[Show me your talent.]
A massive amount of fiery energy poured out from the Essence of Fire on his wrist.
He manipulated the fire energy freely. There was a hint of curiosity in the voice of the Lord of Fire.
[For a human, your talent is quite impressive. Your body is truly unimpressive, though…….]
“Did I pass?”
If you were a blood relative of the family, you could receive a blessing from a spirit matching your talent.
Ethan’s talent for fire was so great that even a high-ranking spirit’s blessing would not suffice.
Only someone like the Lord himself would be suitable.
[Yes. You’ve passed.]
The massive ball of fire gradually took on a shape. It became the form of a girl wreathed in flames.
[I, Rorotia, the Lord of Fire, will personally grant you my blessing.]
‘Rorotia?’
For someone with such a powerful voice, didn’t she have quite a cute name?
He almost burst out laughing. The girl of fire approached Ethan.
[Did those humans also gather to receive a blessing?]
“That’s right.”
[Then I shall give them a gift as well. That will be better than the blessing of my vassals.]
“Do as you please.”
Rorotia was right.
A single breath from the Lord of Spirits would be far greater than a full-powered blessing from a high-ranking spirit.
For Elena and Myers, it was an incredible stroke of luck.
[First, you.]
Rorotia transformed into tens of thousands of sparks and dove into his entire body—from head to toe.
The sparks were sucked in as if drawn by a magnet.
‘Kgh!’
An intense heat coursed through his whole body. It felt as if his insides were being cooked alive.
Even the blessing of the highest spirit, Ignis, had never produced such heat.
‘So this is the difference of a Spirit Lord… it truly is different.’
Each time the fire energy circulated through his blood vessels, the accumulated impurities were thoroughly cleansed.
And that wasn’t all.
The extreme fire energy was purifying his blood vessels, making them solid and clean.
It was an incredible opportunity.
Smoke rose from Ethan’s body. With his eyes closed, he began to perform his breathing technique. The Breath of Black Flame started to control the internal fire energy.
‘This is difficult.’
The fire energy swirling inside his body was the very essence of the Spirit Lord. Perhaps because of that, it was quite hard to control.
It was at that moment.
[Human, do you dare try to control me?]
“I just thought there might be a more efficient way to move it.”
The Spirit Lord was simply circling the larger blood vessels and purifying the inside of his body.
The blessing of fire.
It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
It would be a shame to waste such a chance like this.
‘If I could combine the Spirit Lord’s power with my own control…
I could improve my body far more efficiently than this.’
No sooner had Ethan finished speaking than loud laughter echoed through the temple.
[Hahaha! Go ahead and try. If you can control even a single spark, I’ll acknowledge you. Of course, it’s impossible.]
“If I succeed, you’ll yield completely to my control.”
[Very well.]
Ethan smiled quietly.
A Transcendent.
When he reached that realm and fought the Dragon Lord, Ethan had possessed enough control to freely manipulate even such intense flames.
Though his body was now ruined, his experience remained.
He focused his mind.
As the Breath of Black Flame continued, the Spirit Lord’s sparks began to tremble. Rorotia, sensing the control slipping, was startled.
‘How can a mere human…!’
The wager just now had been made in jest.
But at this rate, she might actually lose.
If she lost a bet to a human…
She would be ridiculed by the other Lords for eternity.
Rorotia, her expression stiffening, began to focus her mind in earnest.
The struggle of power between the two continued.
At some point, Rorotia felt the sparks come back under her control, and she whispered quietly.
[It looks difficult for you, human.]
Ethan, eyes closed, didn’t move an inch.
[Have you given up? How boring.]
Her voice was full of confidence.
Just then—
As he focused on a single small spark, he gathered all his concentration.
Now, while she was off guard, was the perfect time to seize control. In an instant, control over one of the sparks shifted.
It was only one out of tens of thousands, but he had taken command of a flame governed by the Lord of Fire.
[Oh?]
Her voice was flustered.
Rorotia couldn’t hide her shock. It was the first time she had ever descended upon a human, and the first time her control over fire had been taken.
“Looks like I did it.”
[………]
“See, you shouldn’t have let your guard down.”
[0101…….]
“Spirit Lord, keep your promise.”
[I will!]
Soon, tens of thousands of sparks began to move according to Ethan’s will.
‘Good.’
In the human body, there were not only large blood vessels, but also countless tiny capillaries.
There were so many that even Ethan couldn’t easily grasp their number.
‘Only after becoming a Transcendent did I learn this.’
Training the visible blood vessels was important, but training the hidden, minute capillaries was just as crucial.
With the Lord’s flames, even these tiny vessels could be completely purified. Ethan began to control the flames as he wished.
[Are you finished?]
“Just a little longer.”
[It’s already been two hours since you said that! My time to descend is almost up!]
“Hold on. I’m almost done.”
Using Rorotia, he was thoroughly purifying even the tiniest vessels, making the most of this opportunity.
Soon, Ethan nodded.
‘This should do.’
He had cleansed more than ninety percent of the blood vessels throughout his body.
In his previous life, he could only have done this after reaching the level of a Transcendent.
Now, the continent’s greatest prodigy had gained the continent’s greatest physique.
It was an astounding result.
“It’s done.”
[Hoo. To think I, of all beings, would come under a human’s control. What a strange feeling. Still, you made full use of me, didn’t you.]
Rorotia was right.
Not only had he used her immense power to infuse his wrist’s essence with heat, but he had also implanted a new Essence of Fire in his arm.
Ethan grinned.
“There are still two people left.”
[You really do work me hard, human.]
The grumbling Lord of Fire approached Myers.
[Blood of House Ardan, consider this your honor.]
Her fiery breath began to wrap around Myers’s body.
[Little girl, you come here as well.]
“Yes.”
Elena cautiously approached Rorotia. Soon, she too was enveloped in the Breath of Fire, just like Myers.
[It’s just a simple breath, but even so, it’s better than Ignis’s blessing.]
The Lord spoke triumphantly.
Ethan couldn’t help but agree.
‘There’s a vast gap between a Lord and the highest spirits.’
No matter how many Ignis gathered, they probably couldn’t even scratch the Lord of Fire. That’s how powerful Rorotia’s authority was.
“Well done.”
[I enjoyed this. Let’s meet again, child of fire.]
Rorotia was sucked into the passageway.
In an instant, the passageway closed.
Myers and Elena were still wrapped in flames.
Crack!
Crack!
Their muscles and bones were changing, and all the impurities within their bodies were being burned away.
‘Looks like we’ll have to wait a bit.’
Ethan quietly sat cross-legged.
‘My god.’
Hans, who had watched the entire scene from beginning to end, stood with his mouth agape.
A Spirit Lord!
It was a name that only appeared in ancient texts from long ago.
It was said that a Spirit Lord had never actually descended in reality for hundreds of years.
And yet, such a being had blessed the direct descendants of a ducal house?
Hans suddenly understood just how important the Festival of Fire was as a tradition. If the collateral branches had known about this, they would have turned the temple upside down in a frenzy.
Of course, only the direct line of the family could receive the blessing, so it would have been pointless.
‘He was already a monstrous heir…
Now, I don’t think the word monster is enough to describe him.’
While the other siblings barely received a single breath, the heir had housed the Lord of Fire within his body for nearly two hours.
Gulp.
Hans swallowed hard.
‘So this is why he brought me here—to show me this scene.’
Someone capable of summoning the Lord of Fire. By revealing that, he was clearly trying to draw Hans to his side.
‘I’ll have to take this secret to my grave.’
From the memory alteration orb to the Festival of Fire—
Hans resolved that these two memories would remain in his head forever.
If he ever spoke of them, he’d be the first to lose his head.
It was about an hour before the two finished their awakening.
“Myers?”
“Yeah, sis?”
The two looked at each other in surprise.
That’s how much their appearances had changed.
Their skin was now soft and radiant, their features brighter, any remaining baby fat was gone, and even their bone structure had become more attractive.
It was a remarkable transformation.
Ethan had undergone the same change.
His body, once emaciated and frail from years in bed, had dramatically transformed, and his sharp features had softened thanks to the blessing.
“Wow. Bro, you look way better than before. And sis, you’re so pretty now, too.”
“You’re the same.”
“The Lord of Fire really is amazing.”
She truly was.
Even in his previous life, not a single direct descendant of the family had ever summoned the Lord of Fire.
Even those heads of house considered the most talented in history had only managed to summon Ignis, the highest spirit.
If Ethan hadn’t returned to the past with the experience of a Transcendent, he would never have been able to summon the Lord of Fire.
It was an incredible fortune.
Growl!
Myers’s stomach rumbled loudly.
He looked at Ethan.
“Is it normal to be this hungry after receiving a blessing?”
“Your body’s basically been reborn. It’s normal.”
“Then let’s eat first. What do you think?”
“Not here.”
“Is there somewhere else to eat outside?”
“There is.”
After receiving the blessing of fire, it was natural to be incredibly hungry.
Since it was forbidden to eat in the sacred temple, the family had prepared a place for meals on such occasions.
It was called the Shelter.
A shelter deep within the mountains.
It served both as a place to eat and as a warehouse for storing byproducts from monsters.
‘If we’re lucky, we might get our hands on some monster byproducts, too.’
Psyches Mountains.
The value was high.
The monsters and beasts that appeared there were of considerable quality, so there was a chance to obtain various goods from their byproducts.
When Ethan explained about the Shelter, Myers’s face lit up.
“Wow, there was a place like that? Then the steward can make even better food. Let’s go!”
He strode out of the temple in high spirits. Ethan, smirking, followed after. It didn’t take long to reach the Shelter.
‘Just like I remember.’
A cozy log building. At a glance, it looked like a temporary lodging for hunters.
“Please wait a moment.”
Hans, who had gone in first, opened the window and quickly aired out the dust.
“Cough! You can come in now!”
The three entered the temporary shelter. The building looked like it had been abandoned for a long time, but it had everything they needed.
“I’ll prepare the meal right away.”
Meat from beasts, gathered during their journey, spilled out of the travel bag.
After a hearty meal—
Ethan looked between Hans and Myers. With a quiet gesture, the two quickly approached him.
“Young master, did you call?”
“Grab the bag and follow me. Myers, you too.”
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
Once outside, Ethan began to search every corner of the Shelter’s perimeter.
‘Is it here?’
As he pressed his foot on a protruding spot—
Click!
With a sound of something unlocking, a trapdoor opened in the floor.
A staircase leading downward appeared.
‘Found it.’
It was the byproduct storage hidden beneath the shelter.
His memory had been fuzzy, but he was glad he’d found it.
The three of them began to descend the stairs.