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Another year flew by, this time as Lin Mu cried, holding the oracle's hand.

Pef visited once a month, to make sure she remained sane. It was heartbreaking, and necessary. The slow methods of the neolithic were not good enough, nor fast enough.

'What about Chief Quing, my glove?' Pef wondered as he was smithing a huge Sky ranked hammer.

'It won't help him much. Maybe up to Sky rank.'

'Would keep the city safer though, right?' he asked inward.

'A thousand times more, yes. It would be wise to leave a garrison force to guard our farmlands'

'The Guardian deputies?'

'Sky rank as well.' the glove concluded after a second.

'The continent would be much safer...'

'I see you're only picking white auras.'

'Something wrong with that?'

'You're basing everything on your parental's unit wisdom. She was a neolithic woman too.'

'And she was never wrong. At least about this continent.'

'You need to check, Aspirant. Go to Yellow Tear. Unravel the evil cult.' the glove urged him, with some obvious agenda.

Pef nodded in his mind. He did need facts. His armor and his own Earth power...he could take on a dozen Spirit ranks at once. Maybe.

Next month, then. After Lin was through with her ordeal.

"Still crafting stupid weapons? To kill innocent animals?" a young woman spoke behind him.

"Bad men, this time. The ones who shoot soul arrows, and sacrifice souls to some godling" Pef answered in a stern tone.

"I still don't have my Spirit rank..." Aria complained, while hovering over his shoulder.

"You need a man, to make love with. That's what holds you back" Pef said in a flat voice.

"T-that's not possible. You lie. Scoundrel!" the green haired druid exclaimed outraged.

"Ask your goddess. She'll tell you the same." Pef replied with a smirk.

"I can't ask that! We're not best friends. She loans me sacred powers to heal. That's it!"

"Pick some boy, smack him over the head, and do it fast." He advised her in a parental tone.

"I don't know... I'd be hurting people..." Aria said in a hesitant voice.

"Nobody you like? There's a hundred thousand workers in the city. Talk to a few." Pef said with a fake shrug.

"I do talk to the workers. They pull my hair at the clinic, and try to paw my..."

"Find a druid then?"

"I'm the only one on this continent. And there's no silver souls anywhere..." she cried in despair.

"Okay then. Go back to your forest. In 200 years you'll get it anyway" Pef replied calmly, testing the balance on the hammer. Should work...

"You're giving up?" the woman asked confused.

"In two more years I'll be Sky rank. What am I giving up?" Pef asked in a bewildered tone.

"You're giving up on me... I thought...you like me..." Aria whispered to herself.

"Aria. You have to do it for your own sake. I can do anything on my own. Your soul has been at the peak for a year. But you hate yourself. Or your body. I do like you a lot, or you wouldn't live with me..." Pef whispered softly, still mostly focused on finishing the hammer.

The young woman hugged his back and sobbed. "I like you too, even if you're only half silver. You're just growing so fast."

Pef nodded and agreed. He was growing much faster than the other locals. "You've grown too, green girl. You just have to accept you're human, not a beast."

"B-but nobody has green hair. Only lizards..." the druid murmured in a daze.

"Your goddess has green hair." Pef said with a firm voice.

"How, how do you know?"

"You told me, Aria. She admitted being allied with Veritas Legion. Which means, she is Veridian. Just like you. Same genes. Same bloodline." he explained in a calm voice,

"And we're allied? Like a clan?"

"Distant family, yes. But our goddess, the General, avenged the Veridian Legion when it fell. Which makes you, my ward. Like a wife, maybe. Not sure how these things work, between gods."

"W-what, we're married?" Aria asked incredulously.

"Not by force. It's your right. Use it or lose it. But I'm leaving next month."

Silence fell, as Pef continued smithing more items. Mostly Sky leather armors, which would hopefully block sapphire arrows.

He wanted to save as many as he could. A thousand, maybe two thousands?

The dantian area was triply armored, as it seemed the most probable target. Two armor sets later, he heard a sob behind him.

"Hmpf. I'm hungry..." a weak voice said, while still hugging his back.

"How hungry?"

"I can eat a whole pig!" the druid boasted with confidence.

"Okay. Tonight we eat a roasted pig."

"I want my own pig!" the druid demanded, with a bit of drool in the corner of her mouth.

"Sorry, my wives come first." Pef explained politely.

"Scoundrel!"

"Freeloader!" Pef answered in fake outrage.

"Frog killer!"

"We could eat frogs too..."

"I was joking, joking!" the green haired woman exclaimed, waving her hands.

"Let's go eat..." Pef said raising up. Smithing was using lots of energy.

"Wait, you said we're married. That means I get a pig!" Aria exclaimed victoriously.

"After we consummate our marriage, or else is a fake marriage. Heresy!" Pef proclaimed with an accusing voice.

"Damn it. You're too smart!" she wailed in defeat.

"I hope so. You think Oracle Ching will marry me, one day?" Pef asked in a wistful voice.

"On your deathbed, maybe..." Aria said after a minute of deep thought.

"I'll ask her then. She seems nice." Pef replied with a carefree voice. And he would indeed. Poor fool.

As the fake married couple argued and walked towards the kitchen, a shadow flew behind them, a watcher from the gods.

The glove noticed of course, and snickered inside.

Pef was clever, alright. Baiting the assassins in the open, with threats of alliance and pacts.

Once the tier 1 started fighting, his task will get enormously easier.

A minute later, the shadow folded side wise and vanished.

The glove traced it to the source, and noted which goddess was the culprit.

Tier 1 godlings were so easy. They still thought like mortals.

The next week, while Pef kept crafting and Lin kept crying, Aria roamed around, talking to herself.

'Is this true? Am I just a human with an old bloodline?'

She left the town and wandered her beloved forest, touching here and there, and healing a tree or a bird with a broken wing.

Aria was more careful now, never going overboard with adaptations. Pef maybe be a frog killer, especially of her frog,

but he was mostly right.

Too many good things could make a bad one. Like that super tiger he foresaw. And if Gaia, the Master of everything green and goddess of the planet had listened to him, how could she not?

"What should I do?" she wailed inside, while her hands deftly patted a Core ranked squirrel and her sick pups.

'Mineral deficiencies, gastrointestinal infection, rash abrasions, a deformed limb...easy fixes. But what about me, who will fix me?' she wondered stroking the animal's head one last time, then jumping off the branch.

'Oww. The ground is still hard...and I'm hungry...what to do...' she mused while she parted a bush to reach a den of badgers. They bit a little, but she didn't mind. The goddess always healed her. She poked and prodded, checking their health. All were fine.

"Aria. You have to stay next to him. I can't protect you for a while" A clear voice spoke from a tree she was checking.

"G-goddess, you can speak?" she stuttered in confusion.

"Of course I can speak! I maybe old, but not mute!" the voice replied annoyed.

"Do you, have green hair, like me?" Aria asked in a hopeful voice.

"Damn that stupid glove. It was supposed to be mind wiped, not spilling secrets...anyway. We'll meet again, my child. But not for a few centuries. Stay safe" the goddess said in a warmer tone, then vanished.

Noise resumed in the forest, like nothing had happened.

Aria tried to heal the tree, but it didn't work anymore. The forest didn't seem so friendly anymore.

A frog croaked loudly, scaring her. Its eyes focused on Aria like she was prey.

'No, no way. Frogs love me. They wouldn't eat me, right?' she asked herself in a bit of panic.

The frog jumped a bit closer.

Aria ran away, not looking back. 'Frogs are evil! Why did I ever liked a frog...'

She ran and ran, this time avoiding cute bobcats and green lizards, as they hissed at her while she passed by. 'Where is a frog killer when you need one? Ahhhh. Run faster Aria!'

A few hours later, an exhausted young woman crawled out of the forest, her hair filled with leaves and spider webs.

Children screamed and hit behind their mothers, as the apparition haunted the streets of Smithtown.

She reached the main smithy as evening fell, nerves frayed and hands trembling.

On the porch, Pef was calmly spit roasting a hundred snakes, the smell so appetizing it was maddening.

"I'm hungry..." she managed to say before passing out.

When she woke up, it was morning, and it smelled like porridge.

Aria groaned and dragged herself out of the wooden cot, guided by the smell.

"Is it ready yet?" she asked in a feeble voice.

"10 more minutes, go wash!" the familiar voice answered while stirring the porridge in slow circles.

Even though she was a grown woman, almost 300 years old, Aria obeyed and ran to the shower room that Pef had invented.

The soap was coarse and burned, but she diligently scraped of resins and animals hair and all that she encountered in the woods. Without the goddess cleaning her skin, she was a normal woman now.

The hair took even longer to wash, and when she left the shower the barrel above was empty.

She looked for her weaved tunic but it was gone. Instead, she found a pair of pants and a blouse, dyed green and smelling clean.

'Must be Pef. Of course, he invented colors!' she grumbled as she wore the new clothes.

A minute later she entered the kitchen again, where Pef was portioning the porridge in 4 copper bowls.

A bowl was worth a stone house! How rich was this Pef?

"Sit, use the wooden spoon" he demanded in a gentle tone.

Aria nodded and ate slowly. The porridge was some miracle food made of alien maize, some kind of plant that had all the necessary minerals and vitamins. It tasted good too, if you added salt.

Which Pef had done, of course. His food always tasted great.

"So, what happened. You were terrified when you came back"

"She left me. I'm not a druid anymore..." Aria explained in a sob.

Pef pushed out a soul search, his gaze moving up and down on her body.

"So, the gods went to war. She can't spare any power now" The young man concluded in a low whisper, while scratching his cheek deep in thought.

"It's your glove's fault" Aria proclaimed with a pointed finger at the culprit.

"Indeed. Now, you look wonderful dear lady, but I have to go and feed my wives. Wear the armor though, or you'll die like my mom, with an arrow in your core" Pef said more sternly, as a Sky ranked breastplate appeared on the table.

He left with the other bowls, no doubt descending in the cold cellar.

Aria poked the armor with a frown. Who would dare attack a druid?

Then again, she wasn't one now...

A minute of deliberation later, she dropped the too large armor over her head. It slowly adjusted to her size, moulding to her body like it was made by an artisan.

She looked over the table, where two precious bowls lay unguarded. In the end, she washed them and hid them in a drawer.

Running away? Where to?

Plus the goddess told her to stay.

She followed her senses, looking for the golden auras.

Then she descended in the cellar, where Pef had disgorged tons of ice for some reason.

"We have a guest" Oracle Ching said a bit amused.

"Ah, our beautiful green druid. Came to cool off?" Smith Lin asked a bit sarcastic.

"Soon, I'll be the one to cry out in here. Just came to see what it's like" Aria explained a bit timidly.

She sat next to the other women, while Pef spoon fed Lady Lin with a caring face.

It didn't seem so bad. A bit homey.

"Hmm. You're almost ready my Lady. Maybe a week or two. You're reaching the limit you can draw." Pef said softly, while cupping the smith's face.

"Yea. It barely hurts anymore. I'm getting bored in here" the smith lied, while tears dripped from her eyes.

Pef shook his head, and picked up Aria's hand.

"See you when it's over. I won't come down anymore" he explained in a flat tone. Maybe a bit wavering.

"That's fine. Go. Expect to get beaten a lot when I get out" The smith muttered in deep pain.

Aria got dragged out, her hand still held by Pef.

"It hurts terrible, doesn't it?" Aria asked when they were out.

"Dunno. Hurts some. Like having a tooth pulled out. Or getting bitten by a badger. Then again, you become a hundred times stronger. Seems fair to me" Pef answered with a shrug.

A few minutes later, they reached Pef's room.

'Ah. Here it is. What to do?' the 100-years-old virgin mused to herself.

"So, I'm a virgin and not sure what to do. I'll just sit on the bed and let you do what you want" Pef said in a shy voice, taking off his blouse and sitting on the bed.

Aria blinked confused. This wasn't going like she had imagined, at all!

She tried hugging and kissing, and it sort of worked, but not really.

Then she figured it out, disrobing them both and going skin tight.

A few hours later, Aria had to agree. It was better than food. Much better.

Two weeks later, Pef was still busy crafting, mostly swords and blunt swords at that.

'What should I try next, a bastard sword?' Pef mused while poking the bone in front of him.

He closed his eyes, designing and imagining a sword in his mind. Then he pushed gently with his soul, catching the ideal sword in his mind and projecting it into the bone.

The Sky ranked bone resisted, like it always did. Unlike Core ranks, he wasn't energy ranks higher, to simply impose his will, and apply pressure. With high ranked materials, you had to infuse your qi, and then gently stretch or squeeze, until the artifact gained the shape you desired.

And after that, came the hard part, binding the qi to the sword, making it sharp and balanced. Only good smiths could do it, after decades of Practice. Pef was okay, but not good enough.

He stopped after the bone took shape, and poked it with a finger. Not sharp at all.

"You're decades too young to make swords, Pef!" he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"Lin!" he yelled and rushed to embrace her.

"Gently, you idiot! Don't break my ribs..." she admonished him with a sigh.

"But..." Pef checked her rank with a soul search. Peak Spirit rank. How disappointing.

"I'm not the Oracle, my dear. She really was special, and close to Earth rank anyway" Lin whispered in his neck, their heights reversed this time. Pef had grown up, being a palm taller than her.

"No matter. You just need to fight some strong things. Or me"

"Hmmm. Or maybe you need to give me your love, and carry me over the peak in your loving arms?" Lin teased him, while her arms wandered over his body.

"Ah, you heard about that..." Pef whispered a bit ashamed.

"I'm a woman, you moron. I don't need anyone to tell me, what I can see with my own eyes."

"Right. Well, I won't say no, to such a beautiful lady..." Pef whispered as he leaned in to kiss her.

Much later, they came up for air and dinner.

Aunt Ching and Aria were chattering in the kitchen, when the couple came inside.

"Ah, you didn't beat him up, after all" the oracle said with a smile.

"I'd just bruise my fists. I used other means." the new Earth smith replied with a smile.

"I'm hungry."Aria added with a pat over her stomach.

Pef nodded and went to cook, while the women whispered behind his back.

'You're recording all they say, I hope'

Of course, Aspirant. Only good things so far.'

'I bet. Now tell me about alchemy and those pills.'

'Pills can be used to concentrate qi energy, for temporary or permanent rank increase. They are a simple and effective way to avoid years of intense massacres, and devastating the fauna for improvements in rank.'

'Exactly. I would need to kill a thousand Earth ranked beasts for my Sky rank. And so on. A few flowers and rare earths would work just as well.'

'But until then, you will need to learn acupuncture and clear your meridians. Or maybe in conjunction. Some pills can unblock meridians as well.'

'So, implant me with the software and guide me through!'

'Only the standard Legion formatting and a few data files remain in my database. The Manual, for example. I can't confirm its integrity with a checksum. From the standard novemdecillion bytes of data, I have less than an exabyte remaining.'

'So you got hit hard'

'Exactly. This unit is not at full operational capacity. Also, gloves are not supposed to think. And I'm afraid I have begun to think, sir'

'That's fine. Unless it's a cogito-virus or some other memetic infection?'

Then this universe is doomed, and we will burn for eternity, or we are burning already, but don't realize it...'

'Okay, beside that. I think you got jolted. Your construction material is strong enough to support computation and even qi abilities. Thus, when in contact with a highly energetic entity, like a tier 8, and possibly due to losing your user or attempting to safeguard his mind state...'

'Huh. Are you saying I am alive now, sir?'

'Exactly, my orange glove. Welcome to Veritas Legion, Adjutant.'

'Oh. So that's how it feels...' the glove mumbled and went silent.

The next week, Smith Lin went over the artifacts that Pef made, and fixed various mistakes, and also sharpened the swords.

She had centuries of Practice though, and her Earth rank only made it easier. Pef learned beside her, noting tricks of the trade.

Then the time came for Pef to leave.

"Aria, if your aura is what I think it is, you can forge yourself for two years. Forget about water bending. You will be able to fly." Pef told the green haired woman, while they sat in the cold cellar.

"But, it hurts!"

"Or you will die of old age, in some 200 years. While looking old and disgusting, as your goddess won't be around to add days to your life." Pef warned her, a bit serious.

"That would suck..."

"Okay, punch me in the face!" Pef demanded with a wry smile.

Aria reacted and punched him in a flash. Her fist's skin split and tears fell from her eyes.

"Owww. My fist hurts!" she complained loudly.

"See you next year, my love." Pef declared, as the Awakening began, overriding and superimposing itself over the druid's cultivation.

She will suffer, and get stronger.

Or die, and never suffer again. That was the way of the Legion.

Outside the smithy, Aunt Ching and Smith Lin waited for him to emerge.

"Stay safe Lin. Wear that armor, even inside."

"You better not keep sending more wives to be Awakened in my cellar. I have smithing to do." the woman warned Pef while she embraced him.

"Oh. Hire a few maids to watch over Aria. Promise them a copper mirror as payment for a year's work. You'll have a thousand girls to choose from"

"Hmmm. I will do that. My time is valuable and I don't like that woman so much." the smith agreed with a smile.

Pef took Ching's hand and jumped, reaching a hundred meters from the ground. He landed on the airship's raft, and began turning towards Lacrimosa.

"So. The druid gets one year as well?" Ching asked while Pef fueled the stove.

"Two years. She needs to catch up with us" Pef explained while computing something on his free hand.

"Huh. You are really ruthless" the Oracle mused while looking back towards Smithtown.

Pef nodded while he kept adding fuel to the fire.

A few hours later, they Ejected over the Quing garden, their feet sinking a meter in the ground.

"I didn't feel anything..." the Oracle observed curious, while she climbed out.

"Your punches can shatter meters of stone. Why would you mind a small jump..." Pef asked rhetorically, as Chief Quing and his daughter rushed out of the house.

"Husband!" Mia yelled and ran to hug Pef.

The Chief stared at Aunt Ching for a few seconds.

"You haven't looked so nice since I was a child, old hag!" The Guardian exclaimed while checking the oracle amazed.

"Yes, yes. Lin said the same thing. Only this young man hugged me..." She replied while nodding towards Pef.

The Chief blinked a bit, while his Spirit measured both of them.

"Dear Gods. Earth ranks!"

"Eh, hurts a little, but it was worth it." the oracle preened while gesturing at her plump body.

"Yea. Mia cried a lot. But she's a Nascent soul now. It does work, eh?"

"Indeed it does, Chief. And you're next. I'll stay a month, while I temper Mia, and you can enjoy being bathed by warm maids..." Pef said in a teasing voice.

"Oh, that was clever, my husband..." Mia whispered in his ear.

"And who will guard the city while I'm disabled?" The Guardian complained, while his face was clearly daydreaming about bath maids.

"Two Earth ranks?" The Oracle replied in an amused voice, while a Sky ranked sword appeared in her hand. She did have a storage ring, after all.

"Oh...that is a good answer. All right. And you two... I want grandchildren, get working!" The Chief yelled while pointing at the (not so) newlyweds.

Mia blushed while Pef smiled and shook his head. Shaming people for grandchildren, it seemed it was done in the neolithic too.

They had a welcome home dinner, and then the Chief was locked in an ice cellar, with an old hag to feed him soup and tea.

And wash his body.

Pef and Mia got to have a honeymoon, though without fancy travels. Just lots of love.

Then the month passed, and two Guardian deputies were sent to the cellar, while Pef got ready for his expedition.

"How come I'm not an Earth rank?" Chief Quing complained, while testing his new Sky ranked hammer and armor.

"It will come, boss. You do need to get a few wives. The Xi way is not just combat but also love. Mia is almost half to Spirit rank now. Wasn't there a Wind mage around?" Pef asked with a thin smile.

"Oh...her. She doesn't like people much. Prefers to fly around and lord over people"

"Or maybe she's lonely, and has no one to share her life with. So she wanders the skies, alone"

"Hmmm. If I had anything of value, I could visit and offer her some gift..."

"A Sky rank armor and a few copper items, perhaps?" Pef proposed, while waving over the table and presenting a few gifts.

"That might work..."

"Just take it slow, Chief. Warn her about the soul assassins. Make rounds to make sure she's safe. Not sure what else, maybe the oracle can help"

"Enough. I wooed a woman once, I can do it again, even if I'm not a hundred anymore..." the Chief grumbled while loading the gifts in his ring.

Pef smiled and turned to leave.

"Take care of Mia while I'm gone, boss. Not sure if she's pregnant, but I tried my best" he said softly, then walked away

his back smaller and smaller.

'Of course I will, my boy. You don't need to tell me that...' the Guardian muttered inside.

A Sky ranked hammer appeared in his hand, ready to crush anyone between him and his grandchildren.

<< Index >>

<< Index >>

Aug 4, 2019Report

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