For hours Luke had Tristan preform various exercises, from sit ups and pushups to crawling up the piles of dirt on his hands and feet. This was followed by what Tristan could only called slow dancing. It was so slow that Tristan could barely hold the stance. At first Tristan had mocked the exercise, Luke made it look so easy. Once Tristan extended his arms and legs, they started burning after a few minutes.
Tristan’s balance was terrible, standing on one foot with a leg extended sounds easy, it was not. The movement that Luke called a round house was the bane of his existence. After picking his knee up he would then rotate his hip to place his shin parallel to the ground. Before swinging his leg out, Luke would force him to hold the pose, resulting in cramps.
Once that torture was over, Luke blindfolded Tristan. After putting on metal bracelets, he proceeded to slap Tristan. It took him a few blows to realize that he was supposed to sense the bracelets. A task that he miserably failed at. His normal attempts at it were in a controlled environment with large pieces of metal. Also they were at a distance and stationary.
Tristan tried, he really did, but the sense he used only let him feel slightly happier around metal. It was a feeling that was easily overwhelmed by the stress of trying to avoid Luke. He did evade several times, but it was because he started moving erratically. Luke was more than capable of reacting to erratic movements.
Luke kept a commentary running through the whole event, “Some of the most skilled warriors are able to sense the disturbance in the air and react accordingly.”
Tristan thought that it was obvious to assume a person with an air kern would be able to sense disturbances in the air. Especially if they were at tier three, Luke was pushing Tristan to feel metal after all. Though he could see no practical application, Tristan endured it all.
After this horror Luke permitted Tristan to colapse, “ alright, I think it’s about time for lunch.”
Tristan started crying, “it’s only been a few hours, I thought it was almost bed time.”
Luke did not show any sympathy, “Normally you would have to help the miners as well, however you are to weak to complete the whole day. If muscles are overworked, they can actually become weaker, not stronger.”
Despite what Luke said, Tristan found the silver lining. No more exercise for the rest of the day. He ate some stir fried veggies that Grace made in a huge shallow bowl. It was an odd meal, and he guessed that the bowl was purposefully created for this specific meal. Grace also gave Tristan an odd drink that Luke showed her how to make. It looked like milk and tasted like chalk, however, Luke said if he didn’t drink it, then he would be in more pain the next day.
Tristan was sure that Luke was threatening him to drink it, however, if there was one thing he would never do, it would be to call Lukes bluff. That was a good way to die. After he finished the drink, Luke went into the mine to assist the miners. Any one with an air kern was welcome in the mine, they could be the difference between survival and a slow asphyxiation on the wrong side of a collapsed tunnel.
Grace rumbled up, “How are you feeling, kid.”
Tristan shrugged, “I’m tired and feel drained, and my cheeks are a little sore.” He held up his trembling hand to show the hairy cook his exhaustion.
She nodded, “Remember, Luke looks scary,” Grace paused for a moment, “Well he is a little scary, but you don’t have to do what he says, he is not your boss.”
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Tristan shook his head, “I think you misunderstand, I asked him to do this. I watched a man get his head ripped off, I don’t want that happening to me.”
Grace winced at that, “Well as long as you are on board.”
Tristan smiled at Grace, then pointed at the empty cup that used to contain chalk milk, and shuddered, “ However, I’m not really ok with whatever this thing is.”
Grace chuckled, “That young man, is a marvelous invention by Luke,” she laughed more at Tristan’s unbelieving expression, “Its true, Luke discovered a creative way to use the wind tuber. It only works because of the natural design of all blood to carry oxygen. Because your kern is so weak that it is barely there, Luke could infuse you with air essence overwhelming your blood’s natural metal affinity.”
Tristan frowned, people could not just infuse others with essence, that was not possible. Essence caused various effects on blood, like Siren being hard to see in the shadows and extremely viscose when cut due to his dark and earth kern. However, he was incapable of donating those abilities to others. Luke’s air essence, would make him both lighter and more flexible, which was not something that Tristan felt at the moment. He wondered Grace was right and it was something that was only possible due to his abnormally weak kern.
Grace continued pointing at the chalk milk, “That has powdered wind tuber in it, normally that’s useless unless you are in contact with air essence, which the young man shoved you full of. Its expensive, but it will speed up your recovery. It will only end up costing you about a quarter of your earnings.”
“I’m getting paid,” Tristan exclaimed. Sure all that other stuff was important, but he was getting paid, “How, when?”
“The same way everyone else does, you get paid a percentage of the price that the metal sells for. Though you get a smaller percent for finding it and not mining it. However it is easy for you to dip your fingers into multiple teams earnings as it takes you far less time to find the metal than it does for them to mine it.”
Tristan was confused, alchemy products could not be cheap, “It can’t possibly be that much, I know that steel does not sell for a lot.”
Grace snorted, “It does when you pull out a building made of the stuff. However, we often find artifacts that have degraded to tier two or three that get sold. Its why Siren stays around, he wants first dibs on a tier four earth or dark artifact.”
“I’m taking from the other miners?” Tristan asked concerned. These people were kind to him and he did not want to take advantage of them.
Grace shrugged, she would normally not talk with any one of the workers for this long she had her own work to do after all. However, she had a soft spot for children, “The team who wants to use you, pays for you with a small part of their earnings,” She pointed at the food he was eating, “That’s not free, your still paying for it. We throw your earnings in a box and remove from it the materials that you use. You are valuable to the mine because the miners don’t want to dig through dirt, as it doesn’t pay. They get knowledge on where to dig and save a lot of time and earn gold faster. It is an easy way for us to provide for you and to keep you around after you have other options available when your older.”
Tristan was not sure if he should be impressed by their ingenuity or frustrated at not being told sooner. He had never had a real job, and these internships were supposed to be exactly that. There were only so many duties that each caste had, and the idea was to try as many as you could before you actually started working. Tristan really only had a single option, and he did not really want to go back home, so it seemed that Conni had simply found a way to hire him.
“Thank you, “ was all he could think to say.
Grace gave what would have been a sweet smile on any other woman, “No problem, honey, now let me take your plate.”
He handed off his plate and walked to his bunk. His was in the far back corner, it was where the person with the least seniority slept. The sun would shine directly into your eyes as it set during the summer months. During the winter people kept the door closed, but it was also the furthest from the fire, so it was also the coldest spot. Tristan did not mind he would rather have warm people and cold weather.
He shook his head, when did he start considering practicality as warmth. These people had a higher chance of accidentally finding a elemental and dying without him. It was still better that his parents though.
Tristan was exhausted and did not even wake up for dinner. It turned out that exercise was an excellent sleep aid.