I started learning different hammer techniques for different situations and different requirements.
3 months have passed since the day I started practicing hammering techniques. Today I will try the elemental manifestation for the first time, in these 3 months I also practiced circulating mana through my body and started to absorb mana from the environment.
I have started my journey in the cultivation path, I am right now trying to unblock my meridians with mana and I am at the very start of cultivation.
There are 7 levels, but I know of the first 3 only as of now. The first 3 levels of the cultivation realm are:
Mana Gathering - This is the starting point for all cultivators. At this level, a cultivator learns to gather and refine their Mana, or life force energy, to strengthen their body and senses.
Foundation Establishment - At this level, a cultivator has successfully formed a foundation and begins to refine their Mana to create a solid base for their future cultivation.
Core Formation - At this level, a cultivator forms a Core within their body, which allows them to store and control more Mana. They can also begin to use spiritual energy to manipulate the elements.
Mana Gathering is further divided into 9 levels. The 9 levels are grouped into 3 sub-levels and they are mainly meridian unblocking, meridian strengthening, and bone marrow strengthening. These 3 are divided into the initial, medium, and perfect stages.
Also, a normal can't use elements before he/she achieves Core Formation. But some people are born with elemental affinity so they can manipulate elements from the Mana Gathering stage and they increase their degree of affinity at Core Formation.
I have achieved initial meridian unblocking. And I have fairly good control over my mana, so today I would be trying to use the skill that I got from Throne.
First, I need to think of the shape in which I want my manifestation to be manifested.
I intend to use this manifestation in my first artifact, I think a basic sphere is a good start.
Then the next step is to concentrate on gathering the mana and solidifying it in my desired shape. I concentrated on the shape of the fire element into a sphere.
After some minutes I saw a sphere made of the fire element floating in front of me.
Within these 3 months, I have learned about 40% of blacksmithing techniques. So, with the 30% and this elemental manifestation, I will gather practical experience as proposed by Throne.
First, I choose a normal metal with a bit of high melting temperature, so that the metal could handle the fire element ingredient. Then I am thinking of making a spherical fire elemental artifact as my end goal is to make an artifact to use in my summoning ritual.
I said my plans to Throne, and he said it was okay, as there was a much higher probability of me failing to make a proper artifact.
I started working on the artifact and within 2 days the outlook of the artifact was almost ready. I showed it to Throne and after inspecting my work he was a little bit surprised. He said it was an actual artifact, advised me not to start the quenching step till evening, and also said that we might need Mr. Silvermoon to craft some fire runes to increase the affinity of this artifact and then you can heat treat it.
"I am confused, how did you make an artifact on your first try?"
"I have a passive Fate Reversal, which increases my probability to do something beneficial."
"Oh"
Evening came and I was starting in front of the furnace to heat the initial artifact and quench it. Mr. Adam Silvermoon will add runes that will make the artifact more compatible with the fire element.
I finished quenching after dripping the hot artifact in the mineral-rich liquid.
Mr. Silvermoon started carving runes with transparent pens. Throne came to my side and explained to me.
"Carving runes need you to have mental energy which is unlocked at nascent soul cultivation, or you have to be gifted to use mental energy from the Mana Gathering stage. It requires a good amount of concentration and lots of mental energy to carve runes. So you will that most formation master has pretty strong, and they have quite a high cultivation level."
While Throne was explaining, Mr. Silvermoon was already halfway through carving the rune on the artifact.
We waited for a few more minutes and Mr. Silvermoon backed off from the artifact. I understand it was my turn to heat treat the artifact.
I started the process to heat-treat the artifact and in a few hours, it was done.
By the time I finished the process, Mr. Silvermoon already went to his home.
My whole family was waiting for me to finish.
"Darling, I think you have finished your task. Let's have our dinner and then in the morning we will think about what to do with that artifact.", said my mother.
"Okay", I replied with a tired voice.
I went to the house with a tired body and we all had our dinner and then went to sleep.
The morning of the next day arrived, we had our breakfast and Father took a leave from his work. We went to the shed and took out the artifact from the crafting table where designs are kept.
I took it to the garden and kept it on the ground.
"I made this artifact to use it for the summoning ritual since I need an artifact with elemental affinity in order to summon. So I didn't keep any functionality in mind when I was designing this artifact. This artifact's sole role is to get a good amount of fire element affinity."
"So, just for the summoning purposes."
"Then, start your summoning. We are here if anything goes wrong."
Ii looked and they all had reassuring smiles. I think I know why they had these faces because I was making an afraid face.
I guess I lacked confidence in my creation like I lacked confidence in my own work in my previous life. But I have to change and the change starts from now on.