Practicing at home was going to be impossible. So I waited for father to return in the late evening and decided to try something else. The door shook briefly before opening, gigantic teeth the first thing visible in the firelight of the stove. Mother put down the sewing equipment she had been using to modify my clothes and stood up. Her hair was styled straight up into the air, as it often was, revealing her pointed ears as well as her brief smile before she quickly replaced it with a frown.

“Have care, you big oaf!” She said, a typical example of one of her many evening greetings. “What if you struck someone with that door!”

Father didn’t reply, as usual, but he did flash a toothy grin to mother and me.

“Dad, how was the forge this day, sparks bright and fires hot?” I asked in one of the typical forms used between blacksmiths and their apprentices.

“Fires from the earth and sparks from the skies, Heller.” Jaws rumbled in reply with a warm smile, sweeping me up in a hug. I returned it as best I could, but my short arms couldn’t even encircle his neck yet.

Mother sat back down, looking satisfied, as father stomped further into the house (we didn’t remove footwear in our culture – a somewhat dirty floor was the norm). “Can I visit the wares room with you tomorrow?” I asked, referring to the building beside the forge where their various works were polished, oiled, and stored.

Mother’s head snapped around, looking at dad and tilting her head to the side at a dangerous angle (dangerous because that’s how she often looks before exploding). I quickly looked over at her, my eyes opened wide, “Please mother, can you tell father to take me to the wares room tomorrow? I want to look over the pieces there, and practice sharpening swords.” That’s one of the jobs I was given sometimes. It was definitely NOT a normal job for a four year old, but then again I wasn’t exactly a normal child.

Mother looked at me for a moment, her gaze softening, before she looked past me to Jaws. “Take him to the Wares room, but don't let your damn fool apprentices lose sight of him!” She commanded. Father chuckled, giving my head a gentle rub, “That’s a fine idea, lad.”

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“Yeah, Carver, I’m sure I’ll be alright!” I said yet again, trying to assure the lanky teenage apprentice who had been set to watch me.

She fidgeted with her tail, which was wrapped around her waist, as she looked back at the grinding room. Watching over me meant that she would fall behind in her duties, and she finally nodded at me with a grateful smile. “Thanks Heller, I owe you one!” She finally said, waving as she went back to her work, and leaving me alone at last.

The wares was next to the forge and a few other buildings, but it was infrequently accessed. That, combined with the constant noise all around us, made for the perfect cover for me to practice my powers.

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It had taken me an hour or so, but I eventually figured out what I was doing wrong: I was trying to keep the ion trail between my hand and the target perfectly straight. Which, of course, caused it to fall apart because the air was constantly moving around us. After more practice I was able to get the process to be pretty quick, and because I aimed with my mind (or my eyes) it was pretty accurate. The lightning itself zagged around a lot as it followed my loose ion trail – all I had to do was focus on the fact that there was a path for the electricity to follow, not the exact shape of the path itself.

I was feeling pretty good about myself as I wiped soot off the stones and various pieces of metal I had used for target practice, so I decided to try and add some of the Alternate Abilities that I had pictured into the mix. First was the Ion Shield, as defense was going to be a big concern until I grew up a lot more.

I spent a few minutes visualizing layers of ions floating around me, hardening when anything tried to move through them (energy or matter). It took quite a few tries, but eventually I was rewarded with the message,

Congratulations! You have successfully trained 'Ion Shield' to Level 0!

Purchase this ability? Cost: 1 CP for each point of Damage Resistance

Yes, purchase 'Ion Shield' immediately!

No. Save 'Ion Shield' to the Abilities menu.

Which was great, but I wasn’t certain it was what I wanted. It seemed to be an entirely separate ability… I was disappointed, but I didn’t want to give up. So I kept at it, trying to come up with different ways of picturing the ability manifesting until it was evening and I had to return home with Jaws – I don’t remember the trip though, as I was tired enough I just fell asleep and let him carry me).

-----------------

After a difficult struggle Mother finally relented and agreed to let me accompany dad to the Smithy more often; after all, I was already fluent in the language, and had learned the majority of our history and legends. Most days I spent with mother or we went on walks, and the Fortress had a large enclosed park in it that parents often took their kids too. We had tried it a few times, but while other children my age could string together a few sentences, maybe, they were so far behind me in logic and reasoning that even trying to talk to them simply bored me to tears. Cultivating was hard, but trying to interact with my four year old ‘peers’ was still the most difficult thing I’d had to do since being reincarnated. And the worst part was that they were my size! So it’s not like I could easily get away from them if they wanted to play with me, short of yelling for mother or zapping them with a lightning bolt (tempting, but not a great idea).

Over the next few weeks I spent another half dozen days in the wares room, until I finally hit on the solution: Picture the electricity from my lightning bolt charging the ions around me, using the magnetic field that held the voltage to keep them in place! I then stacked layer upon layer of ions, picturing them several finger lengths thick but spread apart far enough to be invisible.

Congratulations! You have successfully trained 'Alt: Ion Shield' to Level 0!

Note: This is an Alternate Ability of 'Minor Lightning Bolt'

Purchase this ability? Cost: 0.2 CP for each point of Damage Resistance

Yes, purchase 'Alt: Ion Shield' immediately! No. Save 'Alt: Ion Shield' to the Abilities menu.

I purchased the ability right away, but found out that (as I expected) neither ability could outpace the other. If I wanted two points of DR (Damage Resistance) I first had to up Minor Lightning Bolt to level two. I pumped a total of twelve points into the pair of abilities, giving me ten points of Damage on the lightning bolt and ten points of DR on the shield – and making me feel pretty powerful… as far as four year olds go…