Ignited Passion

Bubbling happened in the background as I precisely measured and cut the stalks of Fire Vine. I triple-checked my measurements and smiled as I moved over to the bubbling flask as I watched it. Inside was what they called in this world Burned Vorline. It was a plant named after its founder, and it was found in the dungeon in the fire section. It was a grass that melted at high temperatures, almost like it was metal—one of those fascinating things in this world that I wanted to explore more.

I wanted to create more sophisticated equipment to explore the organic metal I didn't see in my past world. I knew some organics had strength like metals, but they didn't act like this grass that was soft to the touch when cold. It was fascinating, but it had nothing to do with what was so interesting about it.

If anything, I pulled took the Fire Vine that I just measured out, and I continued to observe as the boiling started to reach the exact point, and I dropped the carefully measured Fire vine in. I instantly followed up with a stopper as the Fire vine landed in the boiling Burned Vorline. The Fire Vine instantly incinerated and turned to ash as it landed in the boiling Burning Vorline.

I moved to make sure as I watched the ash land on top of the Burning Vorline. The bubbling continued, and the ash slipped in, blending slowly into the Burning Vorline. I had reached the critical stages of the potion I was making as I watched closely. As soon as the ash blended in after some time, I took out the stopper, and the liquid reacted to the opening. I quickly tossed in more Fire Vine and reapplied the stopper as I used mana to stop the liquid from splashing out. At the same time, I allowed some of the waste Vapor from the last Fire Vine to escape.

All this happened as I stopped myself from being too concentrated on it if I needed to protect myself if all this went wrong. If I did one thing wrong, it would blow up in my face, and there was a good chance of disfiguring myself in some way. I smiled as I watched, but I had to do this five more times. Then came the most worrying part came next.

I watched and repeated and repeated over hours as the potion brewed. Each time that stopper came of, the chances of explosion increased, but I continued with practiced movements as I put in the last of the Fire Vine into the Burning Vorline. The brew had turned into a fiery red, and I smiled as the ash started to brew into it without mishap. I moved over to the table and grabbed the final ingredient that would bring it all together.

Fire Apple chopped into five parts, and I grinned, looking at the rare ingredient. It was the last part of the last potion I needed to make on my contracts. I had put all my other work aside for this, and it was the most expensive potion of the lot. This next part made me grin nonetheless despite the explosive repercussions if I messed up at this point. I moved, and I took those smaller parts and refined them into even smaller portions until each bit was the size of a fingernail. I grinned, and I turned to the brew as everything was ready.

The mixture only had one step more after this part, but that was something I didn't even need to be around for. No, This last mixture would be the final part where I could fail. I grinned as the last bit of the ash mixed into the Boiling brew, and I moved. I took the Fire apple portions and popped open the flask using mana to do the same thing as before. Instead of continuing in the same way, I threw half the Fire apple in instead watching it incinerate, and held the gas in before tossing in the other half. The potion started to release flames inside the flask as all the ingredients reacted together. Instead of stopping the reaction, I let up my mana at the perfect time and allowed flames to blast out once like a furnace before I corked it all up, taking it off the heater and starting to stir the potion by rotating the flask in my hand.

The inside moved, and I fire roared inside the flask, but the heat died down quickly as all the ingredients blended together. I watched as the flame died down as the Fire Apple mixed into the mixture I had made, and I grinned. The most dangerous point had passed, and I moved the flask over to distill the potion on a new heater while I stirred it slowly.

I grinned and waited as the potion stopped bubbling and put it on the burner as soon as it finished. Quickly I put in the new cap and sighed with relief as it began the refinement phase. I grinned, and I knew that for the next day, I could relax as the refinement process started without incident.

This was a Greater Volcano Potion that was brewing, and it was a difficult one with repercussions for the brewer if it went wrong at any point. I sighed with relief that nothing went wrong in the end, but it was a significant possibility. Although I could have left the room during the refinement stage, I wouldn't. I needed to put the final results into a bottle once it was done. Once everything was complete, all my contracts would be completed, and I couldn't help but grin. I had filled out seventeen orders that were left to the Wizard Towers of the Demon Lands.

The task had been completed in just under fifteen days, and I knew that when I left this room, I would be back into the political climate until my relief came, which should be soon. I sat down, and I sighed, thinking. I needed to do some things, and I let my sister stew for too many days. I needed something to reach the closed-off woman, and I didn't know what. She had something that she wanted, and it wasn't the throne. I knew by her reactions she wanted something, but it wasn't the absolute power of Silvermoon tower. Hell, in the end, I think I would be happier without it myself. The only person here in the Demon lands that wanted the tower was my brother Anthoney.

As I sat back, I thought about my sister as she was still a question for me. Her charm was undeniable, but I could also feel how easy it was for her to more or less disappear. It was something I wished to pit myself against in combat to see how it worked. But her charm also lay in that, and I knew that she had trained subordinates, and I wondered how she went about that with her ability to have others forget about her. She was like a mysterious woman that felt like she could disappear just as she appeared.

I sighed as I thought more about it until I decided to stop. I wouldn't come up with any solutions today as it was something I needed to interact with her to get to the bottom of. Although she was good at hiding her emotions, it wasn't a perfect defense, as I could tell she sometimes thought it was. I sighed and decided to cut off my thoughts on it.

Instead, I turned my thoughts towards something new to fight with. I had been destroyed in my last fights, and I needed to do something about that. My mind went to the void and how mysterious it was. It was like another world just outside ours. The problem with this world was that nothing occupied it. You could move instantly through it, and you could tear through it in weird ways.

But that was all I knew. When I came up with the void cutting technique, it was more like throwing a cut through reality. Reality fixed itself quickly, too, and it lost its edge the farther it was away from me. It was something that I didn't know how to start thinking about it. When I broke through to B rank, it was an inspiration that I had suddenly and inexplicably.

I remembered that the old Elf in the Elven forest said I was leaning towards the void before I thought about it much. I didn't know how to think about that, and subtly, I wish I didn't go down this track when I did. I could still cast in all other forms of Elemental Mana like a proper generalist wizard, but that only weakened my knowledge of the void.

I frowned as I meditated, now letting mana soak into my whirlpools, collecting mana easily as I thought. No, the void was something of a mystery that I needed to solve on my own slowly. I never heard of a wizard tower that focused on the void even though it was known all over.

I concentrated on it, and I wondered if there was the ability to live in the reality that was the void. I didn't know much about it, and I haven't taken much time to learn about it. As soon as I became B rank, I was thrust into political maneuvering without time to consolidate more knowledge in the void. I needed time to sit down and research it inside a lab.

My frown deepened as I realized how little I knew about the minor specialization that I had inexplicably chosen for myself. My frown deepened as I found I had refilled my mana. My contemplation about my specialization wasn't getting me anywhere, and I knew it. I stood, and I looked at the potion. There was still at least half a day left before the potion brewed, and I was surprised how lost I was in my thoughts that led nowhere.

I shook myself mentally, and as I did so, I came to a realization I had visited before. If I were going to increase my combat effectiveness, then I would need to do it in one of two ways. Either I worked on my other spells and increased variety and power. Or I worked on my close-range skills, But there was something new to it. I could do both of those. It wouldn't probably bring me closer to the A rank, or maybe it would. But I would be able to do more than think about it all the time.

I stopped thinking about it and decided that I would finally get all the practice I stopped doing in the Dwarven lands. I would take time every day to practice, at least for a couple of hours, to get the muscle memory built into me in a way that stuck. I would add spells to that memory to make it even better to create an entirely new martial art. I would bring everything onto the table, and I would stick with it.

I could feel my interest, and I knew I wanted to be involved in this at least one person. I grinned, and I set myself in a stance, and I thought about things more and more as I sat in that stance. As I sat in that stance, I realized that if I came up with a martial art for generalized wizards, I might increase the might of the Bunny-kin.

I suppressed my last thought even if excitement grew in me. My passion ignited like it hadn't in years, and my brain took on a new edge.

I brought my fist forward for a moment towards the wall and frowned. I was beginning with the basics, and I didn't know where to start. Should I create a spell to imagine using creating a sort of muscle memory with each movement?

My passion was ignited as I thought I should create more than one spell for each movement depending on my enemy. My mind whirled, and I almost felt dizzy as I contemplated. I was thinking dozens and dozens of things as I looked at my fist. I stepped forward and leaned my head against the wall before using my head as a battering ram against the wall.

A loud thud sounded in the room as I forced my thoughts to grind to a halt. I had become too passionate about this, and I felt my old love for sports and martial arts hitting me like a truck. I loved how everything I loved in this world and the last was tied together. It was pure bliss as I realized all the potential that this could become, and I needed more space than this small lab. I had volatile potions brewing, and I was almost done. I turned to the refining process, and I realized that although my mind was spinning, barely any time had passed, and I frowned. I wanted out of this room, calling up Florine to ask to be a sparring partner while I began what I believe is becoming my new passion.

I forced myself to sit down, and my mind whirled as I looked at the refining but not truly seeing it as my mind spun. I would have to wait to start testing. But when I began, I wanted to have some foundation at least.

The bubbling potion continued in front of my eyes each drop slow like dripping tar to the busy head watching it.