Chapter 122: Encounter at the garden

"What the hell…"

Maybe if Fen didn't have all his experiences from the forest beside Akhaz, maybe if he never meet with a monster that he could talk with, maybe if not for the meeting with the monster queen…

There were a lot of requirements that were instantly failed for Fen to fail to understand the meaning of what he just saw. With the entire baggage of experiences of the young man, instead of seeing the rest of the pool of liquid fire as a mean to potentially increase his strength by leaps and bounds, Fen actually perceived this place as a cradle for the fire monsters. 

Recalling the little bit that his landowner accidentally shared with him, in the Kinar Republic, there wasn't any real conflict between humans and monsters. It could be seen with how there was absolutely no signs of fighting on the road they Fen's quest group travelled through, while mercenaries didn't pay any mind to the proximity of the forest - something that would be the absolute height of the stupidity in the empire!

That means, that outside the cases where his life would be endangered, there was absolutely no point for Fen, already reluctant to accept the imperial narration of how the monsters were the spawns of the devil, to destroy this cradle!

'In fact, I can't even be sure that I could survive yet another situation like that…'

Looking down on his body, while there were a lot of minute changes that clearly outlined that something happened, Fen scanned himself in more ephemerical sense. Feeling up all his muscles one by one by tensing them for a moment only to relax them completely right away, the young man could feel an insane power bursting through his veins. It actually felt as if his body still had some troubles adapting to the sudden might that his bloodline allowed him to wield!

"No. There is absolutely no point. With this…"

Raising his hand to the level of his eyes, Fen observed closely the green petal that rested on his palm. If taking just the physical look alone into the account, then it was a nothing more but a slightly wider blade of grass. By nearing the limits of speaking truthfully, one could maybe claim that its colour was a little more vibrant than what one would otherwise see on a typical grass field. 

"With this, our quest is now complete!"

Appearing out of nowhere, a group of three people suddenly broke into the area around the flower. From their words it was obvious that they came here for the exact same reason as Fen, seeking to obtain the petals. And given how their sight was glued to the item on top of Fen's palm, it would take an idiot to misunderstand their intentions.

"..."

Instead of answering, Fen positioned himself with his back against the lake. While it wasn't a hard barrier that he could rest on, at least that would save him any attacks from the back. Additionally, while the young man still hoped that the worst could be avoided, having a nearly infinite source of insane energy right beside him could be the ace in his sleeve were the fight erupt!

"Now, give this petal to your seniors and so that we can get this over with."

Not showing any hints of hesitation or worry, the trio consisting of two men and a single female approached the young man. While the clear expression of disgust and annoyance spelt wonders about what was going on through one of the men's mind, neither the female nor their other male comapanion seemed to mind the situation at all.

"I don't recall being your junior, nor being obliged to give you anything."

Not even stopping their walk for a fraction of a second, the newly arriving group forced Fen to take a defensive stance. But at the same time, this clear lack of intent to hold back from fighting was what launched Fen into the state of mind that he would often adopt while in the forest.

After all, it didn't matter whether he had to face a group of arcanists - because only arcanists were capable of entering this area - or a group of monsters. In both cases, his life wasn't guaranteed, and only by remaining perfectly calm and calculative would he stand a chance at being victorious in the coming clash.

"I will say this just once. Hand the petal over…"

"Bruno, stop it."

Interjecting in the clear threat of his companion, the man who clearly didn't agree with the current course of action protested. Going as far as to reach out with his hand and actually stop his friend, this random man scored some points in Fen's mind. As little as it mean, if the fight were to truly erupt, those few points could be the only thing that would keep him alive.

What was even more surprising, the female stopped all on her own, not sparking absolutely any reaction to the sudden change of the flow in the situation.

"What the heck do you want?"

Lashing out at his friend, the clear leader of the group put his attention away from Fen for a moment. And this was all that the young arcanist desired.

Surfacing his newly obtained catalyst, Fen didn't even need to focus all that much to put his fiery wings into motion. By the time he managed to lower himself on his knees, the fire of his wings spread out, catching a lot of air underneath it, before a simultaneous kick against the ground and swing of Fen's fiery wings launched him into the air!

Instantly gaining several tens of meters over the group of potential opponents, Fen took only a moment to realise that in his current position, the influence of the area below him didn't really hold. If that were to be his wish, he could simply fly right back to the camp on those wings of his.

'I wonder how long… No, wait!"

Taking the quick count of everything that could go wrong, Fen momentarily fixated on the idea of his bloodline being too weak to sustain his wings for an extended period of time, only for the reality to slap him right back to confidence. 

Didn't his moment at the liquid fire pool already change his constitution?

A single moment of focus during which the young arcanist scanned the state of his body was enough to confirm that were that to be his wish, he could never touch the ground again for the rest of his life!

'It's… amazing…'

With his attention pulled to this single detail, Fen had to analyze how did his wings work. But here was where his expectations were betrayed. Because those wings of his were not even actively using up his fires but rather existed as the autonomous creation that could supply itself with the required power from the thin air!

Prompted by the idea, Fen ignored the potential danger from below, as he knew that his instincts alone should suffice for him to perform a rapid dodge if it turned out to be necessary. On the other hand, fueled by his own curiosity, the young arcanist attempted to… 

REPLICATE THE WAY HIS WINGS WERE MADE!

It was obvious that they were made of his fires. The main hurdle of actually using the way in which those wings of his worked, was to create an intent strong enough to hold all the rules and concepts required for the self-sufficiency before fueling it with enough fires to kickstart its entire set of orders! 

By looping them against each other, a constant flow of energy would be achieved, with the construct itself operating entirely on the power that his intent-focused circuits would suck from the air around it!

'Wait, constructs?'

In this quick moment of an idea, Fen's mind instantly provided him with a proper name for the thing he wanted to accomplish. But at the same time, his mind recalled one instance that belied the possibility of doing what the young man envisioned.

After all, constructs were based on a special kind of material, weren't they?

'Fuck it.'

Shaking his head to throw all of those ideas out of his mind, Fen noticed something strange. 

So far, no attack even attempted to reach him!

Being an arcanist himself, Fen could easily find several ways to strike someone out of the skies, even though he never had to do it before. Just by using his small explosions, he could fire projectiles at great distances directly from his hand, yet no matter how easy it was to accomplish, there wasn't even a single attempt at attacking him so far!

'I wonder what they are doing…'

Recalling the feel of the aura's that the group gave, Fen didn't need even a single moment to realise that they didn't belong to his kind of arcanists. Instead, it was clear that they actually followed the Draconis bloodline!

While that alone should suffice for the liquid fire lake to prevent them from stealing its petals, Fen suddenly realised that for someone as weak and ignorant about the matters of this world, assuming scenarios that fit his own wishes was the quickest way to a disaster!

And just a single look down into the burned area below was enough to prove his sudden notion right.

Instead of directly attempting to conquer the lake like Fen did, the group pulled out some artefacts and was already well on the way with constructing a makeshift bridge! It seemed that the option of obtaining the petals in the way they were willing to attempt was far more time and cost-effective than trying to chase someone capable of flying through the skies!

"Fuck!"

Throwing the profanity in a sudden explosion of doubts and hesitation, Fen couldn't he thankful enough for his wings to already work on habit. If he were to start deciding between saving the cores of the monsters within the lake and the plant itself or ignoring the commotion and heading back to the camp, all the while controlling his wings to remain in the air, another disaster would surely strike!