I felt more than a little uncomfortable being the focus of so much attention, but it seemed better to just get it over with now. If I was going to be using my powers around the Smithy I might as well put myself on display and get everyone used to it. Carver looked like she was about to ask me something, but one of the blacksmiths beside her shook his head and grabbed her arm warningly. Even within the safety of the Smithy they didn’t feel comfortable breaking the law by asking questions about my cultivation…

I steadied my footing and magnetically tied my right foot to the anvil so that I wouldn’t accidentally fly up in the air again. Looking at the hammer up in the ceiling, I readied myself and created an attraction between it and my right hand, then lowered the field from the anvil that was holding it up. The hammer and I were instantly attracted to each other, but I pushed against my solidly braced right foot to hold myself steady (I weighed more than the hammer, but the sudden force was still enough to pull me off balance if I wasn’t careful).

The hammer slammed into my right hand… and I mean that literally. I failed to catch it, but my Ion Shield absorbed the damage of the impact (protecting my knuckles) as I again used my braced right foot to keep myself from stumbling backwards. I may have been trying to show off a little bit, and from the gasps I heard around me I was at least partly successful… even though I failed to close my hand around the handle of the hammer properly.

I smiled at the crowd, more than a few of whom had turned pale, their mouths gaping open in awe… maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all…

But nobody seemed scared – more like shocked, as if they had seen something impossible happen right before their eyes. Cultivators were well respected in this culture, and most Cultivators were nobles before they even started training. For commoners like these it must have been quite the sight, like a country farmer seeing a Las Vegas magician preform for the first time. I tried not to let it go to my head.

I carried on practicing, taking new precautions and modifying my methods based on what I experienced as I went along. A few hours later I was pretty exhausted, but I felt that I would be able to attempt the test properly on my next Freeday. Everyone had gone back to their own tasks before the first hour had passed, the novelty starting to fade as they got used to the new norm. However, I’m sure it would be weeks, if not months, until the blacksmiths and apprentices in the Smithy truly became used to what I was doing with my powers.

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Back at home I laid on my simple bed, staring up at the dim wooden braces holding up the roof. The glowing formation that appeared every time I slept was constantly growing more and more complicated, but it hadn’t ‘evolved’ again since shortly after I had turned five years old. I sensed that something was different after the last evolution, though… the runes still danced and spun, but the whole thing just seemed to be… more complete, somehow.

I had only gained one Cultivation Point over the last week, but the rate at which I was absorbing energy now was dozens of times faster than it had been when I first started – like a mighty river compared to a gentle stream. At this rate I should have ten or twenty more CP to spend within a few short months, so it was time to review my plans.

I wanted to look at my defenses first, get some more useful numbers out of the Ion Shield. It was currently able to absorb ’20 damage’, whatever that meant… but if the hit was strong enough the shield took damage itself… or maybe it had always taken damage, just not enough to make me take notice. I went online into The System and changed some things around, trying to clarify exactly how the shield worked, then took a look at the resulting window.

Ion Shield:

Use electromagnetic forces to manipulate the molecules surrounding the user into a protective barrier. The shield has been modified to integrate magnetic particles into its structure, granting increased control over magnetism.

Provides 20 Ablative Damage Resistance

Absorbs electricity to repair or strengthen shield

Excessive heat will destabilize control over magnetism

Full concentration is required to regenerate shield if damaged

Maximum regeneration rate: 1 HP / second of total concentration

Shield HP: 20 / 20

Since my shield had 20 HP, effectively, and when I first fought Alder he had been trying to cripple me (probably because he thought I was a commoner lying about being a Cultivator)… I would guess that he had been trying to deal between 4 and 5 HP of damage to me (judging by the fact that five-year-olds have 6 HP, and assuming he hadn’t been trying to outright kill me). I had clearly sensed that my Ion Shield was damaged after his attack, but I hadn’t had a system setup to tell me exactly how damaged it was.

That means that if he had been going all out he could have probably done more than 10 damage in a single swing… enough to bring my Ion Shield all the way to half strength. Not good… physical attacks were clearly a weakness right now, but the upside was that I had immunity to lightning and seemed to be fairly resistant to fire (though the heat would destroy my control over magnetism). Both of those seemed to be a focus for House Flameward, so if I could keep the battle at range, or only fight foes in steel armor, I was in alright shape. But I was far from invincible.

I needed a heads up display, something to help me track how much damage I was taking. I got to work on one right away, but I decided to leave the character sheet alone. It wouldn’t be useful in combat anyway.

Health: 6 / 6

Stamina: 6 / 6

Shield: 20 / 20

Not perfect, but good enough.

Next I wanted to take a look at what my options were for new powers. Putting more points into my Ion Shield would be a good idea, but it was already a pretty strong defense – it could only take 20 points of damage, but I could regenerate it just by focusing for half a minute after each battle. It also appeared to be a full coverage force field, which is exactly what I had hoped for, able to absorb damage from both physical and energy based attacks.

I didn’t want to risk overspecializing, but I still wanted something that would help cover my weaknesses… and two particular ability sets sprang to mind. One was Iron Manifestation, the ability to create and control iron from nothing. It would have amazing synergy with my magnetic fields, potentially letting me achieve some insanely powerful effects. Rail guns sprang to mind, although I knew they were actually incredibly complicated devices that required a lot of precision. Being able to create a full suit of powered armor would also be epic, and I could even use magnetism as the power source!

It would allow me to create things which would be practically impossible even if I became a full blacksmith, giving me the power of a human 3D printer in precision and control. I would be able to update and repair my armor and weapons on the spot, modifying as I went for greatest impact on the battlefield.

But there was a significant downside to that plan: It was ungodly expensive.

Iron Manifestation:

Create iron using energy from a reserve pool. Iron can be manifested in any shape desired. Once the reserve pool is empty, no more iron can be created. Energy used to manifested iron can be returned to the reserve pool at will – iron will completely turn back into energy.

Reserve pool is capable of creating iron equal to 2 x (level squared) bars.

You have successfully trained 'Iron Manifestation' to Level 0!

I wasn’t exactly sure what a ‘bar’ represented, but I assumed it was probably enough iron to make a dagger – four bars would make a decent longsword. It scaled well, which was nice, but if I assumed that I would need a few hundred bars to make a suit of armor, I would still need to buy the ability up to at least level 10 or so for it to be a game changer. And I didn’t know how long it would take me to gather up 100 CP.

There were a lot of alternatives that I had come up with over the years, but if I thought about my main weakness against energy attacks – fire and heat – as well as vulnerability to physical attacks… there was one set of abilities that nicely covered multiple bases: Ice.

Creating and manipulating ice would allow me to keep my shield cool, which would be essential in an extended fight. Even if I did buy the Iron Manifestation ability, in the event my Ion Shield heated up enough to lose control over magnetism I would be helpless. And since I would probably be fighting beasts more than other people (hopefully), my advantage over steel wielding foes would soon become nearly useless.

Plus, ice was quite a lot cheaper.

Ice Manifestation:

Turn water drawn from the atmosphere into ice using energy from a reserve pool. Ice can be manifested in any shape desired, and will be kept in a frozen state while maintained. Once the reserve pool is empty, no more ice can be maintained. Energy used to manifest ice can be returned to the reserve pool at will – ice will remain behind and react as appropriate to the environment.

Reserve pool is capable of creating ice equal to 2 x (level squared) bars

You have successfully trained Ice Manifestation' to Level 0!

I would be able to create useful amounts of ice fairly soon, and it looked like – since I was drawing water from the atmosphere instead of creating it – the effect was persistent even after I stopped maintaining it. This meant I would be able to have large amounts of ice to work with quickly, which had great synergy with another power I was interested in:

Ice Manipulation:

Animate and control ice using energy from a reserve pool. Ice will be kept in a frozen state while being controlled. Once the reserve pool is empty, no more ice can be animated. Energy used to animate ice can be returned to the reserve pool at will – ice will remain behind and react as appropriate to the environment.

Reserve pool is capable of manipulating ice equal to 2 x (level squared) bars

You have successfully trained Ice Manipulation' to Level 0!

If I was able to obtain ice creation and manipulation as a set of Alternate Abilities, I would have a formidable set of powers that were completely separate from the iron/magnetism set that I have now… and one of my main weaknesses (fire) would be accounted for. I would be able to create armor and weapons made of ‘living ice’, manipulate battlefields to an astonishing degree, and maybe even fire off ice spikes at long ranged foes! The possibilities were endless, but I had to decide all too soon which path I wanted to take.

That being said, once I had time I planned to branch out; maybe I would be able to get all of the abilities eventually, I just had to choose where to start.