Eight

Once he reached the fourth level in the Mortal Realm, Shui focused on blacksmithing. There was only a month remaining until he had to give Alice an artifact with the same effect as his first creation, and he couldn't mess up. This feeling increased every time he talked to her over the communication terminal. Every time he heard her sweet voice, the determination to make the artifact as good as possible was strengthened.

In order to improve the quality of the artifact, Shui also started learning another subject. Though he was aware that trying to dabble in everything could make him 'a jack of all trades but a master of none', his curiosity and resolve won out. He could now make normal special-rank artifacts with an 80% chance of success and for blessed special-rank, it was around 50%. Furthermore, the appearance of his creation could no longer be called crude, however he had to refine his aesthetic sense even further since he wouldn't be giving Alice an weapon artifact. With his skills, there was no way he could forge a weapn better than those she could get with her impressive background, so he had to capitalise on what he had.

He was planning on making the artifact a ring, for purely practical reasons of course, so he was paying very close attention to examples he saw in the clan and what he could find in the Library. The fact that he had forgotten to check her ring size was a bit of a problem but, he was too engrossed in his own thoughts to realize it.

Winter was almost over and Shui could see the surrounding plants reveal their buds once more. Though it was normal weekday, he was taking a stroll. Bartos said it was a rest day but Shui already knew that they were planning something behind his back. After all, it was his eighth birthday. In recent times, Uncle Bartos and his fellow apprentices were rarely at the forge, which strengthened his belief in this idea.

Unlike Kate, his birthday would be completely private so he didn't really expect them to do anything big,...is what he said to himself but what child wouldn't want something special for their birthday. And so, though he tried to look indifferent to the affair, he was skipping while anticipating what he would get.

"Hah! Hah! Hah!"

On his aimless stroll, he ended up passing the training grounds. Those over ten trained in a different location so only those he was familiar with were there. When he glanced at them, he noticed that Kate was sparring with another boy. Though he knew that they normally sparred with each other, the children looked more serious than usual. Most of them anyways.

The boy charged at Kate and flung a punch towards her face, followed by a left hook to her chin and then a knee to the gut, all of which missed their intended marks. The boy seemed to be giving it his all but Kate was essentially playing with him. This state of steady superiority only stopped when Kate noticed Shui staring at her. Impatient to talk to her lil' bro, she finally acted to end the farce. The boy was only at the third level in the Mortal Realm while she was almost at the fifth level, so there was no need to have a fierce bout. After dodging another of the boy's fist she positioned her right leg behind his right ankle and pushed him.

It was a very simple technique, she didn't even use the advantage of her higher cultivation and yet he was easily defeated. As tears came to the boy's eyes because of this fact, Shui applauded in his heart.

'Big sis is better than I expected.'

It was a simply enough maneuver for him to copy, but it looked very nice when she did it. Like an elegant fairy stunning the boy into submission.

"Hey, you looking for me?"

After finishing her match, Kate went straight to Shui with a bright smile. Besides her seniors who were older than ten, there were no other children who could be her opponent so she was rather bored.

"Oh, I was just taking a walk. Good job there."

"Eh, it's nothing. There's an inter-clan competition coming up so the elders are really pushing us, but I don't really have any proper opponents."

"Yeah, looks like it. But don't get too arrogant and end up slacking off."

"I won't, who do you think your big sis is?"

Since Nathan wasn't there and the instructor wasn't paying attention to them, Shui could have a pleasant chat with Kate.

"Look forward to your gift."

"Okay."

After parting with her, Shui went to the library, the one within the clan. Since finding the Primoridal Library, less than a year had went by. This was about the same amount of time that had passed since he last visited this library. While feeling a little guilty for not having come in a while, Shui entered the desolate building.

"Uh, Morning Grandpa Carlos."

"Hmph, here I thought you forgot about this old man."

"Um, sorry."

After finally seeing him again, Carlos seemed to have aged. He already looked old but, he appeared closer to his final days. Now that he was a cultivator, Shui could tell that Grandpa Carlos had reached the Earth Realm, however, his foundation was ruined so his lifespan was the same as a mortal's. This fresh scoop obviously incited his curiosity, but he wouldn't try and dig open old wounds.

"Oh, it's your birthday today ain't it?"

Though Grandpa Carlos was old, Shui knew his memory was always good so he wasn't surprised that the old man remembered that it was his birthday. What did interest him, was the fact that he seemed to be looking for something under his desk.

'I wonder if it's a new book.'

"Here you go."

What Carlos pulled out was indeed a book, but an old one. When Shui took it and flipped through, he could tell that it was handwritten.

"It's my journal. The experiences should be useful to you now. Or you can just treat it like a storybook."

Carlos didn't explictly say it however, it was close enough for Shui to understand what his words implied.

"How, did you find out?"

"Let's just say this old man's intuition hasn't rusted."

Shui didn't know how, but he was sure that Grandpa Carlos had somehow seen that he could cultivate and gave him a book recounting his experiences. Though he had the Primordial Library, there were very little journals and such personal books in there. According to the artifact spirit, only text of a certain standard would be copied into the Library, which meant there were no purely fictional novels or writings with a biased perspective in there. While the journal Grandpa Carlos gave him wouldn't be fiction, it could certainly be entertaining.

He spent more time conversing with Grandpa Carlos about what he had been doing lately, mostly regarding forging and metals. The thought to ask him some questions regarding cultivation came to mind but he scattered them. There was no need to change their relationship from simple fellow bookworms.

By the time he came out from the library, Shui felt slightly hungry so he planned on going to Aunt Lilia for lunch. On the way, he decided to take a detour towards his house first. For the past week or so, he was stuck at Kate's house because of her pestering. Since they even had a spare room he could sleep in, he had nothing bad to say about the living conditions, but his masculinity was constantly in danger.

While reminding himself of those dark times, Shui made it to his house and was shocked to see an additional building there. Near the structure were Bartos, Yur and Gus so he wasn't worried, only intrigued.

"What's this?"

"Oh it's a for-, Shui!"

He chose to ask Gus since he was the one most likely to blurt out the answer and the result was good enough to be considered a successful operation. The word wasn't finished but it was already complete in Shui's mind.

"You built me a forge! Really!"

The three of them planned a grand unveiling with Lilia and Kate, an event that they could only push forward with a sigh. Yur and Gus weren't that bothered by it, but Bartos knew he was going to get a scolding from his wife and daughter. However, he wouldn't show his distress in front of the birthday-boy.

"That's right. Happy Birthday."

Bartos walked to Shui and planted his hand on his shoulder with a faint smile on his face. Once Shui saw the forge, all of the grievances he had to endure for the past week became minor issues. It was easy for him to realise that they must have built the forge while he wasn't around so he would be surprised. With the time to forge Alice's gift fast approaching, just seeing the forge was enough to inspire him to begin working on it.

As Shui's eyes glossed over with excitement, Bartos knew the boy was feeling the urge to forge so he quickly picked him up and turned his head away from the forge.

"Sorry, you'll have to wait for tomorrow to use it. We still have to celebrate with Lili and Kate."

Once he was reminded that he would still have to celebrate his birthday with those two, Shui's reluctantly repressed his urge. Bartos told him that they were the ones that suggested building the forge near his house so he was geniunely touched and wanted to thank them. He understood that he would leave the clan eventually, so he wanted to be in that shack for as long as possible. As a reminder and as a guide, so that he remembered her last words.