Today’s location is rather scenic. A good hike up the mountain range backing the palace, the forest gives way to an open cliff-side clearing overlooking much of the Whispering Vale. Keria looks out at the cliff face. A dot appears far above, and a muffled, incomprehensible cry falls down the cliff. “Well.” Keria activates her Transcendence, turning transparent, with jets of flame around her, floating up the cliff face. Just before she reaches the top, Luck’s face pokes over the edge. “Hello there.” “Ah!” Keria falls a foot, “I’m not an expert at floating Luck!” “Then become one! Now, up! Up!” “Ok ok!” Keria floats up slightly warily, and lands near him, the flames extinguishing. “So what are we doing today Lucky?” “We’re going to start on blade casting. While most applications of the practice may not fall within your realm of attunement, the basics are necessary in order to conjure a crystalsheath—the highest form of the armsheaths of the Twilight Valley.” “Ooh. That’s new. Where do I start?” “You start by finding your attuned metal. Then, we’ll work on conjuring it. Follow.” “Sounds good!” Keria follows Luck. He leads her across flat, rocky cliff to a line of pedestals, each containing a metal. —The first is silver, the highest order of alchemical purity, often associated with balance. —Next is Mentyte, a transparent material like metallic quartz, known for conducting large amounts of pure energy. —Then Abyssilialite, made between the cold, crushing depths of the sea and underwater volcanic outlets. —Titanite, incomparably stalwart and resolute. —Platinum, comparable in purity to silver and as free as the skies. —Khaomium, wild and unpredictable. “Find which one... resonates with you.” “Well. I’m stuck. Abyssilialite would be my first choice because it’s what Challenger’s is made of. But then I’m thinking Mentyte because I’m like a living hunk of molten rock. And then Khaomium is speaking to me because unpredictability is my strength.” Keria stands, debating. “Abyssilialite please.”, she says after a bit. In reaction, the stone pedestal turns white, contrasting with the dark, jagged abyssialite. Luck nods and moves to stand behind the pillar. “Now, this is a highly concentrated piece of material; it alone will be enough to form armsheaths. In the future, you will be using the Challenger’s Mark to form sheaths, but this will suffice for now. Take a meditative position.” “Yes Luck.” Keria sits cross legged, ready to start. Luck sets the abyssialite in front of her and sits atop the pedestal. “First, set your awareness upon the metal. For you, it may be best to envision it simultaneously as volcanic stone and glacial ice.” Keria closes her eyes, envisioning a smoldering volcano in a glacial tundra. “Now, on my queue, imagine that rock turning molten. The ice melting. Are you ready?” He didn’t wait for confirmation. “Melt.” Keria keeps her face straight, as a CRACK! sounds through the air, and the chunk of metal starts to turn red. “Let the physical restrictions of metal fall away. It should be liquid and free as your own will.” The Metal starts to turn liquid, a darkened red, almost like dried blood. It then changes back to a normal dark black. “Let the metal be free, shapeless, formless—like water.” The Metal starts to float out, like droplets in zero gravity. “This is the consistency you want at all times. It will obey you, and take shape at will. Condense the material together. Make something.” “Hm.” The Metal flies together, making an unadorned ring, with light blue flecks throughout the Metal. “Wait. That’s another memory.” Luck sits silently. “It’s my mother’s wedding ring. Huh.” Keria picks it up. “What do you think?” “Very well formulated for a first iteration. Your grasp on the memory is strong.” “Yes. The first time I saw it I thought it was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” He takes a quiet moment to examine it. “It seems like the material has attuned the ring as a base form. If you’d like to keep it, you’ll have a good source of abyssialite without needing to summon.” “What do you mean? The material as in ALL of the material everywhere?” “I wouldn’t say all abyssialite—most likely restrictively to this chunk. You may be able to add to it, but you’d be hard pressed to find any of equal quality.” “Oh. This ring can make more then this ring? How much could I make from it?” Luck waves his hands, and a liquid flow of silver slips into the air, meeting together to create a block of about 3x3x4 feet. “About so.” “Interesting. I might do that. In fact I’ll probably make some kind of weapon later.” Keria places the ring in her pocket, shrugging. “That’s the intent. Typically, anyone capable of sufficient bladecasting takes the crystalform style of armsheaths, which is a combination of the shardform and bladeform styles.” Silver flows over both of his arms, forming into a long, sharp spike covering one arm and a wicked blade on the other. “Huh.” Keria scrunches her face a bit, and the ring melts into a dagger, a dark hard edge, and an engraved hilt. “That’ll be all for today. Nice dagger.”