"Controlling heat… you figured that out so quickly?"
After a bit of teasing back and forth, Iroh reheated his tea himself. But the mood to actually enjoy it was gone. He sighed again and again.
As Kahn expected, Iroh did have skill in this area—but compared to Kahn, the difference was enormous.
Iroh had always known Kahn was a genius. But before, Kahn had only been learning established Firebending techniques.
Now he was starting to think, analyze, and create—and the gap between the two was monumental.
Yet even here, Kahn's talent was overwhelming.
If Kahn could hear Iroh's internal praise, he'd feel embarrassed—because none of this was truly original. He'd simply seen enough of it in his previous life.
Such was the advantage of a transmigrator.
Still, Kahn was proud. He had taken a massive step forward. Thinking of the technique he used to freeze the tea, he announced proudly:
"I've already named the move: [Zero Point Breakthrough of Dying Will · First Generation Edition]!"
"…What?"
Iroh wondered if his hearing had finally given out.
He stared at Kahn's triumphant expression.
How did he even come up with such an abstract, bizarre name? And why add "First Generation Edition" as if he were writing a textbook?
Kahn simply smiled mysteriously.
"Only those who share my aspirations can understand the deeper meaning."
Iroh's expression said everything:
Fine. Whatever makes you happy.
Kahn then brought up something that had been bothering him. Everything he'd been developing lately felt too smooth—almost like he had no obstacles at all. It felt unnatural.
"…"
Listen to this child… Is that even something a normal human says?
The humblebrag left Iroh speechless. But this wasn't the first, nor the second, nor even the tenth time Kahn casually broke the scale of normal human limits.
He took a deep breath and considered seriously.
"Indeed… and that speed of yours…"
He understood the principle of the "First Generation Edition" at a glance: Kahn simply used Earthbending to extract heat. But the speed was absurd—revealing an almost terrifying degree of chi control.
Combined with Kahn's earlier statement about perfect bodily control, Iroh's speculation solidified.
"This may be because your [Spirit] is stronger than normal."
"[Spirit]? Spiritual energy?" Kahn asked. "You mean the chi inside the body?"
"No," Iroh explained. "[Spirit] refers to consciousness and soul."
In this world, life consisted of two components: Spirit (soul) and Flesh (body). Chi was the product of both interacting.
Iroh speculated that something about Kahn's nature had strengthened his Spirit far beyond average.
With such a powerful soul, his chi control and bodily control naturally exceeded that of ordinary Firebenders.
Kahn blinked, absorbing the information.
Another world-building detail acquired.
It made perfect sense. With the Avatar cycle already proving the existence of reincarnated souls, a strengthened Spirit wasn't surprising.
He even guessed the probable reason:
His transmigrated soul must have fused with the original body's soul. That explained why he inherited the memories so seamlessly.
Reasonable. Logical.
And then his thoughts drifted toward the Avatar.
If the fusion of just two souls gave him such an advantage… then what about a soul that had reincarnated hundreds of times?
The might of the Avatar's soul must be unimaginable.
While Kahn's mind spiraled into theory, Iroh made another private speculation:
If Kahn's soul was truly this strong, then beyond Firebending, Kahn might have other extraordinary talents waiting to surface.
But he kept this thought to himself. Saying too much too early might give the boy unrealistic expectations.
Instead, he casually said.
"Kahn, meditate more often these days. It might bring unexpected results."
Starting the cryptic hints again, huh?
Kahn pretended not to hear, but he remembered the advice. Iroh wouldn't harm him. Meditation wouldn't kill him. Probably.
Once the philosophical talk ended, they returned to discussing heat manipulation.
Kahn broke the technique into three core functions:
Generating thermal energy and transferring it to objects
Controlling the direction or flow of thermal energy
Extracting thermal energy from objects
The applications were terrifying.
Inject too much heat into a tree?
→ The water expands instantly. The tree explodes.
Do the same to the human body?
→ Also explodes.
Control hot and cold within the same material?
→ The temperature gradient warps and shatters it.
Extract heat from living beings?
→ Just demonstrated on Iroh's tea.
In Kahn's hands, the technique was incredibly dangerous.
But Iroh quickly poured cold water on his enthusiasm. He created a flame and asked Kahn to extract the heat from it.
The result?
The flame didn't vanish—it just shrank slightly.
Very anticlimactic.
Iroh chuckled.
"Chi—that is the main reason."
Everything possessed a "spirit," but the chi in water, rocks, and other inanimate matter was practically nonexistent. Even plants had chi too faint to matter.
But animals—especially humans—had strong chi.
Even if a normal person couldn't use their chi like a Firebender, their body instinctively resisted attacks.
Unless Kahn's chi was overwhelmingly superior, his extraction wouldn't overpower another person's chi completely.
Kahn frowned, "But it worked fine when I used it on myself."
He had even tried to reconvert extracted heat into chi—like some kind of North Profound Divine Art or Star Absorption technique—but failed.
He could absorb heat, but it wouldn't convert back to chi.
"You WHAT?!" Iroh nearly dropped the teacup. He glared at Kahn.
"You experimented on your own body?!"
Kahn blinked. "…Yes?"
Iroh scolded him furiously, then explained.
"That's because the chi you use for Earthbending comes from your own body! Your chi returning to your body is like… well, going home. Of course your body won't resist!"
Kahn froze.
Right. That made… perfect sense.
So basically—
His ability was weakened when used on others, but full power when used on himself?
Good heavens.
Even weakened, the technique was incredibly strong. Kahn was more than satisfied.
Then Iroh suddenly sighed and said something that caught Kahn completely off guard.
"At this level… you can already be called a Firebending Master."
Kahn: "???"
...
Author's Note:
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