"You're definitely going to lose. My Fire Element has already reached the third level of the novice tier." Zu Yanzhi was extremely confident.
Although the Fire Element wasn't her main focus, handling a little brat would still be a piece of cake.
"It's too early to say who'll lose." Lu Wu was equally confident.
Doing this nonstop was actually a little boring.
He had watched Grandpa Shen refining equipment earlier, but the old man had been busy the whole time, and he couldn't make sense of any of it.
In the end, he simply gave up and focused on melting the Mystic Ice.
Now he had a wager to relieve his boredom, and they were betting on something he was good at. Why not?
"Since you're so confident, what should we put on the line?" Zu Yanzhi pondered, still maintaining the flames in her hand.
Lu Wu's eyes lit up when he heard her mention stakes.
To be honest, after getting a taste of the hundred thousand he received from the Hunter Union over the Demon Beast Park incident, he was tempted whenever an opportunity to make a windfall came along.
"We'll be here for about a month. Whoever loses has to keep making food for the other person after we leave."
"Making food?" Lu Wu was thoroughly disappointed.
Seeing Lu Wu's expression, Zu Yanzhi immediately grew displeased. "I'm not even turning my nose up at your cooking, so why do you look so uninterested? You're so young—how big a bet do you want?"
What the heck?
She had already made the stakes tiny because she was worried Lu Wu might refuse to pay up after losing.
They were only passing the time anyway, and she was definitely going to win.
Even with stakes like these, she hadn't turned her nose up at Lu Wu. He could make anything-even a little roast meat would do.
Yet Lu Wu was actually turning his nose up at her?!
"All right, all right." Lu Wu said no more.
Since they were betting, they needed to keep an eye on each other. The flames in their hands couldn't be too small.
There was no phone signal here at all, and the time was inaccurate, so they had no idea what time it was.
Lu Wu rather wanted to go outside and have a big meal.
He didn't know how much time had passed, but even standing was starting to tire Lu Wu out.
Ever since they made the wager, Zu Yanzhi had been seriously comparing their two balls of fire, while Lu Wu had been spacing out.
Next time, when there's no wager, instead of constantly maintaining a Star Path to slowly melt the Mystic Ice, I can try using this time to practice controlling magic while doing other things.
Making plans to himself, Lu Wu felt he ought to make good use of this opportunity.
He could talk while maintaining a Star Path because he knew Zu Yanzhi wouldn't attack him.
That trust came from Grandpa Shen being nearby.
Once he thought about how he could practice magic during this month, Lu Wu no longer felt that a month would stretch on forever.
"Mm."
Zu Yanzhi let out a muffled groan, bringing Lu Wu back to his senses.
Turning to look at Zu Yanzhi, Lu Wu only then noticed that she had taken off her down jacket at some point.
Beads of sweat had appeared on her forehead, and even her hair was somewhat soaked with sweat.
Her face was flushed, a little as though she were short of oxygen or had been exercising, and her gaze was unfocused.
She was now wearing only a white short-sleeved shirt, soaked with sweat against her body.
Since he was standing and she was already sitting on the down jacket she had taken off, he could faintly see the fair skin that the black garment underneath failed to cover.
"Why don't you give up? You look like you're nearly at your limit," Lu Wu said, noticing that he still had some mana left.
Zu Yanzhi really did have a great figure. At his age, it was hard to avoid having his blood surge, and keeping that up for too long wouldn't be good for his development.
"I really didn't expect you to last this long." Noticing Lu Wu crouch down, Zu Yanzhi spoke helplessly.
She hadn't noticed at all that she had just exposed herself.
The sweat all over her body left Zu Yanzhi feeling sticky, but what bothered her most was that she couldn't even beat a high school student.
She was one of the Imperial Capital Academy's favored geniuses!
"Everyone has their strengths. You have yours, and I have mine." Realizing that even his breathing had grown heavier, Lu Wu hurriedly turned his head away.
He couldn't even stand up properly now, or he would give himself away.
But why do I kind of want to turn around and look again?
So this is the kind of person I am!!
Torn inside, Lu Wu took a deep breath and kept regulating his breathing.
Zu Yanzhi noticed this and thought Lu Wu had reached his limit. "If you can't keep going, just give up."
"You haven't reached your limit yet, so of course I'm going to keep going." Lu Wu shook his head and turned to face Zu Yanzhi.
The Mystic Ice didn't melt faster just because the fire was bigger.
It needed continuous burning from an uninterrupted flame. Otherwise, why not exhaust all their mana at the start to create a bigger ball of fire?
Hearing this, Zu Yanzhi looked up at Lu Wu and noticed that his face was now bright red and his breathing somewhat rapid.
Gritting her teeth, Zu Yanzhi forced herself to hold on a little longer.
But her vision blurred, and she toppled backward.
Lu Wu reacted swiftly, cutting off the flames in his hand and grabbing Zu Yanzhi.
If she fell like that, she was bound to hit her head.
His Fire Element stars were actually already somewhat dim, and his remaining mana was about a quarter of what it had been.
He could still cast at least two Fire Bursts!!
Held by Lu Wu, Zu Yanzhi leaned against him, the smell of sweat mingling with her fragrance.
"..."
Lu Wu felt the softness pressing against his chest. He hadn't been wearing his down jacket while resting.
"Are you all right?"
"I'm fine. Just a little dizzy. I'll be okay after a moment. You won," Zu Yanzhi said breathlessly.
"Rest a bit before you recover your mana." Lu Wu had expected this outcome, but he didn't feel much joy.
He had absolutely no interest in those stakes.
Grandpa Shen collected the water from the Mystic Ice Zu Yanzhi had melted. Seeing her resting and adjusting her condition on her own, Lu Wu went back to burning the Mystic Ice.
Perhaps because he had been here so long, it was getting a little hot.
Once his mana ran out, Lu Wu began preparing to regulate his breathing there.
The dense Fire Element energy around him would help his mana recover faster.
As he cultivated, Lu Wu kept feeling, faintly, that some presence was drawing him in.
It was an extremely vague sensation, there one moment and gone the next.
When he opened his eyes, however, the sensation disappeared. Lu Wu carefully surveyed his surroundings: an enormous cavern.
Lava flowed quietly, and the surrounding temperature was high, but there was no sharp, choking odor.
There was no telling where the winding cavern extended. After all, farther ahead, the stone path beneath his feet came to an end.
Could that presence be coming from deeper inside? Lu Wu looked into the cavern, whose end was nowhere in sight.
He couldn't tell directions inside this place at all, nor did he know which direction the lava in the cavern came from.
Perhaps it was an illusion.
Grandpa Shen's cultivation was so much higher than his, and he had always been the one using the Thought Stone before. There was no telling how many times greater his perception range was than Lu Wu's.
If that faint presence really existed, Grandpa Shen would definitely notice it.
Closing his eyes, Lu Wu focused on cultivating and recovering.
After recovering some mana, he continued melting the Mystic Ice.
There was no way he would have time to recover completely. After all, he still needed to rest.
These days would continue for a month.
This time, Lu Wu didn't maintain the flames continuously.
Instead, he tried casting magic while letting his eyes scan his surroundings.
"The fireball's too big. I didn't control it properly."
Although he could successfully release the flames, they were too large.
Not only that, the time it took him to control them had increased too.
"Looks like controlling magic with divided attention really is difficult. Casting takes nearly twice as long as before." Lu Wu noticed that his magic had become much slower after he divided his attention.
He would need to practice more over the coming month!!