Mera, Taeko and Kiyomi remained in the temporary camp they have set up while Akashi decided to explore the inside of the volcano. There were numerous entrances but Akashi chose where the hottest air came from to prevent from entering some cave with a dead end.
When he arrived inside the volcano...
'This is certainly different from my old world...I doubt any of those volcanos in my old world were this big and spacious inside. There are actually a few black rocks sticking out from the magma which means that these aren't actual rocks or otherwise they would have melted down by now.' Akashi thought while looking around with sweat pouring down his face. He wasn't actually using his energy to regulate his body's temperature.
Akashi tried if these rocks were solid before using them as a path to get even closer to the middle of the magma pool.
'Judging from this temperature, that magma is hotter than my flames, not by much but it's still stronger' Akashi thought while getting on his both knees on a fairly larger and flat rock.
The surface of the black rock itself was quite cold for something inside the volcano. Akashi decided to sit down in a cross-legged position and close his eyes.
At first, he just kept feeling the temperature with a calm expression while the magma around him turned out a bit chaotic from time to time, making a little explosions but none of the magma ever landed on him while he was sitting there. After a few hours, his body grew completely accustomed to the temperature but when he brought his hand close to the magma, he still could feel higher temperature than his physical body most likely could withstand.
'No need to be impatient. I can't control this magma right now but I should be able to recover my energy here much faster. Anyway, good thing that I only took my pants with me or I would have nothing else to wear when outside.' Akashi thought completely drenched in sweat.
He started to play around with his flames, however, instead of creating some small figures out of flames, he went big and created quite large figure of dragon above him before he began controlling the flames to keep the form of the dragon while flying all around inside the volcano.
[Energy: 1400/1720]
[Energy: 1420/1720]
[Energy: 1200/1720]
Akashi's energy was being drained like crazy but at the same time, it was being recovered at quite a fast rate.
Akashi then summoned another dragon, the same as the one before, and controlled it with his other hand.
After around a half-hour passed by...
*huff* *huff* "Hehe, this is actually enjoyable, I should have done it much sooner" Akashi muttered when he was completely exhausted, there was even steam coming out of his body as his sweat was being evaporated.
'Hm? Looks like the sweat on this black rock is actually not evaporating...I guess it's being protected since the rock itself is quite cold compared to the surroundings' Akashi thought while looking right in front of him while supporting his body with his hands.
After another half-hour passed by...
Akashi's energy was once again fully restored.
[Energy: 1730/1730]
'Just one attempt was enough to increase my overall energy, this is something that happened only rarely so I abandoned the idea of increasing it by exhausting myself since my energy was always recovering at a slow rate, well, not exactly slow but definitely slow compared to the rate in this place' Akashi thought with a wide smile.
"One more time before going back to rehydrate. I can actually survive for the whole weeks without any nutrition but I am sweating too much here and this time it isn't even because of the temperature but because of how much I must concentrate." Akashi muttered with a tired expression but an excited smile was still across his face.
Akashi once again repeated the process but this time he was trying to control those dragons only with help of a few fingers instead of the entire hand. He had to concentrate even more on this. His fingers were occasionally trembling but he managed to control those dragons and fly around with them until he once again became totally exhausted.
[Energy: 50/1740]
Akashi got up to his feet and almost lost balance so he had to put his hands on his knees for a few seconds before straightening up. He turned around and carefully got back to the entrance to the cave which he used before to get here.
---At the camp---
Mera and Taeko kept talking to each other while Mera was also slowly preparing her to overtake her position in the future.
"?! Akashi?!" Taeko suddenly sensed someone coming out of the cave and when she turned her head with sharp eyes, her expression softened as her eyes widened when she noticed Akashi who was completely drenched in sweat with a tired expression.
'?! What kind of setup is that?' Mera thought while looking at shirtless Akashi. At the time he was leaving them, she actually already saw him without the shirt but this time he looked much different with so much sweat dripping from his body.
"I am going to sleep for 4 hours before going back there" Akashi said before he took a bottle of water out of nowhere which surprised Taeko and Mera but they didn't question it since he looked really tired. He gulped down the entire bottle before throwing it at the ground nearby.
He approached his blanket and just dropped down at it face first. Taeko wanted to approach him to check on him but Mera grabbed her hand. When Taeko wanted to question her, Mera shook her head and pointed at Akashi's face.
He was already asleep in a matter of a few seconds with a peaceful smile on his face.
'Interesting smile...So he can also smile this way, huh?' Mera thought with an amused expression before going back to exploring all powers of her newly upgraded umbrella.
However, something happened that caused Mera to widen her eyes. She actually saw some small bug landing on Akashi's back just to get instantly evaporated.
She got up and approached Akashi which alarmed Taeko who frowned at this.
"Shh" Mera gestured Taeko to keep quiet when she was finally standing above Akashi. Mera crouched down and tried to put her index finger on Akashi's back but once she made contact with his back, she had to quickly retract her hand. When she looked at the tip of her index finger, she actually saw that it was slightly burned.
'Is this blanket made of Danger Beast's hide to withstand such temperature? Maybe it's just his back...' Mera thought and moved his bangs away to touch his forehead but that wasn't as hot as his back.
After finally confirming this detail she got up to her feet and came back just to find Taeko glaring at her.
"Hehe, you are actually a jealous type, aren't you? What would you do if I actually got up and went to lie down next to him?" Mera asked with a teasing smile.
"Of course I would have stopped you since it could be considered as sexual harassment...In case you had Akashi's permission, I would have just glared at you to make sure you wouldn't be able to enjoy it." Taeko closed her eyes and replied with a composed expression and calm tone.
"To be able to answer this with such a composed face...That's one of many reasons why I love you, Taeko. In case you are worried about Esdeath...I can only say that she is a formidable opponent for you, however, I can see how Akashi looks at you so I think you are winning this battle" Mera said with an amused smile.
Taeko didn't reply but instead opened her eyes and stared deeply at the ground in front of her.
"Are you worried about the future? You still have to learn a lot about love, even though I don't really like to call relationship between man and woman love... Instead of worrying you should be training at all kinds of things you might need in the future." Mera saw through Taeko's thoughts and reassured.
"Training...? Like at what?" Taeko raised her head at Mera and asked with a confused expression.
"Let's start with cooking, you only know how to make poison but I can combine that poison with any food and make it taste absolutely delicious. I can teach you if you want." Mera bragged about her skills while winking at Taeko.
"Teach me how to cook and not how to combine poison with food to make it taste delicious, I hope?" Taeko said while giving Mera a side glance.
"Of course, there are many things I can teach you." Mera said with a confident smile.
.
.
When exactly 4 hours passed by Akashi opened his eyes as if he had an alarm in his head before he got into a sitting position. He took some dried meat out of his inventory, he quickly ate before getting up and returning back to the volcano without waking the girls up. There was no need for any of them to stay at night watch due to Akashi's summoned Danger Beasts.
Akashi once again performed the same training but it was becoming easier and easier so he started controlling them with his arms folded, only with his mind alone.
Akashi once again spent there a few hours before returning back to the camp and like this, the entire process repeated itself for the entire 7 days while Akashi was constantly changing the way he was controlling his flames and he also began changing the form of those flames into a phoenix and making the flames much denser which in return made it harder to control.
.
.
.
[Energy: 2000/2000]
Akashi was once again sitting in a cross-legged position with closed eyes on the same black rock in the middle of the magma pool. However this time he wasn't wasting his energy and instead he was just sitting with his eyes closed.
---Akashi's subconsciousness---
"This room...!" Akashi happened to appear inside the room where he got trapped in his past life which made him narrow his eyes.
"You were actually able to come here much sooner than I anticipated, interesting..."
'This voice...Why do I feel like I have already heard it somewhere?' Akashi thought when he heard a deep voice resound in the sealed room. He actually couldn't pinpoint the location of this voice but it's not like he couldn't sense everything within the relatively small room.
"You came here to seek the power isn't that so?" The deep voice asked with an amused tone.
"Not really" Akashi said while shrugging his shoulders.
"What about Esdeath? You are really confident in winning against her, aren't you? It's the truth that you are stronger than her in physical strength but her powers are actually tricky and to be honest, they are much better than yours due to defensive elements. Your powers can only block some projectiles however they can't block someone's physical attack from near you, neither they will be able to stop her attacks." The deep voice said.
'Great, another freak who can read my mind...' Akashi thought while rolling his eyes.
"Haha, to call me a freak...Of course, I can read your mind when I am part of you! If I am a freak then what are you?"