NOVEL NEXT Chapter 33: Think About It
Year 11, Day 30
Beneath great roots, fire and brimstone
Ahteus grunted as his large hammer hit down the soft pale silver blade he was making. His thick rocky arms bulged as he lifted the hammer, glimmering with a golden glow as he channeled his Earth Qi through his veins made out of gold, his bones made out of iron, and his heart made out of silver. His Earth Qi took some parts of Iron, Gold, and Silver Qi and all four types of Qi reached a state of harmony as they reached his hammer. He brought it downwards and hit the silver blade, and the blade absorbed the four Qis. The impact made the blade glisten with the spark produced by the impact while he tried once again-
The Iron Qi reached deeply into the center of the blade, reinforcing and making the core of the blade stronger.
The Gold Qi made these thin veins where the Qi channeled through the blade would flow smoother and decrease the necessary time it had to reach from end to end.
The Silver Qi made so the sword could absorb the Qi of the user better and act as a small reserve for extra Qi, because extra Qi is always good!
-and at last but certainly not least, the Earth Qi covered the entire blade, vibrating alongside it as the hammer brought down the might of the heavens onto it. He channeled his Earth Qi before he cursed as he noticed the imperfections on the blade: "Shit." He clicked his rocky crystal tongue and threw the blade into an ever increasing pile of failed products. "...how can I make this?" Ahteus was having a small crisis, because you see, he was trying to improve on making weapons. He was able to find a way to mix Iron Qi and Gold Qi together into a single blade, which was something very hard to do since these two Metal Qis were opposing in nature! One was hard and the other soft, and Gold Qi is quite… stubborn (Ignoring the fact that all Metal Qi is stubborn). It doesn't like to be into a blade alongside Iron Qi, which he found weird since they were both Metal Qis, so why couldn't they be together? So he forced them together until he found that they were just two stubborn Qis, and that Silver Qi was necessary to be the one to intermediate between the two bickering Qis, making a balance.
So, to make a blade with both Iron and Gold Qi it was necessary that both had the exact same amount of Qi to reach the first step for the harmony, then you needed to have Silver Qi equal to both halves of these Qis… The problem was that it wasn't an exact amount but rather needed to be adjusted as the forging went on, which made Ahteus make various mistakes. And these mistakes were learning experiences that Ahteus cherished deeply because it made him very good at telling how many Silver Qi was needed to balance Iron Qi and Gold Qi into one recipient.
And right now he was trying to make these three types of Qi enter a state of perfect harmony into one single blade, which was hard. "...again." He was about to separate all alloys and Qis from these failure swords to start again when Goldie yipped from behind him, calling out to him: "Huh? What'chu want, Goldie? Imma about to work here-" He turned around only to meet face to face with a rather small kid. Ahteus looked at the kid and the kid looked at him. It was a small kid - or rather, Ahteus was a very tall Earth spirit - with dark gray hair, pale gray eyes, and dark brown skin the little mortal resembled an Earth Spirit much to Ahteus' momentary confusion… Did Pops make another Earth Spirit?
You see, originally his forge beneath his father's roots was small because he was small back then, but ever since he reached the size he now has, he had to remake his forge, get a new furnace with a few of his lesser Fire Spirit siblings inside to keep it ablaze (They actually liked being inside his forge, much to his surprise) and a new anvil made with these large black stones that he found and tested them to see if they were sturdy enough to resist his attack, and when they were completely intact after his attack, he shaped them like an anvil. He got a few extra anvils just in case he broke one of his- There were also various of these small blue mushrooms that grew from his father's roots, illuminating the entire darkness of his forge.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" Ahteus asked the small mortal, his shiny crystal eyes stared at the mortal's body, analyzing him. To make sure there was no one else around, he kicked the ground and spread out his Earth Qi, using his Seismic Sense to look around. There was only him, his lesser siblings, Goldie, and this little mortal. "...I'm here to learn." The little mortal said: "Teach me!" Ahteus was taken aback by the little mortal's wish- he could not feel any Earth Qi inside the mortal, meaning he had no talent for cultivating… Or at least cultivating Earth Qi. And also he wasn't an Earth Spirit, which made Ahteus a little disappointed… Maybe he wanted to be a big brother to little Earth Spirits with sapience like him and his siblings.
"Leave, kiddo, I'm not going to teach you shit." Ahteus turned around and ignored the kid. He was no teacher, what the fuck can he do to teach someone when he doesn't even know how? He carried the hammer above his head once more, placed it on his shoulder and channeled his Earth Qi through his body - in an instant the pile of scraps and failed swords floated towards the large forge, where they were thrown inside while Ahteus simply waved his hand, as if he was swatting away an insect. This was something he was getting better and better at, controlling Gravity around him, so much so he was starting to have a grasp on this fleeting Qi that he couldn't identify properly… The Old Man says it might be some sort of higher Qi that he is not ready to use or interact with yet.
"Teach me!" The kid begged, crying loudly.
"Fuck off!" Ahteus screamed back, visibly annoyed.
Yeah… this will take a while.
Beneath the trees, in lazy comfort.
Namis laid there, her hands stroking the long bright green silk she was weaving by weaving the water within blades of grass, moving them to her will and making them weave together. She had her own thoughts in mind as she mindlessly did the same action over and over. '...what can I turn this into?' The action of enchanting Qi Items is very different from forging them. While the forging process that her brother Ahteus does is too much for her, it is also very efficient on making strong items, while her process was more delicate. She and Ahteus had worked together to make stronger items, where she was able to enchant the items he was using for forging to increase their strength and aid the forging process… Enchanting isn't exactly enchanting, it is more like encoding Qi with intent and forcing it to do something.
Like big brother Leaf can infuse his intent on his Sword Qi to change his technique, Namis has to channel her own will and intent into foreign Qi to make them carry her will and intent.
Let's use the spear she and Ahteus made for Fiero as an example - the spear was made of firewood, a piece of wood that was thrown in the flames of Ahteus' forge that she had to force the intent of fire into. It was a foreign and very opposite to her very nature, which is why it took them over a hundred attempts until they had a black and red wooden stick that carried Silver Qi within itself and Fire Qi outside of itself while also being made of Nature Qi. The way it worked was something she and Ahteus had to work together to make, since the Silver Qi listened to Ahteus more than her, so she had asked him to infuse the Silver Qi with the single intent of acting as a regenerative battery of some sorts. It would absorb the Nature Qi from the outside atmosphere, replenishing the Nature Qi from the firewood that was consumed by the Fire Qi of the wood whenever the weapon was used. The intent she had worked hard to infuse the Fire Qi was the one to [Consume only when allowed], aimed at the Nature Qi. That was extremely hard because not only the Qi she was trying to infuse with her will and intent Fire Qi and she was a Water Spirit (making the Fire Qi resist her will completely) but it also went against fire's own nature.
To consume, to spread, to destroy.
To try and limit one of these natural things for the Qi was extremely hard. The blade of the spear was made from a dark stone that Ahteus worked on, infusing it with a little bit of Iron Qi. This was another hard work because she and Ahteus had to find a way to make sure the Iron Qi within the blade of the spear would not easily dissipate while Fiero channeled his Fire Qi through it, which resulted on them both agreeing that they had to show and teach Fiero how to properly use the spear without breaking it.
And that's how they made Fiero's weapon together. It was something very fun to do, which was also why Ahteus began to try and shape the will of Metal Qi while working, which he found easy to do, but for some reason the Metal Qi was stubborn and would forget the intent he placed on them some time after, while every item Nami made would always remember the intent she had forced on them - see every small item she enchanted - which bummed him. Namis tried to explain to him that maybe Metal Qi was just a forgetful or very stubborn type of Qi, but Ahteus didn't want to listen to her, so she just left him alone and worked on her own little projects.
Like right now, how she was trying to figure out how to make arrays.
From her father's memories, arrays are made by carving or writing words upon the ground with the intent to protect one's territory. Those written words or letters would channel the Qi somehow and make defenses - be them barriers or something else.
That's what she's trying to figure out…
Beneath a canopy, Green roots.
Root pushed his green roots deep within the back of the dark haired mortal who had entered a symbiotic relationship with one of his small Seedling children. For some reason the little Seedling wanted to enter a symbiotic relationship with her, so he just began to see what he could do… The old Curator woman wanted this dark haired girl to be the next family head, which Root didn't really care about. He channeled his Nature Qi into the Seedling, making the little guy cultivate.
The mortal he was attached to would also be affected by this without being a cultivator herself. She would now live for a really and amazing long time for a Mortal, thanks to the little Seedling on her body. She would not be able to cultivate Nature Qi or any type of Qi within her body for she lacked a Cultivation Root, but the Cultivation Root from the Seedling's body would also affect her to some extent, allowing her to channel Nature Qi to a lesser extent. She would never compare to a Nature Qi Cultivator, but she would be leagues above any other mortal when it comes to Qi usage - seeing as most mortals can't even use Qi at all.
"..." Root was using his Qi to feed the small Seedling on the woman's back, but he was also lost within his mind as he thought about the future… Maybe he should hibernate for a little while, leaving instructions for his children and the new members of his sect.
He'll think about it.
