Grand Saint Alloy

Conni pumped his fist into the air, “Yes!”

Siren was grinning, “Don’t get too exited yet, we still need to test it in the mine.”

Tristan was confused, it couldn’t be that special. He suspected that a sufficiently skilled person with an earth kern could do something similar by looking for voids in their senses. However, maybe they could only feel earth essence, meaning that they would not feel metal unless they were standing right on top of it.

Siren took pity on Tristan, choosing to fill him in, “If you can sense large deposits, you will save us an astronomical amount of time and once you have a feeling for how large the deposits is, we can be on standby in case of any elementals.”

Tristan looked at the vials. Maybe this wasn’t such a curse, he could help people, and he could be treated well for it. He couldn’t wait to let his parents know their son was going to be a big shot, even if it was in the mines. Shadow Fist probably would not care, but his mother would be proud.

“Can we go try it out?” Tristan asked.

Conni gave him small smile, “Yes and No, Your abilities are underdeveloped, you haven’t had any practice. It’s not to much of an issue, as the metal is randomly scattered, with no regard to stone strata. I could take you to the end of the tunnels and ask you to point in a direction and dig that way. It would work to develop your skills, however the time it would take will slow your development.”

That was true even with earth moving artifacts, mining was a slow process. Tristan would have to find a deposit, wait a week or so to find out if he was correct, then try again later. The bigger issue was that if he was accidentally correct, he would learn bad methods that would not regularly work.

Siren nodded, “We need something a little faster, which we have set up above ground.”

Tristan wondered how they could set up an exercise above ground to help with locating things below ground. Well he would have to just find out. He followed Conni upstairs, while Siren stayed behind to watch how the new batch of people responded to different orders and work.

The bright sunlight blinded Tristan for a moment. He had not realized how dim the caves were until he had returned to the outside word. If he was completely honest, he felt more comfortable underground. Most likely that was due to the familiar essence underground.

Conni led him around behind the sandstone bunk house only to find a second and third in a row behind it. The gap between the buildings was not large, five or six feet at most. Only one end of the alleys was open, some hastily stacked rocks piled at one end cut off the alley. From how lose the dirt was, it was a very recent job.

“You may be asking what we are doing here?” Conni asked.

The thought had actually not crossed Tristan’s mind. He was more curious about what Siren was doing, the warrior fascinated Tristan and was an example of what he dreamed of being. It also did not hurt that he shared an element with Shadow Fist.

“The bunk houses are made out of stone, we will be placing a wheelbarrow full of scrap metal inside, it is your job to find it without leaving the alley.”

Tristan looked at him, confused, “That’s ridiculous, how am I supposed to do that?”

Conni produced a black strip of cloth with a grin, “Put this on and we’ll see.” He paused for a moment, “Well, I can’t stay here and babysit you while you build up your sensitivity, I’ll find someone to watch your progress.”

Tristan was forced to wait while Conni went back into the mine to find some unfortunate person. Whoever he picked would be forced to watch over a blind folded thirteen year old while he tried to increase his sensitivity. It was like the longest game of hot and cold in history. At least that is what Tristan thought until Conni returned with Luke.

“Here we go, his personality does not quite match the other miners, and he’s the closest one to your age,” Conni said.

He explained to Luke what his job was. Luke was supposed to move a wheel barrow of scrap metal around inside the bunk houses. For now it would be right up against the inside wall and as Tristan got better at locating it, it would be placed farther and farther away. Conni wanted Tristan to have the ability to sense the wheel barrow at distances of up to fifty feet. Tristan thought he was being a little to optimistic, but he would try.

When they were done, Tristan tied the blindfold around his eyes. In theory the blindfold was supposed to mimic a cave environment, but it only made things dark. The mine had a cool dampness to the air, while Tristan could still feel the sun and wind above ground. Maybe on a calm night it would be simmilar.

“Your good to go, Luke, make sure he doesn’t hurt himself or wander off while blindfolded,” Conni said before his footsteps receded. Tristan frowned, was blindfolded people wandering off actually a serious cooncern.

As soon as Conni was gone Luke started talking, “So you had to learn how to feel metal essence? What was that like, I can’t not remember feeling wind essence. It feels like a breeze.”

Tristan froze, “You could always feel it?”

“Sure, I’m pretty sure every one can when they’re born,” Luke seemed to pause, “Well, I guess except for you.”

Something lit in Tristan. Something he tried to smother. His parents knew he couldn’t feel the flame, or the night shadows, they were aware that he was different and that his dreams were physically impossible. Instead of preparing him for that future they had opted to hide from the issue. He had nothing to prove it, so he tried to suppress the feeling, and he succeeded, mostly.

“I guess,” Tristan took a deep breath, “I guess I am just special in an odd way.”

Luke’s laughter echoed down the alley, bouncing off the rubble at its end, “That you are. So lets take our first step on a journey, to fulfill a legend and slay a thousand men!”

Tristan inched down the hallway wondering if something was wrong with his bloodthirsty companion. He tried to feel for the metal. The vials had given him a sensation of rightness, of comfort. It was odd, but the sensation they gave off was not dissimilar to the feelings a pillow invoked. Rest and rejuvenation. He tried to feel that, but it was hard.

“So if the earth kern makes it hard to bleed to death, do you think your metal kern will make you invincible? Like armored blood or something?” Luke seemed to get more and more exited, “So if you get armored blood, I want flying blood, cause wind can fly right!”

Tristan tried to tune him out, but it was difficult. Currently he was in the center of the ally, but he didn’t need to be. It was perfectly reasonable to feel the cave wall while he was searching for deposits. Moving to his right, Tristan felt for the wall. When he found it, he pressed up against it and started sliding down the alley.

“Um, So I guess that works, but it looks really silly,” Luke commented on Tristan’s form.

“Your Face is silly,” Tristan yelled at him. It was the best he could think of on the spot. Luke started laughing.

He made it to the end of the alley and started on the other side. Tristan did not find anything, he was not really expecting to either, at least on his first try. It ended up taking three rounds, and that was because as soon as he would near the spot Luke would start talking nonsense. Tristan did not know if it was on purpose, but it was not as if he would alway have peace while trying to work. On top of that Luke’s banter would get slightly less irksome when he neared that spot as well, so he wasn’t going to stop his unintentional training aid.

After about thirty minutes he found it, there was a spot that simply felt different. Because it was a new feeling Tristan pointed to the wall, “Is it here?”

Luke nodded, then realized that Tristan was blindfolded, “Yup, thats it.”

After several different attempts, a bell rang. Tristan didn’t know what it meant, but his blind fold was jerked off. He winced as the sunlight entered his eyes for the first time in a few hours. He focused of Luke who was cheering throwing the cloth up in the air. The reason for this odd behavior was soon answered.

A voice that was both booming and feminine echoed over the base camp, “LUNCH TIME!”