Any object I wanted to lift in a gaseous atmosphere like an aircraft required a low pressure above the object and high-pressure below. That by itself wasn’t difficult because by shifting the air from above the object naturally created a low pressure there. Moving air around the object and compressing it underneath, created a high pressure. The only problem was that in moving the air around the object, I created small low pressures around the sides, which also tended to pull or push the object from side to side depending on which side the pressure was greater or lesser.
If the object were perfectly spherical then perhaps it would be easier to control. But since when was a stick or icicle shaped like a perfect sphere? My biggest challenge was trying to stop my floating object from suddenly veering uncontrollably to one side, like pushing a heavily loaded shopping trolly backwards from the front end. People might have thought the downward effect of gravity complicated matters for me, but in practice the opposite was true. The downward pull of gravity allowed me to better focus on lifting. Then I only needed to balance the object by shifting the airflow alternatively from one side to the other as needed, like a circus performer balancing a long pole with only the tip of their finger. In that way if you looked at the stick floating in the air from behind, it would gently bob up and down as I frequently shifted the airflow. With time, that skill became so natural to me it was difficult to notice any bobbing motion, like the seemingly effortless actions of a circus juggler balancing objects.
Another consideration was the weight of the object. Someone might have considered it easier to use lighter objects in relation to EE usage but as I quickly found, the behaviour of heavier objects was far more predictable.
Another game I enjoyed playing was throwing river stones onto the water, creating large splashes, then freezing the larger water droplets in the air, and launching them over the river all in one sequence. That way I didn’t have to first create the shape of the icy object. Doing that seemed easy enough but I didn’t see an application outside of practice since producing water to ice up during stressful situations created more complications for me. I shifted my focus to other available items like wooden sticks. I found a sturdy and cylindrical branch about thirty centimetres long, but when I created a strong high-pressure zone behind a stick, it fired off so quickly the stick disintegrated before it reached halfway through its effective distance. It took me a while to realise that the rear of the stick was trying to overtake the front, which was experiencing the greatest air resistance, it put such excessive strain on the stick it disintegrated mid-flight. Sticks didn’t like quick starts which partly explained why wooden rockets and bullets never took off, pun intended.
Hoping to resolve the disintegration issue I decided to try something else. I discovered round, flattened stones about the size of my palm, but they tended to randomly go wherever they wanted after launching. By now, most people would be asking why I didn’t use arrows or spear type weapons but then those things didn’t grow on trees, and they cost too much to be playing around with them.
My solution lay in guiding the stones during flight, using air pressure for as long as practically possible, thereby keeping the flight direction in check. Again, it was easier said than done because no two stones look the same. Generally, I found that I could keep a stone going straight for ten meters and then it would start to veer off course. Ten meters sounded far way, but a determined wolf could cover that distance in two or three bounds. A direwolf needed only one bound which equated to me needing one shot powerful enough to stop it mid-flight. If David killed Goliath with a stone, then under the correct conditions I could kill a direwolf using a sling. However even using a sling was out of the question, because at that stage the rotational speed of a stone in a sling meant I couldn’t lock onto it with my current skill level.
No matter how I looked at it, the well-worn tropes in fantasy novels of a magician using fighters as protective shields seemed more appropriate in my case. On the other hand, I didn’t want to be reliant on someone else in battle because I never knew when I would face opponents while on my own. Keeping my skills overt as possible also meant hiding my skills by working more on my own. In that case, it was better for me to enhance my physical abilities with my skills and become proficient with other useful skills until they were second nature to me. An ever-present feeling within me said that the skills I developed would become world changing and no amount of hiding would conceal that. Who knew, perhaps in time, I could entrust select people with my life, people who would know me as I truly am.
I stopped experimenting for the day because my EE dropped past my personal set limit. It was better for me to learn the discipline of keeping EE spare in case I ran into emergencies. I fingered a small stone in my pocket, a relic from my incident with the ogre general. The same red stone the supervisor gave me. At first I assumed the ogre general kept the stone with him along with the necklace chain and coins, not realising I received a heartstone. Ara taught me that there were natural sources of ethereal energy. According to the information supplied by Ara, some metals, water, and certain types of rock could be a source of EE. She also mentioned the red stone I kept in my pocket was another source of EE, only found inside monsters. The elves first called them heartstones. It echoed the fantasy novels where one could harvest crystals or stones from monsters, perhaps the ideas behind fantasy novels originated from worlds like this. For some unknown reason I couldn’t get myself to use the EE from the stone, why I don’t know, perhaps I felt it had more value than just being a glorified EE battery. Once again, I appraised the stone:
Name: Ogre General Heartstone
Material Type: Crystal
Attributes: Ethereal Store
EE: 5450
That night, while lying in bed, I felt inspired to appraise things again. My eye fell on the battle-axe handle poking out from under my bed. The length of the weapon took up the full two meters of my bed and the handle still stuck outside the foot-end of my bed. I placed my hand on the blade.
Item Name: Crimson Battle Axe.
Class: Battle Axe.
Blade: Iron 100%.
Handle: Eacorn Wood.
EE: 200/200.
Strength: 380/380.
Attribute: None.
Cost: 8 Small Gold
Bloody heck, the thing cost eight small gold! I couldn’t leave the thing just lying around, but where the heck would I put it anyway? Besides, it wasn’t as if someone could just waltz away with the thing. Disappointingly, it turned out to be a plain old axe with no special attributes, but then who was I to complain about free money.
Two days later our turn to return home arrived if I could call Obon home. Our blacksmith replacements from Shimmerstal turned up the day before, and once again I found myself sitting on the noisy cart while accompanying Grenfell and a few other woodcutters. Next to me lay my massive and useless battle axe. I still wasn’t too sure what to do with it. Perhaps I could sell it or melt it into something more useful, although eight small gold made it a bit pricey to just melt down into something else.
I wasn’t the sort of person who could sit for four hours and do nothing. My mother always said I had ants in my pants like mothers sometimes do. Since I would be sitting on the cart for at least four hours doing nothing but staring at smelly woodcutters, I decided to do a little surreptitious skill practising on a metal sphere hidden in my hand. I became quite proficient after all my transmutation practising. A single sphere no longer presented a challenge for me, so I transmuted a slightly larger sphere into two spheres and then returned them into a single sphere again. That of course generated copious amounts of heat in my hand, forcing me to cool the area, while constantly healing my hand which in turn practised my healing skill even more. In my honest opinion, I think I had the most healed hands in the entire kingdom. In fact, I swear my skin looked softer and smoother even though I worked with a forge each day. I even challenged myself to simultaneously transmutate a sphere in each hand, but sadly, judging by the level three burns I received, it remained a work in progress. At one time during our trip, I lost focus and the smell of burning skin and metal wafted past my nose. Luckily, the movement of the carriage created a wind that blew away the smell but not before Grenfell’s sharp nose caught the unique scent.
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“You're doing that now?”
I smiled sheepishly and said to him,
“I couldn't just sit here and do nothing.”
He just sighed and shook his head. The others around us didn’t know what Grenfell referred to and didn’t bother to ask. Regardless, my transmutation training bore fruit because from the last check my EE stood at 3040. Just like rigorous physical training enhanced the muscles, skills training enhanced abilities. I accepted that there was no free meal when it came to things ethereal, the more complex skills swallowed EE faster than breathing air meaning there was never enough EE to burn.
I started to feel more like a juggler and less like a magician when working with my skill experiments. Focusing on multiple skills while trying to manipulate a spherical metal object was like juggling balls with both hands while crossing a busy motor highway. I needed to simplify things so that I could focus on what needed to be done rather than how.
“What are you planning to do when you get back?”
Grenfell asked me a pertinent question. To be honest, I hadn’t given it a lot of thought although I didn’t want to bother Orilay and Alma by staying with them again. I still needed a source of money in the short term since whatever I earned from my work with Gren at the woodcutter’s camp was limited.
“Haruhime suggested I stay at her inn, apparently adventurous like the Minstrels stay there as well, although I have no idea what it costs.”
“You’ll be getting a salary from me in future so staying at her inn wouldn’t be a problem.”
“What does the job pay?”
For the first time Grenfell laughed because I hadn’t even discussed any wages before accepting the job. It wasn’t my fault because I only ever worked in one job in my life and my job negotiation skills amounted to nil.
“Not much I’m afraid, but it’ll certainly be more than what you were earning before.”
Somehow, I never thought to ask just how much I was earning. I’d be surprised if I even got a wage. Deciding not to show my total ignorance I simply nodded.
“So, just how much?”
“Mm, I would say five silver coins should do. A night’s accommodation at the Screaming Banshee will cost you two silvers if you include breakfast and dinner. The rest of the three silvers you can save up for clothing or anything else you need.”
“I’ve no idea if that sounds reasonable or not, but I trust you.”
Grenfell smiled and slapped me so hard on the shoulder that my teeth rattled. Why did people with overwhelming arm strength always do that to me? As we arrived on the outskirts of Obon a group of five scruffy-looking men stopped us at a roadblock. It seemed Orilay knew them and without much conversation he handed over a small leather pouch holding coins. Although, I should say Orilay tossed the pouch over to them which is why I heard there were coins in the pouch. Orilay no doubt that on purpose so that everyone could hear that there were gold coins in the bag. The recipient of the pouch sneered, opened the contents of the pouch into his hand and counted the coins in detail. I got the distinct feeling he did that to make everyone on the carts feel diminutive. Seemingly satisfied with the contents of the pouch he waved the carts through. As we entered the town, I asked Grenfell,
“What was that all about?”
“Tax collectors working for the mayor. He charges any people or goods that enter the town with a heavy poll tax. Because of that, fewer people enter town to do business these days. If it carries on like this, the town will soon become a ghost town.”
“That's precious, even though it's his own work team he still taxes us?”
Judging by the shabby look of the shops Grenfell didn’t have to say more as I could see for myself how poorly the town was performing. There were only a few shops that were open, most of them catering to everyday necessities.
Grenfell asked me,
“Do you know where the dryad is?”
I shook my head.
“Find the dryad sign on the east side of town. It’s the only weaponsmith around. The sign leads you to an alleyway between the shops. Follow that through and you’ll find me.”
I shook his hand before he jumped off the cart.
“Oh, by the way, I’ll give you what I owe you when you find me.”
Even more reason to find him sooner, I thought.
Contrary to my expectations, the men didn’t disperse once the carts had stopped. Instead, they gathered around Orilay who stood on the cart to hand out the wages. I realised it was money time, so I hung around in line until my turn came, only to be faced with a question I wasn’t expecting.
“Come on, where’s your worker’s permit? You know I can’t pay you without it.”
What was a worker’s permit? No one told me about that. Orilay must’ve seen the distress on my face when I realised, I might not get paid. Any of my anguish promptly disappeared when a chorus of laughs from the others erupted around me. It seemed I was the butt of a well-worn joke played with newbies like me.
Orilay still chuckling at his newbie joke, then suddenly slapped me on the back.
“Don’t worry newbie, we can understand that your paperwork is not in order. But if you want to find work in future or if you go to the capital, you’ll need to register with the labour guild.”
I nodded in affirmation as I received payment of twenty-two silvers and forty coppers, not including the three gold coins, five silvers and four coppers I received from defeating the ogre general. I assumed, in order of increasing importance, coppers, silver and gold were the denominations for that region. All coins were about the size of my thumb and the copper coin sported a square hole in the centre. At that stage I had no idea how many coppers made up a silver coin, or how many silver coins made up a gold coin. The good news was that Grenfell mentioned that it costed two silvers a night at the inn in which case twenty-two silvers guaranteed me at least ten nights’ accommodation. Basic mathematics made it obvious to me that woodcutters wages only supplied the bare minimum of living expenses. Thank goodness Grenfell made me an offer of five silver coins a day, he probably suspected I would run into that dilemma.
Finally, Orilay and I were the only workers still standing at the cart. I dragged my battle-axe off the cart until it dropped onto the ground with a solid thud. Orilay thanked the cart driver and paid him a few coins. As we watched the cart moving away, I asked Orilay a question.
“Hey Orilay, what’s that building over there.”
I pointed at the same building we started at when I first joined up as part of the crew. It was a double story wooden building that looked mixture between a large barn and an office.
“That’s the adventurer guild. I know you’ve signed up with the old man, but it might be worth your while signing up as an adventurer as well.”
“Why’s that?”
“Well, the ugly truth is there’s simply not enough work to keep a blacksmith permanently employed with both the old man, and the Blacksmith Bros. down the road, all vying for smithy work. Even with the old man focusing on making weapons for the adventurers and the blacksmith Bros focusing on everyday blacksmithing like cart repairs, work in Obon is still hard to come by.”
It was good advice, and I would seriously consider it. But in the same vein I had another question in mind, after all it was a fantasy world.
“Is there such a thing as a merchant’s guild?”
“Yes, there is. But you can only register as a merchant in Shimmerstal because there’s no merchant’s guild branch in Obon.”
I’d hoped to do some trading, or at least find out something more about trading options in that world. But it would just have to wait for the time being. I had a little something for Orilay. After searching my pants pocket, I retrieved a gold coin and handed it to him. As soon as he realised what he held he refused to take it.
“What? This is a small gold coin. I can’t accept this Shane; you’re going to need this to survive.”
Ah, he said a small gold coin. If that’s a small gold coin, I assume it is lesser to domination as opposed to something like a large gold coin, but I still had no idea what value it held in terms of silvers.
“Don’t worry, I have enough to survive on for now besides, I wouldn’t have any of this if you hadn’t looked after me when I first arrived here. Because of you I now have a job with Grenfell. So, consider this a small thank you from my side.”
He went quiet for a moment, and tears started forming in his eyes. Heck, if he carried on like that I would start crying too. I started to walk away, dragging my battle-axe behind me, while waving my hand in a dismissive way.
“I’m sure we’ll see other soon enough.”
I left him standing there while I headed to where our last saw the Screaming Banshee. To be honest, when I later found out the value of that small gold coin, I couldn’t help but kick myself for so easily giving away fifty nights’ accommodation and meals. It was no wonder Orilay was crying, I should’ve been crying too.