Chapter 319 - Sergeant Of Hell
After hearing everyone reply, "Good, then let's take a bath." said Angus while leaving the room.
At the same time, the three soldiers didn't know what to do and were confused.
Seeing that they are not following him, "What are you standing there for? Hurry, there are a lot of things to do today." asked Angus.
"Y-Yes, sir." replied the three soldiers.
Then, Angus begins to lead them to the research facility. Ferry couldn't hold his curiosity on the way there and began to ask Angus.
"Err.. Pardon me, sir. How about our test result?" asked Ferry.
"Hm… the three of you have barely passed the standard and are still not qualified to learn the explosion skill. So, you will have another test in another week. For now, you need to increase your fire mastery skills and knowledge." replied Angus.
Hearing that they have passed, everyone is relieved, but knowing that they still need to learn and get another test in a week makes everyone sigh. The three of them are combatants that specialize in the warrior path.
Unlike the magician path, they prefer to train using their body rather than reading books, especially Angus's book that is very hard to understand. They need to read the same page at least three times before truly understanding its content.
Arriving at the research facility, "Ahh.. young master Angus, you are here." called Valter.
"Master Valter, did you manage to procure them?" replied Angus.
"Yes, though they are rare in this country, but we still could get them." said Valter.
"Good, make sure to procure as much as possible. You could send all the bills to me later." said Angus.
"Certainly, young master." replied Valter.
"Then, I supposed you also managed to fulfill my other request." said Angus.
"Well, it is an unusual request, but my team still managed to procure and set them up. Still, we do not truly understand what it is for." said Valter.
"You will see and understand its usage. Anyway, can I see them?" said Angus.
"Yes.. Yes.. certainly, follow me." said Valter while leading Angus and the three soldiers.
Soon, they enter a room. The room is heavily insulated with various kinds of runes. This is one of the small testing rooms inside the research facility. In the middle of the room, a furnace is filled with some kind of liquid.
"Good, it seems everything is in place. Alright, Ferry entered the furnace." said Angus.
"Huh?? Me?" said Ferry.
"Yeah, hurry and enter the furnace." said Angus.
Then, Ferry enters the furnace that is filled with mysterious transparent liquid. As soon as his body touches the liquid, he feels a cold sensation from it. But, it is still not unbearable for his third-grade body psyche.
After Ferry submerged inside the furnace, "Now, try to release your fire mana towards the liquid." said Angus.
Hearing this, Valter is immediately surprised as he knows the nature of the transparent liquid. Before he could say anything, Ferry already used his fire mana and released it towards the liquid around.
Suddenly, the liquid set in a blaze and surprised everyone except Angus and Valter.
"Uarrgg!!" groaned Ferry as he felt like burned alive.
At this moment, "Try to control and withstand the fire or die burned to ash. Carve their characteristics and nature in your body. Those are flames made out of your fire mana. It is yours, and you are the one that reigns over it!!" said Angus sternly.
Hearing Angus's voice, Ferry decides to hold on to his pain and begins to try to control the wildfire in the liquid. However, it is easier said than done. One of the fire characteristics is burning uncontrollably.
This is the main reason why it is tough for people to master fire elemental. Mastering elemental means gaining control over the element. However, the fire element is hard to control compared to other elements because of this characteristic.
Therefore, Angus used drastic measures and burned the soldiers alive to engrave the fire characteristic to their bodies. After a while, Ferry fell unconscious inside the furnace. Angus immediately controls the fire to die down and pick the charred Ferry.
"Bring this guy to the medical facility. Now, it is the time for the two of you." said Angus.
Hearing this, both Gibby and Tilda couldn't help but have a cold sweat.
"Err.. Sir, I think I am still not fully recovered from the last test. So…" said Gibby trying to make an excuse.
"Then, let me burn you alive by myself." said Angus as he created a hot fire in his hand.
"Hick.. N-No, sir." replied Gibby in a hurry.
Then, Gibby and Tilda looked at each other. After seeing the charred Ferry, both of them are still reluctant to be burned alive and feel that pain.
"Tilda, as a lady, why don't you go first. You know ladies first." said Gibby.
"Nonsense, shouldn't be a man that needs to be first in this situation." said Tilda.
Both of them begin to argue with each other to delay being burned alive.
Couldn't stand the useless argument they make, "If none of you come inside the furnace in five-second, I will burn both of you alive on my own." said Angus sternly while somehow increasing the temperature of the room.
"Hiick… Y-Yes, sir." replied the two soldiers.
Only now do the two soldiers realize that Angus is not the usual mentor or teacher. They feel like facing a sergeant from hell. On the other hand, Valter is interested in looking at the surrounding thermometer temperature and the furnace.
Despite the increased temperature in the room, the liquid in the furnace is not setting ablaze as it should be. This liquid is apparently called Vulcan Oil, a rare natural oil that could easily ignite into a fire with only a slight increase in the temperature.
Since Vulcan Oil is not set ablaze in fire, it means Angus can perfectly control the surrounding temperature in the Vulcan Oil and furnace while increasing the temperature of the whole room.
In the end, Gibby reluctantly enters the furnace and submerges in the transparent liquid. Similar to Ferry's case, Gibby immediately gets roasted alive the moment he channels his fire mana towards the Vulcan Oil.
"ARRGGHH!!" screamed Gibby.
The searing fire burns him alive and gives him unbelievable pain. Despite already preparing for the pain, he still could hold it. Soon, Gibby also fell unconscious like Ferry. After that, Tilda couldn't escape and received the same fate as the other two soldiers.
After Angus sent the three charred soldiers to the medical facility, he requested Valter to procure more Vulcan Oil. Angus predicted that they would get used to being burned alive after a while and need more Vulcan Oil to do this ridiculous training.
Hearing Angus' request, "Sure, it is good to be able to help young geniuses such as yourself." said Valter.
"You are flattering me too much, Master Valter. I am still not compared to you." said Angus.
"Hahahaha… You may be able to fool anyone, young master Angus. But, you can't fool this old man. Your fire mastery is very top-notch that could be said one of the best in the Firuman.
"I bet if you decide to become an active combatant, there are few combatants below fifth grade that could contend against you." said Valter.
"Hahaha… Well, I just want to become a nice and quiet researcher. Anyway, I will go first. There are still many things I need to be done." said Angus.
"Sure.. Sure… See you later, young master Angus." said Valter.
After that, Angus goes towards the training ground and checks the progress of the other seventeen soldiers. Unlike the first time, the seventeen soldiers have a tacit understanding and decide to enter the circle rune in turn.
With the capacity of their mana, they could hold out inside the circle rune for ten to twenty minutes before being on the brink of mana deficiency.
With entering the circle rune in turn, they could keep the temperature inside at the minimum and will spend less mana when protecting themselves with mana. This kind of tactic is quite good. However, these seventeen soldiers' mana regeneration is not as high as Angus.
Therefore, in the end, there will be a time, they exhaust all their mana, and the temperature in the circle rune will increase. Still, this kind of progress makes Angus satisfied. After being pleased with the progress of the current seventeen soldiers, he goes towards Anne on the side.
Angus tasked Anne to monitor the seventeen soldiers' progress and behavior. Although Angus gives freedom to the seventeen soldiers in what kind of methods they will use to learn the books, he still does not want any kind of bloodshed.
During the first batch of the seventeen soldiers, two of them almost die as they fight over the book. Fortunately, the others stopped them before they used any lethal attack and escalated further.
Therefore, Angus commanded Anne to monitor the soldier and stop them whenever something serious happened in a fight between them.. Angus didn't want to prevent them from fighting each other, but he didn't wish for unnecessary bloodshed.