Till it's time

"Let's pass to the final step of the test" said Lilia after the range test ended.

"What will be the final test?" Curiously asked Alex.

"Nothing much, we will just test if you can truly manipulate all kinds of smoke, of course we can't fully test it since it's not like we have all the kinds of smoke in existence, but we will do it like this: we will take the record of the smoke element user who can use the most attributes as reference, if the number of attributed smoke that you can manipulate is more than the number of attributed smoke that person use we will assume that you can effectively manipulate all kinds of smoke, for now" explained Lilia.

"Who holds the record of being able to manipulate the most attributed smoke?" Asked Alex.

"He calls himself the smoke king, and he is not on this continent, but from verdantia, it's said that he can currently manipulate fifty-six kinds of smoke".

"That's quite a lot" whistled Alex.

"If you ask me, it's not enough to be called the king of smoke, manipulating fifty-six kinds of smoke is definitely good, however how many kinds of smoke for you think it exists? Hundreds? Thousands? Ten thousands? I don't know what I do know however is that the fifty-six kinds of smoke that he can manipulate don't represent even one percent of the numbers of kinds of smoke that exists, so calling himself smoke king is actually very arrogant" said Lilia.

'Put that way, being able to control fifty-six kinds of smoke does sound mediocre' thought Alex.

"Don't worry, now that I can also use the smoke ability, I'm going to take that title from him!" confidently exclaimed Alex.

"Right, how can someone dare call himself smoke king just by controlling fifty-six kinds of smoke while my husband can control all kinds of smoke, the nerve! No one besides my hubby deserves the right to be called the smoke king!" Supported Lilia.

"Well said, no one besides me deserves that title" agreed Alex.

Meanwhile, Scarlett was looking at her parents, speechless.

'He just got the smoke ability no more than 2 hours, and he is already the only one that deserves to be called the smoke king? What kind of logic is that?' Wondered Scarlett.

After some minutes, when the shameless couple finished complaining about the fact that the smoke king title "unfairly" belonged to someone other than Alex, they finally started the test.

This test didn't last very long, they used the same devices that they used to determine the range at which Alex could control smoke, which they placed around Alex.

There were fifty devices, each containing a different kind of material which was burned -in some cases vaporized - thus creating different kinds of smoke.

Since Alex could control smoke as long as it was in his range of manipulation, the moment the fifty devices released the smoke contained within them, Alex took control of all the different kinds of smoke at the same time!

This result proved another time that Alex's level of control over his element was excellent, but also that, like the system says, he can potentially control all kinds of smoke!

'The only problem with the smoke element is that I need a material to burn or vaporize beforehand, which is a problem as it means that even if I can use many attributed smoke as long as I can't burn them, I can't use them as my opponent won't certainly give me the leisure to do so if he/she know about my power, what to do?' Pondered Alex while pacing back and forth as the girls were busy retrieving the devices.

'I need to find a way that can allow me to use my-...wait, I can do that!'

Alex quickly approached Scarlett and whispered to her :

"Can you make me..."

After he finished explaining to Scarlett what he wanted, she took a moment to think before replying:

"Something like that should be possible, but it will not be easy to make, so what will you give me in return ?" 

"...."

Alex looked deep in her eyes and saw that she was quite serious, which made him sigh as he murmured :

"Can't even ask your own daughter something without her asking some other thing in return, how ungrateful" 

"I heard you!" Exclaimed Scarlett.

"That was intended"

"...."

After some silence in which they stared at each other, Scarlett finally said "I will make the thing that you asked me, but you will owe me one".

"Deal!" Replied Alex.

After that, Scarlett left the training grounds and returned to the library to start creating what Alex asked her.

"What was it about?" Asked Lilia after she regrouped with Alex.

"Oh, I asked her to make me something" 

"What is it?" 

"You will see when it's done, meanwhile we should start the training, right ?"

"Yes, you are right, let's start, and this time we won't stop till it's time for the competition to begin".