Chapter 165: In the event of fire don’t walk into the flames. Seriously. Fire is really hot.

Gerial and I spoke deep into the night, and I ended up sleeping in the chair after creating a dirt nest for Gold on the desk.

It was a break all of us needed.

We’d both left the room together sporadically so that the church would know we were both safe. Bishop Kavenaugh couldn't keep the grin off his face.

He didn't seem at all suspicious of me.

I kept the words Gerial had said at the top of my thoughts. His attack was still fresh, so I'd told him to rest for longer.

After that, I’d gone back home for breakfast and then taken a portal to Amanda’s mansion.

"If you keep wasting time cleaning your feathers, I'm going to leave you behind.”

The rays of the afternoon sun shone strong against my skin; my blue robes put away in favour of casual clothes.

My parents didn't know what had happened to Gerial. And neither did the rest of the world. They thought I’d just been sleeping over for fun.

Gold chirped, breaking my train of thought.

I was standing at the edge of Amanda's new mansion.

She wasn't living in Koshima anymore. Her grandfather had given her a mansion to stay in, and he’d made sure it came with a cultivation room.

That was where Amanda was helping me attune to fire.

"What's that?" I looked up.

There was a light shining against the sun’s rays. It was a clear orange and red. It drew closer towards us and a flaming body swooped down in greeting from the sky.

“Hey Agni.” I waved at the phoenix.

She chirped happily.

Welcome.

Gold flapped his wings, jumping off my shoulder and flying through the air in front of me. He clicked his beak as Agni reached for him and he taunted her by moving higher into the air.

Agni chirped in response to his taunts.

She zipped across the sky towards him, and they spiralled across the estate, dancing over the flowers and treetops.

“You two have fun!” I shouted towards Gold and Agni.

I don't think they heard me.

"I don't think they heard you.” A familiar voice tickled my ears.

I turned to my side, hearing the soft sound of footsteps against grass. Strands of crimson hair and a friendly smile greeted me.

Amanda skipped beside me, crossing over the garden path.

“Hi, you.” She poked my side playfully. “You're early. Do you want to get started straight away?”

“Actually, I thought we could chat for a bit.” I flashed her a smile.

Her eyes gleamed at my words, and then widened.

"You changed your hair colour?” She leaned towards me, inspecting my hair.

There was one major change that I made to my ensemble, and I ran my fingers through my hair with a smile on my face.

Streaks of silver were now visible across my head.

I felt my hair pressed downward as Amanda patted my head. She pressed a finger to her lips and with her free hand she yanked at my silver strands.

"Ow!” I stepped back. “Are you trying to pull off my head?”

Her eyes widened forever, and I chuckled. It was always fun to see her reactions to my exaggerations.

“You scared me you pit donkey.” She nudged my shoulder. “What is this? Silver?”

She raised her palm. Specks of silver were laying across her skin. I waved my hand over hers and manipulated the silver back into my hair, coating it and returning the silver streak she’d pulled out.

It was pure silver, converted into dust.

"It's a safety net.” I pointed at my hair. “The silver specks are thin enough that they look like hair dye, and together there’s enough for me to make a weapon or tool in an emergency.”

I’d thought of the idea after Oubliez had taken me hostage and stolen my inventory. However, I hadn't been skilled enough to implement it back then.

With practice, I’d managed to not only keep on my head, but also make it stay while I concentrated on other things.

Metal manipulation was always activated, which allowed me to level it quicker and more efficiently.

“I like it.” She clasped her hands behind her back, leaning toward me. “Doesn't it fall down because of its weight?”

"It did for the first month." I admitted. "This is the first time I'm testing it in the open. I think I need a few extra trump cards under my sleeves.”

Despite the smaller amount of silver I was working with, it had taken a lot of time and practice to keep it afloat. Attaching it to my hair was surprisingly the least of my problems.

The silver was an extended limb, so plating it over my hair had been almost instinctive in its smoothness.

“Roxxy didn't bully you too much again, did she?” She smiled mischievously. “A duel with her is not the answer to your attunement problems.”

"I'm not going down that easy. I felt a connection to the water mana. I'm as close to attuning to water as I am to fire.” I pumped my fist in front of me. “Also, I do want to talk about why, but we’ll need more privacy.”

“Oh?” She looked at the mansion and nodded. “Say no more.”

Seeing her reaction confirmed to me that Gerial’s incident had been kept secret. My parents not knowing was one thing, but Amanda had access to a lot of information.

William hadn't messaged me either.

I'd asked Gerial if he wanted the others to know, and to my surprise he'd said yes. He considered them to be true friends, and his philosophy was that he didn't keep secrets from his friends.

Amanda and I walked through the garden to get to the mansion. We weren't in a hurry, taking our time as I admired the world around me.

Yellow, red, blue, white, and pink flooded my vision.

There were flowers of all kinds here. The staff was long gone, coming during the morning and early afternoon of Crijik each week for maintenance.

Fue was a more peaceful day, and I was grateful for that.

"What are you thinking about?" Amanda glanced at me curiously. "Or is it top-secret?"

"I was looking at the flowers.” I gestured toward them.

“Huh.” Amanda’s gaze roamed over them. “I thought your head was only filled with training.”

“Really?” I could hear the surprise in my voice.

She was half-joking but hadn't realised my habits had gotten that bad.

Gerial was right. I'd become a training junkie before I knew it. If Amanda thought I was only thinking of training then maybe there was some truth to what he was saying.

“Actually, I’ve been thinking I need to relax a bit. Maybe take a step back from training.” I spoke.

Amanda's mouth gaped open.

"What?" I raised my hands defensively. “We went to Gesti Sky, didn't we?”

"Yeah, and then never anywhere else." Amanda raised an eyebrow at me. "What brought on this change?"

"That part is top-secret." I put a finger to my lips.

We quickly reached the front door, and I left my shoes and socks in the foyer. Amanda led the way further inside.

I suspected the Mitra household had the same person designing all of their mansions.

The layout was identical to the one in Koshima.

A staircase went upwards into two different levels, and the top floor had its roof missing, as was standard with the followers of Mehta.

"This place is way too big for one person." Amanda complained

We made our way towards the first floor, bounding up the stairs and across the corridor.

There were several differences between her old mansion in this one. The first was that she wasn't living with anybody else, so many of the rooms had been converted into clothing and game rooms or held bookshelves.

Actually, most of the free space was used for books.

Amanda didn't talk about her dad much. I had the feeling that they were taking a break. He hadn't taken Alexis’ situation well, and he was busy restructuring their business in Koshima from the ground up.

It was tough work that required all of his attention.

We reached the back rooms of the mansion and I stopped in front of a large red door.

"I'll set it up so that we can talk privately.” Amanda smiled. “You know the drill, grab any spot you'd like.”

She opened the door and stepped through it.

I followed her lead, striding in from the corridor and into a world of fire and brimstone.

"Every time I see this place I'm impressed.” I gazed at the room around me.

The cultivation room itself wasn't a single area.

It was three rooms converted into one.

The entire back of the first floor had been shifted around in order to accommodate it.

It was split into three different sections, each designed to train a different aspect of Amanda’s bloodline and fire magic.

We were inside the everflame section. It was eternally burning, and although the flames wouldn't harm me, the room was still hot.

Extremely hot.

Fire mana cascaded across my surroundings, swarming me from all directions. It clung to my skin, greeting me as it tried to burn me.

"Hi." I waved at the mana.

It winked back cheerfully.

While Amanda was activating the security symbols, I walked to the middle of the room and sat down.

Fire lapped at my legs and gathered over my body.

It was a strange sensation.

My brain was sending warning signals across my body because of the fire, and I could feel the heat, but there was no burning.

Part of it was Amanda’s doing. The other part was the symbols etched across the room.

It wasn't comparable to the single room that Amanda had in her safe house.

This was a proper fire cultivation area.

A shadow loomed over me, and I looked up to see Amanda standing in front of me, her hands in her hips.

"Okay.” She smiled. “What's going on?”

"Oh boy." I patted the floor beside me. “This is going to be a long one.”

Amanda sat next to me. Her hair blended into the flames below and it transformed into fire as she connected with the mana around her.

She took deep breaths, harmonising with the world around her as I explained what had happened to Gerial.

The flames grew as I described his condition coming out of the portal.

I was bathed in the heat of the fire, but instead of asking her to hold back I observed the mana as it gathered across us.

It swirled over my clothes and cascaded across my head. It crowded the silver in my hair playfully, and the earth mana buzzed in response. The two mingled and I could sense their mischief.

[Mana communication].

It was becoming easier to activate [mana communication] at the same time as [mana sense].

The problem had always been greater feedback of what I could see, and the emotions that I felt from the mana around me.

Joy, friend, connection, help.

their emotions and thoughts swept into my mind and brought a smile to my face.

“Artus’ followers should be in the frontier cities, right?” Amanda’s voice spoke out. “How would they get inside human territories?”

My thoughts and connection to the mana around me halted.

"What do you mean?" A flicker of curiosity rose in my heart.

Amanda looked at me and then at the mana. She held out her hand and flames gathered in her palm, a small red orb displayed prominently within.

“It's illegal to worship Artus openly within civilised society, so the only real place for their followers is the frontier. Things are… different there.” She glanced down, thoughts running through her mind. “I've heard that Artus’ followers form communities beyond civilised lands, but that might just be a rumour.”

If that was true then they were stronger than I had given them credit for.

There was a reason that frontier cities gave so many rewards. It was equally as dangerous to try and live in them before the magic of the frontier was tamed properly.

Monster attacks were frequent, and other deadly traps appeared as the mana itself turned against the humans there.

The frontiers were wildlands, and entire societies were unsafe, let alone small communities.

"I'm more worried that there are others out there planning more attacks." I rubbed my neck.

Sweat dripped down my back, some caused by the heat and some from the stress of reliving the memory of Gerial’s bloody body.

The thought that he could've died without me even knowing was weighing on my mind.

I felt a small poke on my shoulder and glanced at Amanda.

"That's why you added this, isn't it?” She tapped one of my silver streaks. “Just in case.”

"It never hurts to be prepared.” I gazed at the room around me. “I'm ready.”

My body was growing used to the flames. Being in the middle of a fire set me mind into fight or flight mode, and it took time to calm down.

That time had gotten shorter as I practiced more with Amanda, but it hadn't disappeared.

“Awesome.” Amanda clapped her hands together, the flames swirling around us.

She shuffled forward, settling into position opposite me.

I could see her frowning, the events with Gerial still on her mind. She took a deep breath and I recognised the relaxation of her posture that came with using [meditation].

There was no signal to begin, and we didn't need one.

[Meditation].

I shut my eyes and listened to the crackling of flames as we breathed in and out, falling deeper into the crevices of my mind.

My thoughts calmed, and my emotions were processed and accepted, relieving the tension in my heart and mind. Within moments there was nothing distracting me or holding me back from connecting with the world around me.

Fire mana appeared in my vision.

It clung to every patch of skin and swam across my clothes. I could see my body clearly outlined, the mana waving in greeting.

This was what it would've been like if I had meditated underwater at Roxxy’s.

With each breath I fell deeper into our connection. There was only myself, and the mana around me.

I breathed in, and it swayed towards me. I breathed out, and it pushed away from me.

There was an endless ocean around me. A flow that spread through me and granted me oneness with my surroundings. It connected me to reality in a way that I couldn't fathom and it was as alive as I was, with its own emotions and goals.

The sounds disappeared and my sense of touch disappeared.

Even time had no hold over us.

There was only my connection with the mana, our rhythm swinging back and forth as we enjoyed each other’s company.

It was a cradle of safety. I couldn't be harmed here. Not while the mana was protecting me.

May we work together?

I sent out a gentle ripple of thought.

It was a simple request. I waited in anticipation. The fire mana around me stilled, and it blinked in contemplation. I could feel it reaching out to me, thoughts and emotions were rolling through it as it made its decision.

Then it wavered.

No.

The response was simple.

The fire mana drew back from me, keeping our connection exactly as it was and not going any further.

I'd failed.

I didn't push the mana, knowing that it would only damage our connection. Instead, I pulled back. Our connection was still strong, and the flames around me pulsed back and forth alongside my breaths.

I'd come closer than I ever had before.

"Not bad." Amanda’s voice entered my ears.

I opened my eyes and saw her gazing at me, a smile on her face.

"Has it been five hours already?" I gazed up at a nearby window.

The sun was already starting to go down.

Amanda stretched her arms out. I could see the fire mana moving instinctively alongside her, their connection firm even when she wasn't trying.

I could feel the same connection with the silver in my hair, and the earth and metal within my inventory.

She stood up and I followed suit.

"You just need a final push.” Amanda gave me a pat on the back. “I can feel it.”

"I can too.” I flashed her a smile. “Maybe I need to bribe them with treats. It worked with Agni.”

“Agni has you catering to her every whim.” Amanda rolled her eyes. “She tamed you and you don't even know it.”

She wasn't wrong.

We strode through the cultivation room and out into the main mansion.

The contrast of entering an ordinary corridor after spending so long inside the room of fire was jarring. I looked back as Amanda closed the door and saw the flames waving goodbye.

“So, Roxxy found out.” Amanda’s head perked up. “How did she take it?”

"Better than I expected.” My lips parted into a smile. “Honestly, I was a bit worried that she would freak out.”

Amanda had been worried to even hurt me when she’d first found out.

I could tell that she was thinking the same thing.

"You should still talk to her a bit more once she's had time to process this. Talking with you properly really helped me get over it quickly.” Amanda pressed a finger to her lip pensively. “Have you talked to her since then?”

I shook my head.

“I’ve sent her a message to let her know that Gerial was okay, but she hasn’t replied.” A ripple of concern spread through me. “I was wondering if—”

“Of course I can.” Amanda interrupted me.

I looked at her in surprise and she grinned.

We stopped in front of the door to her study. I opened it, allowing her to go through as she spoke. Rows of bookshelves revealed themselves to me as I made my way inside, closing the door behind me.

"You were going to ask me if I could have a talk with her, weren’t you?” She waved her hand and flames swam through the air, illuminating the room. “I’ll make sure that she knows you're not going to throw down divine judgement if she looks at you the wrong way.”

"Are you sure about that?" I raised an eyebrow at her. "I remember you being terrified of making me angry. You even lost your dodgeball match.”

Amanda twirled around to face me and pressed the tips of her fingers against my chest.

Then she pushed me. Hard.

Her fingers pressed into my skin, and she giggled as I was forced to take a step back.

“Are you mad?” She poked her tongue out.

“Careful, we Marked ones choke dragons to death.” I strode past her, a smile forming on my lips.

I took a seat on the sofa.

She had moved everything into the same position it had been in her old mansion. Even the books were categorised in the same way.

One of the shelves in particular caught my eye.

It was filled with reincarnation novels. A spark of curiosity flashed through my mind.

"Hey.”

I leaned forward, Amanda pausing as she saw me staring at the books.

“What do you think about reincarnation?”