In the dark of the chilly night, Aiden stood in the depth of the cave, a fire burning in his palm, wrapping around a small leaf hovering in the air. The cold gusts floating around didn't affect the blue ethereal fire nor the dark green leaf, which slowly melted under the fire and turn into a gray powder which fell on Aiden's palm.

Aiden lifted a pinch of the resulting ash and tasted it.

"It's at least seventy percent purity." The powder tasted bitter and as per old man Li's memories, the bitter taste meant seventy percent purity. It was an excellent outcome.

Aiden picked up another left of Three Life Grass and lowered the temperature of his Alchemy Fire to twenty degrees, melting the leaf slower than a snail's pace this time. The leaf turned into dark gray powder, and it tasted sweet. It meant it only had ten percent purity. Anything sweet was bad.

"Even at twenty degrees, it can burn the toughest grass of the lower level." Aiden shook his head. Alchemy Fire - it was an excellent skill every alchemist dreamed about. Old man Li had spent years of his life learning through the Qi Fire control to invent this Alchemy Fire. Yes, one could learn it through a skill tome or upgrade it to the new level. Alchemy Fire was an upgraded fire, so no skill tome existed in this world.

It was the most powerful fire old man Li knew, and it was one of the reason old man Li was promoted to the hall master position. Even in his memories, there was only a couple other alchemist who had invented this fire on their own. It was almost next to impossible to upgrade in a short time, but Aiden learned it for free.

However, he wasn't happy about it.

The Alchemy Fire gave him an unparalleled command. At will, he could tweak the heat, shape, and every tiny aspect. It was like operating a device where each function had its own unique knob to adjust.

Such a fine control of the fire was just exceptional in other's eyes, and Aiden should have been happy, but right now he felt like crying.

Groaning in frustration, Aiden commanded the fire to retreat into his palm.

"I can't expose this fire. Once I conjure it, everyone will identify it and I'll be done for." Aiden shook his head in disappointment. Alchemy Fire was a high level technique. Fuck! It was so advanced that only old man Li could perform it and if suddenly a low-level disciple used Alchemy Fire, then people will get suspicious.

Heck, they might dissect Aiden to find his secrets.

This wasn't going to work. He had to use normal Qi Fire to compete, or he should just drop out of the exam. However, he had spent entire night and couldn't conjure the Qi Fire. He had tried everything, spent so much blood and sweat, but he couldn't reduce the Alchemy Fire to Qi Fire.

He could only drop out of the exam.

However, that wasn't an option. He had to become an inner sect disciple, and the easiest path would be Alchemy Hall.

Fuck!

He rubbed his sweaty face and wiped it with a clean cloth.

"Damn it." Cursing, he cast a Corpse Explosion on the remains of a beast lying in the corner of the cave. No matter how much he cleaned the cave, he kept missing some or other beasts. There was something wrong with this cave, and he had no energy to investigate it.

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The corpse blasted into smithereens, sending a rain of rotten flesh around, but he was hiding behind the natural stone formation and it protected him.

System: Do you want to deconstruct Corpse Explosion?

Aiden stared at the inner area of the cave, which he hadn't yet explored. It looked grim and dangerous, so he didn't venture deep into it. As per old man Li's memories, there shouldn't be anything dangerous at the depths of the cave, but old man Li had used this cave more than a decade ago. In a decade anything could happen, and so many beast corpses told him something had happened here. He couldn't take an empty risk.

A lingering fire burned on the surface where the beast corpse was a moment ago, and it looked different from the Alchemy Fire, as if those two fires were different from each other.

Wait.

"System, deconstruct Corpse Explosion."

System: Epic skills detected. The host cultivation level is too low to deconstruct the entire Corpse Explosion skill.

System: Mana Fire deconstructed.

System: Qi Explosion deconstructed.

System: Do you want to learn Mana Fire and Qi Explosion?

Aiden rubbed his three-day-old stubble. This was interesting. Mana Fire? There was something like this as well?

He clicked on yes.

System:

Mana Fire

Quality: Rare

Grade: Low Tier Silver Grade

"Qi said to mana - I'm the vitality of a cultivator, then what are you?

Mana replied - I'm everything."

Mana permeates all existence. From the depths of the earth to the essence of life itself, mana flows unseen. Harness this primordial energy and forge it into flames born from the heart.

Channeling Cost: 10 Mana/second.

Warning: Mana Fire is violent and if not controlled, it will consume the creator.

System:

Qi Explosion

Quality: Rare

Grade: Low Tier Silver Grade

"In the dance of life and death, Qi whispers its most violent secret."

Trigger an explosion of the qi in the target, burning the essence of life in one brilliant way.

Needs a direct contact with target's qi.

Damage: 1000/1% of the qi volume, whichever is lower.

Cost: 200 qi/ 400 Mana.

Warning: Qi doesn't differentiate between friend or foe.

Aiden read through the Mana Fire's description a couple of times, especially the peculiar warning at the end.

Warning: Mana Fire is violent and if not controlled, it will consume the creator.

Why such a warning?

Curious, Aiden conjured the Mana Fire and a dark black flame burst out of his palm, engulfing his sleeve. The sleeve burned like a paper thrown in the wildfire, leaving no trace of the cloth after a moment.

Aiden halted the flow of mana before the flames could engulf his entire robe. The sleeve had vanished, leaving only scorched patches on his exposed skin. The patches didn't pain and were superficial. A warning message indicated he didn't suffer any damage because of his affinity with fire through Alchemy Fire.

Aiden conjured it again and let it burn on his thumb for a minute. It didn't harm him, but left a patch of charred skin behind which he could clean with a wipe.

"Wait, I didn't get any upgrade message." Aiden tied his hair in a neat bun. When he had conjured Qi Fire for the first time, it got upgraded to Alchemy Fire. This didn't happen when he conjured the Mana Fire.

"Does this mean the two fires are different? Is that possible?" Well, they had different looks - one was ethereal blue, and the other was black.

Maybe this could be his way to participate in the second exam.

Aiden sat cross-legged on the rough stone floor and accessed old man Li's memories, and there was no mention of Mana Fire. However, there was a reference of Black Qi Fire. It was a special mutated fire and originated from Qi Fire itself. A few people who had some special encounters had developed them throughout the history, and he could claim he also had such a fortuitous encounter and obtained a Black Qi Fire.

One thing was clear. He could use the Mana Fire and pretend it to be the Black Qi Fire.

However, he couldn't yet control it completely.

Yet, he had a smile on his face. If there was a way, then he will find it.

"Mana Fire." Aiden poured his mana into his palm and it burst out in the shape of a black flame, licking the air, and instantly raising the temperature by a few degrees. It looked wild, untamable, but Aiden wasn't a newbie. Well, he was, but he also had memories of old man Li and he knew how he could control the fire.

The first part was controlling the mana.