Banquet (1)
Banquet (1)
Flames erupted from my right arm, swirling in all directions.
The floor and walls were stained red. The surroundings grew hot in an instant.
The flames, poised to devour everything, rippled savagely.
And with each flicker of the flames, my emotions were pulled along.
It was unmistakably Calamity Flame.
I immediately harmonized the flames.
I soothed and gathered the scattered fire. The swelling blaze gradually condensed.
It wasn't difficult since it was just part of mana manipulation.
But that wasn't the end of it. Calamity Flame had to be restrained not only in its burn but also in the emotions it provoked.
I seized the surging emotion. Once I suppressed the initial emotional rush from the Calamity Flame, the rest came more easily.
Once emotions are fully inflamed, it's easy to be swept away.
So I had to control and suppress them beforehand.
"Your control is flawless, and you handle the emotional harmonization well... Honestly, there's nothing for me to teach you in this area."
The location was the underground facility where I'd passed the verification. I sat comfortably in the center, harmonizing the Calamity Flame while casting a quick glance with Observation.
Jeonghwaju (Stop Fire Master), Hong Jin-hyeok, who sat a short distance away, studied me and scratched his head as if troubled.
Several days had passed since the verification.
The verification that had been the purpose of my visit was over, but there were still a few days until the banquet, so I'd decided to stay as a guest in the meantime.
Over the past few days, I'd done three main things.
Touring the family estate with Hong Yeon-hwa, being introduced, and getting acquainted with a few people in the process.
Watching Tanhwaju Hwa Byeok-un craft armaments.
And receiving instruction on Calamity Flame usage from Jeonghwaju (Stop Fire Master) Hong Jin-hyeok...
Right now, I was having a lesson with Hong Jin-hyeok.
At the time of the verification.
Choi Ji-yeon, who had witnessed my manifested Calamity Flame with her own eyes, asked with a complicated expression if she could have a few days to discuss.
I nodded, saying there was no rush and I understood.
There would be plenty to discuss.
An outsider manifesting the family's unique ability.
They'd probably already heard it as information from Siyoram, but seeing it in person must have made things complicated.
This was a pretty major issue.
Not something you could just shrug off as 'oh, he happened to manifest it.'.
After all, until now, Calamity Flame had been a unique ability that only manifested in blood relatives descended from the family progenitor.
That fact had held true, and it had served to tightly bind the family around its bloodline.
Yet now an outsider with no blood ties had suddenly seized Calamity Flame.
Of course, the truth was that I'd imitated it through my unique ability, but I couldn't reveal that.
Either way, from an outsider's perspective, I was someone who manifested Calamity Flame without inheriting the bloodline.
A precedent would be set: an outsider without the bloodline had done it.
For the Calamity Flame Family, that would be a very awkward situation.
'In the 3rd Iteration...'
3rd Iteration, Three Ends.
Calamity Flame, Azure Sea, Taesan.
The iteration where I half-held the unique abilities of all three great families.
The first unique ability to be revealed to the outside had been Taesan.
I'd been in a dangerous situation during external activities, and I used Taesan to break through.
Of all people, the heir of the Taesan family, Lee Ji-yeon, had witnessed it.
Just as I was now visiting the Calamity Flame family with Hong Yeon-hwa, the 3rd Iteration had ended up visiting the Taesan family with Lee Ji-yeon.
There too, I'd undergone a verification process... and plenty of talk.
The Taesan family of the 3rd Iteration had been just as troubled by an outsider manifesting their unique ability.
The result.
The 3rd Iteration Three Ends had been enrolled into the Taesan family register.
In other words, they'd faked the genealogy and inserted me as a blood relative.
A shallow trick. Call it covering one's eyes and pretending not to see, but... well, what of it.
An outsider manifesting the family's unique ability is a problem, but a family member manifesting it is no problem at all.
Not actually a blood relative? They'd just invent a story.
They could claim that a descendant of a blood relative who had been disowned and disappeared in the past had sort of atavistically awakened the unique ability, and who would argue with that?
What mattered was the justification that 'this person is, in fact, our kin.'.
That's how the 3rd Iteration had been added to the Taesan family roster.
Afterward, when Calamity Flame and Azure Sea were also exposed, the whole network of relations got flipped upside down and became a mess... but anyway.
'Will it go that way this time too?'
Just slotting someone into the genealogy wouldn't be all that troublesome. And it was the simplest method.
"Hmm..."
A thoughtful sound from ahead broke my reverie.
I straightened up, and Hong Jin-hyeok, who had been stroking his chin in contemplation, spoke.
"Do you know that Calamity Flame doesn't have many inherited techniques within the family?"
[I've heard that]
Unique abilities that are passed down through bloodlines, like those of the Three Great Families, or technique-type unique abilities of similar branches, naturally produce their own proprietary techniques.
Some of these are expansion abilities evolved from the unique ability, and others are techniques that aren't expansion abilities but have sufficient utility.
Representative examples are the 'Vortex Water Palm' and 'Water Mirror Orb' that Baek A-rin demonstrated in the tournament main round.
Vortex Water Palm is a palm technique that uses the Azure Sea's water for combat, and Water Mirror Orb is a foundational technique for properly wielding Azure Sea techniques.
They're excellent techniques, but they aren't expansion abilities.
That's why I could use them by employing water energy itself, not Azure Sea. Of course, using them with Azure Sea would be far more powerful.
Anyway, Calamity Flame has very few such techniques.
"Calamity Flame is a real pain in the ass, you see."
Hong Jin-hyeok, one of the best wielders of Calamity Flame of this generation, called it a pain in the ass.
"Fine manipulation is tough, and sublimating it into techniques is even tougher. Even when a technique is devised, processing it into knowledge and passing it down to later generations—rarely do they succeed in mastering it."
It's not that there are no techniques using Calamity Flame, but the difficulty of learning them is clearly higher compared to other families.
In short, the barrier to entry is high, so not many have mastered them.
Considering that Vortex Water Palm was a technique devised to elevate the combat power of bloodline members who specialized in water energy, which isn't inherently suited for combat, the Calamity Flame family lacked that kind of basic technique.
"But Calamity Flame is simply powerful."
Part of the reason is that it's a unique ability that can be sufficiently utilized even without such foundational techniques.
If your Calamity Flame's output is outstanding, just splashing it on the enemy is enough to exceed lethal levels.
Since it's a combat-specialized ability to begin with, there's no need to weave it into complex techniques.
So what Hong Jin-hyeok taught me wasn't complex techniques, but rather the fine manipulation of Calamity Flame.
"It'll be very difficult. So listen carefully, and later, during personal training, try to harmonize it well."
Of course, most people can't manage that fine manipulation.
That's why Hong Jin-hyeok had emphasized the difficulty beforehand and told me to follow along well.
"...Really."
- Fwoosh...
Hong Jin-hyeok watched the flames with an awkward expression.
The flames flickering at his fingertips constantly changed shape.
Circles, triangles, squares, pentagons, and other geometric shapes.
Forms of weapons like swords, bows and arrows, spears, and axes.
Thin, elongated flames rippled left and right like waves before contracting into a small sphere.
The flames repeatedly took on these shapes and then scattered. It was a demonstration ranging from simple basic manipulation to delicate control.
Over the past few days, I'd received a wealth of know-how on fine manipulation and had internalized it to some extent.
Part of it was thanks to the basics Hong Yeon-hwa had personally taught me before, and to the care Hong Jin-hyeok had put into teaching me.
Of course, the proficiency needed for actual combat was another matter. I'd have to train more for that.
"Unbelievable. It took me months of focused effort to succeed at that."
'......'
"And the young lady too. Lately, I'm feeling like a washed-up old man..."
I pondered for a moment at the grumbling Hong Jin-hyeok, but couldn't think of anything to say in response.
The Confession Necklace chose silence.
.
.
.
Time passed, and the day of the Calamity Flame family's Regular Gathering arrived.
Because the surrounding grounds had been bustling for several days, I'd known even without wanting to.
Even now, a line of vehicles was pulling in one after another, observed in real time.
The people riding in them had red-toned hair and eyes. And though there were differences, the mana in their bodies carried a fiery nature.
They seemed to be collateral branches of the Calamity Flame family summoned to the Regular Gathering, or members of affiliated vassal forces.
The building presumed to be the banquet hall was bustling as well.
As I observed the servants constantly going in and out as they prepared, I could feel the banquet would begin soon.
Even at a glance, it looked like a large-scale event. Well, it was a banquet hosted by the Calamity Flame family; they'd go all out to match the occasion.
I felt a bit burdened about attending such a grand banquet, but... there was no running away.
In the end, I had no choice but to quietly attend.
- Knock, knock
"Young master, it's Eriel."
[Yes]
[You may come in]
Creeeak- The door opened, and Eriel, now quite familiar in her modern maid attire, entered.
[Sorry for the trouble]
"Not at all. It's my duty to begin with, and since you're in the room next to the young lady's, it's not the least bit troublesome."
Eriel, shaking her head as if to say I shouldn't think of it that way, had a rectangular box in her hands.
I bowed in greeting, then pointed at the box she'd brought.
[What's that?]
"It is the attire you will be wearing, young master."
In answer to my question, Eriel opened the box on the table.
Inside the box was clothing.
I examined the garments with Observation.
The colors were in the red spectrum. Maybe intentionally designed by the Calamity Flame family, the shade evoked a deep blaze.
The style was... what should I call it? Flowing cloth garments... or martial attire?
The overall length was long, and the width wide. The embellishments weren't overly emphasized. It seemed to prioritize elegance over splendor.
[It's a beautiful outfit]
"Yes, it's the Calamity Flame family's traditional garb... crafted for a very esteemed guest."
[I-is that so?]
Eriel nodded with her characteristic deadpan expression at my comment.
For some reason, she emphasized 'very esteemed.'.
* * *
[Unique Ability 「All-Rounder」 grows.]
[Unique Ability 「Mana Affinity」 grows.]
[Unique Ability 「?」 grows.]