"That's basically what happened in the Muivell Kingdom." Raincart had finished recounting the information he got from the spies that the Greenwood Kingdom had planted. "I'm sure that other kingdoms have learned about her existence as well. To think she would be that strong, she can use the True Spirit Body as well, no?"
After listening to Anna's story, Noel couldn't help but fall silent. On the one hand, his ice abilities had improved drastically over the past week. On the other hand, it was nowhere near Anna's level.
Noel looked down for a moment, wondering what he should do. While he treated Anna as his ally, she was also his rival. There was no way Noel liked the fact that he was currently weaker.
That silence of his couldn't help but make Raincart a little bit sad. He comforted him by saying, "You don't have to think too much. Your progress is exceptional as well. If the Ardagan Family is still backing you, you would have reached the same level as her."
Noel didn't reply to him, causing Raincart to think that Noel hadn't recovered.
Raincart asked, "That's right. You're planning to reach the Spirit Grandmaster during your stay here, right? From the looks of it, you are already at the peak of Spirit Master. Is there anything troubling you? Although I'm not good with swords or runes, I'm good at elemental spirit. Maybe I can advise you or something."
Noel's eyes lit up as he looked at his grandfather. There was always one thing that stuck in his mind.
Even after learning the secret from Damian, he didn't know how to master his Undying Fire. Yes, he managed to improve his control and its intensity due to Old Ru's training, but he was nowhere mastering it.
"Actually, I have been wondering about something." Noel scratched the back of his head, feeling a bit embarrassed. He thought this was just a simple question, so the fact that he didn't know it made him look ignorant. It reminded him of how he first started.
"What's wrong?" Raincart asked with a serious expression.
That expression startled Noel. It felt like Raincart was telling him that asking any questions was never a dumb action.
Noel felt reassured and decided to share his problem. "I'm confused about my flame. I don't mean to brag, but my flame is strong. It's so strong that I feel like something is missing."
"Continue." Raincart nodded in agreement as he had seen Noel's Undying Fire previously.
"I'm not very sure about this, but…" Noel pointed his palm to the side and started forming his Undying Fire. After that, the flame flared up, releasing an intense heat.
Yet, when it died down, Noel replicated the same thing. Surprisingly, the flame didn't release an intense heat, but it reduced everything to ashes.
"As you can see, I'm kind of confused. On the one hand, I can control the temperature, the heat, and its burning power. On the other hand, I can't relate this flame to the one in nature."
"Because of that, you don't know how to proceed?" Raincart asked a core question, showing that he was listening attentively.
"Yes." Noel explained, "I have asked my spirit, but that's actually the last requirement for me to master my flame."
"So, have you put any thought into it?"
"Yes. If I can control the temperature, I can control the heat. But it's kind of conflicting with the burning power because it can burn everything even without releasing that heat."
"No, I'm not talking about that. What do you think about those three characteristics? No, should I say, what is actually your flame?" Raincart asked.
"Hmm?" Noel tilted his head in confusion. It felt like Raincart was questioning him about the flame characteristic, but at the same time, there seemed to be another profound meaning behind that question.
"What is my flame?" Noel muttered that question while looking down. 'Now that I think about it… why is Ardagan's flame called Undying Fire? How about other things like just Fire? Why does Ardagan specify its name to be Undying Fire?'
Noel fell into deep thought. He had never questioned it.
In Heisk's case, the first ability he got from her was Ice Control. It had evolved a few times, but it didn't change the fact that Heisk considered her ice as normal ice.
There was also another question similar to it. Why would Heisk's control change its name to Spiritual Cold Control? Did it mean Heisk's element was now a Spiritual Ice or Cold?
He had never paid attention to the name change and the meaning behind those names. This might be what his grandfather was implying.
'Why Undying Fire? What is Undying in the first place?' Noel tried to recall the meaning of Undying and thought, 'Undying means lasting forever. Wait a minute… Lasting forever?'
Noel's body trembled. 'If the flame lasts forever, doesn't that mean the flame won't be able to change its attribute? If it can burn for thousands of years without me there, what kind of power does it have?'
'If the flame burns everything, will it engulf this world with its power? How about its heat? What kind of impact does it bring? Will the temperature remain the same?'
'If the flame has a low temperature but can burn everything, there will be a lot of implications. For example, I can separate liquid by making one liquid into a vapor. But if the fire temperature is low, the liquid will only evaporate into nothing. In fact, not even the vapor remains.'
'On the other hand, if the fire temperature is high and maintained at that level, it will stay at that level until the end of time. That's the meaning of Undying.'
'In other words, the last requirement to mastering the Undying Fire is not control whatsoever. Instead, it's the identity of the Undying Fire. What kind of Fire do I want?'
Noel came to a realization. It turned out the problem was not an extraordinary challenge like he expected. It was actually the basic thing. He'd gotten the fundamentals wrong.
And the reason why Ardagan didn't say the correct answer was because Ardagan wanted Noel to choose without influencing him in any way.
Ardagan once explained that the spirits resided within the people because they wanted to see how the humans wielded their power, using it as an inspiration.
Ardagan was the same. It wanted to see how Noel wielded him. Even Raincart could see this problem.
Noel stopped responding to his grandfather as he was too engrossed with this new thought. He had to confirm what kind of flame he wanted from Ardagan and set it that way so that the Undying Fire could truly last forever, not change with the passage of time.
Seeing his expression made Raincart feel relieved. Raincart didn't know anything about Noel's talent in Spiritual Energy or his conversion rate. In fact, having two spirits alone was enough to confirm his talent.
However, Raincart could see that Noel's true talent was hidden in his mind. Noel's mind worked differently from normal people's.
It was due to his past. He had been reading so many books in the past. People thought he was lazy, but his father never stopped him.
There was one big reason. When reading those books, Noel's mind would often wonder in his imagination of those books.
That imagination had been trained since he was very young, and Noel wasn't disturbed by how the people described him.
That was why when Noel faced a question, his mind would wander to all kinds of things. And the only thing people needed to do was to leave a single clue to narrow his imagination. He would come up with the answer himself.
This was the hidden intention that his father had when training Noel. In the past, he never asked Noel to learn sword or business. Instead, he only taught him about morale and train of thought. In other words, his imagination.
To think about the problem, come up with a solution, and execute the plan were something that people needed. And Noel could vividly imagine the scenario and the result. He might fail sometimes, like fighting against Laufey or Alexander, but he took that experience for future choices.
This time, Noel had been presented with a problem about his Undying Fire. Would he choose to let the fire burn without any heat? Would the flame lose its burning power in exchange for a natural power from the temperature and heat? Noel had to be the one to discover it.
While Noel was tackling his current problem, Raincart moved away, curious about the disciple Noel took in. It was quite surprising to know that Tristan was a slave, but there must be a quality that Noel wanted from Tristan.
By the time he learned about Tristan's extraordinary memory, he would be so excited that he bothered Noel for days.
But that was for later. Noel was undergoing a transformation to reach the stage Anna stood on. He didn't plan to give the lead to her.
