19th November 2018- Day 8 of the Aria calendar, night time.
"Thanks for the meal" Said Akiko as she drank from a bowl of soup.
"It's the least we could do" Replied Enbi Arin as she refilled Akiko's bowl.
After the day's events had transpired, Myra made her brethren to temporarily stabilize a couple of tunnels and made a room for them to stay and treat the injured.
Since their stock of meat was stored underground, that area was undamaged from all the shockwaves that the crustal bastard called David had unleashed.
Myra kept providing a constant supply of meat to Aurella as he treated the injuries of Akiko, Li Qiu, Prakash, and Enbi Arin.
Hikari too had volunteered to treat everyone's injuries when nighttime began and as the moon rose into the skies.
Hikari's innate ability 'Moonlight Cure' uses the power of moonlight by infusing her Aria into it to create a certain type of energy that is capable of healing injuries.
Her innate ability has a quicker healing efficiency as compared to Aurella but it cannot regenerate chopped off limbs.
Moreover, her innate ability could only showcase its true might during night-time. During the day, Hikari could only make use of the limited moonlight previously stored inside her to activate her healing powers.
Hikari took care of the muscle and skin injuries while Aurella cured the damage done to the bones and other sensitive organs.
The healing process sped up when Aurella broke through into the Practitioner stage and by the time of their dinner, except Akiko, everyone else made a full recovery.
Enbi Arin mentally messaged towards the nearby Myra "Your Artefact, is it safe?"
Myra made a quick eye contact with her "Yeah, it is approximately 3 kilometres further deep in the ground and a couple of ants are currently stationed there as guards. I would immediately be notified if something unexpected happens there"
"If it's that deep, then I don't have to worry about it too much" Sighed Enbi Arin in relief as she thought about the two Artefacts that were successfully stolen by David.
"That David, how many Artefacts did you lose to him?" Katsurou who had been sleeping in a laid-back manner near the recuperating Akiko suddenly questioned Enbi Arin.
"We lost two" Replied Enbi Arin but was still a bit vary towards Katsurou.
"Heh, I have no interest in them, but, did they have any attributes in them?" Sneered Katsurou as he could guess Enbi Arin's thoughts.
"One related to 'Might' while the other was related to 'Aria'. If we knew that he could overpower us to that extent, we would have hidden it somewhere else" Replied Prakash.
"Two variant Artefacts at one place, no wonder he could sniff out your location" Muttered Katsurou as he closed his eyes and dozed off.
"Variant Artefacts?" Prakash wanted to further inquire about them but didn't dare to after he noticed that Katsurou had closed his eyes.
First, Katsurou was the strongest around here, second, his disposition was unknown and third, he didn't trust the three new people who suddenly emerged out during their fight.
Hikari was the only one kind enough among them to offer an explanation "Artefacts can currently be classified into two types, 'Attributed' and 'Non-Attributed'. Attributed Artefacts usually release some type of aura into their surroundings when they are formed. They are incredibly rare whereas non-attributed Artefacts don't release any aura, moreover, they would usually house a soul inside it"
Myra inquired in a soft tone to not sound rude to these people who had an Adept stage expert with them "Do you know how they are formed?"
Hikari responded with a shake of her head "I've not seen how they are formed but I can at least show you one"
Hikari pulled out a knife from her sleeves, the very same knife that she used to attack David with and laid it before her so that Enbi Arin, Myra, and Prakash could have a look at it.
It looked more like a common kitchen knife that is generally used to cut vegetables but with an 8-inch long blade.
"There is a soul residing inside this blade. This knife is a Practitioner stage non-Attributed Artefact, but, I don't know much about it since this soul is incapable of communication. I could only instinctively sense its existence and location" Explained Hikari.
"I'm still confused. Are there any other differences other than one having a soul in it and the other leaning towards a certain attribute?" Said, Prakash, as he felt like the more he got to learn about such mysterious new stuff, the more he felt like he couldn't make either heads or tails of it.
"I'm not sure why you're stressing too much about such stuff. You only need to know about one thing, that is, an attributed Artefact can be refined into an Armament in your body and grow along with you while a non-Attributed Artefact has no scope of growth what so ever and also can't be refined into an Armament" Said Akiko who just seemed to have waken up from her recuperation.
Prakash had a wry smile on his face as he heard Akiko's statement but her next action made everyone present there in the scene feel as if their jaws might drop to the ground in shock.
Akiko got up and walked towards the Aurella who was resting in one corner of the tunnel room, picked him up gently from the ground and gave him a lap-pillow on her thigh as she gently rubbed her fingers over his sleeping face.
"What? Do you have a problem?" Akiko glared at the obviously envious Enbi Arin who stared at her in shock, envy, and jealousy since Aurella peacefully slept on her lap without showing any signs of resistance unlike with Enbi Arin where he always avoided her.
"Nothing" Retorted Enbi Arin with puffed cheeks.
At the same time, above the ant nest, atop a huge pile of rubble sat a man who was leaking out
copious amounts of heat from his body.
This man was obviously Li Qiu, who had come out here the moment his injuries were healed by the combined work of Aurella and Hikari.
"I thought my Spirit Flames were not affected by any external factors once they've been unleashed, but I've been proved wrong time and time again. First was when they were snuffed out by the attacks of the pale golden egg, then they were dissipated multiple times by David's shockwaves….That bastard"
The moment Li Qiu remembered about the mocking face of David, he immediately raged as his body began to release surges of his Thermal Flames whose heat kept on increasing, fuelled by his emotions.
As a moment of realization hit Li Qiu when he observed his burning self, he immediately stopped releasing his flames.
"Hmmm…. The temperature of my Thermal Flames changed due to my emotions. I thought that they could only emit a fixed amount of heat"
Li Qiu was under such a misconception because when he was at the Awakened Stage, his Thermal Flames could only emit heat to about 700-degree centigrade and the moment he broke through into the Practitioner Stage, his Thermal Flames immediately released a temperature of approximately 1300 degree centigrade.
He could approximately determine their temperature by trying to melt various metals which were available in the supermarket.
Since his flames always released a consistent heat, he was under the assumption that their temperatures would only change when his Aria Quality increases. But his current observation shattered all of his initial assumptions. Li Qiu decided to further test them along with the rest of his other abilities.
"My 'Essence Sense' and 'Materialization', I hardly made use of them in my previous battles. I could have fought better in various situations if only I could make proper use of them" Lamented Li Qiu as he activated his 'Essence Sense' innate ability.
"Materialization" Li Qiu muttered as he formed his Thermal Sword.
"Damn Trash!!" Only at this time under the perception gained under his 'Essence Sense' innate ability did Li Qiu saw that his Thermal Sword was full of holes, the edges didn't even have as much Thermal flames infused into them as necessary and many other such problems.
Li Qiu spent his time rectifying his materialization speed, rate and trying to modify the strength, hardness, elasticity, and other properties on his Thermal Sword.
He also tried to materialize other weapons, shapes, objects, etc and further tried to control the heat that they usually emitted.
Li Qiu then tried to create a fabric made from his Spirit Flames, but, the moment the basic shape was created, he was met with an intense headache.
"Aaarrgh….huff….puff.."
"This is way too complex"
In order for the fabric to have a soft and smooth texture, Li Qiu had to overlay multiple crisscrossing threads with a consistent elasticity and tensile strength which resulted in him with a headache due to the sheer complexity is achieving such a target.
Li Qiu lay sprawled atop the rubble as he gazed at the starry skies.
"The sky is still as beautiful as ever even when the world is embroiled in such chaos….sigh….a beautiful moon and the resplendent stars which look as if they are stuck on a blanket covering the earth….that's it"
Li Qiu abruptly sprang up and removed his shirt and used his Spirit Flames to overlay in the form of fine threads atop each strands of his shirt with the help of his 'Materialization' innate ability. He could determine their strength, density, etc by observing with his 'Essence Sense' innate ability.
"Too thick…too thin…not flexible…ugh…turn, turn…turn dammit…."
Li Qiu was so engrossed in his training that he failed to notice the creature that slowly crept from his behind.
'Crack'
Li Qiu heard a small sound from behind him and since his 'Essence Sense' gave him a radial vision, he could see a lump of red mist crisscrossing in various patterns and looked like a bipedal monstrosity.
Li Qiu immediately materialized his Thermal Sword in his left hand and a Thermal Shield in his right hand as he spun in an anti-clockwise direction and slashed towards the creature's leg.
His Thermal Sword got stuck midway in the creature's left leg while he raised his Thermal Shield to block a hand sweep of the bipedal creature.
"Now burn" Li Qiu bellowed as he immediately back-stepped for a couple of metres. The Thermal Sword lodged in the creature's left leg and the shield which came into contact with its right fist burst into blazing lames that engulfed its entire body.
Li Qiu then created a 5 metre long Thermal Spear and skewered the bipedal creature to the ground.
The bipedal creature burned within 3 seconds due to the blazing Thermal Flames, without even leaving its ashes behind.
Li Qiu retracted the Thermal flames still burning in his surroundings inside his body when he heard crisp clapping sounds as a silhouette slowly walked towards his location in a pompous manner.