana, a kind of evolution. Althea could sense inside it. Fire burnt in peace, and air roamed around, free of any interference. The substance was rejecting foreign forces. The two forms of mana had banded together to achieve it.

No, that was incorrect too.

Fire had been the one doing it, consuming air like it had. What had it done? Althea wasn't sure. But she could experiment later. There was however one thing she had discovered with this. Fire responded to her much, much faster than it had before, and much more thoroughly. Like it was helping a relative. Like it was her friend.

Title gained: [Fire friend]

Fire burns. Fire destroys. Fire is your friend.

...

[Error]

Althea stared at the announcement, letting it sink in. A title about being a friend to fire...and then System Error.

Did the System just fail to compute because of her?

Althea knew this was a serious matter, that she should try to understand this. This could be something not caused by her. This could be an important discovery into the workings of the System.

But for some strange reason, she simply could not stop laughing.