As Melvin activated his gift, a large forge reminiscent of a blacksmith's forge materialized around him. The entire hall transformed in the blink of an eye with the floor changing into the stone-cold floor of the forge.
Icarth watched the process, a small part of him fascinated at the change in environment.
'I wonder what's the actual use of the forge,' Icarth narrowed his eyes and glanced at his surroundings. He had only discovered that he could see the forge around the time he was able to see universal energy.
Seril had told him his theory about the forge.
"If you think about it, only a few people could see the thing. You, me, Ragnar, and maybe someone else. Well, with just us three you see the pattern?" Seril had asked him.
"That we're the strongest fighters?" Icarth replied lazily.
"No, I mean yes, but no. It's because we can all see universal energy. Why do you think no one else is able to see it yet?"
"I don't really care..." Icarth yawned.
Seril rolled his eyes at that.
Currently, the forge was getting hotter and hotter, the flames in the furnace climbing higher and higher steadily. Universal energy steadily flowed in, fueling the flames through a mysterious combustion process.
Consequently, the temperature in the forge and somehow the universal energy density kept increasing even though it was being used as fuel.
'How does that work?' Sefir tried to think of how the universal energy kept increasing even though it was being used up to fuel the fire at the same time. It was like filling a bucket with a hole in it and finding that the water level still increased even with the hole.
But Sefir's theorizing session was cut short as the environment required him to focus now.
'Breathe...' Icarth thought as he took a deep breath.
Air, laden with Universal Energy, entered his body as Icarth tracked it.
Its thickness far exceeded normal levels, and each breath dispersed universal energy through his body as his lungs greedily drank the universal energy.
A warm feeling pulsed through his body with each breath and each consequent heartbeat. Icarth's body was getting charged with universal energy as the concentration in his cells started to build up.
Icarth felt pools of universal energy form throughout his body as an unbearable heat started to take over. Sweat started to pour out of him as the heat continued to build up.
'Slow....' Icarth adjusted his breathing to slow down the buildup of heat. Time passed and Icarth felt his wet clothes cling to him as subtle gusts of hot air pressed them against his body.
The pools inside his body slowly started to boil as Icarth followed the instructions that his master had given him.
"Child during that Universal Energy class, when your teacher raises the density of universal energy in the room, it is the best time to refine your body. You need to collect universal energy inside your body to cleanse it of the impurities that are naturally there."
"Don't collect too much or you risk exploding. Take too less and there will not be any improvement."
"You will understand just how much you need once you do so."
"Then let the universal energy gather inside you and let your body do the rest."
Icarth watched as the universal energy boiled inside his body, sending waves of pain through it. Gritting his teeth, Icarth bore the pain as the clear universal energy pool turned muddy.
'...impurities...' Icarth managed a thought before focussing his mind on the task at hand.
After most of the pools were sufficiently dirty, Icarth breathed out shakily. Letting his control on the pools slip, the pools drained out of his body, carrying most of the impurities with them. There were a small amount of impurities left behind which settled on the outer layers of his body.
Flowing out through his pores, sweat poured out with the escaping universal energy. Icarth felt lightheaded for a moment. The heat was still rising as the pools inside him slowly refilled. With each breath, Icarth steeled himself to repeat the process once more to clean his body.
Melvin gazed at Icarth and waved his hand to clear away the polluted universal energy around him.
'Hmm, he's already figured out how to clean his body,' Melvin noted impressed at Icarth's foresight.
This class wasn't just for figuring out how to see universal energy. It was how to see it, and how to control it. And one would use this control to cleanse their body for the last step.
'Body cleansing is supposed to be the last part of my class,' Melvin smiled wryly.
'Well, it seems I'll have to revise my syllabus.' Melvin noted as another cloud of polluted universal energy was expelled from elsewhere.
Waving his hand, the cloud around Sefir disappeared, being replaced with clean universal energy.
'Two geniuses,' Melvin had a delighted smile on his face.
'Icarth was right,' Sefir thought excitedly as he concentrated the universal energy inside his body.
The universal energy seeped into his body through his pores and swept through his body, it traveled along his muscles, organs, and tissues, sweeping away impurities and waste away with the flow. The same flow carried the impurities out dispersing them in a cloud of impure universal energy around him.
'Hmm, it seems Sefir's body cleansing is faster than Icarth,' Melvin noted after seeing the frequency of the impure universal energy released from their bodies.
'But, Icarth's cloud seems bigger. I guess the rate evens out.'
'Well they seem to be doing it consciously, and he's doing it unconsciously?'
Melvin thought to himself as he observed Ragnar.
Ragnar forcefully dragged the universal energy into him and held it there. Taking deep breaths, Ragnar hammered his body with the influx of universal energy.
'I guess that's a way to do it?' Melvin thought interested in Ragnar's method. Although there were no impurities being released, Ragnar's body was being refined subtly.
'It shouldn't take too long for him to reach the level of Sefir and Icarth.'
Melvin took note of each of his students while maneuvering the universal energy around the ones who were too tired.
'That girl...Luna, I think?' Melvin gazed at Luna thoughtfully.
'She should be a close fourth,' Although Luna had already tapped out, her performance was extremely good, almost comparable to Ragnar's.
Like this, Melvin continued to appraise each of his students and finally stopped his first session.
"Everyone take a break, I'll start the second session in a few minutes," Melvin smiled at his students, 'I should push them further, they have quite the potential.'
Despite the heat, several of the students felt a chill travel through the air as they noticed their teacher's smiling face.