What are the chances…? I ask myself with burgeoning hope as I lean down. Using a nearby stick to dig the object out of the ground, I lift it up to inspect it. Looks legit… placing it back down on the ground, I use my newest implement to break it into two. Once it has, I inspect the inside. The mixed rusty red and purple makes a grin spread across my face.

“I can’t believe it,” I murmur out loud. My companions all send me questioning feelings which I wave aside. My attention is busy looking around the area, my newly tuned eyes spotting the iron ore rocks just randomly sticking out of the ground. Seriously, what are the chances of finding iron deposits right next to a vein of copper ore?

Well, I’m not complaining! I’d wanted to find iron more than copper anyway. Pulling my digging stick out of my Inventory, I set to with eagerness. Forget Bronze Age – I’m going straight to Iron, baby. Sure, it’s going to be a long old process to get these lumps of iron ore into anything even vaguely useful as tools or weapons, but it’s going to be so worth it. Whether I can make them in time for my quest deadline, I don’t know, but we’ll have to see. How well learning to manipulate earth with Kalanthia goes will probably be a deciding factor since it would probably save a lot of hard graft.

Digging up lumps and piling them into a slot in my Inventory, I’m surprised when River hands me one.

Is this what you are harvesting, Ma-Markus? Checking it, I smile and add it to my stockpile.

“Yes, it is. Are you going to help me?”

Unless you wish me not to? I shake my head.

“Don’t be silly. Any help would be appreciated.” With an assent coming across the Bond, we both set to again. Funnily enough, Fenrir decides to try to help too, digging at the ground eagerly. He doesn’t quite know what we’re looking for, obvious from his various offerings of a bone, a normal rock, and a lump of dirt, but when I direct him to dig in certain areas, he helps to uncover a number of other iron ore lumps.

Whether this iron deposit was always here, or it was unearthed when Kalanthia tore up the ground, I don’t know. Either way, I’m very happy to have found it. Actually...I wonder whether being able to detect deposits of metal would be something I could learn to do with earth-shaping magic. Assuming I can learn it, of course.

Something to bear in mind for later. When I’ve harvested all the iron ore I can see, and a few that were revealed by Fenrir’s eager digging, I stand up straight and stretch. My back is sore from all the work, so I quickly cast another Lay-on-hands. I haven’t yet earned another point in Strength, but with the amount of labour I still have to do to make my iron, I’m not worried.

Should I harvest some more copper ore while I’m here…? I wonder to myself. Checking on my Bound, I see that they’re OK. Bastet is bored, and has taken up prowling around the clearing instead of lying still. Fenrir is relaxing after all his hard work. River is sending me questioning feelings, as if to ask what’s next. Sirocco is still doing the same as before: sitting perched in a tree and keeping guard for us.

Copper would be good even if I have iron. Perhaps it’s a bit unrealistic, but it would be awesome if I could charge my phone or kindle by creating a generator using a copper coil and an iron magnet…. I mean, it should work, in theory. I’d need to magnetise the metal somehow, and then manage to actually draw the copper into wires….

I’m no electronics expert, but if it’s possible to light a bulb with a potato, it’s got to be possible to charge my phone and kindle with an electromagnet. They don’t take that much electricity, right? Whether I can do it well enough to not burn out my electronics is another question. If I use the actual chargers rather than doing it directly into the device, would that work better?

In the end, I decide to take a few chunks of ore with me as potential experimentation material for when I have time. When River starts to step towards the cave with me, I stop him.

“Thanks, but it’s OK. There isn’t enough space in there for both of us,” I explain. Seeing him look a little at loose-ends, I make a suggestion. “Why don’t you have a look around this area for any herbs you recognise? Just don’t go too far if you do,” I finish, seeing him look thoughtful. Heading towards the cave again, he doesn’t try to join me.

Using my tool simplifies things a lot; it still takes a lot of effort and some time before I’ve bashed free a few chunks of rock which gleam slightly red. Putting them in my Inventory, I’m unsurprised when they don’t stack with the iron ore. No matter. Returning to my companions, I note that River is not present, though I see him not far away.

He’s harvesting a plant so I leave him to it. While he’s at it, I notice a few of those potato-things nearby, so take advantage of digging them up too.

“Ready to go?” I ask him as I finish, brushing the dirt from my hands. River agrees and we set off as a group. I’ve got the corpse of the snilapede draped over my shoulders like the most bloody scarf ever – while my Bound have made a good innings on the meat, there’s still more than two-thirds of it left. And I know someone else who would appreciate it. “What did you find?” I ask River curiously as we run through the forest at a pace I, as the one with the least stamina, can keep up almost indefinitely.

A few leaves used in a number of healing poultices, some berries which are very tasty, and even some blood-root, only found in areas where there has been significant blood-shed.

Unsurprising to find it here, then, I think to myself.

“What is blood-root used for?” I ask audibly.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Mostly a herbal concoction which helps to replenish blood. River sends over a sense of uncertainty. I believe my...our...the herbalist can make a more powerful concoction, but I am unsure. Blood-root can be difficult to find, so I was pleased to be able to harvest so much here.

Good to know. I suppose that might be a good argument in favour of finding a peaceable solution for the lizard-folk dilemma – if I can get access to more effective herbal remedies, our ability to face up to circumstances is expanded. And if the herbalist is making concoctions which help keep Lathani alive instead of exploiting her, it would be rather poetic justice.

The return trip through the forest is peaceful. Once again, it seems that the local denizens have no desire to face our group head-on. And frankly, without cubs to protect, we’re probably even more combat-ready than we were last time we walked through it, so fair enough. Although it would be great to earn more Energy just to bring me back up to one hundred percent, I’m not upset at making it home in record time. I have something I’m looking forwards to there, after all.

*****

“Kalanthia,” I start, approaching the massive nunda who’s sunning herself outside. She opens one massive golden eye and regards me with curiosity.

Yes, Markus Wolfe?

“First, I brought this for Lathani,” I say, happily letting the snilapede drop. Although my strength was sufficient for the task, running for an hour or more through the forest while carrying it was wearing on me by the end. I got a point in Strength (Endurance) out of it, so I’m not complaining. Much. The reason for not just putting it in my Inventory? Because I’d been told several times that doing so took all the Energy out of the meat, and rendered it far less useful. I have a feeling that carrying corpses is going to be something I’m going to need to get used to.

Ah, a liman. She noses at the corpse. A recently evolved one. A good find, she praises. Looking towards the cave, I sense her communicating with someone, though I can’t quite get the message. When Lathani comes running out a moment later, looking excited, I guess that I didn’t need to; being able to detect the message being sent was already a step forward compared to where I used to be. This Beast will be good for Lathani – the essence still lingering in the corpse from its recent evolution will help stabilise the energies in her body. As Lathani starts to eat happily, her mother looks at me with her head tilted. This was not the only matter you wished to discuss, however?

“No,” I admit. “I’ve fixed my Core now and was hoping…”

To start attempting to learn to shape the earth? she finishes knowingly. I nod, anticipation and nerves mixing in my belly to make butterflies the size of dinner-plates. Very well. We can start now. Gesturing for me to sit, she settles herself on the ground more comfortably. I follow her instructions and rest with my back against a rock, my chitin armour making it a more comfortable surface to lean against than it would otherwise be.

There is no real secret to learning to shape the earth. No moment where it goes from being unable to, to being able to. Not in my experience, at least. Already it’s a little different from my – limited – experience with magic as that’s exactly what happened when I learnt how to cast Lay-on-hands. Instead, it is a series of small steps.

It was an accident when I first learned to shape the earth. And it was an accident when my mate learned to shape lightning too. That is why I am unsure whether this can be taught at all, she admits. Hmm, shaping lightning...that sounds pretty cool as well. Though shaping earth is probably more practical, shaping lightning would probably be a really awesome combat ability. I don’t interrupt, listening intently to her ‘words’. Kalanthia might be uncertain, but I’ve seen enough impossible things happen in the last two months to be at least hopeful.

Thinking back to when it all began...I believe that earth shaping actually just started with feeling the earth. I spent far too much time in...well. It matters not. A sense of an old aching pain comes through the connection before the giant nunda cuts it off abruptly. Suffice it to say that my time as a cub was not what I would wish. The earth was my solace. Digging my claws into its cool firmness and tearing it apart helped me express the emotions which would otherwise tear me to shreds. The same pain twinges again, this time a fainter echo to what came before, as if Kalanthia was actively suppressing it. I feel a bit of guilt that talking about such topics is so clearly bringing up bad memories.

I learned much from the earth, Kalanthia continued. Endurance. Indifference in the face of attack. Sheer inevitability. The earth does not defend itself; it doesn’t need to. Any attack is meaningless to it. Yet, when the earth does move, little can stand against it. True, I suppose. A landslide is a force of nature. Even a simple rockfall can only be endured, not fought.

The more I felt the earth, the more I learned from it, the more I was able to connect with it. Little by little, I became able to affect the earth. At first, it was only the little I was touching. That was enough, then: I escaped my captors when the earth broke the enclosure I was held in, and it added speed to my feet as I ran from them. As my power and connection to it grew, I was able to affect more at a time, and earth further from me. By the time I reached my first evolution, I had become adept at using it and cognisant of its rules.

Earth is slow by nature, its movements small. To speed and amplify these is possible, but the more we wish to amplify it, the more mana it consumes. That is the nature of earth; I know that the nature of lightning is different – my mate and I have discussed these matters many times.

To summarise, then. You must first feel the earth, then you must connect to it. Only after that will you be able to affect it. If, after having heard my words, you wish to try, I suggest that you make an attempt to do this, knowing that it might take much time to even begin. Knowing as well that it may not even be possible. After trying, if you have questions, I will do my best to answer them.

With those words, I sense that the ‘lesson’ has ended for now.

“Thank you,” I say to her respectfully, appreciating the effort she has made. My mind is racing, not only with the information about earth shaping, but the revelations about Kalanthia’s history. I won’t ask any questions about it, but I can’t help my curiosity from going wild.

Nonetheless, clearly it’s a painful subject for her, so I forcibly direct my mind onto more fruitful topics. Now, how do I ‘feel the earth’, I wonder.