The next morning was the last day before the storm would occur. It was the calm before the storm. Everyone was still friendly with each other. They laughed, sparred and trained with each other.
As soon as the Fire Element appears, they would break all formality. Emile continued to build relationships with others.
An increasing amount of people showed up. There were at least a few thousand cultivators up on the mountain. They ranged from beginning Skeletal Refining up to peak Nerve Refining stage.
Strong cultivators created factions to support themselves. Cultivators joined these factions to gain benefits. But there's always a catch. If the person gets the Fire Element, they must hand it over to the leader of the faction.
Emile didn't join a faction. He wanted to keep the element for himself.
Emile wasn't strong enough to create his own faction. If he used his gold coins to hire the cultivators to give him the element, he wouldn't be able to trust them.
If they got the element, they would keep it for themselves. They would only give it to the faction leader if the leader was stronger than them. Or had high amounts of fame.
Strength was the determining factor.
Emile stayed hidden from any faction members. He hung out with individual cultivators learned many things about this world.
Emile went back to his lodge and fell asleep after a long day of socializing.
Many cultivators were nervous for the next day.
______
The next day
The volcano was showing weird signs. Bubbles would float up and pop near the top. The temperature was rising.
It was getting close to 1000 degrees Celsius. Most cultivators could survive this temperature as long as they were in the peak stage of Skeletal Refining.
Anything below this would have a hard time lasting against the heat unless they had a constitution of fire. Emile would have been able to survive this temperature even if he had no cultivation.
He was born with the constitution of fire and water. This meant he could survive at high temperatures and low temperatures. The water constitution allowed him to survive in below zero degrees temperatures.
Emile was an expert in surviving since he was born.
The only cultivators at the top of the mountain were at least Skeletal Refining.
It was rare for a cultivator to have the fire constitution.
Slowly something that shined brightly rose up from the middle of the lava. It was an essence spirit. These essence spirits could boost cultivation by a small amount. Those who were on the mountain would all fight to gain these essence spirits.
The essence spirits were like appetizers before the main meal. Hundreds of them appeared from the lava. Many people got them.
The Nerve Refining stage experts would catch these essence spirits and give them to their faction members. Emile also gained a few but didn't know what to do with it.
He passed them onto to some of the cultivators.
"Hey bro, why do you not want these essence spirits?" One of his new friends asked.
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"I... don't need these for my cultivation," Emile spoke the truth.
"You're really weird," He said as he laughed.
"Yeah," Emile said shyly.
There were a few more people who knew about Emile giving out essence spirits. They considered him weird.
The main course was appearing.
The fire element rose up into the sky. The temperature around it was near 10000 degrees Celsius.
The Nerve Refining stage experts made their move. They had brought treasures to lower the temperature. They used the tools to lower the temperature to a state where they could grab them.
The Nerve Refining experts started to rush madly to get the item. When one person got it they would start to run away.
"I got it!" A Nerve Refining stage got the element and wanted to escape.
"You're not leaving," Someone else shouted as they used a treasure that summoned a large net. The person caught the person who got the element.
The other experts attacked them together.
"Give me the treasure and I'll let you live," One expert said.
The person who had the element was terrified since they were surrounded by a lot of Nerve Refining stage experts. He threw the fire element into the air and started to run away.
"Oh... look at that, it seems to be a Fire Element. Don't mind if I take it," Someone arrived from the sky with a fox mask on.
The man was floating in the sky looking down at all the cultivators. They watched the Fire Element go towards the man.
"Oh... my mask can't withstand the heat. This is interesting," The floating man's mask melted and revealed Emile. The Fire Element burned his mask off.
The individual cultivators who saw the floating Emile were shocked.
"Remember how you called him weird," Someone said to the person who called Emile weird.
"No wonder he didn't want the essence spirits... he was in the Sky stage all along and didn't need it." The man responded with a hint of fear in his voice.
"Are you willing to give me the Fire Element," Emile asked casually as if he wasn't interested in their opinions.
The Nerve Refining experts started to talk amongst themselves. They weren't willing to give up the element. They wanted to know the truth before giving it up.
"Wasn't he in the Skeletal Refining Stage... he might be lying," Someone said with assurance.
"Yeah his cultivation is still in the Skeletal Refining Stage," Someone else said after observing Emile's cultivation state.
"Let's confront him."
They agreed upon this statement.
"You have to show us proof that you are a Sky Stage expert," a Nerve Refining stage said loudly.
"Proof.... hahaha," Emile started laughing.
"You're making me laugh... you think I need to show you proof," Emile quickly became angry.
Clouds appeared above him. As if the sky was as angry as Emile. Lightning started to strike the ground. It was a lightning storm that appeared out of nowhere.
"I forget that my anger summons lightning..." Emile said with a smile on his face. The clouds started to clear up.
The Nerve Refining experts quickly understood that this was a true Sky stage expert. No Skeletal Refining expert could summon lightning with just their emotions. It was impossible.
"We're sorry... please don't kill us," They started to kneel after figuring out the truth.
"All right... I'll take this for my disciple," Emile said a white lie and grabbed the Fire Element.
"Peace, I'm a generous man so I won't take offense to your judgment," Emile said before teleporting out.
"He has control over space as well. He could have easily killed us all if he wanted to." A Nerve Refining cultivator said with fear in his voice.
Let's rewind and view how Emile accomplished this.
Emile watched the Nerve Refining cultivators fight. He went to a hidden location and put on his fox mask.
He activated the skill Flight from his pendant. He took about 5 minutes to get used to flying. He appeared in front of the cultivators and asked for the element.
When they questioned him, he activated his sword's awakened skill. It could summon lightning. He used a bit of acting to show that his emotions could control nature.
He managed to convince everyone with his acting.
He grabbed the Fire Element and system notifications appeared in front of his eyes.
[You have found the Fire Element]
[Mission has been completed]
[Calculating Rewards]
World of Swords
Time: 17 days 14 hours 18 minutes 32 seconds
F --> D
Participation in Fights: Active
D --> C
Reputation: Sky stage expert
C --> A
Mission Completion: Completed
A--> S
[You have gained 1000 fire skill points]
He was judged by different actions.
If he wanted to be faster then he would have to find ways to make the Fire Element spawn faster. Or he would have to look for another one somewhere in the world.
He received the most fire skill points from this mission. He would have to do more missions in the future.
[Teleporting out of the World of Swords]
Emile inadvertently gained more reputation by teleporting out. He didn't know this.