The women frowned upon hearing such strange reasoning.

“What do you mean? Your masters are against that man's existence! I acted on their behalf and now you want to end my deployment?” she argued in anger and frustration.

“Questions unsatisfactory. Rules can't be overruled. It is the law that had you broken. You have served not good enough. Proceeding with the punishment.” The mouth twitched and changed to a strike of light.

“T-this? This is unreasonable! I demand the overrule! Masters will be kind enough to understand! It is for their benefit!”

Alas, the voice did not listen.

Women tried to catch the light with her remaining arm that had the claw, but it all went through her body. This beam of light twisted into her chest while a strange strand of energy went around her hand.

As if the hand itself was not hers, she cried out in shock and unwillingness as her hand was forced into her chest. There, it grabbed something important. Something that every living being had to have.

Claw placed a still beating heart forward within the pile of blood and flash, that was, her chest.

Huff! Huff!

Her breath was unsteady. Her awareness wasn't lost, as this was still a scratch on someone like her. She felt a tremendous shock that caused her to fall to the ground.

“N-no! Stop this!” she mumbled as she tried to force her up with her now freed clawed hand beside the wall.

“Candle punishment, according to a rule set by The Ones.” The voice sounded from the unknown.

A candle appeared from thin air and pierced her heart. A flame on the top of the candle began to melt it away. Very little, but over time, it would disappear. This was a time limit upon her punishment.

Time was now in her prison. Here in this hallway.

Alone, she would wait until the flame reached her heart, until she would have her release.

She cried out in her shrill voice. In every language she could fathom, she cursed the living and the dead.

Unfortunately for her, the wails did not reach anyone, as there was no one to hear them. A voice from earlier was the general mastermind of this prison. One which was not conscious, or should not be.

That way, The Ones had always infinite flow or rules without their interventions. Now, it stabbed their back, as something that wasn't meant to happen reached a dangerous result.

“Curse you!! Wisher!” She forced her last shout before accepting her fate. Stabbing pain in her heart was twisting her core... It went deeper into her being as she collapsed in pain on the floor. The energy within herself began to cease to exist.

----------------------------------------

Back in the real world. Sarey and Allan were awaited the arrival of 36.

Seeing the appearance of the light after quite a long time left Sarey surprised. It took longer than usual. Portal forced the figurine into the unsteady ground, where it crushed the rocks under its weight.

“Hehhehehehehhehe.” A wild laughter was the first thing the pair heard. Both were stunned by his tone and laughter.

“What a good day! Excellent! Magnificent!” 36 exaggerated voices sounded after a while.

“Are you fine, mister 36?” Allan asked.

“Never better. Where are we?” 36 asked as he found the environment different again.

“Stage of the training went a little out of hand. We summoned you, as something strange happened to Allan. According to your world of daily summons, we summoned you earlier today. Maybe there would be something... you could help us with.” Sarey talked instead of Allan.

“Excellent timing. Something strange? I see nothing as strange anymore in this universe. Tell me. Tell me, I will answer anything at this point. Heheheh.” 36 said in strange eagerness. His soul survived the journey and was not destroyed for good. He could feel a small amount of loss, but at this point, the source of his ghost body wasn't lost at all.

Allan tried to recall and explain the things which occurred. Sarey helped with the further explanation of the small ball of fire she had seen in the morning.

Similar to this pair of mortals, 36 did not voice his concerns much at all. But inside, he was revolving his mind through their story. He tried his best to remember if he heard something similar before, but there was nothing. Soul-fires were strange beings of the universe after all.

“Wait... wait. Wait. You are telling me you have a bloody soul-fire living inside your body? Are you freaking alright in your head?” 36 couldn't help but not believe their ridiculous story.

“I was unsure, but can you explain, if it's not possible?” Allan asked, as he explained everything that he could.

“Possible? For things which possess soul to reside inside another person... is impossible. What about the rules of the freaking universe? It would be... strange. Think of it like that. If I was a soul, can I force myself to enter a human body and live with it?”

“Y-yes?” Both Allan and Sarey answered without certainty. They were unsure, even with his example.

“Bloody NO. Only if I would destroy the previous soul in the process would it be possible. Your reason is not possible. Only if... Oh...” 36 halted his words.

“What is it then? Who else we could even ask? Allan's body would be in danger because of it. No matter if it's soul-fire or not.” Sarey complained. She had plenty of reason to care for 36's opinion and need for it.

“I am thinking..I... No. No. This is hardly possible. No way. A soul is a soul. What sort of play are you giving me? No way I will understand it.”

“It is the truth. I have seen it with my own eyes.” Sarey argued.

“I... will think of something, but there is no guarantee that it will be anything useful.” 36 told in obvious excuse to end this talk. Inside his mind, he decided to ask the Wisher when he gets back to his room.

In only a few moments of the discussion, 36 forgot about the near-death he experienced a few moments ago. It was that shocking to him. Hearing them talk about soul-fire was quite a rarity even when he was alive. Now, he heard that there was a soul-fire inside a living human. He would rather call himself insane than believe it.

“Alright then. No need to get too intense about it. I guess that it is not all that harmful as I thought.” Allan said to the agitated Sarey who was getting a tad bit angry with 36 demeanor. He listened to whatever 36 had to say in expectations.

“I think so too, but one is never sure,” Sarey added. She remembered the acts of that ball. It looked anything but innocent, panicky, and confused. It was the heat it produced, which was problematic. As for the well-being of Allan, it was still questionable what was up with the strange effect he had.

“Fine. Fine. You pair of brats. What can I even tell you? This is out of my freaking reach, too. If you are playing with me, it is not funny at all.”

“It is a truth,” Allan announced in a firm tone as he got up from his seat and walked towards the figurine's voice.

“Alright, whatever you say. What about the progress of the stages? Anything unexpected other than soul-fire in the human body?” 36 asked in a mocking tone.

“Allan cracked the first two stones,” Sarey answered while seated on some stone.

“How much?”

“Um... As it was written there. The second was 250 kilograms.”

“Good. Are the targets the surrounding rocks? They look quite sturdy.”

“Yes,” Allan answered.

“Any wounds?”

“No. Wait... I forgot to tell the regenerative power which treated my cuts and open bruises from my attacks.” Allan cried out as he left out one additional important piece of information.

“It looked like a hot magma which seared his wounds. Whatever that was, it healed them in a few minutes,” Sarey added as a couple of hours passed since Allan passed the first rock.

In this amount of time, she watched out for him, and even the cause for the strange happening. Although they reached the conclusion of not discussing anything any longer, that did not mean she would not look at his training. She watched his hands and attacks for a couple of hours as Allan was cracking apart the second stone.

Of course, it was much bigger, by 1 and a half times. Cuts, bruises, and a bloody arm were left in a sorry state. Even Allan's tries with his elbows were met with many injuries around his forearms and caused his arm to hurt. Attacking, or this training in general, was painful for sure.

However, to his and Sarey's surprise, the regenerative power healed and spread throughout his arm and solved any injuries. That is, apart from the one that he caused a few moments before. Sarey's cut for 36's summon wasn't healed, much to her surprise.

As for Allan, this process was one of a kind feeling, which after some time, did not hurt or was painful to him at all. It seemed the wounds were healed by some... rule.

“You... Oh well. Since you are so right, why not show me?” 36 asked, since this would solve his doubt for good.

“No problem.” Allan found some bigger rock and punch it until a small cut was made around his wrist. Allan then walked to 36 sides and showed him his wound, which was closing amidst the small smoke and sizzle. There was even a small light or bit of flame that one could see with a keen eye inside. Sarey saw it as well.

“Hm? Does it hurt?”

“Not any longer. At first, it was very painful, as if a scorching iron was put into my hand.”

“Strange. Strange.” 36 was now more surprised than before. They were showing him the facts, but it was still outside of his logic. No. It was outside of the rules. Of course, he knew there were some possibilities of having bloodline powers similar to regeneration, but that was... impossible for Allan.

Even Blood forging could have similar results in the path of the Body, but Allan was too early for that. This, on the other hand, looked like neither of what 36 knew.

That could mean it was so high in the realms that he never heard it, or something was happening for the first time in the universe. Either of those choices was a total mess, and 36 realized it.

“It is definitely not effects of any technique what I gave you, nor any acupoint treatment which I gave as well. Fine. You convinced me.” 36 at last, gave up with arguing with them.

“See. There is no need for lies between us.” Sarey added with a smile.

36 found her words funny but moved along the sudden development as usual.

“Despite that, observe your body in the future and pay attention to this healing process. In the world, there is no free meal. There should be some cost for this regeneration, as there are no infinite recourses in the universe.”

“Alright,” Allan replied.

“As for the progress of the training. Try to work around your experience more. Wounds are a redundant part of this training since I planned for them from the beginning. That is one reason Sarey purchased a few medicine materials. Once when you can cease to be wounded, it is successful training. Bones could get fractured, and cuts would seep the blood away, but it is important to practice this every day. Since you have this regeneration... or whatever that is, work with it, but be careful.” 36 explained his reason and expertise.

“How? It is normal to be wounded when hitting such rocks.” Allan reasoned with him.

“Remember. This is not about the results that much for now. That small potential energy within you can cause significant good things for you and with enough pain... or some other changes, that small vortex could be very impressive. Hmmm. Wait. I may as well tell you one particularly important piece of information. Not that important for now, but very critical overall.”

“What do you think will happen if you are training within body forging or similar techniques and then, later on, you awoke your spark?” 36 asked.

“You never told us anything about possibilities after awakening the Spark. How am I supposed to answer?” Allan argued.

Sarey had a small hunch about it since her master, Terg told her small bits about the Sparks to her young mind. She could add them together to form a better meaning behind his words, but it was not enough for her to get the full picture.

The same could be said about Allan, who was experiencing the Immortal technique, which he even never seen. All he could do was manage their meaning and practice for himself.

36 paused for a moment. As if thinking of some possibilities he hasn't thought about yet.

“No. No. The way it all works together is a strange and mysterious process. The history of energy is not something that even the records of human history wrote about. Think of it like this. Spark. What does it make you think of?”

“Beginning of something? The first flame, or is there some more profound meaning?” Allan answered.

“Much more than that. To my knowledge, when one awakes their Spark, it could change the weather, make storms across the region, and other occurrences. It all comes from their very being. It could be, in some senses, connected with that speck of energy within every human being I told you before. Other than that, Spark has some similarities and differences. It forms into types and purity of power that came after the awakening of the Spark.”

“I, for example, am very fortunate to have a general affinity with the Heavenly energy itself. It is the most common one, but my purity was extraordinary. That Spark of mine has an affinity with many other Immortals but is much more powerful than the others. Because of its purity and sheer quality of the affinity.”

“Oh, that sounds very mysterious. How many affinities there are?” Sarey asked with sparkling eyes as this was something very intriguing to her indeed.

“Quite a bit. There are even some unknown ones and in general, the more powerful one, the rarer it is to find in the universe. The rules it follows are a core element of energy itself. No one can change their affinity at all after the Spark is awakened to this universe.”

“Are these answers to your satisfaction?” 36 asked after being done with a small monologue. He wanted to reward them for dealing with his situation beyond their knowledge. Heaven did not forsake him, so the reward was better done for them.

“Can you tell me some rare or powerful affinities?” Sarey asked once again, as Allan took his seat back as he did not need to question 36 any longer.

“Hmmm. Not satisfied? I see.” 36 though to himself.

“I can. Affinity for the elemental energy is the most common. It is an energy that encompasses everything. There are also a lot of different affinities, like earth, stone, wind, fire, water, wood, and a lot more.”

“So, like elements of nature?”

“More or less. One's, which comes beyond that, are more mysterious of them all. Like space affinity, which can cause one to be proficient with the handling of space itself. There was once a man with such affinity who caught the black hole itself. Then, he formed a few treasures of tremendous power from it. Of course, it is a long and historical legend that is scarce in today's age.”

“Hmm? It sounds weirdly similar to something I've read about... I wonder where?” Allan admired his little story.

“Space? What else? Like teleportation? There could be so many things! Time... light? The sun? How magical,” Sarey asked in surprise through her wandering talks.

“Teleportation? You know something about it?” 36 asked in surprise as he never talked about it.

“Err... Well, I had a teacher who told me some stories. Why have you not told this us sooner? This sounds very important.” Sarey dodged into another topic.

“What? Are you telling me you can do something with this knowledge right now? This had so little importance for you that it makes me laugh.” he barked at her unfit choice of words.