188 If You Canst Stand the Heat.. (2/2)

The old man was surprised by Daniel's decision, yet, he didn't believe that Daniel was serious. So, he quietly observed as he left the forge.

”Father..” Muttered the old man's son as a hint of worry appeared on his face. He was not worried about not giving Daniel what was promised, but he was worried about not respecting the deal they had with one of the families of the poisonous rose.

”Relax.. The kid is bluffing. He is waiting for us to run after him.. He'll.. He.. Fuck.. he is already at the gates! Go after him.” Said the old man while standing up from his seat, and dusting his clothes.

Mr. Tigg was about to dash towards the entrance of their company territory, but before he could take a step, Daniel, Jerigh and Roley appeared once again in the place where they were standing until now.

The old man immediately understood what had happened, so, he hid the embarrassment he was feeling, and kept dusting his clothes in silence.

”Your comprehension of fire essence is valuable, but not enough to beg for it.. I don't know what the poisonous rose gave you in exchange of this favor, but if you don't mind.. I would like to get this matter over with.. Now.” Said Daniel with a calm tone.

He knew that he couldn't wrestle the control over the room's temperature against the old man, which had a cultivation much higher than his, and was simply playing around with him. What he could do, was to embarrass him by using the moment of distraction, to manipulate every other type of essence to create an illusion.

The old man would have usually noticed this, but he was too focused on controlling his power in order to avoid melting the very walls, to make sure that no one was messing with the surrounding space.

”Your company has many spearheads.. Why add fire?” Asked the old man with curiosity.

Daniel shrugged his shoulders in response, and said ”I don't lack talented people in my company.. I need a knowledge to pass on to them..”

The old man looked at Jerigh and Roley, two people whom he had personally seen show astonishing results in many other types of essence, and muttered ”..talented indeed.” He then turned back towards Daniel, and said ”It was a stupid move to trade the perfect essence treasure for a demonstration of perfect comprehension.. You could have paid me.. And kept the treasure for yourself if you wanted. Now you will probably never find another one.. What a waste.. Talk about buying the water in exchange of the pot..”

”Maybe I have another one..” Said Daniel with a casual smile.

”Hahaha.. Nothing would make more and no sense at all at the same time.”

Once again, Daniel shrugged his shoulders, and said ”When are we starting?”

”Right now..” Said the old man, right before his son and grandson left the room.

For the following few hours, Daniel, Roley and Jerigh experienced increases in temperature to absurd levels, different types of flames formed through the combustion of different objects, the effects of fire on the body, and even cold flames which burned one's soul sooner than they burned the body.

The old man was perfectly aware that neither of the three could comprehend fire essence simply by observing it once, so, he demonstrated everything with haste, and without stopping too much on each concept.

When he was done, eighteen hours had already passed, and Daniel was the only one left in the room.

Jerigh and Roley were forced to leave the room due to the unbearable temperatures, which Daniel was able to resist to thanks to his higher power.

It is important to understand one thing when talking about high temperature in a context of comprehension of fire essence.

The dept of the temperature was a matter of power, while in order to understand the concept of heat, only a simple understanding of how temperature worked was necessary.

The reason why high temperatures were needed to comprehend fire essence, was because they were needed in order to observe the effect they had on other elements like metal, earth, water, and so on.

That did not mean that one needed to reach impossible levels of heat like the heat of a star in order to understand fire, just like one did not need to reach absolute zero in order to understand the concept of freezing.

”Here we go.. That's about it.” Said the old man after sitting back on his rocky seat, and taking a deep breath. He then made a cigar appear in his hand, put it in his mouth, and moved his face just a few centimeters from the molten metal that filled the forge just to lit it up. ”A stupid trade if you ask me..” He then muttered before inhaling deeply.

Daniel stood up from the patch of floor he had been sitting on for the past better part of a day, and closed his eyes.

He focused the majority of his immortal essence out of his body, and started to turn it into the various forms and shapes of fire essence he had witnessed until now.

The concepts and comprehension he demonstrated was slightly off at first, but was quickly corrected into perfection in a matter of seconds.

After another hour, Daniel opened his eyes, and observed the semi-invisible green-bluish flame that covered his body with curiosity.

The old man was still sitting on his chair, and next to him, were at least thirty cigar butts. The shock had long left his face, and he was now observing with interest.

”I disagree..” muttered Daniel in a low voice before turning towards the old man, and saying ”Thank you.” He then turned around, and left the forge from the way he had arrived.

While still sitting on his chair, the muscular old man looked at Daniel's back, and while lighting one more cigar, he muttered ”Talented people huh?.. What a monster..”