Chapter 7: Unorthodox Training and Keeping a Promise

With a whole day ahead of me in game, I knew exactly what it was time to do. Grabbing my backpack and emptying it of everything but some of my newer travel rations. I packed in my water, my gloves, and some health potions, I also threw in 2 bags that I normally took with me when gathering herbs. Leaving my Naginata as I still have not been doing any sort of training with it, I headed over to the Blacksmith shop.

“Morning Kade!” I called to him. He was currently in his forge hammering away at his latest project. Black soot stained his work clothes that I’m sure never came out.

“Good morning Jade.” He replied. “Sorry about earlier. As I’m sure you guessed, those guys had really bothered me. They thought that I would just teach them how to repair things just because they asked. Then for one of them to actually pick up one of my hammers without my permission!” His hands clenched in remembered anger.

I nodded in commiseration at what he had gone through. “I won’t say who it involved but I’ll tell you that I was in the forest with a good friend and the same group that bothered you attacked us and tried to do worse to her. Thankfully some guards had been patrolling the area and found us in time to prevent the worst thing from happening.” As I told him this, his eyes narrowed dangerously while I could have sworn I heard the steel handle in his hands being crushed. I couldn’t help but swallow at that.

“If they ever come back, I won’t let them leave.” He replied in a cold voice. I was so very glad I was on his good side. “So did you come for some of my work?” He enquired with a surprisingly calm voice now.

“Yes, I did.” I replied. “In fact, I’m looking for a very sturdy and high quality mining pick to use. That, and a sturdy cart. Something that can carry a lot of broken stone.” I included.

“Hmmm, the cart I can easily sell to you for cheap since I keep a few extra to transport some of the ore I find, but the pick, that’s a bit tough to help you with. I only keep two on hand for my own use and unless you’ve got about 500 gold on hand, then I don’t think you’d be able to afford one.” Kade told me.

“500 gold! What is it made of?” I exclaimed. “Adamantine.” He calmly replied. “Um, could I pay you to make a cheaper one?” I asked hesitantly. “I certainly could, but like it took a week with your specialized weapon, it’ll take just about as long for the pickaxe since I’ve got a back log of other orders.” He answered.

Seeing my crestfallen expression he was silent for a moment as if deep in thought, then he spoke again. “May I ask why you need a mining pick?” “Um,” I hesitated. “Can you keep a secret, even from your wife?” This set him back on his feet but he was instantly much more interested in what I had to say. “Absolutely” he replied.

I let out a sigh, glad I could finally confide in someone that could definitely help with my endeavor. “I’m supposed to create a certain storage place for Monroe . . . have you ever heard of the term ‘Man Cave’ before?” I asked him. With a shake of his head I went on to explain. “In the world that I come from, a Man Cave is a very important place for men. It is meant to be a place that is specifically reserved for men that is separate from the rest of his home. A place that he can go to, to play, relax, involve himself in certain hobbies and activities without interruption. The main purpose of this place is that it is meant to be enjoyed without interference or influence from any females.”

Kane’s jaw dropped at that revelation. “Such a place is available in your world?!” He enquired with excitement. “Well, not every male has one, but those that do, enjoy it.” I replied with a knowing smile. Again Kade was silent . . . “Do . . . Do you suppose that Monroe would let me come to visit his Man Cave once finished?”

I had to suppress a laugh as his expression. “I can’t answer for him, but I intend to ask him if I can use it on occasion myself once I’m done building it. I don’t see why he wouldn’t let you visit as well.”

That seemed to make up his mind. With a firm nod of his head, he paused in his work to go into his shop. After a short minute he came out with a deep black mining pick in his hands. Setting it in my hands, he did not yet let go. “This is a loan only, for the special purpose of creating Monroe’s Man Cave. If by some chance you are actually able to wear it down to any major degree, then bring it by and I will repair it for you free of charge. If you lose it, then you will personally work for me in my forge till you have paid off what it was worth. Do you agree?” He asked at last.

It was hardly a difficult choice. “Yes!” I replied with eagerness. Soon after that I bought one of his smaller ore carts for 50 silver since it was a little worn down. Organizing my supplies I headed off to the trail to the falls

Soon enough I was standing at the edge of the cliff the falls. After searching around for a few minutes, I was able to find a relatively safe route down to the landing that Monroe and Victoria had their picnic on. Making my way along the uneven ground I reached a little alcove on my right that dipped out of sight from the observation deck. To my left lay the falls which continued to provide a constant spray of misty air.

Looking at the massive stone wall in front of me I had to admit to myself that I had no experience whatsoever of digging into rock, but I felt I at least had the time to learn and make mistakes now that I had very good tools to work with. Starting at the farthest reaches of the crevice I began to chip away at the rock.

A couple of hours later, despite the cool breeze and mist that made its way to my work area I was exhausted and covered in sweat. Though I had taken many short breaks along the way, I finally took a longer break to eat my lunch. Munching on my travel rations I sat back to view my progress. Already I was able to take a single step in while standing up in the space I had worked away at. My only fear was that I heard of cave-ins being a concern in mines and other places with hollowed out rock. At this time I had no way to shore up the walls and ceiling. Depressed that I hadn’t really thought this through as much as I should have I turned to the now within reach falls.

Several meters from my position were the massive crashing falls that made up most of Niagara Falls of which I wouldn’t dare go over to. But up close where I was at, there had been a deviation of some of the water, creating a smaller waterfall whose width was a little larger than the length of my body. Gazing at that I decided on taking a shower.

Stripping off my shirt and footwear, I found a good rock beneath my smaller waterfall and sat down directly beneath the rushing flow. “Holy . . . ! This is cold!” I said between clenched teeth. In addition to that, I realized that all those videos and manga that I had seen of people sitting beneath water falls were deceptive. They never once tell of how it is a struggle to keep from breathing in water with the air you draw in. Tilting my head down and being careful to not breathe too quickly, I was able to in a way evade the water while taking in just the air.

Forcing myself to stay beneath the falls I felt my body begin to grown numb from the continuous flow of cold water. Hoping that this was going to do something for me like it had the other characters I had read about, I just sat there and persevered as minute after minute went by. As my physical senses began to fade, I felt a brief rush of chill on the inside. “I wonder. . . “I whispered to myself, causing some water to briefly cover my lips.

Closing my eyes, and once again steadying my breathing, I reached inward and touched upon my soul, seeking to draw it out to feel the sensation of the water around me. At first all I could feel was nothing but as I continued to focus and block out all other distractions, I felt a warmth begin to pass through me. It was not a physical warmth so much as if it were an inner relaxing one. Reaching my hands and arms to my side as if I were embracing the water falling over me, I summoned my inner strength and sent it rushing over my arms with a sensation of pulsing waves.

The feeling was incredible! It felt as if solid lengths of highly polished rope were falling down around my body without entangling it. In my mind’s eye I sought to follow the path of the water, but too quickly it passed beyond the range of my awareness. Time after time I followed its path for as long as I could, seeming to be able to stay with the flow a little bit longer each time. Finally as I felt that to stay any longer under the flow of the water would be to risk hypothermia, I stepped out.

As my body left the confines of the cold water I felt a rush of cool air waft over the hairs on my arms. ‘Was this because of the soul energy I had gathered about my upper limbs?’ Releasing the energy caused the tingling to fade away. Staring about me in wonder at what had just happened, I took a step away from the falls splashing some of the water flowing on the ground up in the process. This time I didn’t even reach outward and I felt a sense of familiarity with the water at my feet. Reaching down to the ground, I cupped some of the water in my hands. Then closing my eyes, I used my soul energy to try and fill that water.

Suddenly my mind was elsewhere, suspended within a vast liquid ocean I could see, yet couldn’t see. Seeking to expand my awareness, I reached outward with my mind. Vast distances were covered in an instant and soon I felt my senses run into . . . myself?! With just trying to change my sight and perspective I now was gazing down at the water I was holding in my hands with my very own eyes. This time I sought to touch the water with my soul but without becoming lost within it. Once in contact I could feel the coolness of its embrace and pushed against it. A small wave formed in the previously still water within my hands.

*ting*

Water Affinity/Manipulation: (Uncommon) Through the repeated exposure of your soul to the element of water, you have grown in understanding of its properties and gained the ability to stir movement within its depths. With greater practice and understanding more can be done with the water element.

“YES!” I screamed out. Thankfully no one was around to hear me. My chill was all but forgotten till I took another step forward only to feel the tightness of my cold muscles and tendons. “This isn’t good.”

After reaching the confines of my small hollow dug out of the rock, I pulled on my shirt and began to shiver uncontrollably. Remembering from my youth how my mother always said that exercise warms you up, I hated how that exercise always seemed to include doing chores out in the cold that I abhorred. Don’t get me wrong, I love the cold, but only as long as there is a nearby place to quickly warm back up at. It was the chores that were the pain. But here I was, left in a small secluded cave with nothing but a now damp shirt and soaking wet pants, so something had to be done.

With nothing else to do but work, I picked up the pickax and once again began pounding away at the stone. Thankfully after about 10 minutes, I began to feel warmth fill my extremities again. Another hour after that I almost felt normal. Looking up at the sky, I guessed the time to be about 2 to 3 in the afternoon. With time for plenty of work ahead of me I set down the Pickax for another little break. Feeling the many slowly growing divots with the wall, let felt the texture and wondered at what type of stone it was.

A wry smile filled my face as I couldn’t believe how slow I had to be to have not thought of this sooner. Pressing my right hand firmly against the surface of the stone, I reached out a tendril of my soul into the solid rock. Making sure to keep my mind separate from the actual stone, I focused upon catching a ‘feel’ of the flow of stone beneath the surface. Feeling as if there were countless of minute fissures and ever changing compositions of the stone I knew that I had caught onto something. Pushing out further with my awareness I set down my pickax which had still been in my left hand. Then I too placed that hand next to my right, to send out a pulse of soul energy. I instantly became much more aware of the stone between my hands. Moving about to various parts of the crevice, placing my hands on the wall at certain intervals to ‘feel’ out the texture and spacing within the stone itself, I came across what felt like a decent sized weakness within the stone in front of me.

Picking up the pickax I began to work at the spot I found the weakness to be in. After about 7 good strikes, a large crack formed in the wall. “Sweet!”

*ting*

Spectral analysis: (Rare) The ability to test for and reveal weaknesses and ore deposits within solid rock. With greater practice, more ores are recognizable and deeper probing is able to be achieved.

“Oho, that is just too cool!” With the revelation of that skill I spent more time searching for weaknesses to take advantage of. With that first crack that had formed, I had been able to get a good 4 loads of stone with relative ease to cart over to the deeper water by the falls. As progress was being made even more quickly, I felt an uneasy shift during one of my probing attempts. Out of luck more than reflex I decided to flatten myself against the far wall.

None too soon a ton of stone came crashing down between me and the exit. As the smoke cleared and I had finished my coughing fit, I looked out at the gathered mass of shattered stone. I should have known this was going to happen since I started working faster. I did have a few things to be thankful for though. One, I hadn’t died, two the Entire ceiling hadn’t fallen down, and three, somehow my cart had managed to miss being destroyed as well. All in all I’d have to say that I was Very Lucky.

Crawling over the pile making slow progress since I had to drag the cart with me, I made it to the exit so that I could begin the process of dumping the fallen rocks by the falls. Before I started, a thought came to me. If I were to find out how to gain earth affinity and manipulation then with enough practice I could theoretically create support beams out of compressed reinforced stone from the walls themselves. I don’t know how long it might take me to get to that point, but it was worth trying whatever came to mind.

Not wanting to stay under the precarious ceiling any longer than I had to, I brought out a cart full of shattered stone then dumped it on the ground. Sitting amidst it under the safe open air I proceeded to hold each broken stone in my hands while using Spectral Analysis. With the pick by my side I began to lightly tap at the stone till I had created a few piles of similar ‘feeling’ stone. The work was painstaking and the majority of what I assumed to be just your basic rock in the area went into the largest pile by far. There were a few other piles with random pieces of rock that ‘felt’ different in some way. As the smaller piles began to slowly grow larger, I began to notice some similar themes about them. One pile had what looked like a rustic color to most of it, while another had green and a bit of shiny red mixed in. The green and red I guessed to be copper, but the purely rustic colored stones I had no idea about. One last pile which was the smallest and only was able to fill one hand, was made up of a series of small brown stones that when I pulsed my soul at them, they seemed to give a return spark of energy.

Finally, after going through all the stone that had fallen from the ceiling I rid myself of the largest pile of useless rock. Separating the two larger piles and placing them into the two bags I had thought to bring, I then took the last 1 ½ fist sized pile and placed it in one of my now empty ration packs.

Leaving the cart behind, I secured the bags of stone to my pack and grabbed a hold of the pickaxe to set off to the city.

Once there, my very first stop was at the blacksmiths hoping to get a hold of Kade before he went home. Catching him at the forge, he seemed to be closing up shop for the night. Thank goodness for good timing. “Kade,” I called out. “Hey I just wanted to turn in your pickaxe for the night so that I didn’t have to worry about losing it while I wasn’t using it. Hope that’s alright with you?” I asked.

“No, no, that’s fine. In fact I think I’ll sleep better knowing it’s here at night.” He replied. “How goes the digging?” He enquired. “Well, I’ve gotten in about 3 meters into the rock but then there was a bit of a cave in.” I told him.

Disbelief filled his face at the mention of 3 meters. “Either you are mixed up about your distances or you’re exaggerating” he told me. “No honestly,” I defended. “I have to give a huge credit to the skill I gained though. It’s called Spectral Analysis.” “It . .

“I know what it does,” he interrupted me, “but how in the hell did you learn that skill?!” “Um . . . I actually am not quite sure myself.” I fudged my answer a bit. “I think it has something to do with the unknown portion of my race.”

Kade’s eyebrows raised in surprise at my admitting to something like that. “Oh . . . okay, sorry for prying.” He seemed a bit embarrassed about having brought up something that he likely thought I was uncomfortable about. Of course I didn’t care and just shrugged it off, but if that kept him from asking more questions, then more power to me for keeping my secrets hidden.

“By the way, when using Spectral Analysis, I discovered some different feeling stones and was wondering if you’d be willing to take a look at them to tell me what they were.” Pulling out my two larger bags and my one small bag, I set them on the counter in his shop. Opening them up so that he could pull out the ore he pulled out a few chunks from the two larger bags. First holding up the rusty colored stones he looked at them from all angles before putting them down, then he looked at some of the red and green ores.

“It looks here like you’ve got some Iron and copper ore on your hands. If you can keep bringing me amounts like these then I could definitely give you a bit of money in return. What do you think?” He asked me.

“Yeah! That definitely works for me. But what is that in the smaller bag?” I enquired. Reaching in to pull out some of the smaller pieces of rock of which the largest pieces were no larger than my thumb he took a close look at it then began to laugh. “Hahaha, it seems you’ve been able to find some poor quality Earth Stone.” He told me. “Both I and the mage guild would be interested in taking that off your hands.”

My eyes widened at that revelation and then I quickly smoothed out my expression. “Maybe when I get some more. For now, I have need of what I’ve got here.” Kade’s face fell, but he seemed to take it in stride. “Alright, I’ll take you up on that. I can pay you pretty well for good amounts of Earth Stone.” With our deal made, he dumped out the raw ore in a separate area by his forge before returning the empty bags to me. Handing the pickaxe back to him for safe keeping I headed off to the apothecary to get ready to sleep for the night.

Tossing the bag of Earth Stone up in the air while walking back, I decided to try something out. Back in my loft while sitting on my cot I brought out my Mortar and Pestle to begin grinding up the Earth Stone into as small of fragments as I could. I fine sand was all that was left after meticulously working at it for half an hour. Then gathering a large empty jar from Victoria’s stash I poured both water and the fine sand in to mix them both together. The concoction became a simple lightly glowing brown sludge of which I decided not to add anything else to. Bracing myself for what I had to do, I took the jar, swished it around one last time and began swallowing as fast as I could. Muddy water splashed a little over the sides of my mouth, but I needed to gain the ability that would allow me to manipulate stone and earth.

The sludge seemed to hit my stomach like a ton of bricks with a full feeling. There was no way in hell that I was going to be able to eat anything else that night. Finally laying down to sleep, I logged out to take care of things back at home.

* * * * *

I finally decided it was time to set up my computer now that I had a few moments to spare. Turning it on for the first time it took a couple of seconds initializing and then the hand scanner and iris scanner lit up. I guess I have to scan myself again. Doing so with a shrug, I waited to see what happened next. Soon enough the screen came to life but instead with the regular desktop screen, there was an attractive woman on the screen. “Hello Scott, would you like to begin personalizing your computer?” She said.

“What?! Are you an AI?” I enquired with surprise. “I am.” Was her reply. “Umm . . . how much memory is in this computer?” A smile lit her face at my question. “Haha, I can understand your curiosity, but some questions are better left unanswered.”

I felt a little perturbed at that but decided to reserve judgment till I had learned a bit more. My brief revelry was interrupted by her speaking again. “Would you like to begin your personalization of this computer?” “Y. . . yes. What would you suggest I do first since this is my first time with an AI in my own computer?”

“Well first . . . “

Surprisingly enough, the whole set up took less than half an hour. The majority of that time was spent trying to recall all the useful programs and enjoyable movies I had on my last computer. To my great surprise I was told to just let her know what I had on my last computer and that she would add it to my new one free of charge. The first few times that I gave her a few programs that I had before, I wanted to give her the upgraded more expensive versions, but she beat me to it. Enquiring if I would prefer to have the best version instead of my original she promised again that I would incur no costs. The reality of my situation was just ridiculous. I was almost tempted to thank EX Reich as soon as I found them, but honestly they weren’t the ones responsible for my new computer, they were just the ones who fried my old one.

Thanking my AI profusely once every program that I had lost had been replaced, I simply copied my music and other important saved files and I had done what I could. Smiling with relief I did everything else I had grown used to doing between gaming sessions and then logged back in.

* * * * *

“OOOOOOOHHHH . . . . !” Instantly I was slammed with pain in my abdominal region unlike any I had ever before felt in my life. I had the mother-load of all of all stomach cramps and it was not getting any better. I looked around desperately for something to end my life with but remembering that my knife was in my backpack I realized I’d have to get up which would cause even more agony. Victoria had to have heard my moan of pure agony since she seemed to rush through the back door and took in my appearance.

I was totally white with pain. I didn’t know if that was because of my racial traits or not and I really could not have cared less to know at that moment. “What in the world happened to you?!” She exclaimed. “Oh hoho!” I was unabashedly crying now from pain as I told her that I had made a solution purely of crushed poor quality Earth Stones and water and downed the whole thing last night just before going to bed.

Her eyes widened at that before rushing into her shop to start rummaging through various jars with saved ingredients. Soon enough she came back into my room and presented to me the most foul of smelling concoction I had ever been graced to experience. “If you want to have a hope of surviving this terrible mistake you have made, then you have to drink this.” Barely nodding my head because every movement hurt, she then raised up my head to rest against another thick pillow. With a single swift movement, she plugged my nose brought the concoction to my mouth and poured all of that terrible liquid in. After I had guzzled it down, she let go of my nose and covered my mouth. I had no idea . . .

“Urgh!” My already agonized stomach tried desperately to rebel and reject this new concoction that it was introduced to, but Victoria was stronger than I was and so, even as I tried to throw up I was forced to swallow the fluid back down. This happened a few more times before my stomach seemed to realize it had to send it the other direction. And I had thought the pain I felt before was the worst in the world. Oh how wrong I was.

As my body convulsed, sending shocks of pain through every fiber of my being with every movement, Victoria picked me up and carried me to the bathroom. Doing everything from pulling down my pants to setting me on the toilet, I was much too miserable to care at this moment. Everything just seemed to go by in a haze of pain at this point.

After setting me there, she left and shortly came back with 2 large jars of pinkish fluid. Setting them down in front of me she then spoke. “You need to drink both of these within the next half hour or else you may very well die.” “Yes!” I replied. “Let me die, please!!” “Sigh. . . Why did I have to have a stupid apprentice?” She seemed to say to the air, fully meaning for me to hear it. “You will drink them both in the next half hour, or else I will make something even worse than the first thing I forced down your throat. Understand?” I nodded in pure fear of this woman. With that she promptly closed the door and left me alone.

Looking around me with minimal movements of my head I tried to find something that could end my misery, but all that was in there with me were the 2 jars. Unfortunately for me, those jars were nigh unbreakable, and if I did somehow did manage to break them for the use of a shard to kill myself with, then I know once I returned, then this terrible ladies wrath would be Far worse. Finally comparing the lesser of the two extremely painful paths, I braced myself and downed the first glass.

Oh thank you, thank you for making it sweet! It was so much easier to keep this concoction down. By the time she had returned, both jars were empty and with a satisfied expression she left me with a parting phrase. “May the Gods have mercy on you.”

And then true Hell began. I spent at least the next 2 hours on that chamber pot. What came out of me, more closely resembled thick nearly dry concrete than anything else. I did not realize that the body could process such damaging material. Plenty of blood came out as well, and I’m certain I lost a bit of my colon among the resulting mess. At the end, I felt as if I had gone through a hundred colonoscopies each worse than the last and none with any kind of anesthesia.

I managed to croak out a most heart-felt personal promise. “I swear, never again. Never again will I eat Earth Stone.”

*ting*

Iron Stomach: (Rare) Through the repetitive consumption of harmful and at times inorganic material, or by somehow surviving a gastrointestinal experience that should have killed you several times over, you have gained an ability that many envy but few dare try to obtain. For having survived your ordeals, your stomach is now more resilient to the negative effects of damaging consumables. What will most assuredly kill another will most likely just give you a terrible stomach ache.

“Oh yea. . .” I weakly cheered at the message of my new skill. “Oh Hell.” My head slumped forward and I unabashedly cried on the toilet. All of that and I still hadn’t gained the ability that I needed.

Needless to say, I did Not go anywhere else all of that day. Drinking healing potion after healing potion with Victoria boring holes through my head with her disapproving stare I managed to fall asleep after that horrible ordeal. Not bothering to log out, I fully enjoyed the restful respite. Taking some pain killers also helped with the hot poker that seemed to be lodged in my colon. So yes I slept well.

Finally awakening, I looked about me in the early dusk light. Though a large residual of pain remained, I wasn’t wishing I was dead any more. Getting up, I very carefully maneuvered myself so as to not agitate anything that need not be agitated further. Though I hate to say it, I gained an idea from my time on the toilet spent bearing down with all my might. Just as I had managed to pass such a tremendously hard stool, maybe that was the key to gaining the necessary earth skills.

Empowered with my idea I once again headed directly over to the forge to speak to Kade. He was actually just leaving having locked up everything that could be locked up. “Kade!” I called out. I saw his shoulders tense up a little before relaxing as he turned around to face me. “You know it’s not smart to sneak up on people like that don’t you?” He asked. “By the way, I’m surprised you didn’t come by earlier to pick up the pickaxe. Did something happen?”

I morosely nodded my head before telling him what I did while leaving out what happened after that. The look of absolute horror on his face told me well enough that he knew exactly what had happened. “You . . . You crushed and then drank ALL of the Earth Stone that you had in that bag?” I glumly nodded my head while he shook his in disbelief. Reaching out his hand to lay it on my shoulder he spoke in a near reverent tone. “Son, you have my deepest pity and deepest respect for going through that and surviving. Now what can I do for one such as you?”

“Actually, I was wondering if I could have access to the ore that I had left with you. I want to try something with it.” With a shrug he nodded. “Sure, as far as I’m concerned, it’s still yours since we haven’t worked out a payment system yet. Just go around the back of my forge. That area is not locked away and that is where I dumped the ore.” With a nod of thanks I followed his directions and found myself in front of the two piles of stone I had brought back.

With excitement at trying what I believed would work, I knelt down (obviously not sitting) beside the ore and picked up a piece of the copper. Closing my eyes I held the ore clasped between both of my hands. Pushing my soul energy into the ore I sought to push as much energy as I could into the portions that felt like they were specifically copper with the mental intent to strengthen and compress them while focusing the soul energy on the rest of the stone with the mental intent to break down its structural durability. Once my energy had been stabilized I began to compress the stone with my bare hands. After what felt like a little more than a minute of continuously shifting the stone about to press upon different portions of it, I felt something give way and a piece of it crumbled and fell to the ground.

*ting*

Earth Affinity/Manipulation: (Uncommon) Through the repeated exposure of your soul to the element of earth, you have grown in understanding of its properties and gained the ability to shape, strengthen, and weaken the bonds that hold earth and stone together. With greater affinity and practice, newer ways of manipulating Earth and Stone may be revealed.

“Yes!” After the revelation of that skill, I spent the remainder of that long night pressing on every single piece of ore that I had brought. The process of infusing the stones with my soul energy seemed to place me in a state of mind where time had little meaning. Too soon it seemed, I had all of the pieces of refined copper in a single organized pile, while a spread-out pile of sand littered the ground in front of me. Adjusting my position to ease the cramping I had begun to feel in my legs, I then pressed all the separate copper together to squeeze even more of the impurities out. I continued this till I couldn’t sense anything but pure copper between my hands.

Next I moved onto the Iron pile to begin work on it. By the break of dawn I had two balls of the purest ore I could manage to create. One copper, the other Iron. The copper shone with a bright red luster while the Iron almost seemed to pulse with silvery dark light. I felt very proud of my work and felt that I was finally ready to go back to the making of the man cave.

As I stood up on my aching legs that had remained stationary for far too long, I heard the sound of the heavy steel door to the back of the shop, next to the forge being opened. Was Kade already here for the morning? Wandering around to the front with both balls of ore in my hands I spotted Kade as he had begun to pour coals into the forge as he prepared to light it for the day. Waiting patiently till he had noticed my presence I stood by the entrance to his entire forge. Finally as he got the flames started he looked up and saw me standing there.

“What in the world are you doing here this early in the morning?” He asked me. With an ironic laugh I told him the truth of what I had spent the whole night doing. Stepping closer to me he reached out towards the balls of ore I had. I handed them both over excited to hear his thoughts on the work I had done. In complete silence he turned the ore in his hands over and over, looking at every aspect of them. Finally after not having said a single word he started off in the direction of the back of the forge where I had been working at refining the ores. Stopping before the two dispersed piles of sand he just shook his head.

Looking up at me staring directly into my eyes he finally spoke. “Had I not watched you bring that ore, knowing that there was no place for you to get refined ore like this at night in this city, and seen the refuse left behind with my own eyes, then I would not have thought it possible for you to have refined it to this degree.” He paused a moment to wet his lips. “Would you be interested in working for me as a refiner of my ores?”

I was taken aback that he would ask that of me since I was so new to the process. But I couldn’t think of any better way to achieve Fire Affinity/Manipulation than to work in a forge particularly with refining. “Yes, I would love to! Though I do need to keep working on the man cave, I can come work for you in probably every other day. What do you think?” I asked.

“That would work great. So come by starting tomorrow, early in the morning. Oh, and please feel free to bring whatever ore you happen to find from your digging as well.”

With that binding promise in place, I set off with the adamantine Pickaxe and my supplies in hand to go work on the cave.

* * * * *

Current time in game about 7:30 am of the 4th of October. Day 34 in game time. 50% pain level. Real Life May 29th about 4:30 pm.

* * * * *

I had thought to be able to get onto the next part but apparently I need another chapter to finish up his first few elemental affinities. Some of you might be able to guess what the next two will be. :)

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