Chapter 392 - Skin of Fire

Although happy that he is progressing against not one but two Inner Demons of rage thanks to the daily training, he does feel bummed how he still remains as an Expert (Level 4) in Fire Controlling regardless of the fact that he has been training to level up almost every day ever since he met Mogranius.

Imagine training every day, only to hear someone come and claim that our Eric is Level 4. Although most friends praise his abilities, in another way they are pointing out that he is still remaining Level 4. He knows that they aren't trying to throw a negative comment and sugarcoat it with a compliment, but he keeps getting reminded that he is Level 4 and that's what is bothering the young Electus here.

With not one or two but actually four Fire Manipulators around him today, which itself is very rare to encounter in the third era, he decided to bring up the Leveling up topic. He definitely won't like being the main attention again, but this slow burn (Level-wise) has been tampering with his motivation and he has to get rid of it.

Furthermore, getting an opinion from four other Fire Controllers in this topic would be amazing. Because in these troubling times, all four of these people have met with troubling fates of which one way or the other has forced them to rely on their natural powers only. King Michael's point of view would matter more at such a case, but four opinions are better than one.

With a single sweat breaking from his forehead, he started the conversation, knowing that he will grab all the attention he got a bit nervous. "Before we start, may I ask a question to all of you?"

Osira got instantly interested, Eric asking a question? It isn't something common, she added eagerly. "Of course."

Mogranius, knowing him for a lot longer, already feels like Eric will ask something stupid. He didn't say anything and just listened eagerly.

King Michael wanted to do a bit more exercises but dusk is already close so they can spare a few minutes here, so he requested. "Do ask us."

He started off the question with a bit of stuttering, even paused after his two words trying to put an answer together. "How long does it take to Level up?" But afterwards he found it easier to build his sentences. "I've been training for hours a day, every day, but I feel stuck here. I can feel the Inner Demons calming down, I kinda have it easy to analyse that based on my overall moods but as for my Fire Controlling abilities, I feel no progress."

Mogranius is a bit used of these constant complains, so he chose not to speak here for a little while longer and let Grand Mentor King Michael take charge, and he came up with a rather good answer but at the same time demotivating.

"It took me 250 years to become a Grand Master, you should go easy on yourself and realise that Fire Controlling is one of the most complex powers out there, fast progress isn't an option for anyone but you." Taking a second to breathe, stretching the silence for a few seconds before he continued with his words slower and his smile wider. "So although it might seem slow, it is better than working on a Level for decades."

With King Michael planting ideas in his head, before Eric could speak, Mogranius took the lead. With a high pitch on his tone he spoke, "I'm turning 60 years old next month yet I'm still Level 4, and it might take a lot longer for me to reach Level 5." With that sentence finished, he glanced at Eric rougher and spoke. "So imagine what I think when I hear you complaining about Levels."

"I'm not complaining, I just asked a question, god..." Eric murmured amongst himself as he comprehended the reply from both his Mentors.

"You were kinda complaining." Osira added, not feeling shy or thinking twice to point out such a fact and with a rush of thoughts scrolling through her mind, she build up a more proper sentence before anyone could speak. "But I share the same thought with the Mentors, mother told me that most Fire Controllers tamper around Level 3. It is really hard to Level up with our powers, I'm not sure about the rest."

Dilli, listening to their conversation, decided to back up Osira with this saying. "Typically, I had no trouble massacring ill.u.s.tratian Guards, and I never had trouble with progress. Some even called me abnormally gifted with my "Magic" (She air Quoted.) but even I needed more than a decade to become an Expert (Level 4), not to mention a Master (Level 5), I'm far from it."

Finally accepting facts, Eric decided to cooperate with the Fire Controllers here with this little answer. "I guess I should kiss Grand Mastery good bye for at least a Decade."

But where one question ends, another begins thanks to the thoughts planted by this conversation. Eric first pointed out, "I came in to power as a Magician (Level 3), and progressed to being an Expert (Level 4) when I had my outburst." Thinking it through for a couple of seconds, he added. "Well at least that's what Mogranius said."

Seeing that everyone is listening, trying to understand Eric through the common stammering and sentence pauses, he continued. "So how do I know that I progressed to becoming a Master (Level 5)?"

With his name mentioned, Mogranius instantly added a comment. "Well you caused Fire Tornadoes in Crutal Kingdom so that's basically an official rule that you qualify as a Level 4 Fire Controller."

"Yes, Levels are basically fancy talk that determines how many complex moves one individual can do. Fire Tornadoes aren't easy, and impossible for a Magician (Level 3) Fire Manipulator." King Michael added, explaining the full concept.

"So which move can declare me as a Master?" Eric asked, its not a question that anyone didn't expect.

"Might walk a few steps back for this?" King Michael answered and mostly walked away himself, trying to demonstrate the move.

Fire blew from his nose as soon as he attained a firm standing position he can rely on, that fire stretched all the way to his palms and started surrounding them. From surrounding the palms, to covering all of his arms, it moved to the chest area as well.

This fire, is coming from his nose only and has an intend to cover all of his body with a few inches thick layer of fire, so it should give a slight definition of how much fire is needed here.

The Fire continued to spread elegantly through the rest of his body, avoiding to touch skin but obviously making him sweat. In other terms, here it is showing that King Michael is choosing where the Fire is going, with nothing but his mind.

The Fire went all the way down to his knees, and has quite well surrounded everything above. King Michael has his eyes closed, and trying his best to concentrate as much as one human could, the break of concentration here can cause for the spell to fail and accidentally cause minor burn marks.

As soon as fire covered King Michael's body all over, even careful around the hair, giving a bit more space so they don't burn. He started walking forward, with Fire still surrounding him and refusing to break the beautiful flow.

From walking, he started to run for a few meters and at last blew fire from his feet so he can attain a little leap. Once his feet met the ground again, the Fire surrounding him transformed in to a large orb, 20 meters across. Obviously it can do a lot of close combat damage in battle.

The snow beneath his feet melted for more than 25 meters across due to the intense heat, signifying that this move can burn badly, an enemy would definitely not want to experience it.

Seeing that his little crowd here has been left amazed, he walked towards them, with talking to Eric as the main goal and calmly spoke. "What you saw there is a little move called "Skin of Fire". It requires intense concentration and it is a start for Fire Manipulating based on nothing but your mind, when you become a Grand Master you should already know more about Controlling Fire with your mind."

"I'm definitely far away from concentrating that much." Eric spoke, knowing his limits but at the same time this laid more questions. "How can I learn concentrating to even reach close to what you just did."

"You will just have to be more calm and actually know what you are doing every time you take a shot, being self aware. Even analysing how much fire you blast, when you blast it, will help you to become a concentrated well oriented Fire Controller." Happy that he can speak out this sentences out to anyone else except Marixha, he continued with his most favourite part. "Mastery in Fire Controlling favours perfectionists in emotions and focus."