Tristan had to do a double take, “Seriously?”

Shadow Fist nodded.

“Uh, well, I didn’t,” Tristan paused to collect his thoughts. Eve laughed at his shocked expression, “How did you get them?”

Shadow Fist shrugged, “I don’t know about the soul revenants, but how many glass marbles do you think you will need?”

Tristan opened his mouth to say six. That should give him one to fill with a force and one to fill with metal essence to ease his broken kern. At least until tier five. At that time, he should have the capability to get his own. He was about to speak when he realized that Shadow Fist had not specified a number.

Not knowing how valuable the reservoirs were, Tristan highballed it, “I want twenty.”

Shadow Fist nodded, “I can do that, even if Elder Forest does not give me access to the treasury. Information on mythical beasts and how to harvest them is something you can get from any tier three rampart craftsman. I don’t know what a soul revenant is, but they would.”

Tristan got his second shock at that minute. Shadow Fist had essence reservoirs just lying around. Were they that common, or was Tristan that oblivious? Thinking back, he could not remember seeing any perfectly smooth orbs, colored or clear.

Shadow Fist seemed to catch Tristan’s thoughts, which made him slightly uncomfortable, “The alchemist only employs criminals, all the calderas do their best to catch his people. Most have weapons with those attached. They are inferior to artifacts of the same tier, and permanently reduce your kerns capacity.”

Tristan frowned. His knives in no way reduced his capacity. Sure there was always a drain on it, but he could turn it off at any time. Frowning he looked at the but of his dagger and inspected it. There was nothing off with the reservoir, and when he tried to sense the metal essence he found no flaw. Though he had basically grown up with the daggers, he had no bar for comparison. He decided an experiment would be in order when he had the spare time.

Tristan stood from his chair, turning to Eve, “So when will you be visiting.”

If Eve was worried about Forest using her as a hostage, he would not advertise to Shadow Fist that the mine was her destination. Shadow Fist was nothing if not ambitious for advancement.

Eve shrugged, “I don’t think I want to frolic with all the sweaty men.”

She stood and left, leaving Tristan alone with his father. The silence became awkward, “So. when do you think you’ll be able to leave?” Shadow Fist asked.

Tristan shrugged if he didn’t have anything to fight, then there was no real reason to stay at the Stone Fort. He could not break his kern, which was the main reason why he was here. Tristan would be disappointed to miss the crab plague that was about to start, but he would hear about it. Things like that were hard to keep secret.

When he thought about things that could push his life ahead, alchemy progression was near the top of the list. It would let him grow faster, and it would let him grow more stably. After all his force, alloy, was one of the very few forces with the warning. Why would he neglect the only thing to mitigate that uncertainty?

The mine was also not a bad place to be. He had some questions for Grace, which should be asked before Eve ever showed up. It would also be nice to get in some real practice with Luke and Siren. Tristan realized he was making excuses to go back to what he considered home and simply nodded.

He didn’t need excuses. Looking his father in the eyes, “We can go right now if you want, no sense wasting time.”

A pained look crossed Shadow Fist’s face. Almost as if he did not want to go on a day-and-a-half walk while covered in decay scabs. Tristan was perfectly fine making him suffer.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

He stood and put the ‘Collecting and Transferring Essence’ into his bag. Frowning, he realized he was becoming a hoarder. He had three books, A metal skull, a few recipes made by Clive, and some other odds and ends. There were also several plant specimens that he had found interesting.

“Alright, let’s go then,” Tristan said. He had everything packed and wanted to get to the mine before Eve. The last thing he wanted was for Conni to kick her out because he thought she was trespassing.

Shadow Fist simply nodded. He watched his son leave and sighed. Mentally he asked himself why everything had to turn out this way. If Tristan had any other kind of kern he would have grown into a fine young man. The gods seemed to have it out for him.

Tristan didn’t bother saying goodbye to Lesly or Bruce. He took a moment to look for Kale. Finding him exiting the second barracks in the company of a very large man. He made his way over.

“Hey, Kale,” Tristan said, getting both warriors' attention, “I’m heading back to the mine. Did you want me to take a message to Siren?”

The big man grinned, “So this is the little devil you have told me so much about.”

Tristan sized the man up. He concluded that he would be hard-pressed in a fight against him. That assessment would rise or fall depending on how far into tier three the man was.

“Who are you?” Tristan asked.

A hand that could palm a tier one ghost crab was extended, “the names Cole. Civil protector of the Stone Caldera.”

Tristan’s threat assessment instantly jumped from difficult to near-certain death. Reaching out, he took Cole’s hand. It was like a child holding an adult’s hand.

“I’m Tristan, nice to meet you,” Tristan frowned, “Aren’t the civil protectors supposed to be a secret?”

Cole shrugged, “Maybe, but I am paid to follow orders and silence was not one of them.”

Kale rolled his eyes, “Yes it’s supposed to be a secret. It’s just that, when you install a three hundred pound berserker into a high position, the subtle route is thrown out the window.”

Tristan nodded slowly, “Well if you don’t have any message, enjoy your war I guess.”

“Actually,” Kale stopped Tristan, “Be careful, I once fought a mythical beast with metal bones and grey blood. It had a horrible existence, it only wanted to die.”

“I understand,” Tristan reassured Kale. So the skull in his backpack was an actual creature. The third alchemy book started to seem more interesting. He would need to investigate, “Thank you for the information.”

“No,” Kale said, concern lacing his voice, “I don’t think you get how dangerous it is.”

Cole smiled, “safe travels to the hole in the ground.”

“We will,” Tristan said with a smile, then to Kale, “Don’t worry I’m kind of hard to kill now.”

Now that the situation had turned slightly awkward Tristan had no desire to stay and talk. So once the conversation with Kale and Cole ended he quickly disappeared. The journey to the Forest Caldera went faster than the trip to the Stone Caldera, despite nothing about the road changing. Tristan was still surprised at the utility of an upgraded tier. He had been base tier one before and now he was mid tier two. That was a little more than an eighty percent increase in his abilities.

The city hadn’t changed but Tristan stepped into the Forest Caldera with a sense of superiority. The only person who could threaten him in a straight fight was the civil protector. Forest was a tier three but he was a politician, most of the real warriors would have left for the plains. It gave him the impression that he was at the top of the food chain.

Looking over at Shadow Fist he gestured down the main road, “Lead the way.”

Shadow Fist grimaced. He was covered in sores, it was not the state he wanted to meet Helen and and. His brain struggled with some self-imposed dissonance. And little Tristan.

“Follow me,” Shadow Fist said. His destination was the Elders' home, or at least that was what Tristan thought.

Shadow Fist stopped before the wooden double doors of the temple. The three gods were painted in glossy colors. Furnace the subordinate god of flame had a stone statue standing to the left of the door. Ripple the subordinate god of water stood with her arms folded to the right. On the balcony above the door Vent the chief god of the skies stood, a lightning bolt in each hand.

Tristan glared at his father, “Is this a joke or a threat?”

“No, this is where your marbles are,” Shadow Fist said.

“Well, you can go get them. I’ll wait out here, they will probably lynch me,” Tristan said gesturing to the door. It was painted with a mural depicting the three gods standing over a silver man with no features except horns jutting up from where his eyes should be.

He was lying on the ground. The mural was painted to depict the silver demon lord losing his head to the three gods every time the door was opened. Tristan had no desire to join the demon lord because of some overzealous priests.

Shadow Fist simply shrugged, “ I have no idea what you want the marbles for or how to differentiate the ones that are useful from the trash. If you do not go in, have held up my end of the bargain with whatever I bring out “

Tristan shifted from one foot to the other his sense of superiority gone. This place was legitimately dangerous to him. He may be strong for a tier two, but he would have no chance against a dozen well-armed priests.

He needed those marbles though. With those reservoirs, Tristan had a chance to make himself proper equipment. A piece of tier two armor would be invaluable, especially with an upcoming war. He would also need them to expedite his future rise.

“Fine, but you know this is gonna cause a lot of issues, right?” Tristan said. He knew that he had done more dangerous activities for a lower payoff.

Shadow Fist smiled for once, “ I am actually alright with that.”