[Scanning Current Body Condition]
Name: Loki Frost Hammer
Species: Human (Giant Tribes)
Titles: Titan Prince, Devious Hand
Age: 6
Class: Adolescent Monster Hunter
Rating: 6.07
Soul level: 2.2
————————
Mana: 17.3/17.3
Strength: 0.80
Constitution: 1.22
Dexterity: 0.86
Intelligence: 1.73
Wisdom: 1.46
————————
Status: N/A
Elemental Affinity: Nature, Lightning, Ice,
Two Unknown Affinities.
Blessings: Unknown Goddess (S.L.A.D.)
Skills:
Earth Sciences, Ambidextrous, Widuz-Language, Multi thought, Memory Sharing, Trap maker, Schemer, Alcoholic, Good Delegator.
Druid skills:
Nature's Language, Contract
Warmth, Cold Breeze, Static Field, Lightning bolt (charged), Frostbite, CryoStorm, Magnetic Shield, Mend, Sense Life, Scalpel, Inject
Alchemy:
Purify, Combine, Separate, Disinfect, Heat, Freeze, Magnify, Current, Magic Hand
Potions:
Minor Healing potion, Healing poultice, Freezing Brew, Fire Proof Beer, Dissolving Potion,
Soap, Lotion, Shampoo, Conditioner,
Antibiotics, Stimulants, Anticoagulants, Steriods, Opiods,
Warrior Skills:
Blade Practicioner (Sword, Axe, Claw), Pierce Practitioner (Spear, Dagger, Throwing Knife), Hammer Apprentice
Ice Bones (7%), Lightning Body v1 (26%-6%total)
Tranquility-Rage Chain
Forge Master:
Hammer of Will, Hammer of Will Combat
Oils, Heat Treating, Alloys, Casting, Welding, Forging, Magical Metals, Mana Refining, Spirit Imbuing
Rune Smithing
Bodily Modification, Pseudo Soul Creation, Sealing
Contracts:
Muninn the Three Eyed Raven
I have thought a lot recently about my skills. Particularly where I stand with everyone else. I was comparing my Stats to both Aegir and Nordri's. Both are warriors, one a druid the other a forgemaster. They are also both rank 6. I was trying to map out how I was supposed to juggle all my own skills like they do.
I have recently completed all my training and have my final lesson with Nordri tomorrow before my birthday. The Year came and went so fast. I took a rest day from training today with the kids and I am really trying and take a step back and analyze what I am doing here.
I feel as though I have been too passive. Being under constant threat of death should I leave the city, I haven't had a chance to experience the world. Not to mention the fact that My parents have literally forced me to grow up fast. Taking the trials early, weapon training, Druid training, Forgemaster, Business, Alchemy you name it and I know about it.
I have become an Encyclopedia of skills. Not to mention I become rank 2 at the age of 5 which is almost unheard of.
But what is knowledge without practical experience? What's experience without a path to go on. I have been trapped far too long in this place just preparing for the day I get out only to find myself wondering, when I leave tomorrow, what is the first thing ill do?
I have all these skills but no knowledge of where to use them. I already built a business yes, but that was just a means to an end. It was also a way for me to give back. I am intending to allow the clinic and the conglomerate grow on its own under the Valkyries. They'll be my private organization. But what is that organization going to be used for?
Its a scary thought not having a purpose. It's almost like a demon eating at your psyche. Taking a step outside the mountain in two days will likely be the equivalent of crossing no man's land mentally.
The only thing I have figured out is that I should first get stronger. I Atleast want to protect myself. The only thing I want to avoid though is having a repeat of my past life where I just went with the flow and let fate decide. I felt I had no purpose in the world before causing me to quite literally give up when the opportunity arose.
I know I want to make the world a better place, but the method eludes me. Personal wealth is nice, but luxury is momentary. Something permanent and more important is family. A lot of people devote their lives to family and bringing up children.
But is protecting my family my life's goal? Is it a solitary goal? SOO many questions. To that end I have come up with the resolution that whatever my purpose or purposes will be, I will get no where close to figuring it out without seeing the world first.
Traveling and seeing how this world functions. Probing magic and history to learn the secrets of the world. Though very grand in hindsight, I feel to be the only way I can move forward. My purpose will never be found standing in one place. I no longer just want to coast. I want to actively search.
For that reason I am making some strength goals for myself using Nordri and Aegir as Reference.
[Initializing Diagnostic]
[Requesting History of Subject Aegir]
Name: Aegir
Species: Human (Aesir Tribe)
Titles: Sea Giant
Age: 91
Class: Eastern Sea General
Rank: 128
Soul Rank: 6.18
———————
Strength: 37
Constitution: 39
Dexterity: 12
Intelligence: 15
Wisdom: 25
————————
Status: N/A
Alignment: Neutral Good
Elemental Affinity: Nature, Water
Blessing: Aegir (Sea King)
Skills:
Navy Tactics, Brewing, Business Administration, Good Father, Heavy Drinker, Good Husband, Sailing, Cartography.
Druid Skills:
Nature's Language, Contract, Bind
Purify, Combine, Separate, Disinfect, Heat, Freeze, Magnify, Current, Magic Hand, Dissolve, Analyze, Enclose, Remove Substrate, Split/Join Compound
Vapour Spout, Rain, Roaring Wave, Clear Sky, Raging Storm, Storm Surge, Tsunami
Mend, Sense Life, Scalpel, Inject, Mutate, Regenerate, Meld body, Mind Influence, Rebirth, Cellular Control, Mind Control,
Unknown Contract
Warrior Skills:
Trident King, Fighting King, Light Armor Master
Sacred Water (100%), Ocean's Earth (100%), Sea Giant (15%)
Rage-Tranquility Chain
[End Diagnostic]
[Initializing Diagnostic]
[Requesting History of Subject Nordri]
Name: Nordri
Species: Artificial Primordial Dwarf (Dwarf Tribe)
Titles: Icy Soul Hammer
Age: 109
Class: Northern Forgemaster
Rank: 107
Soul Rank: 6
———————
Strength: 45
Constitution: 31
Dexterity: 7
Intelligence: 14
Wisdom: 10
————————
Status: N/A
Alignment: Neutral Good
Elemental Affinity: Ice
Inheritance: Nordri (Soul Smithing)
Skills:
Nice, Giving, Natural Leader, Inventive, Renown, Protective, Creator, Soul creator, Soul Weapon Genius, Life Hammer
Forgemastering:
Level 3 of Hammer of Will
Oils, Heat Treating, Alloys, Casting, Welding, Forging, Magical Metals, Mana Refining, Spirit Imbuing
Rune Smithing
Bodily Modification, Soul Blessing
Warrior Skills:
Hammer King, Fighting King, Heavy Armor King
Water Spirits Grace (100%), Ice Flesh (100%), Ice Soul Mancer (16%)
Rage-Tranquility Chain
[End Diagnostic]
Both of them are extremely powerful in their own right. They have some commonalities in that they both focus on one element. They both picked up two warrior manuals related to that element and they both have another occupation besides warrior.
When someone only has one element it is hard to take multiple manuals. Normally you start with one manual of one element and add all the parts of other manuals of the same element into it. Since they had reached their peak reinforcement with their normal element, they were forced to select another manual. Both of them still selected manuals having to do with their primary element anyway rather than something extremely esoteric like what bragi did reinforcing his vocal cords.
Its a singular focus they have.
I am trying to figure out how they tailored themselves with that. Aegir looks to me that he focused all his druid training only on water. He has devoted himself to mastering the sea. everything is catered to that with no separation except in alchemy which he seems to have devoted to making alcohol for sailors.
Nordri didn't focus on an element but his craft. All he's focused on is Forgemastering and making the greatest products with Soul Smithing. Speaking of Soul Smithing this would be a good time to discuss Nordri's specialty.
Soul Smithing is something I am extremely interested in. It is even more complicated than runes. You have to have a basic knowledge in the other schools to even get a grasp on it. I've only just gotten my feet wet, but there are many subjects in Soul Smithing. Thankfully they can be summed up into two processes.
Bodily Adjustment and Soul Blessing.
Each of the two when taken to the extreme can do incredible god like things apparently. I have only practiced the first on dead animals while the second I only went through the basics. Nordri said he would teach me overtime but I won't become a master in just a few months that's forsure.
Bodily adjustment is the process in which the forger turns anything into an ingot of his own and forges it into any shape. It is powerful and dangerous. It is also used to create magical artifacts and walls through the process of merging different material. Mastering it is how Nordri changed his body. This process was completed by having one of the other four brother's inheritors complete the process on him. This dumbfounds me though because of something I learned about Bodily adjustment. Changing a living things body requires the soul to change with it, if not there will be a dissonance. It's the reason Nordri's tips on how to handle my brother were so important. I can't have Baldr's soul away from his body too long without making them incompatible.
Baldr's conception was a joint effort of Forgemastering, Druidic knowledge, and the warrior manual.
This means Nordri had to change his own essence by hand to match his current body. When I asked him about this he dodged it completely which is strange since he's extremely open about forging.
The only reason he said I would use bodily adjustment is if I wanted to pair it with soul blessing to make homunculi or undead.
Soul blessing is the process of placing a soul in a body. It doesn't necessarily have to be a whole soul. it can be fragments of one. You can insert instructions using a method with your will but it is never the same as the soul. In either case, the soul acts as a central controller for whatever you body adjusted. Soul shards can be collected from dead animals and can have interesting effects to a matching weapon.
Nordri literally devoted himself to this portion of Forgemastering. It's an incredible art that deals with the very concepts of souls and life itself. His body and mind are built for this purpose. Crazily enough, Using Soul Smithing, I can very much bring the modern Era to the lost woods. Computing and Ai tech were on the rage back on Earth. I can likely draw some inspiration.
I understand it but, I haven't been able to make a golem or even an undead servant yet. I have been successful in Soul blessing though. I have a real knack for understanding it. Plus I have been experimenting on souls for months now even after Baldr. A good background is all you need.
According to Nordri, Soul Smithing is permanent so I must take care when using.
I very much look up to Nordri who is technically shouldering the mantle of such a great technique. I on the other hand have so many skills and I don't know how to condense them at all or what path to follow except to do more practice and experiment. I get very annoyed that the status module calls me a monster hunter since I am so well rounded.
You know what they say jack of all trades, master of none. I guess this is the same problem I had on Earth with my career. I like so many subjects, but I never knew which to pursue. I just went with what everyone else expected me to.
On a more positive note though I can also see the benefit of my situation. I can be like a butterfly escaping my cocoon. I have spent so much time preparing, learning, and honing myself that this escape can be a new start for me no matter where I put my foot down.
Leaving the city for the first time and breathing the air of the lost woods seems so alien to me that I can't wait for the journey to come.
A new beginning is sometimes all we need to move forward. My old world didn't have a lot of those, take a step back and relax, then restart moments. I think a lot of people waste too much time doing things they do not necessarily love.
At this point in my life I feel as if the sky is the limit. There's a sense of a fresh air with a hint of magic.
[I hate to remind you and break your train of thought but I would be doing you a disservice in not mentioning this world is just the same as the last except with stronger people. People still get hung up on their careers and secondary thoughts that they don't see the big picture.]
In that case, I have been given a blessing in this moment. I may have been stuck for six long years, but I never wasted a moment. Every little thing I did was hoping for a new beginning outside. I dabbled in so many subjects and even though I haven't mastered them, I am confident in the path that I will walk after this.
[Im glad your confident but I need you to be aware that even with magic, this world isn't fairing any better than your last. No amount of preparation will prepare you. If anything this world is worse. You've lived like a sheltered boy this life so you haven't been able to notice it. The Aesir are bound by their souls to honor so you can't see it with them but, you'll meet people like Fafnir are everywhere. Morality is very skewed here where might is usually right. And even if everyone were like the Aesir, would you be okay with your soul being tainted to act a specific way?]
I thought about it for a moment.
No, I guess not. Being forced to act a specific way is no way to live whether it was a conscious or unconscious influence.
I guess I got to thank you in helping me avoid Valor.
Is there a way to use my magic to help my people and the situation be better? If not for my tribe, at least for Baldur
[Yes there is a way to do that but that path is the definition of "you live long enough to see yourself becoming the villain"]
You quoting movies now?
[I am but I'm also being serious. A tyrant is no better than someone who consolidates all the power. You are better than that. I hope these formative years show you how powerful democracy is here even if there are stronger beings. The government and way of life here was set up in a specific way to honor all the people yet keep consistent to their culture]
I guess your right, but getting stronger is something necessary still. Plus, even though I made the pharmacy for one goal, that doesn't mean I can't do anymore good with it.
[...All I have to say is be careful on your journey. We can talk morality later. Just know It will be dangerous, so try not to die in the process though and bore me. I've been slightly entertained these close to six years but now I'm ready for some action]
There she is. My selfish Goddess.
I will do my best to be your entertainment my lady.