In just a few moments, the entire lava lake was completely drained, leaving a large basin of steaming rock.
As for where it all went?
In front of bedrock, a glowing orb of heat floated. With all of that lava condensed into such a small piece, the heat it emitted was simply absurd, and yet, Bedrock didn't seem that bothered.
Instead, he quietly called forth his armor, and simply put, it made him look like a mech of rocks.
Jagged yet flexible materials appeared all over his body, and formed a large plated armor that made his already large stature seem even more imposing, and the only sign that there was even something living beneath all that was the slit in his helmet that showed his eyes.
However, he wasn't done.
He reached forward and grabbed the orb of molten rock.
As soon as he did, something interesting happened.
His hand wasn't burned, nor did the orb explode or dissipate. Instead, it melded into the armor.
Glowing crevices like red veins appeared all over it, and the armor darkened to resemble dried lava, but it was far more complex than that. And in his chest area, the orb appeared like a pulsing heart that fed everything else.
This was one of the more complicated things Osho had done to Bedrock in regard to altering his conduits.
That was the different states earth could take.
Due to the issue of core natures, Bedrock was still constrained by the fact that he couldn't exactly make use of earth in its other forms besides what he was born with.
One might question that. After all, Bedrock is able to ingest minerals and rocks containing all sorts of properties, so is it really so outlandish for him to use earth in a way that didn't align with his base core nature?
Osho's latest modification was such a big deal because, under normal circumstances, it was flat-out impossible.
Affinities essentially fundamental constants. Their core natures weren't just descriptors, they were metaphysics laws that defined how mana expressed itself. A beast's body and soul were built to harmonize with the core natures of the affinities they had. Affinities in the case of them having more than one, and every ability, the way the moved mana, and so on, followed that law instinctively.
Trying to ocerlap a second nature on top the first was like trying to rewrite a gene code over an already existing one.
It didn't matter how many ores Bedrock consumed or how much elemental resistance they granted. Those resistances were more external adaptations than anything else. They didnt rewrite the underlying nature of his Mana, which was simply earth. Solid, stable, grounded.
Which was the problem.
The moment Bedrock tried to manipulate something like molten rock, his body would reject it. Not because he lacked the power, but because liquid heat fundamentally went against his core natures of stability and endurance. The two principles couldn't coexists in the same body unless Bedrock already had the Affinity for lava.
He'd learned a lot about conduits over the past year as well as his current limits when dealing with them. One such limit was changing the core nature of a beast entirely.
Turns out, it kills the beast.
Instead, he built a bridge.
With the use of A LOT of materials, Osho constructed a second network of conduits into Bedrock's existing framework, fusing them in such a way that they didn't merely overlap, but fused seamlessly with the already existing conduits. That way, it wasn't forcing them to operate on a different principle, they just sort of... translated.
They acted as a mediator, essentially, between incompatible affinities.
These new conduits didn't change the nature of Bedrock's earth, which was still stable and grounded. Instead, the translated other states of matter as extensions of the same matter.
In other words, instead of trying to make Bedrock control things like molten rock, he simply Madeira so that his existence could comprehend it as earth infused with energy to change its shape.
Granted, the result wasn't perfect. Bedrock couldn't wield fire, nor could he manifest pure magma at will, but he could harness and incorporate the stuff as an aspect of his earth rather than a contradiction.
That's why his armor merged with the lava instead of getting destroyed or sniffing it out.
To Bedrock, molten rock was no longer "Hot and liquid earth." It was now. "Earth that had adapted. Just like he did."
The conduits recognized them that way, so his body did as well.
In essence, Osho had taught Bedrock to reinterprete nature itself without violating the core laws that governed his existence.
It was enough EXTREMELY delicate line to walk, and no sane tamer would ever attempt something like that... Not that they would be able to, anyway.
Still, watching the molten glow pulse through Bedrock's chest like a heart, he Osho couldn't help but give himself a pat on the back. Even if it wasn't perfect, Osho had proven that core natures weren't inviolable laws. They could be bent and interpreted differently.
And Osho wouldn't stand there.
'If I can revive a creature that existed before time which is one of the most all-encompassing laws to exist, completely redefining a few laws that came after shouldn't be that difficult, right?'
His goal of helping humanity with his ability was still there, but there was also something else.
Call it avarice or unnecessary pride, but... Osho wanted to see just how far he could go.
He wanted to see just how much he could bend the laws that governed the very existence he stayed in. Would there be pushback? Would there be consequences? He had no clue, and that's what he intended to find out.
But that was in the future.
For now, though, Bedrock looked like a creature that was forged in the heart of the world itself, his armor making him look like he'd undergone an eternity of tempering to achieve his current state.
His appearance wasn't the only thing that changed, though.
He stretched out his hands, and his tower shield appeared on his left arm, while in his right hand, a spear appeared. Both of them now possessed a dark sheen with glowing veins, and they both gave off a fearsome aura.
Then, Bedrock entered a stance.
He held his shield in front of him and positioned the spear around it.
That was another thing Bedrock had to do this past year.
Unlike Gale, he had hands and legs with fingers that allowed him to properly grip things. As such, coupled with his ability to make his earth take whatever shape he wanted, he could properly wield weapons, something not a lot of beasts could do.
As such, he was subjected to intense training that took in that fact, as he learned how to fight with weapons, and he had made a lot of progress in the past year.
"Sublime," Timothy clapped his hands tigether as he grinned. "That boy is making full use of all his beast's capabilities and isn't just relying on his ability to amp them and their potential." The others nodded at this.
"It's refreshing. Most people would only focus on making their beasts as strong as possible. But not him, no wonder he hasn't broken through despite their foundation being firm, he's making sure that all aspects of their abilities within each rank are being utilized to their utmost potential. You don't see that often." Lady Haggai agreed, while Aaron looked at everything with shining eyes, then he looked up. Get full chapters from novelꜰire.net
"Hey, why hasn't the bird attacked yet?" He asked genuinely. With Gale's speed, he could have launched his attack since. Moreover, the hurricane had stopped building as it reached a point of extreme volatility. And yet, Gale hadn't initiated his attack.
"Because, Jane is also preparing her attack." Haggai pointed out.
Indeed, Mrs Jane and Ignis hadn't just been floating and staring as Hale prepared his attack. Instead, they prepared an attack of their own.
In hindsight, Osho and Mrs Jane weren't using a whole lot of strategy in this fight, but that was on purpose. They wanted to clash and test the limits of each other by facing each blow head on to see who would come out on top.
Mrs Jane had just finished creating a complicated and vast array of magic runes that overlapped and formed a large magic circle.
"Isn't that...?" Aaron's eyes widened.
"Yup. It seems like she is indeed taking this very seriously." William grunted slightly as they watched Ignis take a deep breath.
Ignis had been using breath attacks all this while, however, he'd never truly used HIS breath attack.
Wyverns were a step below Dragons, but they too possessed breath attacks like them, and each one was unbelievably potent.
And coupled with Mrs Jane's assistance with the magic circle, it's clear that the attack was going to be spectacular.