Chapter 28: Fire
Hyesi was still sitting on the sand with his eyes closed, meditating as per his god's orders. He didn't know how long he would have to wait before his god started giving him orders, but he would wait without question. After a little while, he finally heard his god's voice again.
"Hyesi, It is time. Do what I say and I will give you the strength you so wish for." Ning had finally learned what he had to do and was going to use Hyesi to benefit himself.
"What is it, O great and bright, Inikaka? This child of yours will do whatever it is that you want me to do." Hyesi immediately replied with absolutely no hesitation. In his mind, he had absolutely accepted Ning as his god.
"Yes. I know what problem you have. I know why you are so weak, to remove those weaknesses, I will require your assistance. As my loyal follower, will you do what I ask?" Ning asked.
"Yes, Inikaka. Just give me the orders." Hyesi was ready to do anything.
"Okay, then..." Ning turned around to look around the forest. He didn't see any trees that could have wood that could be burned. 'Guess I will have to work with dried-up leaves and coconut shells,' he thought.
"Go and collect all of those dried leaves and those coconut shells and bring them to a secure location where nobody would come to," Ning ordered him.
Hyesi did exactly as ordered and started collecting all the dried-up leaves and coconut shells. There were way too many of them and Hyesi easily collected them.
He took them all to a secure location near a beach on the other side of the island. He dropped everything on the beach and asked,
"Is that what you want, bright Inikaka?"
Ning looked at the materials down below and thought a bit. 'Hmm... maybe it will be better to get more so I can keep the flames going on for longer,' he thought.
"This is nearly not enough. I will require much more than this. Gather a lot more." Ning ordered.
Hyesi went back to the forest to gather some more of the materials. Thankfully, there were just too many of them, and Hyesi didn't have to make many long trips to increase the size of the materials.
Once all of this was gathered, Ning finally said, "Good Job, now the real fun part begins." Hyesi waited for his god's orders for a while before he heard,
"Alright, now make some fire."
Hyesi got a little confused at that part. Ning looked at him and his confused face. A little nervous, he decided to ask, "What? Do you not know what fire is?" he hoped that the aboriginals didn't know what fire was.
'Thinking back now, they didn't even light anything yesterday. Do they really not know what fire is?' he started to get worried.
"I do know fire is, bright Inikaka. But why would you require me to make fire for you? Aren't you the god of light and fire yourself?" Hyesi asked.
Hearing the question, Ning immediately got scared. 'Have I been caught? Sh*t.' He slowly turned to look at Hyesi again and sighed with relief when he realized his face only had confusion and no traces of suspicion.
"Yes, Yes. I am, but I do not want to do it. So, do it yourself," Ning said.
"Please show your child your powers, great Inikaka. I want to see your power." Hyesi immediately got on his knees and started bowing with his head on the ground.
'Uhh... dammit.'
"Alright, pile up a little of those leaves in a place," Ning ordered.
Hyesi immediately got to work. He started to separate a little of the materials from the pile and put it in a small half a meter deep hole be dug with his arms.
"It is done, bright Inikaka. Please burn it now to show your child some of your powers."
'Goddammit, what did I get myself into?' Ning started to complain.
'System, can you help me make flames?' he asked.
<You can buy the ability to create fire from the shop>
'Uhh... how much does it cost? Show me the lowest one.'
<Candle Fire: 5,000 Energy>
'Urghh... I guess that's not too bad. Alright, buy it. '
<Candle Fire has been successfully bought>
Ning checked his system and Candle Fire was there as a technique. 'Okay, now I do I use it, system?' he asked.
<You can create a candle fire up to 2 meters away from you with just a thought>
<Every second of candle fire costs you 500 energy>
< You will not gain any energy from the heat produced directly by your fire>
'Alright then.'
"Lower yourself a little, Hyesi," Ning ordered. Hyesi dropped himself to the ground and waited for his god to do something.
'A thought, huh.' Ning prepared himself and imagined a fire burning on top of the pile of leaves. Suddenly, a small tongue of fire appeared above the pile of leaves and it started burning it.
Ning immediately stopped his Candle Fire, but the rest of the fire kept on burning.
"You are so powerful, great Inikaka." Hyesi was awed. This was the first time he had seen magical ability from what Ning could see.
'Poor child. He doesn't even know magic exists.' Ning started to pity Hyesi's ignorance.
"Alright now. Put the necklace in the fire and add a little more fuel in it." Ning ordered Hyesi, as he got himself ready to be thrown into the fire.
'I should gain a lot of energy from this right?' he wondered.
"I cannot do that, bright Inikaka. This is a gift from my mother. I cannot sully her by throwing her gift into the fire like that. As someone who was given birth by her, that would be very disrespectful," Hyesi seemed adamant on not throwing his necklace into the fire, and it didn't seem like Ning could persuade him to do so either.
'Sh*t. I might have to come up with another idea then.'