Chapter 6
Legendary Sword!
Ling Mai slowly drifted awake. She was feeling very warm and comfortable. She basked in the luxurious softness of the bed and the ticklish pillow… “Say what? A furry pillow?” Memories of falling asleep in her new big bed with Kitty curled up around her, flooded her mind. She smiled as she was looking forward to having the big cat keep her warm in winter. She blinked her eyes open to see a large paw holding her hand in a loose grip. Kitty’s paw was three times the size of her hand. She couldn’t see the claws as they were retracted, but the glimpses she had of them had garnered respect for the razor-sharp weapons.
Kitty’s spots were black on a variegated green background which darkened on his paws and back whilst being a lighter shade under his neck and abdomen. “A very effective camouflage, and very beautiful,” she thought.
Raising her head, she looked up to see Kitty’s emerald green eyes gazing into her own. “Good morning Kitty. Did you sleep well?”
Kitty started purring and placed her other paw on her hand. “Morning cuddles and petting?” Ling Mai redundantly asked him. She proceeded to hug Kitty. Kitty started purring as she started petting and scratching him, varying the pressure, speed and location as Kitty mentally prompted her. Kitty started to sound like a thousand cats with catnip; a very happy cat.
Grandma Tang’s voice came through the open door, “Breakfast will be ready in five minutes. Wash up and change. We have lots to do today.”
“We do? Aren’t we now able to stop working due to all the gold I can get from the river?”
“Yes, but we still need to do things today.”
Ling Mai gave Kitty one last hug and then bounced out of bed. Inspecting the robes that Grandma Tang had insisted on buying her from the trading post, she couldn’t make up her mind which colour or style of robe to wear. Previously, she had one very worn-out robe of an indiscriminate colour - a sort of brownish-grey. She had wanted one or maybe two new black coloured robes, but Grandma Tang had insisted on several robes in a range of colours and styles. She had explained what events warranted stylish robes and for other activities, such as hunting, it would be desirable to wear plain style robes and subdued colours for camouflage. “Which robe should I wear?” She shouted out to Grandma Tang.
“The pink one.”
Ling Mai double-checked the robes; no pink one… “I think you must be colourblind, or you are testing to see if I’m awake yet…”
“Guilty,” she replied. “The stylish type.”
“I have cherry red, forest green, sky blue, satin black, and black with red trim.”
“I think the black and red one. We need to impress people and also spread the word you are a cultivator now. It will make you safer as people will be hesitant to give you any trouble.”
“I’ll just zap their butts!”
“No zapping, unless they really need it.”
“But the Tanner looked so funny!”
Grandma Tang laughed, “Yes, that made my day, the cantankerous old coot.”
Retrieving the black and red robe from her storage ring, she sorted the rest of her newly purchased robes into groups: stylish, hunting, and other. Satisfied, she exited her bedroom. “Good morning Grandma Tang. What do we have for breakfast? It smells so good!”
“Bacon and mushroom omelettes. I hope you are hungry?” Grandma Tang smiled at her. Kitty paced into the room and sat at the table, looking expectantly at Grandma Tang. He saw that breakfast wasn’t quite ready so he started washing himself with his tongue.
“You are so lucky. I have to wash with cold water.”
Kitty promptly turned and started licking Ling Mai’s ears. “Ugh! That tickles! Thank you, but I’ll use cold water.” Hmm. Maybe I can heat it?”
Ling Mai walked into the bathroom and washed her face with water she warmed by using the heat crystal she had created last night on the way back home from the trading post.
She thought to check her extra minds as they had been quiet since she woke up. They were still asleep! They were having some very strange dreams.
Her problem-solving mind was trying to work out how to put a house into her storage ring in case it rained in there. Ling Mai thought it was a valid concern as she didn’t understand these sub-realms. “Hey, wake up. Breakfast is soon and I need you to create a fire vortex and then a metal vortex. The air vortex can wait until tomorrow.”
“On it!” Replied a sleepy voice in her head. “Why didn't you wake me so early? I'm only a day old!” Ling Mai chuckled but ignored her sub-mind as she knew it was just joking.
“If I can, I will need to create new minds for each new vortex. The sooner we reach nine vortexes that are full of purified and compressed energy, the better. I wonder why it is nine cores and not more? There are many more energy types. Is it to do with how they can be organised in the Dantian? Hmmm, I will also soon have to read the next section of the cultivation jade slip to be ready to advance to core morphing. I would like to have an ice vortex as being able to keep things cold would be very handy and to be able to make snow would be so cool…”
Her aware-of-her-surroundings-at-all-times mind was trying to work out if birds flying overhead were a notifiable event in case the bird pooped on her. Again Ling Mai thought it was a valid concern as she would not want to look up at the wrong time. “Hey, wake up so you can enjoy breakfast. We are having bacon and mushroom omelettes.”
“Yippee!” sent this sub-mind. It sounded very happy to be awake and ready to enjoy breakfast. “I should allow them time off from working all the time else they could become unhappy or bored.” she thought. Having multiple streams of consciousness was hard work to get it right.
Her other minds were having more mundane dreams of eating bacon and eggs, and another of petting Kitty. As she was about to eat bacon and mushroom omelettes and had just been petting Kitty, she realised that outside stimulus caused dreams to morph. She wondered what she could do to influence her dreams so she could cultivate in her dreams, though it could be dangerous if she had weird dreams!
After waking up her remaining minds, she finished washing and then went out to the main room and sat down for breakfast. Grandma Tang presented a huge plate to Kitty, “Enjoy! I also have a trotter roasting for your second course, or would you like it raw?”
Ling Mai received a strong feeling of cooked pig. It was half an image as well as the feeling of enjoying the cooked pig. She supposed that mental speech would normally include images as pictures were so much more information-rich than mere words. The feelings part of Kitty’s mind-speak was again more informative than mere words. One could transmit multiple and exact emotions and reactions to events and people etc. She was impressed!
She thought, “The sooner I learn Ghost Cat mind-speak the better, and I need to create a mind for that purpose and to be aware of Kitty at all times. Should I also create a mind for Grandma Tang as well? I can then keep her safer,” she decided.
“Kitty would like cooked pig please,” she informed Grandma Tang.
Grandma Tang placed a plate full of delicious-smelling omelette in front of her. “Eat up. We need to go and organise to sell my food stall. I have a buyer in mind but I want to tidy up first. Then we can return to the trading post to arrange to sell your lights. Do you have room heaters yet?”
“I have room heaters, hot water heaters and oven designs. We need to first visit the blacksmith to have him create some prototypes.”
“You have been a busy little girl. I guess having multiple minds helps?”
“Oh, I came up with the designs while washing my face and waking up my other minds,” she explained.
Grandma Tang stopped eating. “Your other minds were still asleep?”
“Yes. They were having weird dreams.”
“As long as they don’t all snore…” Grandma Tang said seriously.
“Don’t be silly. My extra minds can’t sno…” Ling Mai smiled wryly, “Got me.”
Grandma Tang laughed. Ling Mai felt a rush of warmth. It was so good to swap banter and joke around with Grandma Tang.
Kitty sent her an image of a sad cat. “You too!” She reassured him.
Prior to this, Ling Mai had not been able to trust anyone as she was just a homeless waif; defenceless and desperate for any money or food she could scrounge or earn. Grandma Tang had been her saviour by giving her steady work. The money she earned or the food in lieu of money kept her from starvation. Now that she had had a couple of days of regular meals, she could feel her strength gain in leaps and bounds. She would still be relatively weak without the additional strength gained from cultivation.
Her posture had straightened due to her no longer having to be almost always semi-crouching, ready to run away at a moment’s notice. Her energy-scanning ability and having a mind devoted to her surroundings meant she was so much safer. Her new abilities to defend herself made her more confident, albeit only a few of her attacks were non-lethal.
“I must learn some defensive techniques so I don’t damage too many more delicate bits, though it was effective! My technique of zapping the Tanner in the butt with lightning seems to be the best bet for now.” She pondered for a bit, “Though I should only use normal lightning as I don’t know when I will next be able to collect Heavenly Tribulation Lightning.” If others heard her plans they would think she was a freak!
While she was still eating, she started to transfer half of her personal items into the new storage ring she had obtained from the belligerent man in the trading post.
“I had better keep my things spread around in case I get robbed or somehow lose one.”
Seeing her looking at a few items before transferring them into the new ring, Grandma Tang asked what she was doing. Ling Mai explained her reasoning and asked Grandma Tang if she needed anything.
Grandma Tang asked, “Did any of the rings have any medicinal pills?”
“I’ll check.”
Ling Mai started checking the smaller-sized ring first, as it would be quicker. She found some pills but had no idea what they were. She retrieved them and showed them to Grandma Tang.
“This is a mid-grade healing pill for wounds. This is for sickness of the stomach. Hmmm, mostly healing pills. He must have fought a lot or got injured often from fighting magical beasts. Ah, here are a few cultivation pills of core-forming cultivators. A pity there are no pre-cultivation pills.”
“Why is that?”
“I always regret not being able to learn cultivation. But I’m too old now,” Grandma Tang sighed despondently.
Seeing how sad Grandma Tang was, Ling Mai said, “I will see if there are some in my large ring, else I’ll make some with my new cauldron.”
“Do you know how hard it is to learn to refine pills? The pre-cultivation pills are apparently easy to create but you need to get lessons.”
“I have pill formulas!” Ling Mai said excitedly. “I’ll check what they are for.”
Grandma Tang shook her head helplessly. She knew it was no use trying to dissuade her. She was an unstoppable force once she became focused on a problem.
“Keep the pig carcasses in your ring as they will be preserved there. It was explained to me it is because there is no time in storage rings.”
“Really? That is so cool. But that means it won’t rain in there.”
Seeing Grandma Tang’s look, she continued, “One of my minds was dreaming of how to put a house in my storage ring to protect everything stored there from the rain.”
Grandma Tang just shook her head at the thought of such a bizarre dream.
“I wonder if, when I learn how to create realms, I can create realms that allow time and therefore living creatures or maybe even people could be kept safe in there?”
“Just don’t go creating any realms whilst in town or any with large spiders in them!”
“I won’t! They are really scary! Are giant spiders common?” Asked Ling Mai, recalling the giant spider from when she was very young. It was hunting birds and so didn’t see her.
“In certain areas, they are the main predator. Sun Wasps are their nemeses.”
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Ling Mai had horrifying visions of giant wasps, so she asked, “Are the wasps big as well?”
“No, but they harness light energy from the sun to burn through almost all armour or animal hide so they can sting you with their paralyzing poison,” replied Grandma Tang. “Anyway, it is time to get going. The market first, then the blacksmith.”
Ling Mai was distracted by thoughts of giant spiders and Sun Wasps. “I must get more attack and defence techniques so I can protect us all.”
On the way to the market, Ling Mai searched the large storage ring for pills. She found a large number of various types of pills. They were stored in piles by type and into groups. She recognised a few from the smaller ring so she could start identifying the groupings of pills: Medicinal, healing, cultivation etc.
She wondered why the piles didn't fall over as the ring was moving as she walked. She decided that if time stopped, then gravity, light and other natural forces were stopped as well.
She retrieved one of each type of cultivation pill. Showing them to Grandma Tang, she asked, “Do you know what these are for?”
Grandma Tang stopped and closely examined them. Even going as far as to sniff some, which made Ling Mai giggle.
“The only one I think I recognise is this pill. It was a long time ago, but I think this is a type of pre-cultivation pill. I don’t know why it is different to the one I took. Unfortunately, the effects of that pill wore off whilst I fled from the Ghost Cats. I never received a cultivation technique to consolidate that pill’s effects so I was unable to form my first core.
It took me nine months to return to the sect. There was nobody left alive at the sect. I only escaped as I had no real cultivation and so the Ghost Cats ignored me.”
Ling Mai was pensive for a few minutes after hearing Grandma Tang’s history. “Do you think it would be safe for you to consume one of these pills and then use the cultivation method on my jade slip?”
“Maybe. I would like to ask a powerful cultivator first.”
“Maybe you can flirt with the Elder I met.”
Grandma Tang turned a frosty eye on Ling Mai. “What do you know about flirting? Hmmm?”
“If a girl smiles at a boy and if the boy ignores her then it shows he is secretly in love with her but he is shy.”
“Ah, that is not always accurate… I’ll teach you about boys in a year or ten.”
Ignoring Grandma Tang’s answer, she explained herself, “I’m not interested in boys. They are annoying and smelly. Besides, I have you and Kitty.”
“Yes, you do.”
Kitty bumped his head against Ling Mai, causing her to almost topple over. He was a very large cat.
Ling Mai hugged him, thinking, “I love my life now!”
Arriving at the market, Grandma Tang sought out the person who was interested in buying her business. He was a large roly-poly man with a jovial disposition. He had a gleam in his eye but sobered up when he saw Ling Mai in her formal robe and with a sword on her hip. Ling Mai had retrieved the sword as she thought the sword completed the picture of a young cultivator. She wore the small practice sword she had found in the large storage ring. She wondered why the small sword was in the ring. She supposed it could be for a younger sibling or a child of the woman who had previously owned the ring. She had decided the ring’s previous owner was a woman as it had numerous items of women’s clothing and very expensive-looking jewellery.
The man bowed to her and introduced himself, “My name is Meng Ka. I come from a small village to the east. I have brought my wife and two small children to live in this bigger town as there is more opportunity to earn good money. I don’t have a lot of money so I can’t pay too much.”
Seeing he was being forthcoming with his situation and intent, Ling Mai replied, “Grandma Tang is a fair woman. She will sell it for a reasonable price. If you can’t afford to pay the full price now, you can pay it off with monthly payments.”
He bowed deeply. “Thank you, young Mistress.”
Grandma Tang arched an eyebrow at her offer but didn’t comment. Turning to the man she started to list the items included in the sale.
Ling Mai left them to it and started wandering around the market. She had no money before this to spend on anything other than food, so she had never really looked at all the merchandise before. People didn’t recognise her at first due to her new robe and confident demeanour.
Examining some bracelets in a jewellery stall, she decided she liked a bracelet made with deep green-blue stones that glowed in her energy sense. She didn’t recognise this type of energy. Visually, she thought the energy colour looked like a mixture of Kitty’s and her own eyes. Kitty purred at her thought. Kitty’s purr roused the stallholder to pay attention to her. The stallholder had been arranging new stock for display and hadn’t noticed Ling Mai until now. Ling Mai had learnt how to be practically invisible so people would not bother her. With her new clothes she stuck out, plus having Kitty by her side meant people noticed her more than they previously did. Kids were already gathering to pet Kitty. He sat and lapped up all the attention.
“How can I help you?” Asked the stallholder respectfully.
“I’m interested in buying some bracelets. Can you tell me about them?” Ling Mai had learnt from Grandma Tang to not ask about the price of a particular item. Let the seller expound on the virtues and specifications of the items, then see if they offer a price. Her wearing expensive robes would not help her to get a low price but her being an obvious cultivator would normally make the seller wary of gouging her with a high price.
The stallholder started expounding on the quality and specifics of each bracelet. The bracelet she fancied came from the far north and came from an area with glaciers. “Is this ice energy?” She wondered.
The stallholder gave the stones’ name as glacial ice stones. He said they kept the wearer cool in summer.
After he had finished his spiel, he then looked at her and seeing her calmly waiting, he then started listing prices.
Ling Mai bought the green-blue stone bracelet and a few other bracelets that were her size, then bought a few in what she thought would be Grandma Tang’s size, plus some necklaces. She looked over to Kitty but Kitty just looked at her and transmitted a thought which encapsulated the feelings of amusement, affection and, ‘Are you serious?’
Ling Mai transmitted back, ‘No jewellery, just food…”
Kitty pretended to look affronted. He didn’t put much effort into it as Ling Mai was perfectly correct.
Grandma Tang finally completed the sale. She came over to Ling Mai and said, “All sold. Now let’s go to the blacksmith.”
Ling Mai asked her to close her eyes and put out her hands. Grandma Tang cocked her head in a query but soon complied. Ling Mai placed the jewellery into her cupped hands and told her to open her eyes. “For keeping me fed by giving me work for the last few years, and for taking me into your home. Thank you.”
Grandma Tang’s eyes teared up. She just looked at the jewellery for a few moments. After a few seconds, she said in a gentle voice, “Thank you little pixie. I have not received any gifts since I was a little girl. You have given me a lot of pleasure over the last few years, watching you learn and work hard.” She hesitated for a few more moments. “I don’t have any jewellery. These will be good for my new image: rich old woman!”
Ling Mai laughed. “You are only old in your mind!”
Grandma Tang pretended to swat her butt. “Just because you have given me jewellery, doesn’t mean you can be cheeky.”
Just to be safe, Ling Mai danced out of reach. She was worried about Grandma Tang getting old but had heard that cultivators lived extended lifespans. If she could get Grandma Tang to cultivate to even a middle level of cultivation then it could double or even triple her lifespan.
On the way to the Blacksmith, Ling Mai decided to form a lightning core and crystal. She didn’t want to waste Heavenly Tribulation Lightning energy on attacks. The way her life was going, she needed multiple ways of defending herself. “My life has been very dangerous and difficult until now,” She thought. She realised that Big Ming was correct; the life of a cultivator could also be fraught with danger. “But it is also an opportunity to learn interesting new things, and it is heaps of fun!”
Approaching the blacksmith’s workshop, they could hear the banging of a hammer on metal. A syncopated tap, bang… tap, bang…
The scent of burning charcoal and hot metal permeated the surroundings. A plume of smoke from the forge lazily ascended into the pale blue autumn sky.
Peering through the open door, they could see a red-faced sweating man holding a glowing red length of metal with a pair of tongs whilst hammering the length of metal with a flat-headed hammer. Ling Mai judged the blacksmith was doing the final shaping of a knife. The blade was broad and short, most likely a chopping or dicing knife for use in a kitchen. A youth was manning the bellows of the forge though he was currently idle and just watching the blacksmith closely. Seeing the blacksmith was probably almost finished, they waited patiently for him to stop working.
Placing the hammer down beside the anvil, the blacksmith inspected his work and then quenched the newly formed blade in a bucket of oil, making it sizzle and pop. “See how you can’t hurry the final finishing of the blade’s edge?” He instructed the youth.
“Yes, but why did you start at the middle of the blade and work outwards in both directions then repeat by hitting in between where you had just previously struck?”
“Good! You noticed those details. It evens out the bending of the blade so as it stays relatively straight latitudinally, and an even curve longitudinally. We only want the slightest of curves for this blade so that is why we start with a straight blade and only curve it in the final shaping.”
The blacksmith then turned to Ling Mai’s group and asked, “Thank you for waiting. What can I help you with?”
Ling Mai had been watching in fascination the final shaping of the blade. She came back to the present with a start. She had not just been watching and analysing the forging process but had been thinking of ways to improve the equipment used by the blacksmith. The forge and bellows were obvious items to be improved by a few inclusions of her fire and air energy crystals though if she redesigned the forge to be able to vary the temperature then the bellows would become obsolete.
Excited, she burst into rapid speech, “Hi, I’m Ling Mai and I want you to help me by making some metal items to house energy crystals that I make. But before that, can I redesign your forge and provide you with a light?”
Without waiting for a response, she created a new light energy crystal. She was getting more proficient at forming crystals as she was fine-tuning the process. She floated it up to the ceiling over the forge. What was previously a dimly lit area, was now flooded by light.
Forming a large fire crystal, she floated it over to the forge and in through the open door. The forge which had been slowly cooling was rapidly heated again to a glowing red.
The blacksmith and his apprentice were slack-jawed in amazement.
“Do you think the crystals will be of use?”
Shaking himself, the blacksmith turned to Ling Mai. His mouth moved for a few seconds though no sound issued. Swallowing, he tried again and asked, “How is it powered, and can it be controlled?”
Seeing that Ling Mai was going to be engaged for quite a while, Grandma Tang interjected, “I’ll go and do some chores and buy lunch on the way back. I’ll get you some duck rice noodles.” Looking at the blacksmith and apprentice, she continued, “I’ll get you both some as well.”
Barely looking at Grandma Tang, both Ling Mai and the blacksmith absently mindedly answered with a brief, “Thank you,” before starting to excitedly discuss the possibilities and options of energy crystals.
Ling Mai paused after a minute or so of disjointed conversation, as they both kept following different trains of thought, and jumping from one way of improving the forge to another, “How about I describe my current various types of energy crystals, and then we can discuss how they can be modified to achieve the best results?”
The blacksmith smiled deprecatingly, “Great idea, but let me introduce myself. My name is Moe Lao, but my friends call me, Hungry.”
Ling Mai turned to look at Kitty, “Kitty, you have a brother!”
Kitty didn’t even open his eyes. He was napping in the sunlight coming in through the door. His ear flicked in a possible response. Sunbathing was a serious activity!
Turning back to Hungry, Ling Mai politely responded, “It is great to meet you, Hungry. I have so many questions about forging!” She realised that the blacksmith probably ate huge amounts of food as he was the most muscular man she had ever seen, and the forging process looked like hard work.
After explaining the different energies she could already form into crystals, she then explained the ways she had of controlling the output. The different forging needs were clarified and then the most convenient ways of varying the output intensity and shape were discussed.
Having come up with a plan, they then started discussing the holders of the energy crystals for fire and light types of devices. After an hour they were still deep in these discussions when the young apprentice approached them, “I have finished forging a knife. Could you please inspect it, Master?”
Rousing themselves from their intense discourse, Ling Mai and Hungry looked at the youth, then at each other, and then burst into laughter. They had been so engrossed they hadn’t noticed the apprentice working! “Give it here,” Hungry said after recovering his equanimity. Examining the blade closely, he then hefted it to assess the knife’s balance. He smiled and stated, “Well done. All that practice forging nails has successfully honed your hammer skills.”
“Ah, don’t mention nails!”
Ling Mai was perplexed, “What is wrong with forging nails?”
“Nothing! I have only had to forge ten thousand nails before Master would let me forge a knife!” The young apprentice complained. “And now I have to forge one thousand knives before he will let me forge a sword.”
“Look at this knife! Your first knife and it is high quality. After one thousand knives you will be producing superior quality knives.”
Ling Mai knew the importance of practising. She had practised diligently with her sling until she had reached near perfection. Her skill was critical to her survival, both for defending herself and hunting for food.
She examined the apprentice’s knife with her energy sense and compared it to the blacksmith’s knife. The knife looked much the same except for a variation of energy where the blade joined the tang. There was also an imperfection at the tip. She asked the apprentice, “That knife looks pretty good in my energy sense, but there is a weakness at the tip and also where the tang joins the blade.”
Hunger and the apprentice both looked dumbfounded. “You can sense flaws?” Asked Hunger.
“Yes, it is easy. Though I don’t know why they were formed. I would make a guess that the metal was not hot enough at the tang while forging, and the tip being too hot.”
The apprentice looked at his master. “That isn’t fair! I wish I had this energy-sensing ability.”
“You and me both,” Hunger replied to his apprentice. “Ling Mai, you are correct in your assessment. There is a fine balance between taking your time to ensure the correct shaping and at the same time keeping the temperature of the metal at the correct level.”
Hearing this, Ling Mai asked, “What if I made an energy crystal in the shape of the item being forged, then keeping it at the correct temperature would not be a problem, yes?”
“What exactly do you mean?”
“I’ll show you. Can I have an amount of steel for a sword suitable for a cultivator of my size?”
The blacksmith thought for a moment, then went to a locked cabinet and opened it to retrieve a long bar of steel.
Using her energy sense, she could tell it had multiple types of metal and other elements incorporated into the steel bar. She compared the steel to the steel in the high-ranked swords and spears in her storage ring. The steel was very similar and was obviously a high-quality steel alloy, but it was missing a couple of elements. She did have those types of energy in her core so she thought, “If I infuse these energies into this steel bar as I forge it and also distribute all the other elements in the same way as the swords and spears have their elements concentrated so as to create the same properties of strength, hardness and flexibility, then I will have a great sword!”
Picking up the tongs from beside the anvil, she created a fire energy crystal in the shape of the sword she desired. She designed the shape from the different types of swords she examined. Part of the new design was inspired by the other swords, but the other part was a feeling of correctness or suitability for her own use.
Making the fire crystal larger so it encompassed the whole of the bar of steel that the blacksmith had placed on the anvil, she picked it up by the tongs and experimented moving it around and flipping it over. She soon had a grasp of how to move it, her increased strength from her cultivation helping immensely.
Heating the steel bar to the same temperature as the knife had been, she realised it needed to be a little hotter as not all the elements were in a semi-fluid state. Once thermal equilibrium had been achieved, she gave it an experimental tap. She could sense how the hammer modified the structure. She compared how the knife and sword structures were similar but different. A more flexible but also stronger structure was needed. The sharp edges were very similar, only lacking in some apparently exotic elements in the knife that she could provide from her core.
Her mind which kept track of her surroundings showed her an image of the apprentice bending and folding the initial bar of steel for his knife. She realised this was what created the strength and flexibility of the blade. The apprentice had only folded it ten times. Ling Mai felt her sword needed many more. She could tell the high-level swords and spears had around one hundred folds. This had the additional effect of creating a beautiful pattern on the blades.
As the constant heating of the fire crystal kept the steel at the optimal temperature, she rapidly bent, folded and hammered the steel into the desired layers. As she folded the steel bar, she incorporated the missing elements as well as moving the already incorporated elements into the portions of the bar that would become the core, edges and tang.
Once she had folded it one hundred and twenty-one times, it felt right. She stopped and examined it closely. It looked perfect to her senses. “Now for the shaping!” She thought.
Taking up the flat-headed hammer, she started elongating the steel bar, tapering the tip and forming the tang as she went. There was too much steel in the original steel bar, so she chopped off a portion. She thought, “I can make a knife out of the excess.”
In only a few minutes she had finished. She had been modifying the fire energy crystal all along to fit the shape of the metal. This saved energy and meant the hammer and tongs were not heated as she used them to shape and hold her new sword.
Looking up she saw the blacksmith holding a bucket of oil. “This is a special oil for high-class blades,” he explained. He placed it beside her. “Let the blade cool slightly, then quench it in the oil to temper the metal.”
Doing so, Ling Mai closely observed the blade. Once the exterior had been tempered to the right hardness, she removed it from the oil and placed it on the anvil. Putting down the hammer and tongs, she shook her hands and arms to relax the muscles and tendons. Even with her cultivation helping her, she had found it onerous to keep up the steady hammering.
The blacksmith and his apprentice excitedly examined the blade, turning it this way and that. “That was amazing to watch!” Cried the blacksmith excitedly. “Such a remarkable blade created in such a short time!”
The two of them started animatedly discussing the process and how the energy crystals could be used to make new types of weapons and items. The speed of forging with fire crystals was many times faster than using a forge. No time was needed to reheat the metal. The only downside was they would not have the same stamina as her cultivation provided for continuous hammering.
They then started interrogating Ling Mai to get all the details of her forging technique. Hearing she could provide exotic materials from her core, and incorporate them into specific parts of the blade, blew them away.
She then explained how her energy crystals worked and how they gathered energy from a distance to fuel them.
After two hours of absence, Grandma Tang returned, only to hear the blacksmith asking, with obvious wonder in his voice, “It provides its own energy without ever having to be fueled?”
“Yes, unless there is not enough heat or light energy stored in the crystals and it is nighttime. It gets the vast majority of its energy from the sun. Though, I can make multiple crystals to store enough energy to easily last a week of rain.”
“Fantastic!” The blacksmith practically danced around Ling Mai, and then he abruptly picked her up and whirled her around. Placing her back on the ground he gushed, “Do know how much time your inventions will save me? Let alone the cost of charcoal!”
Grandma Tang interrupted before he could further expound on the advantages of the proposed new equipment, “Here are your lunches. Eat before it gets cold. While you eat, work out a plan of what to do first. We would like to go to the trading post in about two hours to demonstrate the new devices. You can start modifying the forge and energy crystals tomorrow morning,” she ordered.
Grandma Tang handed out the bowls of soup and took out two roasted goat’s hindquarters for Kitty. Kitty perked up at the tantalising scent and pounced over. Grandma Tang jumped back in surprise. “Hungry, are you?”
Kitty purred loudly as he tore at the tender meat. He looked up and smiled at Grandma Tang.
After lunch, the blacksmith quickly made the new devices to house the light and energy crystals, helped enormously by Ling Mai creating appropriately shaped fire crystals. They made three of each type. They needed one set of devices for the trading post, another to act as the template or prototype to be kept at the workshop, and another set for Grandma Tang’s house. Ling Mai added a fire crystal and the associated vortexes to the blacksmith’s forge. She would create completely new types of forges later on.
A still very excited but tired blacksmith waved them goodbye whilst saying, “I will have your new sword sharpened and a hilt attached by tomorrow morning. Come by and we can create the energy crystals for the workshop. We can work out an amount to reimburse you for the continuing use of the crystals.”
As they left the blacksmith’s shop, Ling Mai sighed with satisfaction. “I now have my very own sword! And how interesting was that!” She thought happily. “I really want to learn more about forging. There is so much to discover. Not just forging techniques, but experimenting with creating different kinds of alloys by using energy types in my cores. I have so many energy types but I don’t even know what they are!”
“So you have wowed the blacksmith, and made a friend for life?” Asked Grandma Tang.
“He was very excited about some of the things I showed him.”
“And he said you created a Legendary sword?”
“Yes, it was fascinating learning how to make it. I mostly just copied the structure and energy types from the swords in my storage ring. I even learnt how to create the metal and earth element I was missing.”
“So you can now create gold?”
“I suppose so, but it would be a very slow process as heavy elements like gold require a lot of energy to create. Easier to just retrieve the gold from the river.”
Grandma Tang just stared at her.
Feeling self-conscious, Ling Mai started walking again. Returning to checking on her helper minds she received a summary of their progress. Her supervisor mind was very efficient at her task, as were all the other minds. This made Ling Mai think about her progress in cultivation, energy sensing and manipulation, and her ability to have so many minds. Part of it was lucky happenstance, but most could not be attributed to luck or circumstance or even inheritance of superior abilities.
There were a few stark differences between her cultivation method and the other cultivators she had examined. The others only had one type of energy or possibly only a few types, and the structure of the cores would possibly help explain her advantages but she was leaning towards the idea of having her cores in her head, instead of her abdomen, was the crucial factor. Her brain, with constant energy being received from her cores, was getting purified and strengthened. This was part or all of the reason she could form separate streams of consciousness or minds.
She wondered how many minds she would end up having in the future. “Many!” She decided.
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