novelraw Chapter 117 - 116 - Inexplicable Difficulties
Chapter 117 - 116 - Inexplicable Difficulties
A week had passed but Lind felt like it had been an eternity. Master Cain had also praised Lind for his ore melting abilities. He claimed Lind was a born refiner but Lind could only grimace at the rest of his results.
The delicate distribution was not so bad, it was simply a matter of spreading it out and then using a hammer to remove impurities. For the small daggers Lind was working on, it was not a lot of manual labor.
He had watched as the others made swords, glaives and other weapons that were more complex and hammered for hours, days, and one was still hammering even now! Still, Lind could at least see a light at the end of the tunnel and incorporated some more muscle training to help make the blasted hammer not so heavy.
It was inscriptions where there had been zero progress. From his first attempt to his 100th attempt, he could not control his elements at all! At first, Cain and he had both accepted Poe was right and Lind needed to learn to control his other 5 cores during his current inscription process.
He had learned that more complex inscriptions required other elements so maybe Lind could try those if he ever grasped the basics. Lind had meditated for days trying to see if he could replicate the feeling of loss of control but no technique or mixing of elixirs caused the same issue.
Lind had finally improved his comprehension of tier 8 Soul Arts, thus he was finally able to bring out his full power in what he wanted. That victory had released some stress but Lind was becoming supremely frustrated at his failure at inscriptions.
Master Cain had been mystified as well as other 6 elementals were capable of doing grade 1 inscriptions in his 3 centuries of experience. Lind found that even more frustrating. What was wrong, why couldn't he replicate the simple process beginning to end?
Lind had dived back into his elixir work. With the wide breadth of Cimmeria's markets, he was able to get ahold of cores, herbs, and other hard to find materials. Lind finally was able to make more than just Dantian Restoration mid-grade 3 elixirs consistently.
His ring was stock piled by many low grade 3 elixirs but most of them were tempering. He finally figured out how to make Recovery and Replenishment equivalents in mid-grade 3 in the past week.
The Heavenly Maiden Sect was overjoyed but the success in one profession made being stuck in the new one stressful. Lind finally asked for research material to see if anyone had remotely experienced that same issue before.
He spent his nights reading while during the day he experimented with other metals. The Sunlit Forge had found that Lind somehow made pure alloys very easily despite all his other issues.
Master Cain could not explain the disparity that Lind could perform beyond excellence in 1 aspect but be mediocre or failure in the rest of the process. Normally, an apprentice would be clumsy or inept overall and slowly improve with time.
Lind did show improvement in his molding and purifying steps, but they were still average at best. No one could explain his failure at inscription anymore. Being bad at it was possible but anyone that got to tier 8 of the Soul Realm was able to control their elements, even 6 elementals could.
The research Lind had was enlightening to some extent but missed the most important. He learned about ores, beast parts that were important, and even how different kind of forges would be needed for more profound grades, yet there was nothing close to the issues he was having.
It got to the point that Master Cain decided to change tactics after 2 weeks. Perhaps the issue was the fact grade 1 weapons did not need elements and Lind's harmony required elements. Lind disagreed as he could easily manipulate grade 1 puzzles without an issue, yet he was willing to try anything.
"This is an elemental core of a grade 2 item." Cain held up a small sphere in his large fingers. It looked tiny but Lind knew it would be a large marble back on Earth. He used his Eyes and was fascinated by what he saw. A beast core was part of this sphere. Elements from the beast were used in delicate arrays that were ready to connect to inscriptions. "Now, this is of course a simple mono-elemental core from a wolf aether beast."
Lind nodded as he saw only earth in the core. He wondered how it was made, but today was an inscription test. Lind would connect inscriptions to the core to see if he could. He had watched Poe, Marin, and Cain do similar procedures all day until they brought him here.
A sword was laid out with the hilt open. A small indentation was in the main sword body that had inscriptions already on it. It was meant for a newly minted Soul Realm but they could easily make a new one if needed.
Lind took the core and felt it out with his Touch. The flow of earth Qi was slow and steady, but he also saw the arrays were waiting. It was as if the core was just on a precipice and ready to fall in his mind.
It was like melting ores! The core made sense to Lind!
His excitement was impossible to hide but then he calmed himself as he prepared to insert the core. He had spectacularly failed thus far, so he needed to be humble. It was very likely he would ruin the current core.
Lind carefully examined the slot and sensed the inscriptions that flowed into the areas around it. He had no problem with that and even smiled as he recognized each function. He carefully set the core in the slot and his confidence fled.
The moment the core was in the slot, it was as if Lind was reading gibberish suddenly. Nothing made sense but he was tired of failing. His anger made him clamp down on his 6 cores and carefully regulate his Qi. He reached out and attempted his first connection.
Something impossible happened at that point.
Instead of his internal Qi trying to break free, his Touch now went out of control and tried to pull in all 6 elements again! Why?! What was going on?! Frustration at every failed inscription and ruined daggers flashed through his mind.
His anger rose and Lind just felt something snap.
"Just work for once damn it!" Lind felt all his elements flow freely as his emotions unlocked the closed meridians. A flash of each inscription passed through Lind's mind as the sword began to glow like the sun. Lind no longer cared about the proper steps and just once, just once wanted the damned thing to be what he intended!
He felt light headed towards the end and nearly fell before some hands caught him. Lind wanted to stay awake but he just could not hold on. He had a feeling though, a feeling that it finally worked!
****
Poe had been at the Sunlit Forge for 50 years. He had seen several apprentices struggle to master weapon refining. Some quit or found they were better at some other profession. A few were far better at making artifacts than weapons.
He had seen many old masters visit Master Cain and reveal profound pieces that made Poe bow in shame at his pride. Eldin was still learning humility but Poe had long been ingrained by exposure to true refiners.
Until today, however, he had not been left mystified by an apprentice. A 6 elemental, by and large, could only hope to make it to peak grade 2 if they were lucky in most professions. The severe issues after trying to break through to the World Realm often crippled them. Thus, when Master Cain said a tier 8 Soul Realm would be learning from them, Poe took at one of them reaching for some kind of life to live on their own.
Lind Frey had stunned him with his melting of ore and making alloys. The boy seemed born to do that step alone and had saved many of the apprentices from doing it themselves as Lind wanted practice. His distribution and purifying steps were average but that was not bad to start.
His improvement in those steps was very slow, but not unreasonable for the first month of learning. His inscription, however, was an unmitigated disaster. It was not unusual for Soul Realms to have issues with the delicate work at all, but to show zero improvement after 2 weeks was unheard of.
Poe had been curious if Lind could connect a weapon core. A mono-elemental weapon was simple to make, even Eldin with all his unsteady issues could do it. So, when Master Cain had stated that Lind would do the final step of a commission, they all paused to watch.
When Lind held the core, Poe saw it again. The same connection to the core as Lind had to ores. It was clear as day that the core held no mystery for Lind. Hope rose as perhaps Lind needed to feel the elements in an inscription first to overcome his bottleneck.
The boy seemed confident looking over the bared blade until the core was put in place. The instant flash of frustration was clear to Poe after observing him for 2 weeks. They all could see it. Still, he did not falter there and pressed on. Poe admired that. It was not easy to keep failing again and again. Lind learned and moved forward.
He had no doubt Lind had been frustrated in his cultivation, so being so stubborn was not unusual.
They all watched as something odd happened. As World Realms, a Soul Realm could not hide much from them. Lind had completely locked down his elemental Qi and only his spirit Qi was being used to connect as it should be. Yet, Poe felt all the elements suddenly flow towards the core. What was going on?
Before anyone could piece together the oddity, Lind screamed.
"Just work for once damn it!" All the repressed frustration at his repeated failures was felt by Poe keenly. He knew the feeling of being stuck in weapon refining. One wanted to progress but the inscriptions become more profound as grades increase. Poe was only a peak grade 2 refiner despite being in the World Realm for over 20 years.
Suddenly, the whole sword blazed like the sun and Poe could no longer look at it. What had happened? Had the blade been ruined? Poe had to blink several times as he saw Lind about to collapse.
Marin was there instantly and caught him. A look of triumph was on his face. Triumph? Poe turned to find Master Cain frozen in place. The other elders were also staring at Lind's attempt before he turned to it himself.
Poe was stunned. Where the core was supposed to be was a completed hilt. The blade hummed with power as the initial charge of Qi was dispersed as it should. It was done? How?!
"Master, please inspect it." Poe nudged Master Cain who blinked and stepped forward. The blade sang as it was test swung a few times. All seemed in order as Master Cain took it towards a test block of grade 2 wood. If it cut the wood, even just a slice, it would be considered a success.
Elements surged and Poe was floored as not just earth but all 6 elements came from the blade. Poe did not have the talent of Soul Eyes but Master Cain did. He had frozen in awe looking at the blade and back at Lind.
A quick swing and the sword moved smoothly through the block as if it was air! How?! Poe could only stare as they all turned in unison to Lind passed out in Marin's arms.
"Fire to cut, earth to endure, water to bend, air to sweep, light to pierce and darkness to weaken." Master Cain spoke but none understood but Poe did. The inscriptions for the blade had been standard reinforcement and sharpness with earth from the cultivator to make it harder than any other sword.
There was a limit to how many inscriptions a grade 2 blade could hold, so they prioritized the flow of Qi and desired effects. Endurance, cut, and reinforce were all they could fit into the sword but now it had 6 effects. How was that possible?!
What had Lind Frey done?