by William Bill
Chapter 30: Pseudo-Origin Flames
'It feels so magical.' Damien thought as he couldn't believe he manifested a flame using his soul.
Before, when Damien struggled to invoke his etheric flame, Luna was going to help him control the flame.
But when she saw Damien slowly getting back in control, she decided to stay put till Damien finished the process of invoking his etheric flame on his own.
And when she saw the chilling black flame dancing on his palms, she seemed like she was able to guess what kind of laws were behind it.
But she still didn't dare to believe it since it seemed so unfathomable and enigmatic to the point that she thought a mere mortal shouldn't be able to manifest such flames unless…
'Did his Origin Seed influence his etheric flames? Or did his soul already start bonding with the Origin Seed? But that should be impossible.'
Luna didn't actually expect Damien to manifest etheric fire even with his strong soul, especially a flame with profound laws. She just wanted him to try so that he would understand his limits and stop trying when he fails because she knew it was easier than trying to convince him to try only after breaking through to the Nascent Soul Stage.
Suddenly Damien felt as if his soul energy was depleting at a rapid rate! But he noticed a momentary increase in his soul energy before it also got depleted.
In his excitement at seeing the black flames, he didn't notice how much soul energy was being expended by the black flame.
"Quick, put it out!" Luna said in an urgent tone.
Damien instantly extinguished the soul energy in the black flame since he knew that Luna wouldn't have said it without any reason.
The black flame instantly dispersed as there was no more soul energy left to fuel it.
"Ha….ha…." Damien was heavily panting as he felt lethargic and sleepy.
Before he realized it, he had already collapsed on the floor as a wave of exhaustion and fatigue overwhelmed him.
'Huh...why do I...'
He could only see Luna's blurry face looking at him with her arms crossed as he closed his eyes.
—
'Ugh...how long did I sleep?' Damien slowly woke up and sat on the cold floor as he rubbed his eyes.
His eyes squinted when the bright sunlight intruded into the room through the windows.
"What the heck? It's daylight? Luna!" Damien called out, feeling a little edgy.
"Owww...can you not disturb this goddess's beauty sleep." Luna appeared as she said in an exasperated tone.
"How long was I asleep? It was just evening a little while ago, right? Did I sleep through the whole day? Or did I sleep for more than one day?" Damien shouted out questions feeling a little uneasy about falling asleep like that.
He was worried whether he overslept and missed Lily's training session. Because if he did, she might come to check up on him to know why he didn't come to teach her without any notice. And that would just mean trouble for Damien.
"Just calm down, will you? You fell asleep yesterday evening. And right now, in an hour, you would have your training session with the girl within an hour."
Damien heaved a sigh of relief, "Wew...I thought I missed out on Lily's training session. But why did I sleep for so long? It was just a small flame I manifested, right? And why was it black?" Damien asked puzzledly.
Luna shook her head, "I told you, it was dangerous to try to manifest etheric fire when your soul is not even in the Nascent Soul Stage. You were lucky you had a strong soul. Otherwise, you would have ended up injuring your soul, and it would have taken years to heal it."
Luna paused before sighing, "Your black flame...it's too strange, and I have never seen anything like it before. It seems that your Origin Seed has started bonding with your soul. Thus, changing the properties of your etheric fire."
Damien instantly inspected his Origin Seed to see if there were any changes. However, he was again disappointed when there was no change at all. The Origin Seed was still floating in the center of his ethereal core without any reactions.
But when he inspected his soul plane, he was surprised to see that his soul cultivation had broken through to the Late Origin Soul Stage, even skipping a minor stage! He could now extend his spiritual perception over a 100-meter radius.
"You don't have to check. I have already inspected it before, and I also didn't detect any reaction from your Origin Seed. But maybe the connection is too profound for me to notice with my current perception. It is, after all, a god's Origin Seed, and even the laws that powered your black flame were almost as profound as Origin Laws...in other words, Pseudo-Origin laws. And by some bizarre luck, your soul cultivation had a breakthrough. Probably because you were able to draw out the potential from your soul essence, and since your soul was nearing its limits, it was forced to breakthrough to support your etheric flames."
Damien's mouth went agape when he heard that he manifested flames made up of Pseudo-Origin laws and didn't even seem to bother about his breakthrough in soul cultivation. Then doesn't this mean that he can even trample over the mortal world now?
Luna saw through his thoughts and said, "Hmph, don't get cocky just because you manifested that weird flame. First, that is an etheric flame originating from your soul and not from your ethereal core. There's a big difference between manifesting a flame using one's fire elemental seed and manifesting a flame using one's soul. Even by just manifesting a tiny flame for a small amount of time, you went out like a light. If you had persisted, you would have ended up burning your own soul essence to fuel it since your soul energy is too weak to sustain it for a longer time. If your soul essence is burned, then it would take a lot of time for you to recover it, and if you burn it too much to the point of no recovery, then it's no different than killing yourself."
She continued, "Second, your soul cultivation is just at the Early Origin Soul Stage. I admit that your black flames would be way stronger than other cultivator's etheric flames. But that doesn't mean you can instantly rule this world with just a tiny flame. Right now, you can't use your etheric flames for battle unless you want to collapse in the middle of the fight...no you wouldn't even have the time to manifest it. It's not like your enemies would wait for you.
"Your innate comprehension of the laws powering that flame might be high, but your soul is too weak to utilize even a fraction of its true potential or even to power it for a longer time. And the amount of time, concentration, and focus you need to manifest your etheric fire is considerably higher than others since it is not a simple etheric flame. Well, as your soul grows stronger, it would start getting easier bit by bit to manifest your etheric fire."
Damien's excitement had died down as he heard Luna's words. But then he remembered that etheric flames weren't even meant to be used for attacking due to its high utilization of soul energy and the difficulty to manifest it.
But for Damien, his black flames were not normal etheric flames. It would consume even more soul energy and would require more focus and time to manifest and control it.
And even Damien knew that alchemists used etheric fire to concoct pills and not to fight. It was due to the drawbacks of manifesting etheric fire that powerful cultivators do not bother about manifesting etheric fire.
Why exhaust their soul and put themselves at risk for a slight increase in power for a short period of time? They would rather focus on their elemental seeds since they don't have to take dangerous risks, and it's easier to manifest fire from one's fire elemental seed.
But he wondered as he looked at the ingredients and the cauldron he had prepared yesterday; if he was already getting exhausted by manifesting a tiny flame, then how can he expect to concoct pills without collapsing due to exhaustion?
Luna looked at Damien's sullen expression and chuckled, "If you are thinking about concocting those measly pills, then there's nothing much to worry about. Why don't you try manifesting a small flame and use it to refine the pill."
Damien got confused, "But that is
useless unless I can keep sustaining the flames. I won't even last through a quarter of the refining time required for just a Rank 1 Pill."
Luna heaved a tired sigh, "Just listen, will you? Follow the things one normally does for concocting the pills, and then you will understand why you would have no problem in concocting the pills."
Damien knitted his brows as he thought of the amount of soul energy he had to use to manifest a small etheric flame.
But he cleared his thoughts and believed that Luna was not joking with him and that there must be a certain reason she told him to try.
He wasn't afraid if anyone would notice him concocting pills in his room since Luna could mask any fluctuations, including any medical essence that might leak out from the cauldron.
He placed the cauldron near him and started concentrating on his soul plane to manifest the black flames.
Damien had already started sweating, but this time he was trying his best not to get injured by his own etheric flames from within.
But once he physically manifests his etheric flames, he need not worry about hurting himself since his etheric flames would be covered with a layer of his own soul energy.
Five minutes passed as sparks slowly appeared on his palm, which soon slowly turned into jet black flames on his palm. He noticed that the air around the flame was slightly distorted as if it was devouring the air itself.
He managed to manifest the black flames without any mishaps and quickly cut off his soul energy connection to the flame.
He then instantly made the flame enter the cauldron.
*Bang*
Following a muted sound, a chaotic jet black flame suddenly rose within the cauldron.
He had already used more than 85% of his soul energy to manifest this small black flame.
But when the black flame left his hand, he found out that even after leaving from his palm, the black flame continued to heat up the cauldron at a frightening speed from the inside!
It didn't seem as if the black flame would die out anytime soon. It just kept on heating up the cauldron as if the flames were undying.
"Quickly control the heat using your soul energy. Since your soul energy is basically fueling your black flame, it would be easier to control and lower its intensity using your soul energy." Luna instructed.
Damien used his soul energy to manipulate the black flame's heat as he lowered it down with difficulty to his satisfaction.
"Why is my etheric fire not dissipating?" Damien asked with a bewildered expression.
Chapter 31: Fallen Flame
Usually, etheric flames need to be constantly in connection with one's soul to keep it aflame.
Once the connection was cut off, the etheric flames would instantly die down, which was yet another reason why practitioners don't use it during a fight.
There were simply too many drawbacks to manifesting an etheric flame that even alchemists would only try manifesting them if they don't have any talent in fire laws or if they consider alchemy as their life that they wouldn't mind spending decades cultivating their soul just to manifest etheric fire.
But even then, only a rare few manage to succeed in manifesting them.
Luna said as her beautiful eyes sparkled, "Because that is the power of the Pseudo-Origin laws within that flame. Actually, the flames would slowly diminish as it exhausts the soul energy contained inside it. But compared to a normal practitioner's etheric flame, yours would seem practically undying."
'If he is able to manifest Pseudo-Origin level flames with his poor cultivation, then that could only mean that his Origin Seed is an amalgamation of Origin Level laws itself and not just Pseudo-Origin laws. But how is he able to manifest such flames without any reaction from his Origin Seed? Unless his soul is...no, no, that's absolutely impossible! Maybe I just can't sense its profound connection with my current ability.' Luna mused.
Luna had previously thought that Damien's Origin Seed was just an amalgamation of Pseudo-Origin laws since an Origin Seed can also be formed from them; specifically, it would be a Pseudo-Origin Seed.
She had never seen any god housing an actual Origin Seed. She doesn't even remember meeting any god as strong as her. She had always considered herself as the strongest, which was one of the reasons she had a supercilious bearing.
So far, the only god with a genuine Origin Seed she knows is herself, which was why she was shocked when she sensed the power contained inside Damien's black flames.
Because it meant that Damien housed an Origin Seed of a god at least as strong as her!
Because of her nature, she found it hard to accept that there existed a god as strong as her.
Since she couldn't even clearly identify the laws in Damien's Origin Seed, she thought it must be a dead seed instead of believing that it was not just a Pseudo-Origin Seed.
She made some initial guesses but didn't dare to believe it without further proof. But seeing the mysterious black flame, her guesses were becoming more accurate. However, she still decided not to tell Damien until she verified it completely.
She had never seen or experienced the kind of laws contained in the jet black flame, which was why she was only able to make faint guesses.
She knows that no matter how strong one's ethereal soul was, they wouldn't be able to produce the strange flames Damien could.
'Which pea-brained god would give away their Origin Seed to a mortal? Why would they even need to do that?' Luna couldn't help but wonder puzzledly.
Luna found it perplexing that a god on the same level as her would be stupid enough to kill themselves by giving away their Origin Seed.
Which god would be crazy enough to throw away their godhood and life for a mere mortal?
And what was the connection between that god and Damien? Or how she had to soul link with Damien? Was the same god involved in both their situations?
Luna knew that it was not just by coincidence Damien came to possess an Origin Seed, which perfectly merged with him.
By now, she had seen many inexplicable and unbelievable things happening to Damien that she doubted whether everything she knew was right.
She also had another guess which could explain why Damien's etheric flames were different. But it was too unbelievable and ridiculous that she quickly threw that thought away.
The more she tried to find an answer to all these confounding questions, the more she felt lost and frustrated.
In the end, she could only hope to merge with her other shards and gain back her memories completely.
Damien was amazed when he learned that his jet-black flames could keep on blazing even after cutting off his soul connection with the flame, even if it were for a short while.
That was the main drawback of the etheric flame, which discouraged practitioners from using it in a fight. But if Damien one day learns to manifest his etheric fire instantly without exhausting himself much, he could use it to battle against other cultivators!
And the more soul energy he provides, the longer the flames would burn.
He then decided to complete the pill concoction before thinking about anything else.
Damien had already controlled the jet black flame and lowered its intensity just enough to not damage the cauldron.
Earlier, just as the jet black flames came in contact with the cauldron, it got heated up more than it could handle within seconds, and the cauldron was this close to being ruined!
Even though it was a Common Grade cauldron, it was not something that a normal practitioner's etheric fire could easily ruin.
Even if a normal practitioner with Damien's cultivation managed to manifest etheric fire, they would find it impossible to even wreck a Common Grade cauldron.
Damien tried his best to maintain control over his jet black flames as he took out the 'Rainbow Grass' and tossed it into the cauldron. And then he threw in the 'Fermented Berry' inside the cauldron.
He was surprised when he saw the Rainbow Grass and the Fermented Berry decaying rapidly, including i
ts medical essence, which was not something Damien wanted to happen.
Damien right away realized that it was a failure!
He was able to control his jet black flames, but he found it hard to fine-tune the temperature and intensity of the flame required to refine the ingredients.
Damien had excellent theoretical knowledge, but he had zero experience practically handling the refining process with precise control. Also, as his etheric fire was chaotic and hard to control, it just made it more difficult for him.
Damien then dispersed the soul energy in the jet black flames that were still ablaze in the cauldron.
The jet black flames instantly dissipated. And when Damien inspected the inside of the cauldron, he saw that it was almost covered in black stains, which gave off an acrid smell that looked as if the cauldron got spoiled.
Fortunately, after completely inspecting it, Damien noticed that the cauldron was not spoiled completely.
Thankfully, due to Luna's warning, he was able to control his etheric fire in time. Otherwise, the cauldron may have got completely destroyed.
But at the same time, he was also astonished that his jet black flames were powerful enough to even break down a Common Grade cauldron with his cultivation.
And the way the jet black flames almost ruined the cauldron was not like ordinary flames. It was as if the flames were decaying and breaking down the cauldron.
Although Damien had failed, he wasn't discouraged in the least. But instead, he got excited to try more experiments with his newly found etheric flames. He was also intrigued by the mysteriousness of his flame and was happy that it was something special.
At first, he was a bit hesitant to manifest the flames again since the first time he tried, he experienced immense pain and emptied his soul energy reserves. But then he thought that it was worth the risk.
But he found it a pity that the ingredients were wasted, and now he would have to pluck more from Lily's inner courtyard. Thankfully, his deal with Lily allowed him to take as many Common Grade herbs as he wants.