"Of course I'm not coming with you," Cyrus told Lyda. "The challenge is for you, not me. I can't help you with it. It would be pointless to join you at their home."

There was also the matter of the Blessed Ones not liking his brothers in the slightest, and Cyrus wasn't sure if they would allow him in their home. So he decided to not bother finding out and just book a room at the resort for himself, a two-bedroom suite with a kitchen and hot tub. The hot tub was the only reason he booked such a large room, even though Cyrus knew the facility's pool had a hot tub as well.

He wanted to relax, not be surrounded by rambunctious children and inconsiderate adults.

"Where are they located?" Lyda asked.

"They're further up the mountain," Cyrus answered. "But I sent them a message letting them know you had an introduction from the Silver Oracle, so they'll probably meet us at the lodge."

"Okay," Lyda said. "You can just casually send them a message?"

"I've had to apologize to them for my brothers' actions before."

"Ah."

"Yeah."

The rest of the ride to the lodge was silent, then Cyrus paid the driver before they stepped out. The lodge itself was a three-story building built into the side of a hill. The front of the building was fully exposed, but the back of the building was blocked by part of the hill, only the third floor facing outside. The sides of the building were partially covered as well, giving the building the appearance of having grown out of the hill. Upon entering, guests would learn that the first floor of it extended under the hill as well, including several additional amenities, the pool being among them.

Several trees with pink and purple flowers grew around the property, a layer of snow on the ground, even though winter had yet to hit. That high in the mountains in that particular region, snow wasn't an uncommon sight anytime in the year.

Lyda gave the trees a confused look, before looking at Cyrus.

"I thought only trees like evergreens grew in regions like this," she said.

"Depends on where you go," he told her. "Some trees are adapted through magic to live in places like this. Some trees are forcibly changed with magic, while others, like these ones here, did so over time, naturally. This variety came as a result of the Great Collapse. Don't panic, but there's a flame elemental coming up behind us."

Lyda turned, then jumped when she saw the entity of fire approaching, streams, orbs, and spots of fire swirling around. It approached her, then an item shot out of it before it took off. Lyda fumbled in an attempt at catching the item, Cyrus groaning.

When she managed to grab the item, she took a look at it. It was a crimson token the same size as the Silver Token, with a flame pattern etched onto it in yellow and orange.

"Did it just give me-"

"It asked me if the rumor of you sleeping with me was true," Cyrus said. "I answered 'yes', and it did that. Rather annoyingly. I suppose that counts as impressing them, though. Here, I'll put it with the other."

Lyda handed Cyrus the token, then they entered the lodge. Cyrus approached the desk and checked them in, then led Lyda up to the third floor to their suite. He handed her the bag she had packed, then went to one of the rooms to claim it for his own.

After waiting for Lyda to enter her room, Cyrus stripped off his clothes and went to the hot tub, turning it on, then he climbed into it, letting the hot water fill up with him inside. Ten minutes after Cyrus entered the hot tub Lyda joined him in it, though Cyrus paid her no mind, continuing to use his tablet.

Deciding he was done a few minutes later, Cyrus left the hot tub and took a shower. As he dried himself off, there was a knock at the door to the suite. He pulled on sweatpants and a hoodie, then left the bathroom.

"The Blessed Ones are here," Cyrus poked his head into the room with the hot tub. "You might want to take a shower to rinse off the chemicals."

"The chemicals?" She asked.

"From the hot tub," Cyrus indicated it. "There are a few chemicals added so that it doesn't dehydrate you as fast and for your skin."

"Oh," she rose out of the hot tub.

As she went to the bathroom for a shower, Cyrus answered the door, greeting the pair of Blessed Ones outside. They were twins, one male and one female, who looked to be around eighteen, much like most who could use chronomancy. The siblings had platinum-blond hair and royal blue eyes, and were dressed lightly.

"Come on," Cyrus said.

"Hello, Cyrus," the male Blessed One said.

"I'd like to thank you," the female Blessed One said. "For asking Selar to break her curse on me."

"You're welcome," Cyrus nodded. "She said she'd forgotten she'd placed it on you."

"I don't blame her," the woman smiled. "Being a god isn't necessarily an easy ordeal, and she did leave Earth for more than two centuries."

"Have a seat," Cyrus gestured to the couch. "Do you want something to drink?"

"No, thank you," the twins answered.

"Is that her in the shower?" The brother asked.

"Yes," Cyrus answered, pulling out the introduction letter from the Silver Oracle. "I was holding onto it for her, but this is Aunt Lena's letter."

"You should let her give it to us," the sister told him.

"Okay," Cyrus set the letter on the coffee table and took a seat. "Sorry about my brothers' latest prank. I had gone to pick up a statue, and they decided to do that while I was gone."

"I don't even want to ask how they figured out how to trap a flame elemental like that," the brother told Cyrus. "Nor why they thought to pour as much fire magic into it as possible before setting it loose on us."

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"I don't, either," Cyrus told him. "I still apologize for that."

They fell silent, and Cyrus pulled out a tin of sugar cookies, offering them to the Blessed Ones as they waited for Lyda to finish her shower and joined them.

"It's nice to meet you," Lyda said as she sat down, picking up the letter when Cyrus pushed it towards her. "I'm Lyda Marris."

"I'm Colin," the brother introduced himself. "And this is my sister, Emily."

"You," Lyda looked at Emily. "Look remarkably like the Silver Oracle."

"My granddaughter," Colin nodded. "Or was it daughter? It's been five centuries, so I can't remember exactly which. Emily and I are twins, so it makes sense there would be a resemblance."

"Oh," Lyda said. "I guess that explains it. And her being a chronomancer, too, if you two are."

"Yes, she inherited that from me," Colin said. "You have an introduction from her?"

"Yes," Lyda held out the letter, and Emily took it, opening the envelope and pulling out the letter.

She read it, then handed it to her brother, who read it as well. He nodded, then returned the letter to the envelope and set it back on the table.

"The letter is authentic," Colin told Lyda. "However, you do not possess the ability to complete our challenge."

"But-"

"That doesn't mean," Emily interrupted her. "It's impossible for you to complete it. You need to increase your magical ability first. Our challenge for someone with your request does require some magical ability beyond being able to create a small flame."

"It'll probably take me a decade or two to manage to reach Tier Two of the fire affinity," Lyda sighed in depression.

"It doesn't require you to be Tier Two," Colin shook his head. "If you train hard for a month or two in your fire magics, you'd probably be able to do our challenge. Cyrus, the Remarsian standard is what's necessary."

"Oh," Cyrus said. "I wish I'd known that before."

"You've never had need to know it," Emily told him.

"What's the Remarsian standard?" Lyda asked.

"A standard of magical ability used by a school to the northeast of here," Colin answered. "Well, former school, the place shut down a century ago. They had a good standard of measuring ability for affinities of lower Tiers, but it never caught on."

"Cyrus knows about it because of his interest in historical things," Colin told Lyda.

"We'll be going now," Emily told them. "Cyrus, once she meets the minimum requirement for us, let us know and we'll meet up with you again to take her to our home for the challenge."

"Okay," Cyrus responded. "Enjoy the rest of your day."

"You as well," the Blessed Ones responded, then left, and Cyrus frowned.

"I really wish I'd known that," he said. "I could have taken you to obtain the Forest Token first. Though I suppose it's better to get your skills up first."

"Is it really possible to raise my abilities to the… to that standard in just a month or two?" She asked.

"It depends," Cyrus told her. "Everyone has their own innate ability to increase magical power. Then there's also the factor of how easily you can learn to manipulate flames, which is partly dependent on you. You can also speed up increasing magical power at lower affinities if you're willing to do a few things, too."

"I've never heard of that before," Lyda told him. "I've looked into ways to increase magical power faster, and everything I found was a scam. It always came down to just training, which I try to do at least four or five times a week."

Cyrus thought it over, then stood and moved so that he was sitting on the floor. He set down a metal tray, then placed a white votive candle on it, lighting the wick. Due to the longer wick than normally found on candles, the flame was taller than for a normal candle. He repeated this with two more candles as Lyda sat across from him.

"Here," Cyrus held out a potion bottle filled with a crimson liquid, and Lyda stared at it, confused. "If you drink it, Lyda, you will find your sense for fire greater."

"My sense for fire?" She asked.

"Yes," he answered. "Everyone has a sense for their own magic. When you manipulate fire, you have a sense for the fire you're manipulating. The greater this sense you have, the easier it becomes to manipulate that element.

"Because of that," he said. "It becomes easier to reach your limits when it comes to that element. The more you reach that limit, the more it'll grow."

"Isn't repeatedly going to your limit bad?" She asked.

"Only if you do it wrong," Cyrus told her, then pulled out another potion bottle with crimson liquid, this one darker than the other. "This potion temporarily makes it more difficult to use fire magics. While under its effect, you have to struggle more in order to use your magic, pushing a lower limit than normal."

He then pulled out a third potion with crimson liquid.

"And this one," he said. "Makes your fire magics more powerful temporarily. While under its effects, the strength of your magic is boosted, but so is the mana cost. That makes you run out faster, and makes it easier to hit that limit of yours.

"Using any one of these potions," Cyrus said. "Will cause you to more quickly increase your abilities. It's not necessarily something that will happen with just one session, though. Some people won't notice the improvement for a few days, even if they did drank one and trained three times a day.

"As with all things, however," he said. "There's a limit. Drink too many, train under them too much, and your mana veins will weaken, making it more difficult to use fire magics permanently. It's also possible to make yourself violently ill if you drink too many in too short a time. Everyone has their own tolerance levels."

"Okay," Lyda said, then examined the three bottles, before deciding to make sure she understood him correctly. "One potion enhances my ability to sense my magic, making it easier for me to manipulate fire on a finer scale. That one will result in me increasing my skill level with magic a little more easily, as even if my sense returns to normal, I'll still have trained with fire and felt how to do it, so I'll remember some of those things after it ends. The main effect will be helping me to know what my magic feels like, which will make it easier for me to sense it on my own."

"Erm… I guess?" Cyrus responded. "That's one way to look at it."

"One potion," she said. "Will make it more difficult to use magic, meaning I'm pushing my limits more while under it. Because of that, it'll be easier to train the actual magical power of my spells. And finally, the third potion strengthens my magic and increases the mana cost, which means I'll burn through my mana faster, which will help me with building up a mana pool and recovery."

"Correct," Cyrus nodded. "Pick a potion to use. It's best if you don't drink more than one every six or seven hours. The effect itself will last for anywhere from forty minutes to an hour depending on your body."

"Okay," Lyda said, then held up the potion he had initially given her. "I think I'll use this one."

Cyrus put the other potions away as she opened hers and drank it, then set the empty bottle beside her.

"I know it's a little late to ask this," she said. "But how expensive are these potions? I've never heard of them before."

"Each one costs approximately three thousand notes."

Lyda blanched at the cost of the potions, before remembering who she was dealing with. A wealthy man who didn't seem to care about the expense of things. Despite that, she still felt wrong drinking one like it was nothing, after hearing the cost.

"I don't think I can just use these," Lyda told Cyrus. "Not at that cost. I-"

"If you want to make it up to me," Cyrus said. "Then we can work something out later. But you can also start by not wasting the time. Potion effects begin within a minute of you drinking them, even if you haven't actually started metabolizing the liquid yet. They're magic."

"Oh," Lyda said.

"I'll leave you to the training," Cyrus told her. "Though I'll still be here if there's an issue, you should just practice the basics for now."

"Okay," she said.

Cyrus moved onto the couch, stretching out and pulling out a book to read as Lyda began manipulating the candle flames, marveling at her ability to sense the fire magics she was using.

She practiced moving all three of the flames, causing them to grow taller and shrink, splitting them as well. Due to her small mana reserves and low mana regeneration, Lyda had to stop after around a minute, then spend fifteen minutes to recover her meager mana pool. The potion lasted for almost fifty minutes, allowing her only four practices, so she continued practicing after the effect ended.

She found that splitting the flames was more difficult after the effect faded, but as she had never succeeded in splitting a flame before, Lyda considered it to be progress.