Chapter 283

Chapter 283

When he didnt fight it, Hoyts weight dragged him down into the waters of the Niverlam Depths. The second vertical opening he was directed towards felt different from the first, less the weight and sturdiness of a mountain and more the inertia of a rolling boulder. It was the sort of thing that only really made sense as a cultivator, since water should normally only have the properties of cold and wet.

As he dropped into the area with the half formed chunk of metal in his arms, he suddenly found his movement arrest. No, that wasnt quite right. He was still moving, but no longer accelerating downward. Yet he still felt the weight pulling him. It was a strange experience, but soon enough the chunk of metal in his hands cooled off, pulling in the strange attributes.

It was when he tried to start swimming back towards the surface that things got weird. The difficulty of swimming with a great weight was easily overcome by expanding out his energy to push against a larger area. But when he made the attempt, he didnt slow down. He wasnt going fast so it should have been easy to shoot towards the surface, but he simply couldnt change his momentum.

Most of the feeling came from the chunk of metal in his arms. If he let it go he thought it would probably be trivial to do what he wished. But if he wasnt willing to face a little bit of a challenge, what was the point of being a cultivator at all?

Hoyt rallied his energy, spreading it out to all edges of the vertical shaft he was drifting down. His energy scraped against the walls, finally getting a firm hold and slowing his movement a little bit at a time. Chunks of dirt and rock tore apart as he slowed his movement, straining his energy until he finally came to a stop. Starting to move back in the other direction wasnt any easier, his outstretched arms of energy straining to pull himself up.

From out of a small tube on the side, much too small to be called a tunnel, a twenty centimeter wide eel pounced towards him, ugly face and teeth biting at his leg. He tried to swing the crudely constructed piece of metal, but it didnt follow his movements. Even so, that motion pushed him back away from the eel. Then he pulled, kicking forward and sending a foot up into the things jaw. It jerked strangely, hardly veering from its course towards him but also having its head collapse from the force of the blow. The abundance of strange natural energy in the area must have overwhelmed the creatures senses if it thought it was a match for Hoyt.

His extended energy pushed him upward once more, and after he was finally moving he slowly gained speed until he shot out of the top of the chasm, where he suddenly felt the pressure of water slowing his speed. He wasnt far from the surface though, so he quickly popped up next to the pier. The future weapon head in his hand was somewhat more willing to move as he directed after he got out of the depths.

Despite his fascination with the strange smithing process at this lake, he still made sure to investigate an important detail. His energy twisted, as subtly as he could, reaching into the smith who he didnt have a name for. He certainly didnt feel like a member of the Twin Soul Sect, which was good enough for Hoyt at the moment.

After handing the smith the hunk of metal he was holding Hoyt expected to immediately be tossed back into the lake with another chunk of white-hot metal, but it seemed the smith wanted to work on the same piece he had just brought back. That gave him a couple of minutes to rest, refilling some of the natural energy he had expended and watching the smith work. He was making a wide-bladed axe head, one that would have been oversized if it wasnt intended for use by a cultivator. More than fifteen or twenty centimeters of blade started to become excessive when against a human opponent, since it more than covered the size of any vital point. But some creatures cultivators fought could be quite large, and wider blades could be helpful. On the back end, there was an almost comically large counterweight, almost like a hammer head.

Hoyt was only just barely ready when the axe head was tossed to him. Hed been expecting it, but it was several times hotter than the last time- and starting to become sharp, so he had to catch it the right way.

That one, the smith said. As deep as you can.

Water and fire were usually mutually exclusive things, but the water inside the next hole was as much like fire as any water could be. On the way down gouts of instant steam boiled off of the axe head in Hoyts hands, but once he was within the domain of the depths below it stopped. If anything instead of the water cooling the axe head it began to get hotter. The water itself had that same sense of heat, but fortunately most of it was concentrated around the axe head and not Hoyt himself. That let him focus his efforts on containing the heat there.

He thought it might reach a point where it had enough and stopped absorbing, but unlike the other times it wasnt cooling down in the water so he had no way to judge if and when that might be. It only seemed to increase as he drifted further downward, picking up speed until the drag of the water matched the pull of gravity. The debut release of this chapter happened at Ñòv€l-B1n.

He vaguely sensed more eels on the way down, but as long as they stayed in their little tunnels he was content to let them be. He was busy focusing on the axe head. Did he want to try to stop it, or encourage it? He didnt want to ruin the smiths project, but he also didnt want to injure himself. As the burning heat grew in intensity, he knew hed need to stop it soon before he could no longer handle it.

He looked over at the other smith hed approached, the woman across the way. She just shrugged at him. So, it seemed the man was just like this. Not that it was all that eccentric among cultivators. Thank you, I will gladly accept. If you need anything from me

Eh, you did a lot of the work anyway. But if you find anything nice, Id appreciate if you bring it to me. Oh, Im Bomir, by the way, the man outstretched a large, calloused hand. Hoyt shook it.

Forgive my prying, Grandmaster Smith Bomir, but do you do this often? How do you make money? Hoyt knew that if he had to pay for the weapon in his hand, he might not be able to fully afford it, but he couldnt just leave the man as he was.

Money? the man raised half of an eyebrow, the rest of which seemed to have been scorched off. What would I do with that? Cant eat it or fight people with it. Not very well, anyway. Besides, with this invasion coming I need to make sure as many people are equipped as can be. Bomir shrugged, You just bring me some nice materials and well be even.

You know about the invasion?

Sure thing, Bomir said. People come from far and wide to get weapons here, and its ramped up quite significantly in the past handful of years. Something about ascended fellows coming down to snatch up our resources. He spit into his forge, where it briefly sizzled on the coals. But Id much prefer we do the snatching from them, greedy bastards. Well, at least they gave us this lake.

What do you mean? Hoyt asked, looking down below. He could make some assumptions, but it seemed Bomir might have actual details.

Well, I thought it was just legends passed down from centuries ago, but recent events might make it true. This was apparently the site of a great battle. And at the bottom of these holes, I hear theres the corpses of great warriors. Some of ours, and some of theirs. But all of them are here, so its all ours now.

I can confirm that there was at least one.

Got to the bottom did you? No wonder it took so long. I thought you had the right affinity but you stayed down there for a good while. He nodded, Thats why it feels so strong, then. Matches you quite well.

Thanks, Hoyt nodded. On the topic of increasing orders, can you tell me about any new arrivals here? Hoyt leaned in conspiratorially, though it would hardly change whether anyone could overhear them.

We got all sorts. You talking visitors, or smiths?

Hoyt tilted his head. Well, I suppose both are interesting to hear about. If youve got the time.

Time? Dont even have more coal for my forge. Got plenty. Just let me know who youre looking for, and I can probably yammer on for a while.