In the garden located at the back of the Ezenholm Family, Noel had been meditating for a few hours.
He was fully absorbed in the current problem, which was to determine the power of his flame.
"Hmm?" Raincart, who was watching from a distance, couldn't help but furrow his eyebrows. There was a spark of interest flashed in his gaze, but he contained that curiosity so as to not bother Noel.
The black fire was gushing out of Noel's body. At first, it was a mild fire. There was no heat or whatsoever.
However, the more time passed, the higher the temperature of the fire. They started feeling the intense heat even though they were standing thirty meters away.
Even Raincart had to raise his guard against that fire, but it seemed that he didn't have to worry. Before it grew out of control, the fire temperature gradually decreased.
Noel appeared to be having second thoughts about raising his fire temperature. Of course, it didn't mean that he would completely ignore the temperature.
After some adjustment, the fire seemed to have stopped fluctuating. When the heat brushed Raincart's skin, he could roughly measure its temperature.
Noel actually wanted to maintain the flame's behavior. Since it was the flame, it was obvious that it should have intense heat and high temperature. But the question was, how high?
If he set it too high, the flame would destroy everything and become uncontrollable. Hence, he settled for two and a half times higher than the average flame. This should be enough to overwhelm any fire his opponent might have, even if they were quite extraordinary.
After all, Noel had a few other properties to adjust on.
Since the fire radiated the heat, he wanted to adjust the amount of heat. If the heat was too strong for the current temperature, it would become unstable. In addition, it would burn everything around it.
At the same time, the fire couldn't be without heat. He thought that for an Undying Fire that would last forever, the sufficient heat would be two times more than normal, but he also made an adjustment with the temperature.
This way, he wouldn't accidentally hurt his people when fighting around them. While he was a fighter, he was a lord. So, there was no way he would fight alone in the future.
The flame began to swirl around Noel's body. It looked like the fire was eager to show its power, starting from burning the grass and soil.
However, Noel immediately stopped it with his control because if he wasn't careful, he could easily burn the mansion behind him. It also reflected the possible future after becoming a noble.
While Noel was adjusting his flame, Raincart got a guest.
The guest was a middle-aged man. He had a straight posture and gallant figure.
"So, he is Leysha's son…" The man said, a bit surprised by what he saw from Noel. Even he felt some fear toward that flame. And after hearing about Noel's achievement, he might not be able to win against Noel once he becomes a Spirit Grandmaster.
"Indeed." Raincart nodded proudly. "But don't take it to heart. He is just too irregular. You're already talented enough, and your children have nothing to worry about."
"Thank you, Father." The man turned out to be Raincart's son, the current family head of the Ezenholm Family. "But if I'm not wrong, Leysha also…"
"Yeah. He has inherited his mother's element as well. In other words, he has two Spirits residing within his body. But it's even more surprising because those two spirits have opposite elements."
The man thought for a moment and asked, "Those two elements are in harmony? How?"
"Normally, if two opposite elements reside within a body, they would clash and end up harming its host. However, I could see that the flame, despite overbearing, is the one harmonizing the relationship between the two elements."
"What? Then, the flame is actually lowering its own property in order to match the ice?"
"Yeah."
"But doesn't that mean the flame's full potential hasn't been released yet?" The man gasped.
"Exactly. Yesterday, he asked me whether there is a way to procure an Ice Element Item or herb and a large quantity of Demon Crystals."
"…" The man fell silent as something clicked in his mind. "Father… the reasons for him to request those things… might be for the flame development."
"Yeah. I'm thinking the same thing. If my prediction is correct, that Ice Spirit is trying to increase its power so that the flame can release its full potential. Actually, after he came here last time, I had been researching about the Ardagan Family."
"If the record is correct, Noel actually possessed a similar if not the same spirit as his ancestor. The same spirit that gave birth to the only Spirit King in history." Raincart narrowed his eyes as his expression turned grim.
"What?"
Raincart asked, "Can you… help me procure those things?"
The man fell into deep thought, muttering, "The Demon Crystals are not a problem. Even if those families feel something weird about our large purchase this time, I can fend them off. The problem is the Ice Element item… I think I have to ask an old friend to see if he has any clue or not."
Raincart smiled. It wouldn't be weird if he felt awful after knowing that his nephew was as strong as him. But that assurance from Raincart indirectly implied that no matter how talented Noel was, he didn't belong to the Ezenholm Family. And that was enough.
After some consideration, he stated, "I think it's possible. But I need a few weeks to one month."
"Sure. Thank you."
"He is my nephew, so of course, I will help him."
Raincart patted his shoulder while walking away. He said, "Let's not disturb him. Just put some guards there to make sure that the fire doesn't reach the mansion."
"Where are you going, Father?"
"I'm going to visit another little devil." Raincart waved his hand while walking toward the mansion. That was right. Noel's talent was frightening. But his eyes for talent were similar to his father's.
The reason why the Ardagan Family became the wealthiest family in the Muivell Kingdom was because Luke Ardagan managed to find a lot of excellent subordinates. They became the pillars of the family and made the territory prosperous.
Raincart was heading toward Tristan's room. On the way, he could hear a maid shouting in anger.
"That's not it. Put your hands together and straighten your back before bowing."
Just from those words alone, he knew what was going on. It was the voice of the head maid who was training Sandra on the etiquette required to become a maid.
After a while, he opened the door and found Tristan inside. Now that they had reached the Ezenholm Family, there were a lot of resources that could be used to practice runes.
On the corner of the room were a few bags of Low Level Demon Crystals. Noel wanted Tristan to begin absorbing the crystals to build up his Spiritual Energy reserve even if he hadn't awakened his Spirit.
The runes were a method to fight without the spirit after all.
During the day, Tristan would fully focus on drawing all kinds of arrays from his memory before matching them with the original. This way, he could see which stroke was too thick, too thin, or curved incorrectly.
As a result, there were a few stacks of paper on his tables. Some of them had even dropped, but Tristan had no time to tidy it up yet.
When the door was opened, Tristan's body shook as the last stroke became too long.
Tristan raised his head, wondering who entered the room.
Without hesitation, Tristan stood up and greeted him, "Sir!"
"You don't have to be that stiff." Raincart chuckled. "It seems that you've been busy. How is your progress?"
"I don't want to disappoint Teacher." Tristan made a wry smile. He suddenly remembered that the paper was scattered on the ground and hurriedly said, "I will clean this up immediately."
"It's fine. Just let the maid do it."
"But…" Tristan wanted to reject it. He felt weird asking the maid because the thought of being a slave was still stuck in his mind.
"Your life is about to change, so you have to get used to it. In any case, how is your progress in runes? Do you find anything you don't understand?"
"I'm currently reviewing all the runes I can draw, so not yet."
"How about your Spiritual Energy?"
"I have been absorbing the Spiritual Energy through the method you've taught me. I think I have managed to accumulate it a bit. But Master said I still didn't have enough to form a rune. Once I got enough, I would start creating runes with Spiritual Energy so that I didn't waste all these papers."
"Is that so?" Raincart smiled while taking a glimpse of his works. Tristan's hands weren't that nimble yet, so the stroke felt a bit too stiff. It was bound to create some mistakes.
Still, this kind of progress was far faster than the average person. Once he got the hang of it, he would progress by leaps and bounds.
"If you have any problems, just tell me about it. I'm also quite curious about the runes, so we might have some chats sometime in the future."
"Yes, Sir. I will be very honored."
Raincart patted his head while saying, "Keep up with the good work. Don't disappoint your teacher."
Tristan bowed his head as Raincart left the room.
Surprisingly, a butler had been waiting outside the room.
Raincart said, "Help me tidy up the room."
"Yes, Sir." The butler acknowledged the order, but before coming in, he whispered, "You have a guest, Sir."
"A guest?"
"Yes. The guest is a bit special, so…"
Remembering that his son was helping him to bring the stuff Noel needed, Raincart nodded his head. "I'll meet the guest."
