The clang of hamr on anvil rang out at a steady pace. It struck repeatedly until it ca ti to quench the tal, steam billowing out of the bucket. Sweat dripped down Antons forehead, as this ti he wasnt just watching but making the attempt himself. It wasnt anything marvelous, just a building nail. It was little more than a slab of tal that tapered to a point, but he was just beginning.
It was possible for him to completely negate the heat of a simple forge with his energy, but it seed outside of the spirit of the work. Besides, if he couldnt tolerate a little discomfort he would never have gotten good at anything.
When Grant had first started down the path of a smith, Anton had just started teaching him how to use energy. Hed barely reached the second star at that point, and while he had so experience as an apprentice his actual experience as a smith was limited. But with tempered muscles and the financial help to set up a forge, hed begun his journey. Now, two and a half years later, Grant was nearing the peak of Body Tempering and had a steady flow of custors from Windrip and Stregate.
Its possible to fortify the inner portion of whatever youre forging so that your hamr blows dont push it too far, Grant said, Though its really better to achieve that with pure technique. If you really do flatten sothing too far, its possible to more directly alter the structure if you have to, but doing it wrong leaves the tal weak. Anton nodded. Altering things on a small level took very precise and accurate energy control to last. You use so muscles more than others, but the most important thing is knowing how much strength to use. Just swinging harder doesnt help much, with normal tals. I havent gotten much practice with anything cultivators use.
Anton continued to work with Grant, watching him smith. Most of his energy usage while doing so was internal, to improve his body as he worked. Anton had to bow to Grants expertise in what areas needed to be tempered properly, but he could provide so advice on how. He regularly visited Windrip to help people with their cultivation, but he was constantly learning new improvents. While many of them were extrely slight changes, they could significantly alter the future trajectory of a cultivator. For those who just wanted to live, it probably wouldnt matter- and with just the core portions of the Ninety-Nine Stars people werent doing poorly. But Anton wasnt happy with just settling for good enough. If people were willing to work with him to be their best, he would happily continue improving with them. And maybe he would be good enough to make things better than nails soon enough. Unlike a regular apprentice, he could afford to fix things if he ssed up from trying to learn too quickly. He wasnt going to be a burden on those he was learning from just because he showed up irregularly.
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The next week, Derya took him out to the market. The first part of weaving is picking good thread. It takes a practiced eye, but theres more to it than that. She had been an experienced weaver when he first helped her get set up in Windrip already, but cultivation had allowed her to take things to the next level. Since her work wasnt as physically demanding as blacksmithing, shed been cultivating more slowly after achieving the most useful portions of Body Tempering. You can sense when a spool of thread has a weakness. I do not buy from those rchants who regularly have poor quality thread. What good is it to just look good on the outside? She held up one spool to the rchant, a young woman, This ones bad in the middle, dear.
The young woman took it and set it aside, Ill take your word for it.
You wouldnt have to, if you would cultivate. You could pick it out for yourself.
Where would I find ti for that? she asked. I have to be here all day or managing shipnts or taking care of the house.
Its not all sitting on your rear in ditation, dear, Derya smiled, It can be done at the sa ti as practical work. And it doesnt always take many years. Id be willing to bet you could sense bad thread by next spring. Sooner, if you have more talent than . She looked to Anton, Antons the one who taught , and hes gone much further in just four years.
I doubt I could compare to a proper cultivator, she kept her head low.
You wont know until you try, Anton said, And it will be good for your daily life to be more physically capable. You wouldnt have to hire soone to unload wagons for you.
The young rchant finally agreed to spend so ti attempting to cultivate while Anton was in town. Anton wholly understood not wanting to take ti away from work for unclear benefits, but soon enough hed have the whole city cultivating if he could. Preferably people would be trained in cultivation once they were old enough, probably while they were apprentices. With Alva as an example it was clear that training from a younger age was possible, though it was still good to be cautious about it. If Anton had his way, Alva would just barely be starting cultivation and not finishing her second year.
Back at Deryas workshop, she continued to explain weaving to him. I could make my own thread, and sotis I do- but ti I spend on that I cant be weaving, and I have to find the material still. I should probably hire so proper apprentices but not everyone wants their young girls to learn to cultivate, and I wont have one who doesnt. And of course the young n dont want to weave.
Weaving was much about patterns and repeated movents. Anton could rember things fairly swiftly, but it would still take ti to get it down to habit. It would take quite so ti to even begin to master even a couple of crafts, but spending the ti allowed him to work on his goals of interacting more with common folk and teaching them to cultivate. Even if every person just reached two stars it would significantly change the way Graotan operated, allowing people to work more efficiently and to increase their prosperity.
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A plain sword, unadorned except for a stylized guard, was held out in front of Anton as he readied himself for a spar. He had no particular intention to beco skilled with swords, but increasing the variety of weapons he was proficient with wasnt his purpose. The sword in question was the sa one from the Luminous Ocean Society, the one which disrupted post-ascension energy.
Across from him was Timothy, since he was the one most defensively proficient. Anton had practiced to the point that the disruption from the sword could be overco when simply holding it, but making use of his energy in combat was quite a different issue.
As the spar began, Anton mainly kept on the offense, striking with his sword continuously. Timothy wasnt just letting him attack, of course. When Anton left himself open Timothy would counter, striking at his body. Though the attacks werent serious, Anton still needed to make use of his energy to defend himself. As for the energy on his weapon, he wasnt using anything but the power of Fleeting Youth. Currently he was focusing on separating it into the different parts, since not all of it contained the type of energy he was intending to practice with.
Dense energy coated the sword as he feinted towards Timothys left side. When he held out his shield to deflect the attack, Anton flicked his sword around to the other side. Timothys right arm ca up to parry the attack, and as their weapons clashed the sword was flung out of Antons hand, the energy dispersed.
It was difficult to tell how effective the enchantnts were. Anton had little practice with the energy- not decades or centuries like he could presu those who passed ascension would gather. On the other hand, he only had a small amount of that energy. If the disruption increased with the quantity, it could be very effective. Likewise, the enchantnts werent made to disrupt soone using the weapon specifically- it was supposed to be used against soone with the requisite energy. That would certainly make it more effective. In short, Anton was not yet experienced enough to give a proper showing of the efficacy of the enchantnts, except to prove that they worked on so level.
There was as yet no indication if and when the next sort of attack by ascended individuals might be, but waiting would likely make any response too slow. If they got a decade of warning it would be pushing the developnt of proper counters- and thus improving the enchantnts to be more effective. If they had a year of warning, they could only frantically have people learning techniques and enchanting weapons and armor. If there was no warning, they could only die helplessly.
Translation efforts were still undergoing, but it was clear that the Luminous Ocean Society had so sort of warning to make use of. More importantly, the Secret Realm seed to be ant for training people with more than just the tower that had heavy energy pressure, and it was fully intact. While the Order didnt have control over the area, and anyone could co and go as they pleased, they could make regular expeditions to the area as long as they brought elders for security.
Again, Anton said. He would continue until he was confident in maintaining his control without thinking about it then Timothy would be the one with the sword. If Anton overca all of that, learning the basics of the anti-ascension techniques wouldnt be terribly difficult either. It was problematic that Anton was the only one, at the mont, who could make use of any ascension energy. It could take him years to be relevant in that regard, since a proper ascension cultivator would be beyond Life Transformation in terms of power, or perhaps matching it except for the denser form of energy- but that was still quite a bit out of his reach.
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Vandale stood in front of Anton atop the peak, holding a small ball of energy in his hand. It was comparable in density to a smouldering orb in his other hand, though Anton could feel clear differences. This is it, Im afraid, Vandale said. In theory, I should be closer to the ascension energy and thus able to reach out for it but its difficult. In theory this was what I was trying to obtain for so many years, and simply that act makes unsuitable for Fleeting Youth. His energy senses swept over Anton, I see the practice of it is changing your core. Youre still making proper advancents in the Ninety-Nine Stars, but you feel different.
The ascension energy still isnt part of , Anton said, Nor do I think it can ever be. Its more like stealing it or borrowing it, since its quite willing to be under my control.
Energy doesnt much care who controls it, Vandale agreed. Even this ascension energy is simply not easily accessed from where we are. But I imagine Everheart knew more about it than anyone who had not actually ascended. A sha he is not around to ask, but I doubt his answer would be helpful regardless. Though he might have yet left information around.
If he had a prediction on when the next event would be, Anton said, I imagine hed reveal a tomb or equivalent at what he felt was an appropriate ti before it. Unless he ascended, in which case I would presu he wouldnt have been interested in making it easier to defeat him if he ever returned. Even Fleeting Youth could have been completed before he beca aware of those events.
Yes, Vandale said. I wouldnt count on any results from him. But we just have to produce soone of our own like Everheart.
Id never want to be like him, Anton said.
Oh, I didnt an an asshole. Just a genius, Vandale tossed both balls of energy into the air, letting them unravel and explode against each other. We definitely dont need anyone with his personality. Just soone with the guts to make wide-sweeping moves. Id be glad to try, but unfortunately I can guarantee I wouldnt be able to see it through to the end.
... Ill think about it, Anton said.
A bit too late for that, I think. Its already begun. So do try to stay alive for the rest of it all.
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