Reincarnated as a step-dad in a fantasy world

Chapter 76: Smoke attributes

"All kinds of smoke? Isn't that the same for all user of smoke element ?" Asked Alex, not understanding the difference.

Lilia and Scarlett looked at each other for a moment before each released an exasperated breath.

"You know, you could have studied how abilities function even if you didn't have one that you can use" said Scarlett.

"..."

Alex just stayed silent knowing that she was right, he never studied how other abilities work, and why would he? It was not like he could picture himself in the future possessing or going against other abilities, if it wasn't for the artifact that he got - per luck-, he wouldn't even be here training and would instead be somewhere else, probably getting drunk.

"Well, it is what it is. We should stop talking about your father's lack of education," said Lilia, driving the nail further in.

'They are really annoying when together' thought Alex as the pair of mother and daughter kept teasing him.

"Can we just concentrate on what's important here ?"

"Which is ?" Asked Scarlett

"What is the difference between being able to manipulate smoke and being able to manipulate all kinds of smoke"

"Well, it's not really our fault if you don't know, is it" replied Lilia, still continuing at making fun of him.

"...."

His increasingly annoyed expression caused Lilia and Scarlett to burst into laughter.

"Okay, okay, that's enough, we are stopping" said Lilia after a moment, then started finally explaining:

"The difference between your newly acquired smoke element and mine is that with yours you can manipulate all kinds of smoke contrary to me, what was the reason why I told you that smoke is a low-level ability?"

"Smoke emerges only when there is a combustion or vaporization of certain materials, making it a secondary and derivative manifestation in the elemental hierarchy" responded Alex responded, parroting the exact words Lilia had uttered back then.

"Yes that's right, it's why it's a low-level ability, however due to coming from the vaporization or combustion of certain materials it also has a very good advantage that many other abilities of higher level don't have" explained Lilia.

"Which is ?" Asked Alex with raised brows.

"Attributes, the smoke element can have different attributes based on what's burned or vaporized. Liquid Smoke, for instance, has special traits linked to the specific liquids used. For instance, If it comes from a freezing substance, this smoke could induce a sudden drop in temperature, creating a chilling effect. On the other hand, if produced from a different type of liquid, the smoke might have distinctive properties. The smoke element presents numerous possibilities, each determined by the nature of the material involved.

"However, one person can only control smoke with one, two or several attributes, for example, one person might only be able to manipulate the smoke that comes from freezing materials, one other can only manipulate the smoke coming from explosions and such, that's why I said back then that abilities like smoke take time to master, normally when one person has the smoke ability it might even take some years to know what kind of attributed smoke they can use, some unfortunate one never find that attributed smoke they can use, but in your case it's different, you don't need to search for what kind of attributed smoke you can manipulate since you can manipulate all kinds of smoke no matter the attribute, which means that one of the greatest if not the greatest obstacle to the smoke ability user actually became a trump card in your hands" explained Lilia.

Alex got silent when he heard her explanation, quite frankly, he was shocked, when he decided to copy the smoke ability it was mostly due to it being the only one that he could copy, the smoke element seemed like something cool, but it was just that, he didn't think that it would be anything exceptional, but this...was absolutely mind-blowing.

"Quite frankly, I think that the current smoke ability that you possess is no longer a low-level ability" added Scarlett.

'Who would have thought that this useless ability of mine would one day become such a boon, life is really unpredictable' thought Alex with a sudden chuckle.

"All of this also proves my suspicion" said Lilia after a moment.

"Which suspicion ?" Asked Scarlett.

"That your father's soul actually boosted the capabilities of the artifact, allowing it to become be able to do things that it normally shouldn't be able to do, like copying abilities".

"It does make sense" agreed Scarlett before asking with a thoughtful face, "but If this theory is right, what will happen if dad's soul becomes even more powerful? Would the artifact allow him to do even more things than now, or will there be no change at all".

"I'm not sure about that. The only way to find out would be to further empower his soul and see what happens," replied Lilia.

"Because you know how to empower one soul ?" Asked Alex with a sarcastic voice, fully aware that empowering a soul was nearly impossible.

"As a matter of fact, I do know a few places, and there is even one such place on this continent and you're already familiar with it, maybe you could visit it later and try your luck" said Lilia with a wide mischievous smile.

"One place where one can boost his soul, there is no such-" as he was about to finish his sentence, one such place came to his mind, making him shudder as he exclaimed:

"No, no, no, there is no f*ucking way I'm going to that cursed place!"