novelraw Chapter 116 - 115 - Failure
Chapter 116 - 115 - Failure
Lind had stayed one more night with Annabelle before she was taken to the acolyte quarters in the Heavenly Maiden Sect. The entrance exam was a few months away, so initiates that were accepted were taken as acolytes that would serve as help in various internal activities.
Lind had reassured Annabelle he would be back and she could reach him in any emergency if needed. Her tears nearly broke him but this was for her own good. He was not saying goodbye, just helping her find her way forward. She had to stand on her own and not always rely on him.
Lind took some time to find the Sunlit Forge but it was a grand building that was 4 stories tall. Lind noted that the first 2 floors had forges but the top 2 floors he was unsure what they held. A bored apprentice was standing guard at the entrance for customers, but when he saw Lind he sneered at him.
"What does a weak Soul Realm want here?" Lind sighed internally as he realized the youth was assuming things. It was depressing though to see someone clearly younger than himself in the Sand Tier already.
"I have come as appointed by Master Cain. He should be expecting me." The apprentice did not budge. It was no doubt likely far from the first time someone had claimed an appointment but Lind was sure Cain would inform whoever greeted people that someone was coming.
"You best get out of here as the Master is expecting an esteemed guest. You are lucky I don't call the city guard to haul you off." Lind was stunned. He had done nothing and was even carefully respectful in his greetings.
"I really am here for an appointment. If you check–" Lind had to dodge a fist sent his way. It was a really good swing and solid stance. This was not a slacker of cultivation at all, but Lind was quickly losing patience. The youth seemed frustrated that Lind could dodge at all and kept trying to hit Lind.
Lind was about to pull out his staff and try to 'reason' with the boy when a fist connected with the top of the youth's head.
"Eldin, what are you doing?!" A woman that had arms like steel had caught them both off guard. Lind felt the power of earth surge and saw she was also a Sand Tier but at the peak. "I left here to attend to my task before coming back to find you assaulting a customer?!"
The boy, Eldin was rubbing his head but looked at Lind as if he was at fault! Who asked him to be overbearing and attack someone?!
"He claims to have an appointment with Master. I told him off to stop wasting our time and he refused to go!" Eldin felt he was in the right but saw his senior apprentice glower down at him. He promptly felt another fist smash into the top of his head.
"DO YOU NOT LISTEN TO ANYTHING I SAY?!" Lind nearly jumped but a smile crept over his face. It was clear this woman was affectionate to her junior while not tolerating his slowness. "I told you to expect a tier 8 Soul Realm with 6 elements. He had dirty blond hair and dark green eyes. What do you call the person in front of us?!"
Eldin looked wronged but he looked at Lind and felt his blood drain away from his face. He clearly had been told but had jumped to a conclusion without checking Lind at all! Eldin ducked as the woman flexed her arms but no hit came.
"I am sorry elder sis! I just assum–" A quick flare of aura silenced the boy.
"You have been told over and over by Master, by Elder Brother and by me to never ever assume anything!" Lind felt his smile twitch as that seemed a little harsh but as he was not an expert he kept his mouth shut.
"By the calm and dulcet tones I can hear over my forge, Sister Apprentice Marin and Junior Apprentice Eldin must be having an educational conversation." Another man came and Lind noticed all 3 wore tan robes but Eldin was plain while Marin and the other man had black hammers emblazoned on their left breast. The other man's hammer also had a flame behind it where Marin's did not.
"Elder Brother, help me!" Eldin wailed but Lind noticed the man had turned to look him up and down. Marin also became calmer now that he was here. Lind did not flinch from the bright amber eyes looking piercingly at him.
"I am the Senior Apprentice Poe of the Sunlit Forge. The Elders and Master are currently finishing a project and Master asked us to show you around and start with the basics." Lind bowed and turned to bow at Marin but she was already dragging Eldin away. A bit of pity came into Lind's heart for the brash boy.
"Please forgive our junior apprentice brother. He only recently broke through to Sand Tier and has been bragging about it often." Lind nodded again.
"I am Lind Frey, I will be in your care." Poe took Lind into the ground floor forge and began with the very basics as he stated.
"As I am sure you are aware, grade 1 weapons do not require cores as Body Refining Realm has no elements to manipulate. Still, the increased strength, speed, and longer life require much more sturdy weapons." Lind watched as Poe went to a metal shelf full of ores. He knew nothing on sight but a few seemed familiar at least.
"Mostly, an ore for grade 1 is not as important as the inscriptions, but the ore still has to withstand the Qi being pulled into it by the inscriptions since the cultivator cannot yet control it." Lind nodded as this made perfect sense. The dark gray metal blob in Poe's hands was barely held by him but he moved over to a glowing white bucket sitting in the forge.
Lind saw there were two parts. The side they were on had buckets full of metals or materials while the other side had some pre-made weapons sitting in the coals. Lind had expected a bellows but likely there was a formation that would supply that effect here.
"Is there a ratio or compatibility issue at grade 1?" Lind was using his alchemical and elixir experience as a reference and saw Poe nod in appreciation of his question.
"There is indeed. The most basic weapon will need a metal called fero. It will shine once the impurities are removed but mixed with other metals will make the weapon lean towards certain aspects." Lind then listened as some basic ores were laid out. He also saw some beast parts and was surprised but it made sense as cores were useful to him but claws, eyes and other physical parts were not.
"Now, pay attention to what I am about to do." Lind focused and saw Poe push out both earth and fire into the bucket in front of him. The earth stirred the metal as fire was quite clearly controlling the temperature. The small ore quickly brightened and liquified.
Lind was stunned as Poe reached forward but then he noticed gloves on his hands that were woven with water and earth. Air was used to keep the heat contained as the molten metal was poured into a mold.
Lind was fascinated as Poe quickly used his elements to either distribute the metal or activate the formations woven into the mold. A dagger quickly took shape. Lind knew from Earth that weapons could either be all of one piece and wrapped to make a hilt or process could be broken down into several pieces that would be brought together.
He was wondering what Poe would do but saw him stop at making a blade of a dagger only. The larger mass of it was a double sided blade while the smaller side was a square slot with a hole in it.
Poe was smooth and clearly found the process simple but he did not stint on showing Lind everything. The metal was clearly one used to demonstrate the process as very little hammering was done.
Lind had been stunned that a hammer was still used but likely that was all that was needed at grade 1. He hoped to take a crack at it, but then he realized they were moving to a different area as the metal was cooled.
"I have slightly sped up this process but I wanted to show you the hardest part." Poe then came to a table with many fine tools. Lind instantly understood as this was a sort of sub profession to refiners. Aside from material manipulation, Lind knew inscriptions were needed for the items to perform their functions.
Different from formations, inscriptions carried the intent desired for an artifact or weapon. A formation was a series of arrays set up to achieve an effect but no intent was imbued into them. Lind's staff was rare in that arrays bridged the 6 elements to work together in delicate balance.
Lind carefully observed as Poe put his fire into a delicate flow of each tool as lines were put into the dagger yet they seemed to sink inside of the blade. The patterns were fairly simple but Lind only knew a handful of them from his attempts at puzzle solving.
The few spatial treasures made from the puzzles had simple inscriptions to secure it but then had a full formation to make the larger space at the center.
Lind was truly happy as he felt the itch to try what he saw. He could not explain it, but the closest feeling was when he understood he could make elixirs. That had been more like a piece falling into place while this was clearly something new.
Once Poe was done, he put some Qi into the dagger and the inscriptions lit up.
"Normally, the handle would have the gathering array needed for the inscriptions to work, but since this is only a demonstration, I wanted to show you the result." The dagger then cut a block of wood as if it was butter. Not a single mark was on the blade. Lind smiled at the result.
"Let me see how far you can go, young Lind." Lind nodded as he went back to the forge. Poe handed him another piece of fero and Lind familiarized himself with it. It was a strange experience. It was as if every aspect of the metal made sense to Lind.
He could almost glance at the other ores and instinctively feel which ones were good for what results. He had no idea where the feeling came from, but it was strong. He pushed it aside to ask about later. He then looked for some gloves like Poe used but saw none laying around.
"Here, use mine." Lind bowed in gratitude before carefully reviewing all Poe had done. It was not complicated at that step but he wanted to prepare for the next one. Lind then set the ore in the bucket that was blazing hot before pushing some water to reinforce his one defense. He was not sure how Poe withstood it but likely long practice gave these apprentices resistance to heat.
The ore became liquid far faster than Poe but Lind felt it was not yet ready. He let his instincts guide him while the world fell away. It was like he was making elixirs and guiding essence. It felt so similar but Lind let his mind guide him.
Lifting the bucket carefully, Lind had to reinforce his muscles to let him carry it to the mold. He was not as strong as Poe, clearly, but he also knew the man had not used his elements to increase his strength either.
Lind guided the metal into the mold yet ran into a problem. Watching someone distribute metal was easy but doing it himself was not. Unlike when melting the metal, no feeling came over him to guide it.
He quickly cleared his doubts and experiments but while he did fill the mold, it was not as clean or pretty as Poe's. Further, the hammer was VERY heavy. Lind felt like he was going the wrong way but continued to replicate Poe's steps.
His dagger looked lumpy in places but for a first try, it still looked like a dagger. Lind turned to Poe to find him smiling as he indicated the table for inscription. Lind swallowed as he laid the still warm dagger on the table.
Lind examined the tools and carefully put his Qi into them. He was glad they only needed 1 element to work as he could still do that without the staff at all. Whenever doing something new, Lind always needed the staff to prevent backlash from occurring.
Lind then saw a few patterns laid out by Poe and he attempted to begin inscribining. Instantly, his Qi started slipping from his control. The other 5 elements seemed to want to flow in his meridians but LInd had to try and control them.
This caused the inscription to instantly fail and the blade cracked. He had failed but he had no idea why. He had not lost control like that in years.
"That was actually pretty good for a first try. Your melting of the ore was perfect also. The rest was quite good but we will need to work on your elemental control and practice using a mold for now." Lind nodded but felt very confused. It was not like he was doing an Art or something else. He wondered why melting an ore felt like breathing but the rest of the process was going against the grain.
He hoped he would improve as time went on.