27: fire

Hyesi remained seated on the sand, closing his eyes and meditating as commanded by the god.

He didn't know how long he would have to wait before the god began giving him commands, but he would wait without hesitation. After a while, he finally heard the god's voice again.

"Hyesi, it's time. Do as I say, and I will give you the power you desire." Ning finally knew what he had to do; he would use Hyesi for his own benefit.

"What is it, great and luminous Inikaka? Your child, whatever you ask me to do, I will do it." Hyesi immediately replied without hesitation, as in his heart, he had completely accepted Ning as a god.

"Yes. I know what your problems are. I know why you are so weak, and to eliminate these weaknesses, I need your help. As my loyal follower, are you willing to do as I ask?" Ning asked.

"Yes, Inikaka. Just give me the command." Hyesi was ready to do anything.

"Alright then..." Ning turned and looked around the forest. Seeing no trees with firewood to burn, he had to make do with dry leaves and coconut shells.

"Quickly, collect all those dry leaves and coconut shells and put them in a safe place, somewhere no one will come," Ning commanded.

Hyesi did as he was told, beginning to gather dry leaves and coconut shells. There were so many that Hyesi collected them with ease.

He took them to a safe spot near the beach on the other side of the island.

He threw everything onto the sand and then asked, "Is this what you want, intelligent Inikaka?" Ning looked at the materials below and thought. "Hmm... maybe a bit more would be better, so the flame can burn longer," he thought.

"This is far from enough. I need much more than this. Collect more," Ning commanded.

Hyesi returned to the forest to gather more materials. Fortunately, there were so many materials that Hyesi didn't need to travel far to increase the quantity.

After all this was done, Ning finally said, "Well done, now the truly interesting part begins." Hyesi waited for his god's command, and after a while, he heard, "Alright, now make fire."

Upon hearing this, Hyesi was a little confused. Ning looked at him and his confused expression. He was a bit nervous and decided to ask, "What? You don't know what fire is?" He hoped the natives didn't know what fire was.

"Now that I think about it, they didn't light anything yesterday. Do they really not know what fire is?" He began to worry.

"I know fire exists, bright Inikaka. But why do you need me to make fire for you? Aren't you the God of Light and Flame yourself?" Hyesi asked.

Ning was startled when he heard this. "Was I caught? Damn it."

He slowly turned his head to look at Hyesi again, and finding only confusion on Hyesi's face, without a trace of suspicion, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yes, yes, yes, I wanted to do that, but I don't want to. So, you do it yourself," Ning said.

"Please show your power to your child, great Inikaka.

I want to witness your power." Hyesi immediately knelt and began bowing, burying his head in the ground.

"Uh... damn it."

"Okay, pile these leaves in one place," Ning commanded.

Hyesi immediately began to work. He started separating some of the materials from the pile and then put them into a small, half-meter-deep pit he had dug with his arms.

"It's done, intelligent Inikaka. Please burn it now and let your child witness your magic."

"Damn it, what kind of trouble have I gotten myself into?" Ning began to complain.

"System, can you help me create fire?" he asked.

<You can purchase the ability to create fire from the Shop>

"Uh... how much? Show me the cheapest one."

<Candlelight: 5,000 Energy>

"Uh, uh... I think that's not bad. Okay, buy it."

<Candlelight successfully purchased>

Ning checked the system and found that the Candlelight skill indeed existed. "Okay, now I can use it, System?" he asked.

<With a single thought, you can create Candlelight 2 meters away from you>

<Each second the Candlelight burns consumes 500 of your Energy>

<You will not gain any Energy from the heat directly generated by the fire>

"Alright then."

"Lower yourself a bit, Haisi," Ning commanded. Haisi sat on the ground, waiting for his god to act.

"This is a bit interesting." Ning prepared himself mentally, imagining a ball of fire igniting above a pile of leaves. Suddenly, a small tongue of flame appeared above the leaves and began to burn.

Ning immediately stopped the Candlelight, but the rest of the Candlelight continued to burn.

"You are so powerful, great Inikaka!" Haisi exclaimed in admiration. This was the first time he had seen magical ability from Ning's eyes.

"Poor child. He doesn't even know what magic is." Ning began to pity Hyesi's ignorance.

"Alright, put the necklace into the fire and add more fuel." Ning commanded Hyesi while preparing to be thrown into the fire.

He wondered, "I should get a lot of energy from this, right?"

"I cannot do that, intelligent Inikaka. This is a gift from my mother. I cannot throw her gift into the fire like this and defile her.

As someone born of her, doing so would be extremely disrespectful," Hyesi seemed adamant about not throwing his necklace into the fire, and Ning seemed unable to convince him to do so.

"Damn it. Then I might have to think of something else."