I was now seven years old. A long time has already passed since I was born into this world. Officially I'd be twenty-nine going by my age in my old world. I didn't know if it was the body, or how others treated me, but I felt truly young… Like I was truly just seven… Of course that was just the feeling of spiritedness, my mental acuity had only grown since coming to this world. Be it my continuous focus on the macro and microcosmic orbits or the effects of aether and its flow on me…
I was in the second realm condensation, or rather… I was a goddamn anomaly that none in the village could wrap their head around as the aether I held within my lower abdomen, in the lower dan tian, was a few times more than what was necessary for core formation. It all started with a gut feeling on my side…
"Eld-Mother, you said that the condensation stage was a natural phenomenon, then shouldn't core formation be something that occurs naturally too?"
"You only have strange questions kid. Perhaps… Perhaps it can occur naturally, but I never heard of such a case. Besides who'd have the time to waste on waiting for natural crystallization? I can't imagine how long that would take." She furrowed her brows contemplating my idea. "I will talk with some others… Considering the way aether behaves yours is the natural conclusion…"
I looked at the Eld-Mother strangely.
"What is it brat?"
"I lack anything but time…" At this the Eld-Mother threw me an annoyed glance.
"Truly infuriating you are. Keep asking questions like that and the Archons of Val-Tyria will come cart you off to their Obsidian Spire for study! Come here and let me discipline you!" She released her pressure and raised her cane. I hurriedly run off. If she wanted to beat me, she'd have done so with no words said. This was just her playful and bitter way of chasing me off each time I said something that stirred her thoughts and curiosity. What could I do? Coming from a world where energy was scarce and people refined a system time and time again, my ideas were always a bit strange. Often when I asked about vessels and channels in the body, I was met with a strange gaze…
This happened back when I was one year old. Since then, my condition was monitored by several people including my father. All of them were scratching their heads at my situation. It felt good but also worrying. They were questioning if now it was even possible for me to trigger the crystallization as the quantity itself was a bit too much. I wasn't worried however as I was clearly aware that the aether I contained was all under my control. It seems that the path I took simply was time consuming. Considering that I was only 7 and already arguably stronger than some Core Formation masters. Even Eld-Mother was a bit fearful of what I became. Or at least I think she was.
But this was not the only development. During this time not only did my jing grow beyond just considerably but I also managed to chart the 8 vessels and the 12 extraordinary meridians. For the 8 vessels it was not a full charting mind you. Their deeper structure was an unending source of trouble and mysteries, and my mind hurt just from thinking of them. I started focusing on the secondary meridians since then and was exploring the acupoints and observing the way vital energies interacted with aether on the surface of the body. It was a really strange phenomenon that cause aether to be changed into something more personal and then absorbed in the body.
Aside from my lessons with the Eld-Mother, that were taking place twice a week and involved writing and reading as well, I had explored the village and its people in more depth. I had found out that for some unknown reason this village gathered people of either great skill or talent. We had an elder of the dwarves acting as master blacksmith throwing slurs left and right at the actual blacksmith and the few disciples that came from even beyond the village to learn. My father was one of the several adventurers that retired early and settled here. The Eld-Mother was the same. All in all considering how many strange people were her it made me wonder if it was just a coincidence that I was reborn here… For now, I could not tell what the cause is and neither did the others. We had quite a few gathering level aether users and about 3 core formation aether users.
It was not a few times that due to the history of this place to just make strong figures want to settle here that a powerhouse a domain realm visited the village. Nothing was ever found, making this place feel either a big gathering of coincidences or a really mysterious place that even powerhouses gave up on investigating further.
As things stood, I couldn't resist the temptation and did my best to become a disciple at the forge. What man did not dream of forging a sword and challenging the heavens? If gods stood in front of them to slay gods and if Budhas raised to slash the Budhas! Of course, this was merely an exaggeration but the excitement and actual opportunity to train the body and learn not just how to strike but also to control the strength to chase a certain result was too enticing. Many wanted strength but overlooked the importance of finesse.
While it was hard to get involved and the very process involved a lot of work that had to be done very carefully from turning wood to charcoal as only coal could burn strongly enough to melt the steel. Then came the actual important and really interesting part: Controlling the temperature of the fire with aether. Truly a miraculous technique. It would be hard for me to fully figure it out by myself, and I could learn metalwork too. With a degree in engineering obtained in my past life, learning to forge items meant that I'd be able to produce a lot of things more easily as I could make them. Unfortunately, the dwarf grampa kept chasing me off each time I showed up. It was only when by reinforcing myself with aether as the woodcutters showed me that he begrudgingly agreed to let me help around.
We quickly hit it off once he wasn't hell bent on kicking me out of the forge. My many ideas and knowledge of the metal structure allowed me to shortly become capable of identifying when the steel or iron had to be taken out of the flames. Although not allowed to work with it myself that did not stop me from quickly becoming the second slur cannon in the forge and to make the blacksmith question his life. With all this happening from when I was 4 till now, it was safe to say that the dwarf was really treating me as his own grandchild.
Today too I was headed to the forge early in the morning, my job today being to take care of the Pit. The Pit was the place where we made charcoal. It was a bit less complicated than what was used back on Earth due to the use and the contents of aether in the wood. It was enough for one to load it up and to vibrate the aether inside to ignite the wood from within. All that was left was to wait and then empty the pit. A pretty simple process. Normally this couldn't be done in a single day as the pit and charcoal would be too hot to take out and one may risk the charcoals reignition which would be a waste. Of course, once again aether came in clutch. Just as one used it to heat and ignite the wood, one could also use it to cool and disperse the heat. And so, in one day a person could process an entire pit as long as he was determined enough.
"Oi boya! Come her' we got a new fool in the forge."
"Old man I got work you gave me to do. I'll come by after I lit the pit."
"You dare talk back to me?"
"Only as you taught me! Whou knows? Perhaps, you drunk too much and it turns out the fool is you."
"Sharp as a needle that tongue is…" The dwarf placed his hand on his heart feigning being hurt. "Go, go and finish fast. I'm counting how long it takes!"
"Be right back, Fjorn. You won't have to count for long."
He simply nodded and headed back inside the still cool forge. Truth be told if not for aether reinforcement I wouldn't dare step inside the forge. Such was the heat inside that I'd fear for my life. Such was the heat in there that I think my skin would blister. I was slowly removing the enforcement over time in order to get my body used to the heat and become more resistant, but it was still too much and I sweated like a pig each time I went in. I got accustomed to it after like four months, but I still didn't like it one bit.
Soon I was before the pit. A wood cutter was already there splitting wood and throwing it in the pit.
"Good morning, Hale, wasn't expecting you so early."
"Heh, I knew it was your job to take care of the pit. No way I wouldn't come fast. Otherwise, you'd push yourself too much to finish it all yourself."
"Guilty as charged!" I said reinforcing myself the way Hale taught me. I grabbed a nearby axe and took it to the splitting snag. Today I planed on working on my martial arts and trying to master the whipping spine technique. It was more of a movement that one should always integrate while striking as it caried and amplified the momentum of any strike one would use. However, as the name implied one had to move his spine like a whip. It was a hard to understand and grasp movement that I was only aware of and never managed to do.
So I started splitting the stumps of wood. As time passed due to exhaustion I was forced to relax my muscles more deeply. I couldn't feel them, even the aether enhancement had lost its effect. In the end I kicked the earth with my back foot. My waist gave out falling back and my back coiled. I clenched my abdominal muscles and pulled my hands forward with all my strength and aether. The result ended up splitting the stump in front of me and the snag it was nested on.
This brought me out of my daze as I fell backward and panted. I finally realized that I long since finished splitting enough wood to fill the pit. Hale was looking at me strangely. It was a peculiar kind of face that seemed to ask if I was crazy. Still, he looked at the snag and whistled with admiration.
"If I didn't know better, I'd say your parents were killed by a hub of wood to have stricken it so strongly."
"Ha… Ha…" I was still panting heavily. "I was trying to figure something out… A movement…"
"And did you do it?"
"No. I managed to do the movement… It's the only way I could deliver… that much strength in my state." I panted not speaking for a while. "I didn't really grasp it, more like lucked out to do it"
"Aha… So that's why you were moving so strangely…"
"Well, come over here. The pit is ready to be ignited." Hale said. While he lifted a big rock and placed it over the mouth of the pit
"Sure, just give me a moment." I stood there a few more minutes… Lying while staring at the clouds and painting, processing the results of my tries today. This movement had stumped me for an entire year and this was the first time I managed to execute it right.
I raised to my feet and walked to the covered pit. I placed my hands on the stone as I kneeled and starte slowly agitating the aether. Soon smoke started seeping out of the small gaps of the coverage. Me and Hale moved fast and sealed it completely.
"I'm going back to the forge." I said to Hale. "Master Fjord said there's a new guy in the forge for training, can't miss the opportunity to meet him."
"Sure. This pretty much just has to sit. Make sure you return soon though. I'm not like you to be able to exert aether outside my body like that to check on the pit. Fjorn said that the charcoal is of higher quality since you take care of it."
"I know. I won't take long."
At the entrance of the forge, I ran into the one person that I disliked the most in the entire village. The grandchild of chief Aldric and Eld-Mother Edith, Torsten.