Disguising the Fire

Evan was shocked at how strong the old man was. He knew that the man must have been stronger when he was younger as well. Without a spirit energy flow, his body was slowly degrading. Evan was quite strong, but nowhere near a match for this old man.

"Sir, you're scaring me." Evan tried to bring Feldman out of his frantic state.

Feldman looked at his hands and the look on Evan's face. He was clearly freaked out. Feldman realized how he reacted and quickly apologized. "Evan I am sorry, but you don't understand what you just did."

"Is it really that big of a deal?" Evan was confused. "This should be a good thing, right?"

"Yes, by the Gods yes. It is such a good thing that it is dangerous. This in an unranked elixir, my boy. And if I'm correct it should be an absorption enhancer?" Feldman asked, already knowing. He could smell traces of the jumping bean in it. He was quite good at noticing certain ingredients simply from smell and taste. The experience accumulated becoming a Master SS ranked Alchemist was impressive.

"Yes, it is. It should be able to double the speed someone can absorb spirit energy." Evan didn't hide anything from Feldman. He trusted him almost completely. After all, had been nothing but honest with Evan pretty much the whole time he had known him, and shown great care as well.

"By the Gods, that is simply amazing. It wouldn't help the average child much, as they can't use their spirit energy much anyway, but an apprentice. This is a game changer." Feldman was stunned by the effect. The effect was comparable to a F ranked elixir, yet safe for non-ascended people.

"So, why is it dangerous if it is so amazing? It can't hurt anyone." Evan was still confused.

"Evan, there are very powerful families and clans out there in the world. There are some that focus only on Creation Arts, and others that focus only on one single Creation Art. Do you understand what they would do to have something like this for their disciples and children? If you are the only one who can create this, what kind of life do you think you would have if they found out? This isn't some fairytale where you will be showered with gifts to make you help out of your own will. They will take you and lock you away. You will be tortured until you have no choice. They will not help you increase your levels either. You will have one purpose only for the rest of your life. To make this one elixir." Feldman said this with a very sad complexion.

"How do you know this?" Evan was horrified. He had already thought of this and thought that he would be valued as a genius and pushed to create more amazing things and become a master. Feldman said the opposite would definitely be the only option if he came clean. The face he had said he knew it from experience.

"How do you think I lost my father? I come from a family of alchemists, with family taught secrets that I can only divulge to blood relatives. Well, my father used one of those techniques to create an amazing elixir. His notes say that it could immediately raise your cultivation rank by 1 full rank.

Anyhow, a large clan had caught wind of this magical elixir, and they came knocking on our door. I was 12 years old and supposed to be at academy, but a strange man had brought me my mother's necklace and told me that he was sent by my family. I needed to come home, there had been an accident. It was a lie.

As soon as we walked into my home, I saw my mother tied up and covered in blood. My father had been resisting their efforts when I walked in. After I walked in, my father gave up immediately and agreed to go with them. My mother explained to me a few years later why they had taken him and what his fate was most likely to be.

That is why I destroyed my pathways when I had children. I knew the government wouldn't allow me to go after all my work on Spirit Crystals, but there would be no need to do that to me if I had no spirit energy." Feldman's story was tragic but made a lot of sense.

"So, what do I do for my assessment?" Evan had planned to use this elixir for the assessment.

"Oh, no that will be easy for you. At your age simply tempering a material to the strength of a F ranked material will suffice. The fact that you can do this will blow their minds." Feldman was chuckling, still with a somber look on his face.

"Oh, so then since I've created this should I just go home? Or what now?" Evan wasn't sure why Feldman wanted him to stay at his house, even though he had finished his task so soon.

"Well, now we need to work on changing the appearance of that spirit flame of yours. It will be a dead giveaway to anyone of the Dragon Clan. There will undoubtedly be several of them there." Feldman told Evan about their new problem.

"How can I do that?" Evan thought this would be impossible.

"It shouldn't be too difficult actually. As long as you lose the golden hue, it will just be thought of as one of several others that have similar characteristics. Of course, they aren't anywhere near as powerful or versatile, but it will be believable. They will just assume that yours is more powerful because of your talent and control. Changing the color is not the goal, only the golden hue. That golden aura is the goal, and it is simple but difficult to do. You will just need to reverse the flow of the aura. Instead of radiating out, force it to radiate inwards. This will keep the aura concealed by the fierce refining power." Feldman's words made everything sound easy, but Evan knew better.

He had made the tests sound completely doable as well and never mentioned the word difficult. This time he had, which made Evan think that it was something that was hard even at Feldman's previous state.

Feldman explained the process of reversing the flow of aura in the flames, which was extremely complicated. He had to first feel the flow of energy that was required to create the flame, this had to be done outside of the body, as reversing flow in his body would just cause a static flow, or the opening of his subdimension. His spirit flames flow was very chaotic, which was expected of such a powerful flame. This also made it harder to track the flow to a pattern, but with the help of K.I.S. it was possible.

Just tracking the flow had taken most of the day and night. It was past 11 pm before they knew it. Feldman was constantly instructing, and Evan was regularly draining his energy and replenishing it over and over. This was all just to recognize the patter.

When Evan finally realized the pattern, he felt a massive mental load lift. He was actively controlling the pattern and all it was, was realization, then taking control just felt natural. Instead of having to forcibly move the flame with his mental fortitude, it was now like controlling an arm.

The best part was that the consumption of his spirit energy immediately dropped. From the initial 60 points required to summon the flame, it now only took 15. This was a quarter of the previous amount. It also now only took 5 points per minute instead of 20.

"That's enough progress for the night." Feldman said upon noticing the drastic difference in energy output from Evan.

"Thank god." Evan was exhausted after an entire day of straining himself to the max. It wasn't just a physical strain. It was more mental, which apparently was not affected by his stamina stat. This was tied to his intelligence stat, and he wasn't quite sure how it worked yet.

A good nights sleep would be great for the both of them after such a strenuous day.