With the other two standing by to help if anything goes wrong, Sage took a deep breath and stepped forward. He thrust one palm forward, activating Cosmic Traction mid-way through his strike. The world seemed to ripple like it was made of water, washing over the Lump of Clay. With his other hand, he made a chopping motion, activating Cosmic Traction again, but only to the level of thickened air. It was the same sort of trick that King used to ignore wind resistance. It was like just barely dipping a finger into the water, or cutting it with a knife. Little resistance, and also little effect. He aimed for the center of the Lump of Clay, wanting to knock out whatever it was that was in the middle.

Disrupting space like this didn’t really affect the objects in that space. He wasn’t destroying or altering space, he just touched it and could use it for traction. Just like King’s wind blade, it was very difficult to use Cosmic Traction for an actual attack. Since he didn’t know what was inside, he certainly wasn’t going to just jab something in there and then let the two objects destroy each other when they ended up occupying the same space. The danger had led him to his current idea. Attempting to use two different ‘densities’ of space to try and free whatever was trapped within.

Nothing happened.

When the ripples in space settled down again, the attempt was shown to be unsuccessful. Sage tried a few more times, varying the timing of his strikes. Thankfully, nothing terrible happened, but they were still unable to solve the mystery of the Lump of Clay.

I guess I have to try something a little more dangerous.

He called over King and Ruanfu, the three of them standing around the Lump of Clay in the form of a triangle. They’d practiced this maneuver earlier, but Sage had been hoping he could free it on his own. With all three of them involved, if anything dangerous happened they wouldn’t have any backup. Thinking that far, Sage brought out a trio of Charming Lance Beetles and had them stand ready to back them up. He looked over to King and Ruanfu and then nodded. All three of them threw a palm strike towards the Lump of Clay.

Space rippled over the Clay, but none of their strikes were actually aimed directly at the Clay. Instead they all struck slightly to the right of it. After the first strike, they didn’t waste any time and threw a second. They all struck at exactly the same spot as the first time and they all attacked in unison. They kept on attacking, space rippling in front of them. The three of them made the points of a triangle and each aimed to the right of the Lump of Clay. Space started to churn, swirling from their constant strikes. They worked together, slowly forming a small vortex, its center being the Lump of Clay. Space whirled faster and faster. Working to create a sort of tornado, with the treasure within the Lump of Clay as its center. Once the space in the center was calm, and the clay was whirling around in a ripple of space, Sage hoped to just snatch the treasure out instantly.

They felt like the world had become a pool of water and they were paddling against it, swirling and pushing. The rhythm was hard to get right, but after a few tries the vortex began to form. The space at the center started to settle.

Come on, we’re almost out of energy!

It took a lot of effort to keep perfectly focused, doing the same action over and over again with exacting precision. The Lump of Clay seemed to swirl away, peeling back from the center that became clearer to them. There was something there! Something in the center of the Lump of Clay. It wasn’t perfectly in the middle and also seemed smaller than they thought, so they had to slightly alter their strikes, manipulating the swirling space to slowly shift and tighten. Then, they saw it, their eyes widening at the same time. A small sphere, slightly reflective with an iridescent luster like a pearl, but with a sort of glowing red light coming from within. All three of the called out at the same time, “Beast Core!”

Sage opened his mouth and let out a sharp breath. A thin strand of silk flew out and attached to the small pearl like object and he whipped his head to the side. The Beast Core was launched into the air. At the same time, their perfect unity was disrupted and they all jumped backwards, getting out of the way of the space vortex. Space was still churning and swirling, but after a few moments it settled down and everything had returned to normal. Mostly. There was a huge circular crack on the ground and a Beast Core sitting a dozen yards away, attached to a thread of silk.

The three of them all looked at each other, each wondering if it was actually over. Had they succeeded? Sage detached the silk from his mouth and then reeled in the Beast Core. He didn’t yet touch it, just holding it up and examining it. Ruanfu called out, “Look!”

Sage was startled and looked at the Lump of Clay. It was no longer a Lump of Clay. It was vibrating rapidly, starting to swirl and jiggle like a ball of jello, or a very thick liquid. Dust was being shed from it, and as it fell, the ‘Clay’ changed colors. No longer a tan or brick color, it shifted towards a dark blue. More and more of the dirt and dust fell free and soon its surface was a shiny metallic blue. The vibrations changing its form until it was a perfect sphere. Then the vibrations came to a stop and the liquid like sphere started to harden. As it hardened it became slightly transparent and slight veins and imperfections formed within it. Before they could tell what was happening the Lump of Clay was replaced by a large sphere shaped chunk. It looked like a chunk of ice made out of metal.

He took another look at the Beast Core in his hand and found nothing out of the ordinary. Due to its great luster, it was from a beast of quite high rank, but that was all that seemed special about it. Instead he focused more upon the blue chunk. He took a step closer and then he felt that familiar pull. The Heavenly Materials within his body spun rapidly and the Seed of Life started to vibrate.

A Heavenly Material!

Sage pulled out a Memory Sphere and quickly looked through the list of Heavenly Materials. He flipped through the pages inside that virtual library until he found the right one. Putting the Memory Sphere away and smiling at the blue chunk in front of him. Blue Icesilver! Sage had never thought he’d come into possession of any Heavenly Metals, but here one was right in front of him. Most Heavenly Materials required special conditions for a person to wield and control them. Heavenly Materials were more highly sought after because they could also be used by Blacksmiths to create weapons. A Heavenly Flame could be used to power refining efforts or cook alchemical pills, but the wielder needed to fulfill very specific and grueling conditions. On the other hand, a Heavenly Metal just needed a powerful Smith and they could be forged into an extremely powerful weapon that nearly anyone could use.

As rare as Heavenly Materials already were, the metals were even more in demand for this reason. Such legendary weapons could be passed down through a family for generations or act as the trump card for a large Sect. They could be amazingly powerful, and it was for this reason that they were extremely difficult to acquire. Blue Icesilver was actually one of the least valuable of the Heavenly Metals, so that was probably the reason there were no special methods of detecting it. The reason it was not as valuable, was because it was actually more suitable for having a wielder and not being forged into a weapon. It could still be forged, but the end results were always very subpar in comparison to the true legendary weapons.

On the other hand, it operated more like the other Heavenly Materials. The wielder supplied them with Qi and they fed on it, growing and multiplying. A torch sized Heavenly Flame would turn into a firestorm, a Heavenly Water that was a tiny chunk of ice would turn into a blizzard, and so on. The Blue Icesilver when given Qi would turn liquid, growing and changing shapes. Then it would ‘freeze’ and turn into a brittle sort of icy metal. It was extremely versatile, though far less impressive than firing off huge lightning bolts, or creating a tornado of flame.

It was also exactly what Sage needed.