When he didnt fight it, Hoyts weight dragged him down into the waters of the Niverlam Depths. The second vertical opening he was directed towards felt different from the first, less the weight and sturdiness of a mountain and more the inertia of a rolling boulder. It was the sort of thing that only really made sense as a cultivator, since water should normally only have the properties of cold and wet.
As he dropped into the area with the half ford chunk of tal in his arms, he suddenly found his movent arrest. No, that wasnt quite right. He was still moving, but no longer accelerating downward. Yet he still felt the weight pulling him. It was a strange experience, but soon enough the chunk of tal in his hands cooled off, pulling in the strange attributes.
It was when he tried to start swimming back towards the surface that things got weird. The difficulty of swimming with a great weight was easily overco by expanding out his energy to push against a larger area. But when he made the attempt, he didnt slow down. He wasnt going fast so it should have been easy to shoot towards the surface, but he simply couldnt change his montum.
Most of the feeling ca from the chunk of tal in his arms. If he let it go he thought it would probably be trivial to do what he wished. But if he wasnt willing to face a little bit of a challenge, what was the point of being a cultivator at all?
Hoyt rallied his energy, spreading it out to all edges of the vertical shaft he was drifting down. His energy scraped against the walls, finally getting a firm hold and slowing his movent a little bit at a ti. Chunks of dirt and rock tore apart as he slowed his movent, straining his energy until he finally ca to a stop. Starting to move back in the other direction wasnt any easier, his outstretched arms of energy straining to pull himself up.
From out of a small tube on the side, much too small to be called a tunnel, a twenty centiter wide eel pounced towards him, ugly face and teeth biting at his leg. He tried to swing the crudely constructed piece of tal, but it didnt follow his movents. Even so, that motion pushed him back away from the eel. Then he pulled, kicking forward and sending a foot up into the things jaw. It jerked strangely, hardly veering from its course towards him but also having its head collapse from the force of the blow. The abundance of strange natural energy in the area must have overwheld the creatures senses if it thought it was a match for Hoyt.
His extended energy pushed him upward once more, and after he was finally moving he slowly gained speed until he shot out of the top of the chasm, where he suddenly felt the pressure of water slowing his speed. He wasnt far from the surface though, so he quickly popped up next to the pier. The future weapon head in his hand was sowhat more willing to move as he directed after he got out of the depths.
Despite his fascination with the strange smithing process at this lake, he still made sure to investigate an important detail. His energy twisted, as subtly as he could, reaching into the smith who he didnt have a na for. He certainly didnt feel like a mber of the Twin Soul Sect, which was good enough for Hoyt at the mont.
After handing the smith the hunk of tal he was holding Hoyt expected to imdiately be tossed back into the lake with another chunk of white-hot tal, but it seed the smith wanted to work on the sa piece he had just brought back. That gave him a couple of minutes to rest, refilling so of the natural energy he had expended and watching the smith work. He was making a wide-bladed axe head, one that would have been oversized if it wasnt intended for use by a cultivator. More than fifteen or twenty centiters of blade started to beco excessive when against a human opponent, since it more than covered the size of any vital point. But so creatures cultivators fought could be quite large, and wider blades could be helpful. On the back end, there was an almost comically large counterweight, almost like a hamr head.
Hoyt was only just barely ready when the axe head was tossed to him. Hed been expecting it, but it was several tis hotter than the last ti- and starting to beco sharp, so he had to catch it the right way.
That one, the smith said. As deep as you can.
Water and fire were usually mutually exclusive things, but the water inside the next hole was as much like fire as any water could be. On the way down gouts of instant steam boiled off of the axe head in Hoyts hands, but once he was within the domain of the depths below it stopped. If anything instead of the water cooling the axe head it began to get hotter. The water itself had that sa sense of heat, but fortunately most of it was concentrated around the axe head and not Hoyt himself. That let him focus his efforts on containing the heat there.
He thought it might reach a point where it had enough and stopped absorbing, but unlike the other tis it wasnt cooling down in the water so he had no way to judge if and when that might be. It only seed to increase as he drifted further downward, picking up speed until the drag of the water matched the pull of gravity.
He vaguely sensed more eels on the way down, but as long as they stayed in their little tunnels he was content to let them be. He was busy focusing on the axe head. Did he want to try to stop it, or encourage it? He didnt want to ruin the smiths project, but he also didnt want to injure himself. As the burning heat grew in intensity, he knew hed need to stop it soon before he could no longer handle it.
But it wasnt the intensity of flas that was the problem, not exactly. After all, he was able to create flas of great power and they werent an issue for him. He just needed to be in control of the fire.
That made the decision easy. He began to guide the fire in the water into the axehead he held. It wasnt just fire, though. There were all sorts of properties that fire could have, and this one shed quite well with the Ninety-Nine Stars.
As he controlled the energy going in, he also began to take control of the energy coming out of the weapon. It was clearly not going to stop radiating heat, but it didnt have to be a problem for him. Not if it was attuned to the right sort of energy signature.
The intensity continued to increase steadily, until there was a surprising change in the surroundings. He hit the bottom of the lake- the bottom of the unknowably long vertical shaft he was in. He couldnt sense the surface of the water, but that wasnt a big issue. The real problem was the person he was looking at.
A middle aged man with fiery hair waving in the water. There was an intense look on his face, a heat that poured from him. And a very familiar energy, almost like the Ninety-Nine Stars but not quite.
Then he disappeared, and Hoyt found him staring at a pile of bones. A skeleton. He couldnt help but reach out an arm. When he made contact, the skeleton crumbled to dust, and the dust crumbled to nothing. A wave of energy washed over him, but most of it ended up absorbing into the burning axe head.
Though it was certainly still radiating energy, the heat of the tal itself had cooled. Hoyt looked upwards, where he found that several large masses of eels had conglorated at various levels, watching him. He didnt have the patience to deal with them as individuals, and he wanted to return to the surface quickly.
He pushed off the sand, blade held in front of him. He built up montum and speed, while the fire released from him and the partial weapon he held. He knew what the fire was now. The fire of a falling star. And though he wasnt actually falling right now the effect was much the sa as he barrelled through the masses of eels above. The smart ones turned and fled back into their holes, but so tried to chomp through him, presuming that they wouldnt burn from just a little fire. They were wrong.
What felt like a re few monts later Hoyt broke the surface of the water, flying into the air. He twisted his body, awkwardly shifting the hunk of tal in his hands that really didnt like changing directions- but was much more able to do so outside of the first area of water. He tucked in his legs and flipped over so that he wouldnt smash through any part of the smiths hut, though his impact on the wharf nearby cracked so of the stones despite his best efforts to spread out his impact.
Hoyt looked at the combined axe and hamr head in his hands. He needed to own this weapon, even if the smith already had planned to give it to soone else. He just wasnt sure how to say that.
The smith didnt seed concerned about the chunks of rock that were falling into the lake below, stepping on the structurally sound parts of the wharf and plucking the piece out of Hoyts hands. Excuse , grandmaster smith Hoyt believed the man had to be a grandmaster of so sort to work so quickly. The man didnt seem to hear him, as he was imdiately grinding the blade, then swiftly placing attaching it to the handle hed made earlier. Then the weapon was thrust into Hoyts hands. Instead of asking what he intended to ask, Hoyt questioned, Where do I go with this?
Wherever you want, the muscular man said.
Was he supposed to pick the last attribute it would have? But it hadnt even gone in the fire again, and wouldnt need quenching. He didnt really get the sense of that, though. I would like to purchase this axe, if I could.
Its not for sale, the man said. Before Hoyt could say anything more, he continued. I just had to make it. Got so nice hunks of tal from a teor, and just as I was refining them you walked up. I thought it would suit you perfectly. So you have to take it.
Hoyt blinked. Could there be so many coincidences in the world? Surely not, but he wasnt a huge believer in fate, either. Then again, being drawn to the location of an ancestral mber of the sect wouldnt actually be a coincidence. It would just be sothing subconscious. Hoyt wasnt sure if it could have drawn him and the others all the way to another continent, but at the very least when they ca to Erygan it was what pulled him out here. And the smith making him a weapon
He looked over at the other smith hed approached, the woman across the way. She just shrugged at him. So, it seed the man was just like this. Not that it was all that eccentric among cultivators. Thank you, I will gladly accept. If you need anything from
Eh, you did a lot of the work anyway. But if you find anything nice, Id appreciate if you bring it to . Oh, Im Bomir, by the way, the man outstretched a large, calloused hand. Hoyt shook it.
Forgive my prying, Grandmaster Smith Bomir, but do you do this often? How do you make money? Hoyt knew that if he had to pay for the weapon in his hand, he might not be able to fully afford it, but he couldnt just leave the man as he was.
Money? the man raised half of an eyebrow, the rest of which seed to have been scorched off. What would I do with that? Cant eat it or fight people with it. Not very well, anyway. Besides, with this invasion coming I need to make sure as many people are equipped as can be. Bomir shrugged, You just bring so nice materials and well be even.
You know about the invasion?
Sure thing, Bomir said. People co from far and wide to get weapons here, and its ramped up quite significantly in the past handful of years. Sothing about ascended fellows coming down to snatch up our resources. He spit into his forge, where it briefly sizzled on the coals. But Id much prefer we do the snatching from them, greedy bastards. Well, at least they gave us this lake.
What do you an? Hoyt asked, looking down below. He could make so assumptions, but it seed Bomir might have actual details.
Well, I thought it was just legends passed down from centuries ago, but recent events might make it true. This was apparently the site of a great battle. And at the bottom of these holes, I hear theres the corpses of great warriors. So of ours, and so of theirs. But all of them are here, so its all ours now.
I can confirm that there was at least one.
Got to the bottom did you? No wonder it took so long. I thought you had the right affinity but you stayed down there for a good while. He nodded, Thats why it feels so strong, then. Matches you quite well.
Thanks, Hoyt nodded. On the topic of increasing orders, can you tell about any new arrivals here? Hoyt leaned in conspiratorially, though it would hardly change whether anyone could overhear them.
We got all sorts. You talking visitors, or smiths?
Hoyt tilted his head. Well, I suppose both are interesting to hear about. If youve got the ti.
Ti? Dont even have more coal for my forge. Got plenty. Just let know who youre looking for, and I can probably yamr on for a while.
Reviews
All reviews (0)