“I always thought if you wanted a bigger fire, you were supposed to imagine a bigger fire. If you wanted a hotter fire, then you imagined a hotter fire. How does understanding the way fire burns make it so much stronger?” Olive’s curiosity was tinged with excitement as Jiran continued to explain.

“I don’t know… yet. But I’m going to figure it out eventually. The closer you get to the truth, the easier it becomes to usurp reality.”

“Usurp… reality? Is that why your flames are blue? Because you are altering reality?”

“No, I believe mana is merely a tool that allows us to reshape the world around us.

“My flames are blue because they only burn hydrogen, one of those elements I talked about before. It’s not difficult to create with a shaping since the gas is created inside our bodies naturally.”

“Truly?! Is this the part where you refuse to tell me more until I perform an immoral task that forever corrupts my mortal soul?” Olive’s eyes were open wide in shocked innocence.

“W-what?! No! Why would you even say something like that?” Jiran was suddenly very aware of the tight grip the gorgeous girl had around his chest.

Her giggle quickly devolved into howling peels of laughter at Jiran’s serious response.

“Oh my, I can’t believe you actually fell for that.”

Is this what I get for helping her wake up? Now her seriously twisted sense of humor is awake along with the rest of her brain. I bet anything it’s her dad’s fault. Being raised around that lunatic would undoubtedly damage a person’s psyche.

“What are you thinking about with that serious face, Jiran? It was merely a joke.”

Definitely not going to ruin the mood by bringing up the emperor.

“I know. Anyways, back to your question of why my flames are blue. After you eat food, it goes into the stomach before traveling through the intestines. Inside the intestines, the food is broken down into usable nutrition and during that process hydrogen is created.

“The gas is impossible to see normally, has no taste or smell, and burns very rapidly and at high heat. Give the image a try. Picture the last meal you ate being broken down and create more of that colorless, odorless gas.”

Jiran demonstrated by creating a small puff of blue flame from the tip of his finger. Olive closed her eyes for a moment before raising her palm near Jiran’s flame. The gas she created was ignited by his flame and burned a steady light blue.

“I did it! This is amazing! I’m just like the fireling now.”

Jiran cringed at the hated name, turning his face away from her. Seeing his reaction, Olive’s white smile widened further.

“What’s wrong, Jiran? Don’t tell me you dislike that name. Fireling, Fireling, Fireling!”

“Stop! It hurts, you’re killing me!” Jiran writhed in agony while being held fast in the higher tier girl’s arms.

Olive laughed at his futile struggles, a single tear forming in the corner of each eye as her mirth built.

In desperation to alleviate the suffering in his mind, Jiran attempted to change the subject.

“What’s the deal with Sophia? Why is she so strong, and why is she in the capital instead of at the border?”

Olive took pity on him as she allowed the conversation to shift.

“Long before I was born, she was known as the Gray Reaper. She held the line against the graymin for over five hundred years. Whenever there was a breach in the empire’s defenses, she would be there to seal it and hold the line for as long as it took. She earned her retirement a thousand times over.

“She’s been teaching new recruits in the capitol ever since, continuing to protect the empire in a new way. She’s been my role model since I was a little girl.” Olive had a far-off look of determination combined with reverence as she talked about the woman.

“Wow. I had no idea she was so ol— I mean amazing.” The warning gleamed in Olive’s eyes and the tightening of her arms caused him to pivot.

“How does she look so young though?”

“You don’t know? That's a surprise. Jiran, your knowledge is so odd. You know all these wondrous things while basic information that everyone knows eludes you.”

“I, ah, had an unusual childhood?” Her squint made it obvious she didn’t believe him in the slightest.

“It’s true! Samris and Lenton refused to tell me anything about anything. They forced me to figure things out on my own. They wouldn't even let me read any books after I met you.”

“That sounds terrible. I’m sorry you had to go through that. At least you were free. After what happened when we were kids, I was locked in the palace and only allowed to leave with a huge contingent of guards whenever a beast farm was ready to be reaped.

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“I’ve never had a real fight without a dozen guards watching my every move and ensuring my safety.”

“Well, maybe today will be a first for you then.”

Jiran slowed their approach as Rokdo Pass came into view. The Meldierr Expanse, a thousand kilometers of thick green forest ended abruptly, giving way to fields of brown shrubs and low hills. The hills only lasted a few kilometers before jagged mountains rose toward the clouds.

One of those mountains had a massive gash that ran all the way through it to the black lands beyond. The pass did not look like natural topography, but more like a giant axe had split the mountain in half.

I wonder if that was caused by an emperor in the past, or one of the more powerful graymin.

Nestled inside the pass was a small fortress and tall stone walls that stretched the entire width of the gorge.

Jiran released Olive and took his first deep breath in what felt like days as her tight grip vanished. They continued their flight toward the fortress with just the speed of their auras. A familiar creeping sensation of disgust rose inside Jiran as he examined the situation below.

They were called the graymin horde for good reason. The land beyond the wall was stuffed so full of the humanoid beasts that it was impossible to see the ground beneath their feet. The horde wriggled like a massive worm that had burrowed through the length of the pass to slam into the walls of the empire.

Jiran could see the sweat beginning to form on Olive’s brow as her body stiffened with instinctive fear. He reached out his hand and placed it reassuringly on her shoulder.

“It’s not as bad as it looks, Olive. They are all low tier. This is normal for the front line. The walls will hold unless a Rook shows up. Meanwhile, the soldiers will slowly whittle away at their numbers while burning the corpses so they don’t pile high enough to clear the wall.

“Sure, they could use some help, and that’s exactly why we are here. I need you to breathe, Olive. Everything is going to be fine, you’ll see,” Jiran watched her carefully as she rapidly dominated her errant emotions.

“Good, I’m going to go ahead and clear out some of the pass to give the soldiers a break. I’m sure they could use a breather. Can you set up Sophia’s talisman while I do that?” He handed her the precious envelope when her dilated pupils returned to normal.

“Yes, I can do that. Thank you, Jiran. I don’t know what came over me.”

“It’s a normal reaction to seeing them like this for the first time. Now let’s go make Sophia proud,” Hearing the name was the final puzzle piece to firm her resolve.

Olive nodded and they sped up in different directions.

Jiran began long before reaching the horde. He pushed mana through his first three channels. The rings on his chest lit up bright blue as the mana within swirled, gaining speed at an alarming rate. When the mana reached a speed just below that of light, he released it through his hands.

The highly compressed mana was converted to gas just as it passed through his palm. It shot through the air and impacted the ground so quickly that it appeared as a solid beam of light. When that compressed, highly volatile substance collided with whatever was unfortunate enough to be in its way, a massive explosion ensued.

Pawns died by the thousands as Jiran flew above the snaking river of flesh and claw. His hands were a blurring light show as beams of energy were let loose repeatedly. Explosions that could easily match a rocket ship launch followed in his wake as the beasts trapped within the pass were incinerated by his flames without mercy.

Within ten minutes, the pass was clear.

Jiran returned to the fortress to be greeted by cheering soldiers who lined the wall. When their cries of admiration reached his ears, his heart sank as embarrassment caused his face to warm.

“The Fireling has come to save us!”

“Emporers’ blessing to the Fireling!”

Before he could descend into the keep, Olive launched herself from a platform on the roof and flew toward him.

“They are charging the talisman now. The acting commanding officer, a captain, pleaded for us to confirm if reports of a Rook in the area are accurate. Apparently, a group of scouts returned last night after spotting one in the second valley beyond the pass.”

Jiran couldn’t help the shiver that ran up his spine at her words. The memory of the first time he had encountered a Rook returned in a flash of fear. The half humanoid, half muscle-demon standing over him. The massive rock infused with insane amounts of mana held lightly in its one massive hand.

Jiran was assaulted by phantom pains from the left side of his body that had been turned to mush as the first rock blasted him out of the sky.

“Okay, let’s go take a look,” He clenched his left fist tightly as if to squeeze out the memory of pain and the fear of brushing so close to death.

No point being stupid about this.

“First, a short detour. I used a lot of mana to clear out the pass.”

Olive appeared confused but followed Jiran with a shrug. They landed inside the woods at the first glade he spotted.

Jiran sat in the lush grass and closed his eyes. While breathing deeply, he formed a series of images in his mind in preparation to rapidly absorb the ambient mana.

With molding, he created a thirty-meter network of spider web threads. Maintaining the web was challenging since it was molding and could not be tied off like a shaping. Next, he pushed mana through his fourth channel, converting it to the elusive element of attraction.

Loose dirt and small rocks began to lift into the air as his mana was spread across the threads. The soil fell back to the ground as his aura coated the webs, blocking the attractive force of the mana coating.

Like a musician playing a stringed instrument, he plucked individual threads which caused the contained attractive force within to oscillate. Like sound waves flowing through the air in reverse, density flooded toward his plucked strings and stuck to them only to be instantly claimed and converted to mana.

Using a molding, shaping, casting, and his aura simultaneously required every ounce of his concentration. He was completely unaware of Olive as she watched his performance.

Jiran had forgotten a very important detail about their first encounter as children. Olive had always been able to see his mana back then and now was no different.

The girl was completely overwhelmed by the impossible sight happening right before her eyes. She wiped away tears as she beheld the beauty of his creation as it constantly drew in density from kilometers away.

“This shouldn't be possible. It’s just like when he absorbed density from the densoon waves. He’s doing it again, breaking all the rules right in front of me.”

Jiran was far too distracted to hear her incoherent mumbling. Had he heard her words, he might have been able to escape before it was too late.

“Did you think you could show me this and expect to ever get away from me again?” As Olive’s heart raced to the strumming of mana-threads, her decision solidified into a resolve as firm as Madra herself.