TS5: Chapter 43 (Patreon)

Walking over to the bellows, Thorn reached up and grasped the metal handle. It was a long bar that almost looked like he could do pull-ups on it, but every time he pulled down, the bellows would squeeze, blowing air into the forge, causing the heat to intensify. It was surprisingly hard to pull down, and sprang back up with enough force that it wrenched Thorn's arms. Startled, he nearly let go, barely managing to keep his grip. Taking a deep breath, he pulled down again, this time adding more strength to it. Yet strangely, the more force he applied, the slower the bellows seemed to go. It only took him a few moments to realize that something was wrong.

Once again, as he relaxed, the bellows sprang apart, nearly wrenching themselves free from his grip. He had seen Urmag'Tal use the bellows smoothly, with none of the jerkiness or resistance that Thorn seemed to feel. Setting his legs squarely, Thorn took a deep breath and heaved, pulling with all his might. Yet no matter how hard he pulled, the bellows didn't budge even a single inch. Afraid he had broken something, Thorn quickly let go and examined them. They looked fine, and none of the moving parts had broken. So he scratched his head and tried once more.

Again, the same result. No matter how hard he pulled, the bellows simply didn't move.

"Huh. That's strange. They moved the first time," Thorn muttered to himself, before his eyes lit up. The first time he had pulled them down, he hadn't been using nearly as much strength. But the harder he pulled to overcome the resistance, the harder it was to pull the bellows down. And when he pulled with all of his strength, typically enough to move anything he touched, the bellows wouldn't shift even an inch.

Looking carefully at the bellows, Thorn reached up and wrapped his hands around them, exerting as little force as he possibly could as he pulled them downward. Immediately, the bellows started to shift, still jerky in their movement.

"We need a smooth draw if we want to get the right heat, Thorn," Urmag'Tal said, from across the forge. "Keep them smooth."

"Yes, sir," Thorn said, letting the bellows rise once more. For a few minutes, he did his best to pull them down, quickly growing frustrated, as every time he met resistance, he instinctively tried to increase his pulling force, causing the resistance to increase as well. The less strength he used, the easier it was to pull down, but he still couldn't get rid of the jerky motion that it seemed to have.

Letting go of the bellows, Thorn scratched his chin, staring at it, before turning to his grandfather.

"Sir, is there some sort of trick to this that I'm not understanding?" he asked.

Urmag'Tal, leaning against the anvil, raised an eyebrow.

"Giving up already?" he asked.

"No, sir, just asking for expert advice."

With a deep-throated chuckle, Urmag'Tal slapped his knee.

"Aren't you different," he said. "The last titan I taught would rather have beaten his head against the wall until he figured it out himself."

"That's not my path, sir," Thorn said, flashing a smile at his grandfather. "I prefer to learn from the best, whenever possible."

"I can see that. Then, yes, there is a trick to it. The hinges require you to use your mana to make them smooth. You'll need to infuse your mana and withdraw it at the same rate that you pull the bellows."

Eyes narrowing, Thorn examined the bellows once more, specifically looking at the two hinges on the side that allowed it to collapse closed. He could see faint markings on them that seemed to catch as he pulled down, creating both the resistance that he had been feeling and the awkward, jerky motion. Sending a thread of mana into them, he saw their position adjust, and realized that he would need minute adjustments to keep the hinges moving smoothly the entire way through the motion. Taking a moment to center himself, Thorn began to try again. His first attempt was no better than the previous, his second slightly smoother, and by the third time, he had nearly been able to pull it down without any hitches.

"That's good," Urmag'Tal said, "but you're way too slow. You need to speed up. We're already behind, and we've got a pile of things to do today. I mean, I do. All you're going to be doing is pulling the bellows."

"Yes, sir," Thorn said, squaring his shoulders and getting a good grip on the bellows.

It took precise control of both his mana and his strength to pull the bellows down, and a surprising amount of strength and mana to keep the bellows from crashing open. The problem was that even if he pulled it down smoothly, if he didn't adjust the strength he was putting into his arms and the mana he was putting into the hinges at exactly the right moment, it would spring itself open, completely throwing off his rhythm.

Hours quickly passed as Thorn continued to struggle to find the correct rhythm, and it wasn't until the day was nearly done that he had managed more than one smooth pull in a row. As it was, he had only gotten up to four when Urmag'Tal tossed his hammer down and let out a sigh.

"That's it for today," he said. "Go ahead and clean up, and then we'll be back here tomorrow. We won't be chatting, and we'll get started right away, so make sure you're ready."

Exhausted, Thorn let go of the bellows, his arms burning from being held up almost the entire day.

"Yes, sir," he said as he headed for the corner where the broom was leaning.

Because he was so tired, it took him longer than usual to clean the shop, sweeping up all of the metal shavings, pieces of scrap, and dust from the coal that had settled over everything. He kept at it until the entire shop was spotless, and then, after washing off the dirt from his hands and face, he stumbled out into the village.

According to his Eve, it had been close to twenty hours since he had entered the blacksmith's shop, and it was getting on to eleven at night. He saw that he had a number of missed messages, but after checking them, realized it wasn't anything important, and so he headed for the Golden Meadow Inn to get some food. There he met up with Velin and Mina, who were sitting at a table chatting quietly, waiting for him. As soon as they saw him, Mina waved and got up.

"Glad to see you made it back," she said. "Come keep Velin company. I'm going to bed."

"Good night," Thorn said, waving, as he came and took a seat at the table with Velin.

"How was it?" Velin asked, her eyes searching his face.

"Exhausting," Thorn replied, as Metra began to carry out platters of food from the kitchen. Seeing them appear one after the other, Thorn couldn't help but be gratified, and picking up Velin's hand, dropped a kiss on the back of it. "Thanks," he said, and began to dig in with relish, causing the food to vanish as fast as it was appearing.

As he ate, Velin casually explained what had happened that day, mentioning that the team was planning on going to try their hand at the water shrine once more. Pausing, half a loaf of bread in one hand, and a whole chicken in the other, Thorn chewed and swallowed his food.

"Do you need me to come along?"

"No, I don't think so," Velin said. "It would certainly be easier if you did, but I think we should be okay."

Thinking for a moment, Thorn nodded. "Tomorrow, let me ask if I'm going to have any days off," he said. "I have a feeling this training is going to be pretty intense for a while, but hopefully I'll still have some time to run shrines with you guys."

"I would rather you take the training," Velin said, with a slight smile. "After all, it's not every day that you can learn from a Titan personally."

"If that's not the greatest understatement I've ever heard..." Thorn replied, chuckling.

He moved one of the empty plates over to join the others stacked by his side and grabbed a dish of what looked like corned beef. Rather than taking the meat off of the dish, he simply used the dish as a plate, cutting off large chunks of meat and sticking them in his mouth.

"It's odd, you know, getting training like this. It's very different from what I imagined. I know that I'm strong, but running up against a challenge that I couldn't simply muscle my way through took me down a peg."

"Really? You don't seem that put out," Velin said.

"Oh, I'm not," Thorn replied, "happy to have the challenge, in fact. But I'm still mulling over what my grandfather said. And not just him, but the Lady of the Waves as well."

"You mean how you weren't taking things seriously?" Velin asked, leaning forward.

"Yes. On the one hand, I know that they're right. I'm capable of a lot more than what I show in the face of danger, but even when I was in the Renith Ruins, I treated everything like a game. Maybe it's because when I started playing Nova Terra, that's exactly what it was, a game. And while there have been challenges along the way, I've always been entirely confident that I would get through them. Plus, growing up, there wasn't much that was out of my reach. And honestly, I don't quite know how to resolve the tension between being some sort of singular Titanic existence and taking things very seriously."

"I get what you mean," Velin said. "It's hard to hold the perspective of an immortal if you don't feel like an immortal."

"Exactly," Thorn said. "What about you? You've ascended to something beyond what you were. Do you feel like it's affecting your mentality and the way you see the world?"

"Oh, absolutely."

Picking up a pitcher, Velin filled her wine glass and took a sip. When she had cleared her throat, she drew a circle on the table with her finger.

"There is a strangeness to it, because when I merged with the World Tree and became the guardian spirit of Verdant, I realized how limited, how constricted my thinking had been. As a mortal, I was used to seeing everything through a very narrow pair of eyes. My perspective was hemmed in by the information I could absorb. Even after getting access to the Lady of the Old Woods map, my view was still limited. I could see a lot more from a top-down perspective, but merging the two was almost impossible. Well, that's not the case anymore. Not so much here, but on Verdant, I can see everything. It's so hard to describe the feeling through the senses of a body like this, but everywhere my roots stretch is my space, and with that comes control. It was odd at first, but I find myself getting more and more used to it. That, in turn, has changed the way I think about just about everything."

“Do you have any specific examples?”

“I do,” Velin nodded, taking another sip. “Ever since the elves of Verdant moved out of the forest, I have been responsible for them. While before, I might have been inclined to interact with them based on how much I liked or disliked a particular person or situation, I have a much broader view that takes into account not only their desires and needs, but those of everyone on Verdant. I know that sounds strange, as I am not directly responsible for everyone on Verdant, but because my eyes and ears reach everywhere, I consider everything from all angles. Or at least, all the angles I can.”

"Huh." Thorn scratched his chin. "You know, now that you mention it, that might be some of my problem. Despite the fact that I can see everything around me, I've been consciously choosing to restrict my gaze to what's directly in front of me. Combine that with this vague optimism that everything is going to turn out for the best, and I can understand why both the Lady of Waves and my grandfather would be disappointed in me."

"I don't think they're disappointed, Thorn. I think they just recognize that you need a wake-up call, an expansion of your perspective, so to speak. And even if they were disappointed with you, I'm incredibly proud of what you've done. What you've achieved is incredible."

Reaching across the table, Thorn took Velin's hand, squeezing it lightly.

"Thank you, Velin. That really means a lot."

Taking a deep breath, he pushed himself back from the table.

"If a bigger perspective is what I need, then I'm more than happy to find it. And that's what I'm going to do. Time to get to work."

After helping Metra clean up the dishes and carry them into the kitchen, Thorn and Velin went upstairs. While she lay down to rest, he sat on the floor, beginning to meditate. He had never lost his meditation habit, even from when he first entered the game. Though many days the most he could do were a couple of minutes because of how busy everything was, but up until this point, every time he had meditated, he had always drawn the power of the world in, absorbing mana, sinking it deep into him as he brought his mind into his own body, practicing an introspective meditation technique. This time, however, he decided to try the opposite.

He had no idea how it would go, but he had an inkling that Velin was right, that the issue was with his perspective, the way he saw the world. Lyssia, the Lady of Waves, had hinted that he lacked ruthlessness, and while Thorn had no desire to turn into a stone-cold killer, he understood what she was saying. He did have a tendency to try and go easy on his enemies, hoping that things could be talked out. And he wasn't sure if this was just because of his own personality and desire for good in the world, or if it was something else.

With his eyes closed, Thorn allowed his mind to expand, enveloping the room around him, and beginning to examine every single bit of it with as much present consciousness as possible. Ever since he had awakened his mental sense, he had used it almost unceasingly, but almost always it had been a directed tool, something that allowed him to gather information from all angles as his awareness flitted between items of interest. His mental sense could stretch for miles, and he often used it that way, sending it far out from his body to alert him to what was going on. If the range of his mental sense was like a dark room that surrounded him, his attention was like a flashlight whose beam pierced the darkness, revealing what was hidden in that space. Now, however, he brought his awareness to himself, shining it down on his body and the immediate surroundings. Immediately, millions of pieces of information flooded into his mind.