The next morning, the two groups decided to remain near Maga's cave while the hunting test was ongoing. It would be their safe grove to keep their game and a place to rest at during the night.
Yabang still wasn't back to his usual energy, therefore, it was also better for his group to not go far while waiting for him to recuperate. Despite the additional children in its cave, Maga did not make a fuss since he was happy to have Ling and Rin stay with it. Besides, it could ignore the others, anyway as long as they did not bother the dragon.
During the morning's hunt, the two groups separated to still hunt with their previous group. It would be difficult to start cooperating now without any practice of them working together. Most importantly, the hunt this time was the clan's test and the children were still hoping to get a bigger price.
For Yabang's group, they encountered some difficulties because of his still healing injury. The previous night, they could actually sent a signal to the nearby instructors to ask for help, however, the group wanted to try doing things on their own. It would be beneficial to them as they grew up and a request for help would mean the end of the test for Yabang. Like what Ling had said last night, other healers in their village would have not done better than Maga.
After catching a wild boar, Lino looked up at the sky through the trees' canopy, using his hand to somehow shield his eyes from the sun's glare. "It's already close to noon. Maybe we should start going back to the cave to prepare our lunch. The others should also be going back by now," he suggested with a look at Yabang from the corner of his eyes.
Sighing, Yabang understood the concern of his friend. He was also getting tired faster than usual and he knew his limits.
"Do you believe everything Ling told us last night? About the dragon?" Lino spoke to the two as they started walking back. They did not need to run since they really stopped the hunting earlier than usual so the decreased pace would not slow them down.
Yabang just mumbled an incohent sound as a respose to Lino before it became quiet again.
"But do you guys also believe that Ling could swim in the lava pool without hurting himself? Was he lying? Or is he a dragon too?" Tang'ga, who was walking behind them, spoke when he realized that Yabang would not expound on his answer.
"Idiot! Don't you think we would of noticed that? Or at least Yabang and me, or any other in the village, with how long he's lived there."
"B-but father said there were people who could use their 'mist' to disguise themselves. And you also saw before that he was different from us. Ling was a lot stronger for his age and he was a healer. He even beat Yabang!"
Every year, Tang'ga's father was always included in the trading group of the clan. Due to his family's plentiful harvest, they were one of the clan's major contributor of export goods and he was meticulous about their products, personally selling them during trades. Therefore, he had met different kinds of people and he had always told his experiences to his son since Tang'ga was young.
Choosing to ignore the past statement but still somewhat surprised, Lino turned his head back for a second to raise an eyebrow at his friend behind him. "What you said actually made sense! I wouldn't have thought that!"
Tang'ga knew his friend was making fun of him again. Bothered by Lino's reaction, he replied angrily, "Of course it does!" The indignant boy stomped his foot then run past the two to block Lino. "What do you mean by that tone?"
"If I still have to explain it to you, then you should have already understood it." After another sigh, Lino followed Yabang who continued walking, ignoring them. Tang'ga soon ran behind the two again to stubbornly ask for a proper explanation. And the three walked back with one still subtly insulting the other.
Noon came and the five children and one dragon were together again to eat their lunch. As usual, Maga was happy beside its two friends especially since it was left alone in the cave all morning. It was tasked to safeguard their things left inside the cave though that was not really necessary since the area surrounding the cave already protected by its 'mist'. Therefore, it spent most of its time waiting while swimming in the lava pool.
Contrary to what Tang'ga assumed, Ling could really swim in the lava without hurting himself. After their meal, the others watched as the boy removed his shirt and trousers to take a dip in the pool in only his undergarments.
The area looked almost the same as the previous cave near the village. It has a high ceiling where the lava was falling from, then reaching a slab of protruding rock serving as a pool and the lava kept flowing to the dark gorge below. The area where the pool and ground surrounding it was big enough to fit Ling's family's house.
A cheeky grin was Ling's only response to the gasp of Yabang and his friends before he swam to where Maga was waiting, near the other pool side's edge.
Despite the many years they have known this, Ling and Rin could still not explain the reason why Ling was not hurt by the lava. As an experiment, Rin actually tried to dip the tip of his finger into the pool but the finger was immediately scorched. Fortunately, it only took a few seconds for Ling to heal it.
What Rin felt when he touched the lava was worse than touching a flame or being scalded by a boiling water. For Ling, it was the same as taking a dip in a warm bath but the liquid was more dense than actual water. Kind of like jelly.
Ling also realized that the lava was working like the life 'mist', able to reenergize him after a dip. Later, he noticed that, the same as Maga, he was absorbing the lava like 'mist. Though, he was disappointed when it did not increase his growth.
Despite their inabilty to enjoy the pool, the other children decided to stay in the area to rest before another hunt. Like in the previous cave, the area where the pool was situated at was warm though not scorching hot for the rest of the children to suffer from.
Rin was talking to Yabang about their previous experiences with Maga while Lino and Tang'ga were looking around the cave. They weren't able to go too near the pool but they were curious about the lava, where it kept falling from and where it was going together with the mist coming from everywhere even from the forest.
The red ones coming from above were flowing slowly to the pool and the edge below that, same as the flow of the lava. The green life 'mist' on the other hand was trickling more slowly from outside.
Suddenly, to everyone's surprise, a loud rumble was heard from somewhere below them. This was then followed by the shaking of the ground, with small rocks falling from above. To the children's relief, it was not a strong one, unlike the time when the cave entrance in the previous cave was blocked by fallen rocks.
These past few years, it was not too surprising for the Mal'it Clan to experience earthquakes. Intermitent quakes would happen any time of the day. However, as the cave was closer to the volcano, the shaking was more felt by the children though this was still considered a weak one.
After the earthquake, Rin released a breath of relief and his eyes naturally looked to the pool where he had last seen Ling and Maga to check on everybody. To Rin's surprise, the rock slab serving as the pool was now half its previous size and his two friends were missing from their previous spot.