Ning pulled everyone closer and with a single thought appeared on the other side of the lake.
"Whew! Your powers are truly something else, Ning," Tessa said, looking around at the black rock beneath her feet.
"Wow, I can feel the heat from here," Saphandra said.
"Yeah, well we should maybe get rid of the raincoats now. There's not more rain," Ning said.
"Yes," the group said and started getting themselves out of the plastic covering.
"What do we do with these, teacher?" the princess asked.
"Keep it in your necklace," Ning told her.
"Okay," the princess said and the plastic raincoat disappeared into her multipurpose artifact.
Saphandra kept it in her own ring as well, but the rest of them had to hand over their coats to Ning for safekeeping.
Once they were all handed over, Trevain looked around and frowned. "What exactly are we supposed to do here again?" he asked.
The lava flowed down the left side of the mountain and fell into the lava. As a result, the lake was quite hot and bubbling around that location.
The steam however moved towards the rainforest, turning into rain and flowing back into the lake.
The ash and soot from the volcano also mixed in with the rain, giving much-needed nutrients to the forest from time to time.
"I do want to go to the top, but I can understand if you're against it," Ning said. There was something he had wanted to try out for a while now after seeing the volcanic mountain.
"I want to go to the top too, but it's so hot," Trevain said.
"It is indeed very hot, brother Ning," Ori said.
Ning frowned. "System, do you have something to help them fight against the heat?" he asked. "Something that's a very good insulator for heat."
<You can use a heatproof suit.
"Hmm, make some for these people, and… do you need one too?" he looked towards the slime.
"No need. I have multiple heat-resistant skills," he said.
"Good, 5 then," Ning said and instantly 5 suits appeared that looked suspiciously like space suits one would wear to go outer space.
"Wear these," Ning said. "It's not perfect, but it should help you quite a lot."
Unfortunately, because they had to see, which was the main reason why they were going up there, the system had to create a small point of 'failure' on the suit, mainly the visor.
They quickly started wearing the suit, trying to figure out how it all worked, when Saphandra noticed something.
"Eww, why is the inside so mushy?" she asked. It was as if there were two layers of clothes and inside the two-layer was another layer of something fluid.
"There's some gel in the cloth," Ning said. "That's the main thing that will be responsible for stopping the heat. Get dressed, quickly."
"You're not wearing any, brother Ning?" Ori asked curiously.
"I don't need it," Ning said. He turned around to look at the trek up the steep mountain and quickly helped the princess dress.
Then, he picked her up and placed her on his shoulders before starting to walk up the mountain. "Leave the bear there and follow me," he said.
The side of the mountain he was on was already cooled for many years, so there was no problem with walking. However, from time to time, he came across rather a smooth surface, as if that segment of rocks were all made up of obsidian or other volcanic glasses.
Ning hit those parts with his foot and made divots to help those behind him not lose their footing.
At the same time, from time to time, he placed ropes in places that were mostly treacherous. Looking back, such help was really just useful for the three that did not have a spirit yet.
The slime and Saphandra were actually not even walking at this point and were simply flying.
Ning looked ahead at the peak of the mountain that was about a kilometer away and continued walking.
The group of 3 rested from time to time, but he needed no rest. "Come at your own pace," Ning said and continued forward.
As he went ahead, he checked for any beast that might be hiding along the side of the volcano, any caves that were maybe hiding birds or bugs.
Fortunately, there was no such thing.
So, Ning effortlessly and without obstacle, walked all the way to the top of the mountain and finally viewed the bubbling magma of an active volcano.
"What is that teacher?" the princess asked.
"That… is a volcano. Those are molten rocks that come from deep underground," he said.
The crater of the mountain was at least 500 meters wide, if not more and nearly half of it was active magma. There was a portion of the crater broken towards the left, from where the lava was continuously pouring down the side of the mountain.
While waiting for the group to catch up, he explained to the princess about the volcano.
After 15 or so minutes, the group finally made it up in their heavy suits. They breathed heavily, but the sight in front of them was almost enough to make them feel as though it was worth it.
"I have heard about volcanoes, but this is the first time I'm seeing it," Trevain said.
"Me too," Tessa said.
"Same here," the slime said.
"Is it really dangerous?" the princess asked.
"Let me show you," Ning said and took off his shoes before tossing them off into the lava. As soon as they made contact, the shoes burned to nothing in a matter of seconds.
"Wow, that's dangerous," Tessa said and backed off a bit.
Ning pulled the princess off his shoulders and handed her over to Saphandra. "Take her for a moment please, I have something to test," Ning said.
"What test?" Saphandra asked while taking the princess.
"I want to see who's stronger," Ning said. "Me, or a volcano."
