Chapter 352 - If only they'd listen

As November broke, the coldest season of the year started spreading around Ignis like wild fire, Ironic choice of words but that's how fast the weather can shift here in Ignis. Until the middle of October it was considerably warm enough, warm for one to sleep in the wild with nothing but a Blanket. And now? Staying inside for some people can be cold as well.

This didn't neccesarily affect Eric and the rest of the town here in Lan Zhe though. The beautifully dangerous Volcano at the very bottom proves as a great source of Warmth, it is one of the reasons why Crops grow so perfectly, well apart from the Ignite Gems providing light nonstop and of course the additional holes of which the Grand Masters have dug with their gifted Lava Controlling.

Well now getting in to more important cases, let's mention the weird formations that posed as a threat nearly a month ago. The Blue Bubbles, or differently called the Blue Blobs.

Through a strong debate regarding how to handle this situation, the result would always end up putting the entire town of 800 people in Danger. So the best decision always ended up at the starting point, waiting and stalking the Blue Bubbles.

Sure these Bubbles are in some aspects indestructible, and somehow pop only after they leave the surface of Lava which is tremendously confusing. But apart from Grand Master Xalk who almost fell in Lava thanks to one of those bubbles, no one else really got endangered by these unknown substances.

So there isn't really a need to panic, the debate always ended up with waiting to see what happens. Grand Master Altacin and Kazer insisted the most on that matter, while Grand Master Laza and Pezik shared the same view but they didn't want to debate it too long, only had short outbursts of anger.

Grand Master Xalk on the other hand does not want to let this go, one idea after the other he wanted to convince the rest to do something. He does not trust these Bubbles in any way, because at the end of the day the ancient Grand Masters before his time molded this Volcano in to perfection, Blue Lava or Bubbles for that matter shouldn't be here.

He doesn't want to see this problem develop in to a large one, one that could destroy the town and its people even though they don't understand what this is. He has good points and has considered safety the most. "But without a little risk, we can avoid the big ones." He always insisted, but if only more people listened to him.

However his motivation still remained in tact, while the rest sometimes forgot about the Blue Bubbles and while Eric was training, Xalk always kept his eyes open to see more Blue Bubbles and try to figure out where they came from. His sleeping schedule now, is usually from 4-6 hours. Paranoia won't let him sleep due to the odds of missing something.

It made it even more nerve consuming, due to the fact that these Bubbles break out of the surface of Lava rarely or randomly, this month they only popped out 9 times. There is no accurate way to predict when another one would come out, and there is no way to go deeper and see what there is to be found even with a boy who can swim in Lava as a part of their Arsenal.

Oh well, let's hope that Xalk is wrong at this point. Let's hope that the Blue Bubbles are nothing but nature being weird, confusing and hard to explain sometimes. Only time will tell, as for now the time is to train.

...

Apart from training his Lava Controlling, due to the fact that his mind has become slightly more clear ever since he started taming his Inner Demon of Self Control, he managed to unlock... well what should I call it? Further perfection to his first powers, we are talking about Fire here.

Repeating the exercises of which the Calidum Lutum assigned him too, has granted him a handful of enhanced capabilities. For example his body has met changes, he has been gaining more muscles.

Battle-wise this wouldn't be a tremendous difference. But who would you rather have in your arsenal? Someone who can nail his feet to the ground firmly and blast an unholy amount of Fire, or someone who gets blown away once unleashing the unholy amount of fire? Obviously you'd choose the more stable one at a consideration of your own well being.

Indeed the exercises have made him stronger, Ada didn't seem to have a problem with it and Osira sometimes sneaks a peek when she isn't at the Forge. But apart from that main physical advantage, his Stamina has also met an increase.

A rather isolated rumour here in the Town only, mentions that anything grown here in the underground farm will help practically anyone increase his or hers personal stamina, be it someone with power or someone without it. Accompanied by the exercises, it is the perfect formula to a dependable stamina.

Getting back to the first point here, the mental benefits from those exercises have helped him the most in terms of being a better Fire Controller as well and not just a Lava Controller in training.

In the first months of being a Fire Controller, he has struggled having a Grasp of Controlling how big the Fireball will be after it gets wider than 4 feet across. Constant practice should have fixed that issue, but it really didn't.

What fixed it, or at least improved it by a mile is the fact that the mental and physical exercises the Lava Controllers have given him, has bit by bit helped to clear his mind for the better.

It Isn't really a Surprise that he reached this point of progress now, due to the fact that he started off with a Level 4 Inner Demon of Rage and a unspecified Inner Demon of Self Control. It is well determined now that those Demons are being tamed, and therefore he is becoming better and better with his powers thanks to the granted clearer mind.

Now that Eric has noticed these changes and told this progress to Mogranius, in a way more Burden ended up being thrown on his plate. Mogranius wanted to use this opportunity to train Eric further more.

At the Battle of Pameres Kingdom they helped tame the situation by killing a couple hundred or more enemy soldiers, how would the story have been if Eric was a Grand Master in Fire Controlling at that moment? Obviously different.

It isn't well determined where the ill.u.s.tratian Alliance will strike next and it really is unpredictable when they will strike due to the military shortage. But when they do strike, and if Eric is there then he has to be more prepared or in other words Stronger.

They have to use this situation to their advantage, because a Clearer mind can easily lead to level ascending. So Mogranius held a conversation with Kazer, asked him to cut Eric's exercises an hour shorter so Mogranius can keep Eric for another three hours in aims of training him.

Kazer and the rest of the Grand Masters agreed that it is a good idea although the Electus will be more tired. Well at least in given time Eric will adapt to the sudden shift of exercise hours, for now he as the King is just being bossed around for the better.

...

"Are you ready?" Mogranius asked, with a smirk across his face and a small freely moving portion of Fire on the palm of his left hand.

"Yes I am." Eric answered with his tone firm, cracking actually in an unintentional way. Puberty maybe? However, he is surrounded by his own Fire Shield, awaiting a shot.

Pow!

Mogranius' fireball shot through the air and made a slight slapping sound once hitting the Shield, no crack was to be seen on it and denting the shield is practically impossible. One can either crack it or not.

"I still don't understand the point of this exercise though." Eric complained, and had a rather good reason. He knew what to say here to his Mentor. "The Grand King is dead, how many other Fire Controllers could there be here in Ignis that would try to shoot me?" It is worth pointing out that he asked this question while his Fire Shield is still up and surrounding him.

"Oh so you don't enjoy the new training yard?" Mogranius of course swept away from the actual point, actually trying to bug the young Electus. What's a better way to poke and tame his rage or self control for that matter, while he Electus is holding a Fire Shield up and around?

"Well it is kind of cold." Eric played along, but on the opposite this cold November feels but a breeze compared to the blood freezing cold year around on the High Mountains.

"It is the best place to train your powers at full scale. We are over the town, half a mile up and there barely are any trees up here for some reason." Mogranius explained and at the same time complained, because he likes trees. He grew up around trees come to think of it. He is an explorer after all.

"Maybe it is because of the heat of the Volcano underneath us." Eric shed some reason to this conversation and Added. "I mean it affects the farm even when it is half a mile higher."

"No that can't be it. There are trees in the farm too." Mogranius answered and as he thought about other topics he let silence stretch for a few seconds. Until he found the reason why both of them are up here, "Oh right, I'm shooting Fire against your shield because there is nothing in Ignis and above that can interfere with Fire more than Fire can."

"So this will make my Fire Shield stronger?" Eric asked, catching up to one fact but not the one of which Mogranius had in mind.

"Oh yes that too! But also, the constant tampering you will go through when fire is blasted against your shield, will step by step help you reach towards another level. Struggle makes progress after all." He is becoming his usual self by the passing time, be it because of age or another reason. But he still has a lot of wisdom to share.

Now, trying to sound a bit manlier he asked in an exaggerated thick tone. "Ready?"