I didn’t sleep easily that night, due to the thoughts swirling around my head.
For one, I had seen so many innovations beneath the palace today, and they had given me a few ideas as to how I could improve my own smithing.
However, the other contributing factor to my sleeplessness could be attributed to the age-old adage, that too much knowledge can be a bad thing.
It’s kinda hard to sleep easily, knowing that there are a few thermo-nuclear devices under the palace.
I really could have gone without knowing about those. But no, Joan just had to show them off.
Well, since I couldn’t sleep, I decided that my time would be better spent meditating. I could work on my mana pool, as well as think about what I would be able do with all the new things I had learned today.
Most of what I had seen underground was made using principles from Earth, and combining them with magic. I’ve been doing something similar so far, with the mana circuits. However, what I saw down there went beyond what I thought possible. It made my attempts at blacksmithing look like a child tinkering with a tower of uneven blocks.
I remembered Iris the most vividly though; if only because of the panic it brought when I thought that everyone could see my status. But, even more than that, I thought about the implications something Like Iris has, as well as the Advanced Status it had shown me.
The mere fact that someone had even been able to hack into the World System, left me reeling with the implications of it all.
The System wasn’t perfect, nor impenetrable. I had thought that the only way to see someone else’s status was to use a skill. And, even that wasn’t ideal. For instance, my [Analyze] was maxed out a far as it’s abilities were concerned. However, I’ve had to give up on using it, since so many of the people I’ve encountered lately would know that I had tried to use it on them. I had learned from Niten that when there was a great disparity in levels, or if the person you tried to use it on had a higher ranked skill, [Analyze] would actually do more harm than good.
So, I’ve had to stop using it, for fear that I would encounter someone who didn’t take kindly to the intrusion. The flip side of this, though, is that I’ve gotten very good at approximating a person’s level of power from the aura they leak.
Anyway, my point is that Iris is a completely unfair, and stunning invention. For the sakes of the gods, it can pull a person’s true name seemingly out of it’s ass!
It also somewhat confirmed a thought that I’d had a while back. It had been a simple question I had, one that had stuck with me a little, just like a little thorn in my heart.
‘What if everything around us is artificial?’
Of course, I’m not talking about cities, or things shaped by the hands of sentient beings.
I’m talking about the planets themselves. The flow of mana. The World System.
I’d be willing to bet that some powerful but lazy gods decided to simply create a workable ecosystem on a previously desolate rock, and made the most basic of lifeforms, before simply letting them evolve into what we are today.
Actually, no. All they would have to do would be to drag an appropriately sized rock within that golden belt of life, and watch as things moved on.
I don’t doubt that that’s how most inhabitable planets start out.
In fact, I’m sure that’s what happens.
No, what always baffled me was the World System.
The people native to these worlds seem to not question it, since it’s always been there. They completely take it for granted, and can’t comprehend a world without one.
And, as someone who had lived in one of those System-less planets, I know that it’s more than a little unnatural. And, I can’t help but look to those same meddlesome gods as it’s origins.
Or so I thought, but would they really create a hack-able system? You would think that they would patch up an oversight like that. But, maybe it was intentional?
Ugh. I’ll never understand these things, unless I have the good grace to come within spitting distance of a powerful god, who may know about the underpinnings of the universe.
Well, until that incredibly lucky set of circumstances happens, I’ll just push all this to the back of my mind again.
Besides, I had other things to think about.
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In the morning, Bea came by to check on me, and to take me around the palace so that I would gain a greater understanding of how it is laid out.
“Is there anything in particular you would like to see today, Kai?”
“Not really—No, wait. Do you guys have a forge nearby? I’ve been wanting to see the place that’s able to produce such high-level steel.”
Bea laughed.
“Indeed we do.”
She paused for a second,
“Wait, is that your hobby or something? Smithing?”
I nodded my head somewhat hesitantly.
“Huh. Who would have thought it?”
“Hey! What do you mean by that?”
Bea smirked, and made a motion like ‘look at yourself’.
“You don’t exactly fit the image of a typical blacksmith, since you look like a cute prepubescent girl.”
I gasped.
“How rude! I’ll have you know that…”
I trailed off, suddenly aware of the profound embarrassment that awaited me at the end of that sentence.
“What would you have me know, Kai? Please continue—I have a feeling that it would have been entertaining.”
I grumbled a little under my breath, muttering rather foul words in at least eight different languages.
Bea must have heard me, since she started snickering. Though, I’m sure she didn’t know what I had been saying, since there was the whole language barrier thing in the way again.
Even with all the unjustified harassment, I was glad Bea could take me to a smithy. I’ve been dying to figure out how advanced the metallurgy here is, as well as what sorts of weapons I could make with all that I would learn.
We ventured along several winding corridors, before emerging from inside the palace to a outside garden filled with pretty flowers and well trimmed bushes.
“Uh—forgive me for pointing this out, but I asked about a smithy, not a flower garden.” I said jokingly.
She responded in kind, though.
“Oh, but I felt that a cranky little maiden like you would have their countenance greatly improved with the addition of a flower or two.” She said, grinning widely, with malevolent undertones.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Before I could even register movement, there was a blur of wind, and I felt something settle into my hair.
Disbelievingly, I reached up and felt the crown of flowers that had been intertwined into my hair without me even seeing it happen.
Bea was standing in the same place, that same grin on her face.
I gaped at her, stunned.
“What? Is the little maiden surprised at the generosity displayed by the great me? Or has your countenance so improved with the flowers, that you would be quiet and meek like a little mouse?”
“No…I was just thinking that you would be a good sparring partner for later.” I said curtly.
I also decided to refrain from commenting on the ‘little maiden’ stuff.
That would just give Bea more cannon fodder.
“Sparring partner? I think it would be better if you looked for someone of your own strength.” She said.
“It’s my personal opinion that the best sparring partners are usually stronger than me, since I can gradually reach their strength through practice.”
Bea didn’t look convinced, and I sighed.
“Fine then. How about you gather a group of people about my level, and I show you what I mean later.”
Bea looked at me critically.
“All right then. What level are you, so that I might be able to look for others with your degree of strength?”
“About one-eighty. Though, I would look for people around level two-hundred.”
“Okay then, if you say so.”
“Now then, where’s that smithy?”
“Ah, right. Follow me, it’s this way.” She said, pointing to an area past the flower garden.
Ah, so there was a reason to go through the garden. I’d been half convinced that Bea had brought me here just to get a kick from it.
We followed a small pathway which ambled it’s way through the garden, before spitting us out near a set of buildings. One of them seemed like a large and heavily fortified warehouse, without any windows, and with guards set outside of it.
Bea pointed to it.
“That’s the palace armory. If you need a good set of armor, or some weapons, I’d recommend you visit it. Just drop Lady Joan’s name, and the guards should let you in.”
Then, she pointed to a large amphitheater-like place, with a large expanse of sand covering the bottom of it, and a few tiers of seating spread around it. It was large enough to hold a dozen divisions from the military all at once, and there were currently a bunch of guards training there.
“That’s the palace’s sparring grounds, where most of the guards are trained, as well as any person in the palace, if they are so inclined.”
She didn’t even have to point at the last building, for I knew what it was even without an introduction.
“And the last building is the palace’s forge. I think I’ll save an explanation for the blacksmiths.”
We walked to said building, which had smoke pouring from several chimneys set into its roof, and the scarlet glimmer of fire between the posts holding up the roof. I could hear the tinny sound of metal hitting metal, and smell the wood and charcoal burning.
I didn’t really realize that I missed smithing, until seeing this forge. I hadn’t had the time, nor the space to do it during the summit, and the ordeal I went through in the woods forced it from my mind.
Now though, the need to hammer out my emotions, to shape metal, hit me viscerally.
It was something that I had gotten used to using as a stress relief method for a while now. Sort of like how some people needed to read, write, paint, train, or even just meditate, creating blades calmed frayed nerves or even just helped me to think.
We entered the smithy, and my eyes were immediately drawn to the Beastmen working the billows, and the skinny looking lad handling the hammer and metal. I thought it a bit odd that he didn’t fit the typical blacksmith image, but then again, neither did I.
And, I called him lad, because he looked young, no older than eighteen. Maybe he’s one of those mana users that simply don’t age?
There are a few like that, who inhabit the bodies of young people, even after a millennia had passed for them. Then, there are those that just seem to become old, and stay that way far, far past the point they should have died.
Anyway he handled the hammer with delicate skill, hitting the glowing bar of metal set atop the anvil with quick and precise strokes. The two other men would then bring the metal back under the coals, to reheat it while pumping the billows and sending a cascade of sparks into the air.
They were all so absorbed in their work, that they didn’t even notice me walk right up to them, until the metal had gone back into the fire.
Looking up, the boy startled, nearly dropping the hammer. He started speaking angrily, but not in a language I could understand.
Bea stepped forward, and started speaking to the boy, attempting to calm him down, while I side-stepped him, to look at the hunk of metal they had just placed into the forge fire.
It was glowing a dull red, but growing brighter the longer it was in there. I couldn’t really tell what sort of metal it was, while it was glowing.
I began looking around the shop, checking out some of the halfway finished blades laying around everywhere.
They were well crafted, that much was immediately evident.
I still couldn’t figure out what metal was being used to make them, though. It had a sheen like silver, but gave off a ringing note when I tapped the blade. I could see little ripples in the blade, evidently where the metal had been folded several times.
I turned to Bea, who was still arguing with the boy about something.
“Hey Bea, do you know what metal these blades are made of? It’s like nothing I’ve yet seen.”
Bea came over to where I was, and the boy followed her, still speaking angrily.
“Ah, that’s a special type of metal only used by the palace, called Tunnel Iron.”
Curious, I picked up one of the unfinished blades, and lightly slashed it through the air. I was shocked, when it seemed to cut the space in front of me, with the blade leaving a clean black void in it’s wake. The cut in the air faded after a few moments, but my astonishment didn’t.
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Author's Note:
The flight just about killed me, but I'm mostly moved into my dorm room now.
I'll see how things work out tomorrow, and maybe put another chapter out.