Sweat soaked their foreheads and seeped into their training clothes, darkening the fabric several shades. Their hair clung to their faces and necks, breaths coming in ragged gasps as their chests rose and fell rapidly.
Their steps grew heavier, as if every footfall demanded extra effort. And yet, they endured. No one stopped, no one complained aloud—there was only the sound of labored breathing and a thin strand of will, forced to keep them moving.
Just a little more.
I decided to wait a bit longer before stopping the training, making sure their physical limits were truly tested without pushing them beyond what they could handle.
"Enough!" I finally shouted in a firm voice. "Both of you can stop!"
The moment the words left my mouth, Shizuka and Rika nearly froze in place, their bodies tilting forward as they struggled to steady their chaotic breathing. Their first training session finally came to an end, leaving behind unmistakable exhaustion, yet also laying the initial foundation for something far more grueling in the future.
I quickly approached them, my steps slowing when I saw just how completely drained they were.
"Sit down and straighten both of your legs! Don't bend them! After running, it's not good to bend your legs right away, so straighten them first," I said firmly but calmly, making sure my tone wasn't too harsh.
"Ugh… I feel like I'm going to die," Shizuka complained between gasps. She simply let herself fall, her body collapsing onto the grass that was still slightly damp. Her gaze drifted toward the blue sky peeking through the gaps in the leaves above, her eyelids half-closed as if she were trying to calm the dizziness still spinning in her head.
"Yeah… hah… this is really exhausting…" Rika lay down beside her. Rika's chest rose and fell rapidly, each breath heavy and uneven. Her face looked pale, sweat dampening her temples, yet beneath the fatigue lingered a faint smile, a quiet sign of satisfaction at having completed the training.
The forest was once again filled with the sound of their heavy breathing—out of sync, yet equally rough. A gentle breeze swept through, rustling the leaves above us and carrying the scent of soil and fresh grass, creating a soothing contrast to the turmoil within their exhausted bodies.
"Good work. Here, drink this," I said with a small smile. I then extended two bottles of mineral water toward them, making sure they were close enough to grab without requiring much movement.
I took the two bottles straight out of the purple flame that flared to life in the palm of my hand. The flame rotated slowly, forming a small, stable vortex. There was no heat radiating from it, no wild sparks flying outward.
Instead, the flame looked calm and controlled, as if it existed entirely under my command. A few seconds later, the purple glow gradually faded once the bottles were fully in my grasp.
That purple flame was my Innate Technique—Purple Forge Flame. From the very beginning, I had known that this was no ordinary fire.
It didn't burn indiscriminately, didn't consume everything without distinction like normal flames. On the contrary, this fire followed extremely specific rules and characteristics, as if it possessed its own logic and limitations.
The water bottles I had previously stored within the purple flame remained completely intact. They hadn't melted, hadn't changed shape, and most importantly, the water inside hadn't evaporated at all.
The temperature was still normal—not warm, not cold—as if they had just been taken out of an ordinary bag rather than from within a flame.
I had tested many things related to this ability, trying to understand its limits and operating principles little by little.
Water bottles, just like now, could survive perfectly inside the Purple Forge Flame. The bottles weren't damaged, and the water remained safe to drink, without any side effects whatsoever.
However, the results were completely different when I tried to store food directly, without any form of protection.
When the food was placed straight into the purple flame with no container at all, the outcome was immediately obvious. It burned and vanished entirely.
Unlike inanimate objects, which are destroyed and then broken down into raw materials or some form of residue, food did not undergo such a process. It simply disappeared, as if it had never existed in the first place—no remnants, no traces left behind.
From this, I drew one important conclusion. Food and water cannot be "deconstructed" by the Purple Forge Flame in the same way metals or other objects can. There is a fundamental difference in how this flame interacts with organic matter.
Still, my experiments did not end there.
I tried another method. First, I placed the food inside a container, making sure it was tightly sealed, and then it was the container itself that I put into the purple flame.
The result was vastly different from before. As long as the container remained intact and acted as a direct barrier between the flame and the food, the contents inside stayed completely safe, as though the purple flame had never touched them at all.
The food did not burn, its texture did not change, and it did not lose its aroma or taste. After being taken out, it was still perfectly edible, exactly the same as when it was first put in.
From this simple experiment, I became even more convinced that the Purple Forge Flame was not merely a flame, but a technique governed by strict rules that had to be understood with great care.
Even so, there was still one major question that remained unanswered. I did not know whether time continued to flow for food and drinks stored within the Purple Forge Flame.
In other words, I had yet to determine whether food kept inside the purple flame could spoil as usual, or whether it existed in some kind of "suspended" state, untouched by the passage of time.
So far, aside from water stored in a bottle that showed no change after an entire day, the only food I had tested were bread and candy, stored for about five hours. When taken out, they tasted exactly the same as before.
There was no change in aroma, no strange texture, and not even the slightest loss of moisture. If someone had not witnessed the process firsthand, they would have assumed the food had just been taken out of an ordinary pocket or bag.
However, five hours was clearly not enough to draw any definite conclusions. It was far too short a period to truly test whether the process of spoilage could occur or not.
I did not dare to store other kinds of food for longer durations, especially items that spoiled easily. There were several reasons behind this caution, all of which made perfect sense to me.
First, I did not have food that I could freely use for experiments without worrying about the consequences. Finding food suitable for storage inside the purple flame was not easy, especially in an orphanage environment.
If food suddenly went missing, even just one or two portions, it would inevitably raise questions. And small questions like that often led to troublesome situations.
Second, I did not want to waste food. If the food I stored ended up spoiling or becoming inedible, it would feel like a complete waste.
As an orphan, I was deeply aware of how precious food was. Every portion carried meaning, and throwing it away for the sake of an experiment that might not even succeed felt reckless—perhaps even foolish.
Because of that, for the time being, I chose to restrain myself. I decided not to continue further experiments until I could find the right conditions, both in terms of time and the type of food that could be tested without guilt.
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