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Chapter 99: An Idol's Fire. [Release Version]
🕑 Added 2020-09-14 20:42:44 +0000 UTC<Acquisition requirement fulfilled. [Continuous Cast Lv. 1] acquired>
“Air Shield! Sanctuary!”
With the activation of two spells, a transparent wind and a yellow glowing barrier expanded away from me, their epicenter. As the two protective spells stood still like a solid wall, I felt reassured that what I will do today won’t accidentally set the village on fire…I hope.
“Saori, the villagers will probably get curious despite our warnings, so can you take care of them?” I called out to Saori, who was standing at the entrance of the church area.
In the last two weeks, the amount of time I’ve been able to invest in my idol preparations has been rather disappointing. After all, during the first week, I had to prioritize the meeting with Count Helvas and learning about magic from Master Kush. And since the saurians left, I've mostly been spending my time learning about the world from Ellaine. As we would travel to Firwood soon, the information I got will probably become handy.
So, I decided to dedicate my time to preparing my stage in the church area. It was a simple stage made from my terra magic, and it would be enough for my first stage performance, I admit, but I still needed to add some flavor to it.
I was reminded of my time in the Belzac Forest where I used to perform to lure in monsters for Saori to power-level with when I look at this stage. The special effects I made with my spells back then were simple, as I didn’t put too much effort into it preferring to focus on my singing and dancing. However, with my current abilities, I had to give it my all.
Hopefully, nobody will disturb me. I did warn the nearby villagers and Colwyn about it, and Saori will handle any curious villagers, so everything should be fine. Once Saori went outside the barrier and Tasianna backed off a bit, I began spreading my scale-dust with my arms.
The spark of a single scale looks like the flashlight of a camera, and the greater the density of the scale dust cloud, the larger the flames.
When I lost [Holy Magic], I also lost the [Light] spell. That spell was essentially the same as [Shine] except that it couldn’t harm dark elemental beings, so I thankfully had an alternative after I lost it. Using [Delayed Cast], I’ll be able to set the magic circle inside a bucket or something to imitate a spotlight, activating it whenever I need light.
However, usually a spell only has one cast, right? Well, I knew this would be the case, so I held an emergency training session after I left Ellaine’s mansion yesterday. Using the reading material Master Kush gave me, I thankfully got [Continuous Cast] in time to use it for my concert…but this does leave a bit of a sour taste in my mouth, as I still can’t get [Multi-Cast]. Why?! Why?!?
Ok, enough of that. I took out a wooden bowl from my storage and inscribed the magic circle for [Shine] onto it with [Trap Creation], much like how I had done when making my bombs in the Belzac Forest, but then I activated [Delayed Cast] when I enchanted it. This way, the spell would still be connected to me and I would be able to control it remotely. If I'd used [Trap Creation] alone, it would have severed my connection to the spell, so I would have had to directly infuse mana into the bowl to activate the enchantment.
I threw it over to Tasianna and told her to point the opening of the bowl towards me. I turned around and activated the spell. Almost immediately, a bright light shined at my back, casting a large shadow of myself onto the snow on the ground. While my body was keeping me warm, seeing how much more snow had fallen since yesterday sent a shiver down my spine.
Using [Continuous Cast], I first deactivated the spell, turning the spotlight off, and then successfully reactivated it. This proved that both the advanced casting techniques I was trying to use were working perfectly.. The four stages of magic casting were invocation, incantation, activation, and release. During this process, I had to cast my spell in a way that it wouldn't activate immediately and could be released multiple times until I dispelled it myself, to make the skills work on the spell.
The only problem was the mana cost. I had to continuously feed the magic circle mana while I kept it active, meaning it would be impossible for me to keep it up for an entire night. Most K-pop concerts are between one and two hours long, but I think it would be safer for me to perform three songs max for my first time.
In broad daylight, with my core continuously using the sunlight to replenish my mana and stamina, I think I could probably keep a concert going indefinitely, but trying for that long, when I'm not even sure of my current limits would be bad. Maybe for my next concert, I'll be able to buy some manatech spotlights. For this one, though, I'll have to make do with what I have available.
Next, I had to make the truss, the “roof” of the concert stage, where all the lighting and other decorations were attached to support the concert. Constructing four pillars to act as the support and then the roof, a simple earthen truss was made with my magic. I called Saori for help, and had her grab all the spotlights I’d made with our wooden bowls and attach them on the truss before she went back to the entrance.
I climbed on the stage and started activating all the spotlights in different combinations, testing how much my mana pool could handle while simultaneously scrutinizing the light formation. I had to make sure that wherever I was on the stage I would never be left in the dark. Can’t have the star not be in the spotlight, right?
As if I was being supported by a perfect production team, no matter where I went, the lights would turn on and off without a second of delay. It’s almost like the performer and the team supporting them were 100% in sync. Well, that is, of course, exactly what’s happening ‘cause my production team consisted of my parallel minds. They knew what I needed do, so they were the perfect partners.
I twirled around like a ballerina, quickly engulfing the stage in a cloud of scale-dust. The cloud shimmered under the spotlights, giving no indication of how dangerous it would have been without me here to control it. Snapping my claws and swinging my tail around as I began practicing my dance choreography, the scale-dust began to spark with every movement. Thankfully, [Pyrokinesis] was enough to manage everything, reducing the intensity of the tiny explosions to make them seem like a sparkling veil.
Using my scale-dust, I could fully surround myself with fire. Trails of flames appeared with every flourish of my arms and legs, emitting like an ethereal aura as they burst into existence and quickly faded away, leaving both Tasianna and Saori mystified as they watched me. By increasing the power, I could even unleash an inferno storm to spiral around me.
[Divine Inferno] gave me complete immunity to my own fire spells, but that immunity didn't extend to my burning scale-dust, as scale-dust isn't a spell. Still, both my draconic physiology and my high inferno resistance made every explosion feel like a tickle, which would quickly be healed up by my natural regeneration.
[Shine] and my scale-dust will make excellent special effects to complement the show, I could even use some wind to flutter my hair and dress and maybe lightning spells to spice things up, I think…On second thought, lightning isn’t needed when I can have my scale-dust act as sparkles.
…That’s all good and so, but still…
“Is something bothering you, Lady Hestia?” Tasianna asked me as she noticed the frown I made after testing a few things out.
“…It’s nothing really…but, despite everything, I still feel a bit…disappointed,” I said, dramatically shrugging my shoulders, throwing my hands up. I wasn’t sure how to explain it to her.
I understood my current situation quite well, but I couldn’t help but feel the aesthetic of the stage…lacking. Everything about it was made out of earth using my spells so it couldn’t help but look simplistic in design and color while the wooden spotlights made it seem cheap.
Creating a wooden stage was impossible by this point. The village was too preoccupied with preparing for winter and I don’t think Ellaine could hire craftsmen to make me one when the snow would soon cover the roads. Even if a stage could be made before my concert, why would I want numerous trees being hacked down for a one-time use? I haven’t tried it yet, but I doubt I could fit something that big inside my [Storage Magic] in one go for transportation.
I dunno, maybe it’s my former idol perfectionist tendency hindering me again, but it’s kinda hard for me to accept this current stage. I thought I was annoyed ‘cause it didn’t have a catwalk and B-stage, the secondary stage usually in the middle of the crowd, so I added them, but that feeling still didn’t go away. I had this persistent, gnawing sense that something just wasn’t right. It really was infuriating.
“Hmm,” Tasianna thought over my words for a bit, before replying with her own question. “Then, maybe it is something that is missing from the stage, instead of the quality?” She said before pointing at it.
Something missing?
As I continued muttering to myself, unable to figure it out, Tasianna told me to go back on stage and stand there. “It might be something I don’t understand about ‘idol concerts’ but, from my perspective, doesn’t the stage feel a bit lonely?”
“Lonely?” I glanced behind me, noticing all the empty space on the stage. “Well, I am the star of the show. Idols usually have background dancers to fill the area, but it isn’t necessary. Well, that doesn’t mean I am not keen on the idea, if somebody wishes to dance with me. Right, Tasianna?”
Noticing the intention of my words and smile, Tasianna giggled a bit as she responded, “He he, I wouldn’t mind, Lady Hestia. Song and dance are things any fairy can do, and I wouldn’t mind joining you, of course.” But instead of coming on stage, she shook her head. “However, that isn’t what I meant, Lady Hestia. You see, when we fairies celebrate, we do it with everybody. To create a spectacle worthy for our beloved Goddesses, Zephira and Anuiqa, we always give our all when we decorate, filling every nook and cranny with flowers and colors so the very idea of lacking never comes into mind.”
The Goddess of Wind, Zephira also serves as the Goddess of Celebrations and Travels. Anuiqa, a fairy, is one of the few Faefolk gods. She’s the Goddess of Festivals and Cooking.
Considering that Zephira’s subordinate gods include the Goddess of Hunting and God of Harvests, her pantheon sure seems to be well aligned with the normal people. There’s even Mercurias, the God of Mercantilism. Maybe it’s different in Firwood, but I’m a bit surprised that Aurena seems to be more popular than Zephira in this village, although everybody here does know those gods’ names. I should ask Ellaine when I have the chance.
Back to the present, I do agree I could maybe add a bit more flavor to the stage. K-pop concerts usually have a digital background fitting to the song playing during the performance and it’s also common to use a multitude of different colored lights to accentuate the artists. Humans feast with their eyes, and this is also true for idol concerts.
I couldn’t use my flames to color the lights, as the bowls would easily burn with my purple and crimson fire whereas my white ones have proven themselves safe — they feel warm, but not hot — however, white on white sounds, well, boring. If I couldn’t use my other fire for colored spotlights, then I could use them to wrap myself in it, turning myself into a human torch! Er, dragonewt torch.
Wanting to test this idea, I invoked both [White Flames] and [Corrosive Fire]. Heavenly white flames burned in my right hand and deadly dark purple ones in my left. I was still a bit reluctant to use these purple flames, mostly ‘cause I wasn’t sure of its limits yet, but I guess that also applies with [White Flames].
Sure, I made a custom spell out of it, so I understood its main properties: holy elemental fire that can damage and heal, but that’s about everything. I have the feeling I’m only scratching the surface, though. With [Sanctified Blaze], I should be able to cure anybody affected by [Corrosive Fire] if I dial down its power, so it’s about time I try using it more.
I snapped my fingers, creating a crimson red flame on my left hand. “Wow,” I exclaimed as both crimson and purple twirled together in unison.
I see my flames every day but, weirdly, I’ve never tried mixing them together like this. I released the fire in the air, using [Pyrokinesis] to keep it afloat and alive, and then began twisting them together into a spiral of crimson and purple, before finally adding the white flames to them.
I held my hand up, and began willing the flames to move. The triple combination of flames spiraled through the air, continuously mixing the color as it flared through the sky. With a thought, I expanded this single beautiful wonder while feeding it more mana so it would keep burning in the cold air as it grew, eventually forming it into a flaming dolphin swimming through the sky.
Geez…have I really forgotten how much fun it was to observe my crimson sparks light up? I can’t let some idiotic god of fire ruin the image I always had for them. Blame the creator, not the tools…
“Hestia,” somebody’s voice suddenly broke my trance, redirecting my attention away from the spiral. “Tasianna told me everything. If you needed aesthetic help that much, you could have just asked me. Besides, your flames and lights are starting to attract everybody.”
Looking over at where she was pointing, I noticed numerous kids and young teens having assembled at the entrance, watching me with sparkling eyes. Smiling, I waved at them. They flinched back for a moment but quickly gathered themselves, waving at me vigorously before running away.
Cute.
Once my attention was back to Saori, she began listing suggestions out to improve the whole design of the stage to make it feel more alive, even if we were working on a budget. One of those suggestions was to weave mana threads around the pillars, hiding the hideous brown with a myriad of bright colors to illuminate the night. I could even activate them and turn the pillars into a light show.
I thought it was crazy to suggest ‘cause that meant Saori and Tasianna had an arduous task before them and I couldn’t imagine them doing that much work. However, Saori and Tasianna simply shrugged off my concern and told me they had enough time. It was only the 9th, after all, and my concert was on the 31st.
Speaking of mana threads, Saori also had the brilliant idea of wrapping different colored threads around the bowls, so when [Shine]’s light is emitted, the threads would color the light much like how those colored films are used. Surprisingly, a pretty simple solution. Ten minds, and none of us were able to think of this answer.
Sigh, I really overthink things too much.
“Wait, you want to do what with the stage?” I asked again, not sure if I heard Saori’s idea correctly.
“I want Tasianna to turn the floor into ice,” she suggested. “You think the stage is too boring? Well, how about we turn the stage into color itself? The light of the spotlights will enter the ice and mix together, then it will refract it towards the audience. Yeah, I can see that, I can see that. Like a rainbow or a disco. Come on, you can imagine that, right, Hestia?”
“Uh, yeah, of course. That is a pretty great idea but,” I paused for a moment to bring my fire dolphin into Saori’s eyes. “I was planning to incorporate some flames into my performance, especially the second song. I can’t use ice on the ground, it’ll just melt.”
“Hmm, indeed, your flames could easily melt Tasianna’s ice, but you can simply tone the temperature down, no? The fire from your [Sanctified Blaze] doesn’t feel warm, for example,” Saori explained.
I told her my thoughts on her suggestion. I explained how I had thought of using my red and purple flames as colored light sources, but had abandoned that idea when I realized I couldn't control the heat nearly as well as I could with [White Flames]. I believe it’s one of the traits of [White Flames], while the other two kinds can’t exist without being hot.
Saori placed a finger on her chin, pondering as she continued, “While I do understand what you mean, that logic only applies if mana were to not exist. I mean, you can keep a fire alive for hours with [Pyrokinesis] without it physically being close to any fuel. I might be presuming because I am not a fire mage, but maybe there’s a skill you can buy to do it?”
Hmm, I haven’t looked in the shop in a while. I did get that 3k SP bonus from my evolution, so I might as well use it.
Agreeing to her suggestion, I had my parallel minds immediately go on a search. If I can control fire, then shouldn’t I also be able to control temperature and so on? Unfortunately, similar to how I couldn’t find any exciting skills before my evolution, my shop was once again barren. There were solid sounding ones, but nothing like “Thermokinesis” or “Geokinesis”, or something outlandish like “Smartphone Summon.”
The shop required me to have some affinity to unlock certain skills, as proven by Saori and Tasianna who both had different selections of skills compared to me. Tasianna was able to outright buy [Ice Magic] and [Cryokinesis] without fulfilling the skill requirements, and Saori had [Mana Weaving] and [Elemental Mana Weave]. In video games, unlocking certain “super” skills always meant doing something crazy. Maybe speaking with a Goddess counts?
Anyway, I currently had the option to upgrade my skills by spending skill points, but I’d rather hold off on that until I get my first Job. After getting my ID in Firwood, the first thing I will do is get a Job like Tasianna’s [Mage].
…Speaking of skills, what about my [Space-Time Magic]? It has been level four since forever; however, whenever I try to invest SP to upgrade it, I always receive this notification:
<This skill cannot be altered or adjusted without Administrator permission>
Weird, right? Guess I could just spam [Haste] like my younger days…
After explaining the situation to Saori, she told me to try controlling my flames manually. Like advancing my proficiency with using [Pyrokinesis], I could try controlling both my crimson and purple flames, reducing their temperature while keeping the fire alive. It was for the good of the show, so I consented.
As purple was my least explored option, I tested it out first. The main way I always used to cool down my fire was to do it the way I learned it from chemistry class — dialing down the number of chemical reactions. However, as the main fuel for my fire was my mana, all I needed to do was to reduce the amount of mana.
Yet, that was exactly what I shouldn’t be doing. The temperature of my purple flames was dropping, but so was its size. Taking away all the mana would kill the flame or make it less cool looking, but I guess it would be cool enough to not accidentally melt the ice. Compared to how brilliant my white flames can flare up without harming anybody, this is disappointing to see.
Is there a way to do this? Taking away the mana isn’t gonna help that much, but how should I know how to cool down a fire? Sure, I might be a fire dragon, but I have only been one for less than a year without anybody around me to teach me. I had to experiment and try things out on my own.
Scheiße! Couldn’t Shiterno give me something more usable like knowledge on how to control my fire better? He is supposed to be the almighty fire god, right? Oooh, thinking about him is making me angry again. Urgh, every single time I hear that damn name, my mood just worsens and worsens.
“Hestia!”
“W-Wah?!” hearing somebody shouting into my ears, I screamed out in shock, wobbling my head around to find the origin of it.
“Your hand! Control your flames!” I noticed Saori say. I obeyed and looked, only to see my once dark purple flames blazing a mix of yellow and purple, surrounding my arm like a gauntlet with the appearance of a dragon claw.
The flame was not only exuding a heatwave but was also releasing some purplish fumes into the air. It reeked terribly, and my instincts told me to kill the flames immediately.
“Urgh, Tasianna get out of the barriers, now! It’s poison, that has to be the smell of your toxins, Hestia!” Saori shouted as she covered up her nose.
As instructed, Tasianna immediately rushed out of the barrier as she was the only one among us without a fully leveled [Poison Resistance], wanting to train it up instead of spending SP. Saori then wrapped her arm around my waist and picked me up, running out of the barrier while carrying me after activating [Haste] to speed herself up.
She sprinted out of the village and into the forest, where she ordered me to shoot it away instead of killing it. Throwing the foul-smelling flames on the ground, it immediately exploded upon contact, releasing not only an explosion of fumes but also bits of solid matter into the air.
Once I blew the terrible smell away, the two of us investigated the area slowly as we were still cautious of the blast. “Verdammt…look at this purple rock, Saori.” Picking one of the solid pieces up, I held it up for Saori to see.
<Corrosive Obsidian: A dark purplish glass created through the result of rapidly heating up [Corrosive Fire] and then cooling it down within a short time period, crystalizing the toxin into glass. The toxins forming the base of these flames were bonded together, dripping toxic sludge when these bonds separated from heat. Toxin Included: [Minor Paralyzing Venom]>
“…”
“…”
“…Hey, Saori, you thinking what I’m thinking?” I asked to break the deafening silence surrounding us.
“…Yeah, I think so. Is this not the solution to my toxin problem?” she asked, wearily picking up the obsidian before throwing it back to me. “You can make it gaseous; you can use it with your flames, and now we have the option to use it as a sludge, a semi-liquid. We can even store it in its obsidian form depending on how much heat it can take. Try it out.”
Nodding to her suggestion, I closed my palms, slowly increasing my body temperature using my solar core with [Core Regulation]. Once I increased it high enough for my body to feel like it could sweat, the obsidian began to soften a bit. It wasn’t as hard to touch, almost feeling like a sponge before it slowly lost its form as some liquid dripped from it.
“Huh, it seems like I can still sweat poison,” I uttered as a joke. “Now, I understand why I had that [Young Obsidian Blaze Dragon] option. Aside from maybe being related to Kargryxmor’s and Danterno’s evolution options, the option was unlocked because of this skill. Which means that [Young Sunfang Dragon] was unlocked by [White Flames]?”
I took out one of my poison vials and poured the sludge into it, handing it over to Saori as a “present” for helping me find out this interesting fact. With this discovery, I threw away my plans to decorate my stage and took a “day off.” I dispelled the two barriers at the church area and dragged Tasianna into the forest to help me experiment.
…Hey, I’m not slacking. I’ll do the rest of the decorating on the remaining days with my two friends’ help. We still have three weeks, after all.
We took some time to experiment with [Corrosive Fire], and confirmed that the creation of the obsidian wasn’t just a one-time thing. Superheating it to the point it changed color would exude toxic fumes, applying the effect of the poison I mixed with these purple flames. Similar to my [Toxin Secretion], any poison or venom I once consumed I could reproduce near-perfectly. These flames were like my crimson fire but toxic minerals were added as a “fuel”.
Interestingly enough, this fuel can be used up once it leaves my body. If I used [Pyrokinesis] to levitate it away from my body and waited for a while, the purple flames would slowly turn into a normal orange-yellow fire, all toxic effects gone. Superheating it would burn things even faster, which meant these flames were lackluster as a range attack method compared to my crimson flames. I mean, if it isn’t applying the poison effect, then why should I waste Stamina on it? Don’t forget it uses up Mana and my own Stamina to produce it!
My crimson flames were great as a damage source, while white ones were great for healing, and finally, my purple fire could debilitate anybody close to me. A trifecta of damage, healing, and debuffs. Still like I said before, I honestly think I’m only scratching on the surface of everything. I mean, if I can turn my purple flames into fumes, then what if those fumes were something beneficial? Good smelling fumes sound nice. Couldn’t I make some scented oils or something like that with this skill? I would smell even better after a bath! Opulent comfort here I come, hie hie!
Now, concerning custom spells, I think I have a few ideas using [Corrosive Fire] as its base. First, a wind-like spell which releases those fumes out to weaken the enemies around me the longer the fight lasts. Second, maybe a sludge explosion to spread the poison even more? Third, if this skill is responsible for [Young Obsidian Blaze Dragon], then couldn’t I maybe replicate some of that dragon’s abilities, even if I don’t know what it has.
Not surprisingly, my first attempts to create any of these spells were a total bust. Without Master Kush here with us, we lost our veteran opinion. From now on, we had to create our spells with our own minds. Even after working for a couple of more days on it, I still couldn’t figure out either the chant nor imagery.
Still, it’s not like I will give up. Creating [Sanctified Blaze] took a lot of trial and error and, even with Master Kush’s help, the spell wasn’t completed after a couple of days. I mean, I still have so many other ideas for custom spells, especially concerning my [White Flames]. Think of a spell where anybody close to me will immediately heal from my white flames, or maybe a miniature white sun? So many options.
Concerning my usage of flames during my concert, I’ve settled with only using my white flames. I wasn’t able to learn how to cool down my crimson and purple flames enough during my practice sessions, melting the ice only a few seconds into the dance.
These two weeks flew by like crazy, with me juggling my time around Ellaine, training, concert preparation, and the villagers. Winter came so fast with snow growing high enough to block our door from being opened. During this time, four villagers even got sick.
Now, from my time with the villagers, I learned that, if the injury was superficial or the illness is something minor like a cold, they would never ask a priest to grant them the “white grace”. These people weren’t rich and 200 Davi for [Minor Heal] and 500 for [Cure] was already too much for them. Ellaine was paying me for anything magic-related, but, ordinarily, the villagers or Colwyn had to pay it themselves. They’ve become quite finicky with paying for church services, so when I had to act, then the illness or injury had to be serious.
Two had major fevers, one had something similar to pneumonia, and the last had diarrhea…’cause he thought it was smart to sneak a bite from berries he’d never seen before. “Stealing from the lord’s forest”is an actual crime, you know? Aside from how stupid that guy was, I did manage to heal everybody with [Sanctified Blaze], which not only increased my reputation among the villagers but it also made me 2000 Davi richer.
Honestly, curing their sickness so quickly was pretty interesting. While these villagers were used to this sight, people on Earth would probably question the authenticity. I don’t think pneumonia should be this easy to get rid of.
And with all those events behind me, the day of my destiny finally came. My concert. Today, I will leave behind the unconfident girl who always worried about the “perfect” debut and be reborn as the girl of my dreams: Hestia, the Idol!
