novelraw Chapter 295 - 294 - Properties of Wood
Chapter 295 - 294 - Properties of Wood
Lind had a long night of tossing and turning equivalent of being unable to cultivate. Everytime he was about to temper his fonts, the thought of going to Salvation would pop up. The weeks since had not dampened his desire but he was too weak.
His foes were all stronger than him. If it was one on one, he had confidence to win, but he seriously doubted those hunting him for vengeance would be so kind. Further, he knew why the harmonic crystals were so rare in the wider world.
Attempts to harvest them only had a 10% success rate and that was only after thousands of years attempting to do so. Also, there was not very high demand. Even with the current rise of 6 elementals, the demand for harmonic crystals was non-existent.
Of course, no one knew where they came from. Lind was sure he would not have been allowed to read the scroll if he was not a 6 elemental.
After being frustrated for several weeks, he finally turned to another puzzle.
Clearly, surviving in Rakathi was detrimental to the locals' cultivation but they refused to leave. They had the stubbornness of being in their home and honestly it was safer in some respects compared to the 3 continents.
Still, the largest issue was the lack of ability to get Soul Realms outside a village.
Lind has set the requirement for the Moebius sect to be under 50 years old and the 5th tier of the Soul Realm. The reason they chose that was any issue in their foundation could be easily remedied at that point to have no effect on their future cultivation.
For instance, the old man he first met, Cyrus, was too far along his flawed path to be restored. He could live a more comfortable life at the sect, but his potential and lifespan were nearly burnt up.
It was what happened to all of them. Breaking through was far more risky in Rakathi compared to anywhere else in the world. The lightning, even within the wooden structures, would surge an element.
If the element was missing, it was not a huge problem, but for the 6 elementals it was a massive problem. Even if they could overcome it, it would throw their foundation out of whack and cause deviation.
As they tried to overcome it, the deviation would become convoluted. In the Soul Realm, it was fixable if problematic, but in the World Realm it was deadly.
The reason Cyrus and the others looked so old was not solely due to their age but the damage they had suffered when breaking through. The potential was chewed up and consumed so what should add 5 centuries to their lives became barely 1.
He found it unacceptable but the only material he had to work with was the Heaven Wood. He had asked for some scrap and was stunned when they gave it easily. Apparently they made charms for outsiders to increase their odds of survival.
He found it ironic that things that looked like cheap trinkets was made from one of the most sought after materials in the realms.
It felt odd to his Touch. Qi seemed to both slip off of it yet felt very profound inside it. All the locals did was to cut it up like normal wood.
That aspect confused him. Something that could withstand the wrath of Heaven and Earth yet in all other aspects was just wood. Why?
He let his Qi flow along channels inside it. The wood chips were broken, yet the breaks did not sever the channels. They followed the whorls in the wood and were separated by the rings of the trees.
Still, how could they come apart so perfectly in the scraps?
"It reminds me of the Singing Veins beneath the lowest level of the Celestial Fields. They have immense flows of Qi but there is not a pattern at first glance. Only when it was mapped out did we realize what it was." The senior dragon soul spoke up and waited but she did not say anymore.
What could it have been?
Lind looked at the finished boards around him and suddenly it clicked.
The channels lined up perfectly from one board to the next top make a complete system.
"Meridians. They are meridians like a flesh cultivator but plants form cores like beasts. These meridians are also from organisms you could think of as vast networks working togeth–" Lind felt shock flood his heart.
Alive, the wood was still alive!
"It uses the Qi to live and grow. It follows the pattern each wood piece makes, the meridians move!" Lind placed 2 scraps together and used his Forging to fuse them. Unlike any other time, it seemed to rejoice in his application.
The scraps merged into 1 but he did nothing else. His Eyes watched as the meridians adjusted for the new shape.
Puzzle pieces fell into place and he understood how the original Forgers became what they were. Heavenly Wood. It was Heavenly Wood that was the origin of Forging!
"No, it is all of it!" Lind thought of all he knew of elixirs, Forging, and his primitive weaving attempts. Heaven Wood was like essence in that the blending of the elements created a material far stronger than just refining ever could, the meridians moved to maintain the result no matter the Qi that flowed over it, and the wood remained alive even after being cut away as it absorbed the Qi into its new circulation!
Lind felt a block fall away in his mind. He quickly followed it and the lightning outside seemed to fade. He was so lost he did not see the emerald light begin to spread inside the wood in the room.
Where once it simply let his Qi wash over it to no effect, now his harmony flowed like water in the desert sands. It was sucking it up as if it had never had Qi before. The senior dragon soul felt her ancient injuries being soothed by the process.
She had survived terrible times before taking on the duty of Arbitrator. It all seemed for naught but as the boy she was connected to seemed to fall into the trance, she felt it again. At the core of his soul, 2 emerald eyes looked back.
They were without end and ancient. The power in just an ephemeral glance made her wish to kneel down and obey any command given. She was right, this boy was the answer they had waited so long for!
All of that slipped past Lind as he summoned ingredients for an elixir. It had bothered him so much that the elixirs he made could only allow them to keep existing at the edge of destruction.
A sudden sound nearly broke him out of his trance but then it seemed perfect. It was the song of the Heavens.
Outside Katie's, all were shocked as the lightning seemed to stop suddenly. All their lives it had been there, in the background, never stopping and never giving them peace. Now, however, the roiling clouds seemed to calm themselves for the first time and then a miracle occurred.
A shaft of sunlight, the legendary sunlight, pierce the blackness into their village!
How was that possible?!
As soon as it began, the sunlight disappeared but all that saw it would never forget it. The Soul Realms wept and the World Realms felt only awe. They could leave and go out into the world but it was pointless as their lives were nearly over.
The village needed them to hunt and gather from the oasis nearby as well.
Back in Lind's room the floating water turned all the colors as understanding flooded him. He had learned so much but he kept finding out that like all else, elixirs were based on faulty understandings.
He had been doing by instinct and educating as best he could until others could follow him, yet now he understood it. The relationship between the aspects of each essence and how they came together.
He understood the waste he had been doing for so long until he tried to specify with aspects. It was primitive but he had never taught it to anyone as he worried they would hurt themselves in trying.
He could not explain what he did by feel. He finally had the comprehension.
It did not stop as his smelting pot was summoned from his ring and Forging began. It was as if his Qi was suddenly bottomless. He did not see the flow of emerald glowing around him now flowing into him rather than out of him.
The song changed, it was more firm and less whimsical compared to before but it felt right. Lind wanted to change the villagers' lives. He wanted them to have more than the barely clung to existence and truly thrive!
The lightning rods appeared in his mind and he finally understood why he did not like it.
It did nothing to dissipate the lightning because they had nowhere to learn differently but the Heavenly Wood did it. The property of the wood was its greatest strength but it was not the only way to use it.
The difficulty of grade 4 Forging fell away as the metals seemed to happily dance to Lind's commands. He smelted several pots before fusing them together and compressing them into a set of rods.
These rods did not conduct the lightning but absorbed it within. The effects were complex but it was just barely enough. Lind had made peak grade 4 rods!
Normally it was the work of days to achieve it and not a single day, let alone only a part of one. The final piece was more difficult.
He had no comprehension really of weaving but with the bottleneck disappearing from his other professions, the weaving finally grew a lot! He grabbed the Qi in the very air around him as the song now became subtle.
It soothed his mind as he carved out one sigil after the next and laid them into each rod.
It was the final secret of these strange professions. They could be combined!
Once the weaving was imbued into each rod, Lind grabbed the single glowing vial next to him. Unlike the other 2, his comprehension of elixirs was far beyond the mortal realm.
Peak Heaven grade 4 elixir was made without issue for once. It had no name but its purpose was his first attempt.
"The Forged items and sigils of the weavings need a bridge." Lind poured evenly over each rod which was transformed. The 3 songs blended into a kind of melody that reminded Lind of rock and roll on Earth.
He felt faint as he finally woke up to find the dark metal blazing with Qi before fading quietly. He was unsure what grade they were now. The weaving was a peak grade 1, the rods peak grade 4, and the elixir peak Heaven grade 4. Was there a grading for composite work?
"Yes, there is. You are a rare cultivator, Lind Frey. Also, do not do that again." He wondered what she meant when he took in his condition and the rooms. He was completely drained of Qi and his meridians were swollen from channeling so much energy for so long.
The walls of the room were withered as well which made him sad. Even as that thought passed the wood began to slowly swell as the Qi from outside flowed into them. The rest of the structure was repairing the damage!
Before he could stand up, the door suddenly burst in and Lind realized a thudding noise he took for his racing heart had been the door. Katie and Beth were on the other side with a few others he recognized. They were all staring at him and the slowly healing room.
The rods on the floor were only spared a glance but then Lind realized the problem as he looked at the glass pitcher behind him.
Emerald, it was glowing pure emerald. The wood was still exuding that same color as it healed as well! Only one 6 elemental cultivator had an emerald harmony in the world.
"G-great Savior!" One of the men behind Beth squeaked. He was about to run off when Katie slammed him into the wall to knock him out. The other men jumped but the 2 women only glanced between them before reaching a nod.
"Go back, have some water of life until you 'forget' what you just saw here." The terrifying aura of peak Iron Tier came from them both and the men nodded quickly before racing down the stairs to the bar. Katie smiled at him before following them.
"Are you all right?" Beth leaned down to help him up but he waved her off as his body swiftly recovered in that bit of time. At least enough to stand.
"What happens now?" Lind looked at her not as a wayward traveler, but the sect master of Moebius Sect. The change was subtle but awe flashed on her face before she swallowed her saliva and bowed to him.
"We simply heard the wood creak and groan so we checked on our guest, Taren Cord. You are fine, so I expect you will be hungry. I will see you soon." She turned and left as she realized the door had repaired itself in the short time as well!
He watched her leave before he sunk into bed exhausted. It was as if all he had done was catching up.
"It is catching up. You were supplied with Qi but your body is far from being prepared to do composite work like that. For the record, I believe you are the youngest composite artificer ever." Lind had never heard of such a thing but he suspected the requirement was at least 2 of the professions he had.
"Incorrect, at the higher realms, a formation master and refiner can be the same person. They also can composite but with just as much difficulty. You made what I think would be considered a peak grade 3 composite item." Lind slowly nodded but could only accept her word as the aura of the rods seemed stronger than any grade 3 item.
"I will rest but wake me up in a bit for the meal please, senior." Lind would never imagine using her as an alarm clock but he suspected they would come for him again if he did not go down.
She agreed and watched over him as he quickly fell asleep. At the very end, the image in his soul had manifested in the outer world. She had felt the piercing gaze of Heaven but nothing else. It was far too soon for him to do that.
She had faith though, it would not be too far off in the future.