Sage recovered slowly, during which time he had to refrain from his usual Ebb and Flow training. He brought out King and Ruanfu to do some guard duty, and also to give more time for Ruanfu to explore the world and gain experience. Even though she was only a few years old, she was filled with potential. She had two extremely powerful abilities, and once she grew older and increased her strength she would be Sage’s strongest backup. King was also constantly bragging about his children, which also got Ruanfu bragging about how many children she was going to have. Unfortunately, it would still take some time for those children to reach maturity. Ruanfu was an exception, she was even more innately powerful than King and also spent who knows how long in her egg. She was extremely intelligent even from birth.

With his weakened state, Sage had to focus on academic pursuits. There was always more research for him to do, but when you’re forced into something it’s never quite as fulfilling. Even so, he choose an area he hadn’t researched that deeply into to spur his interest. Long ago, he’d found many sets of clothing and garments in closets at the Soul Taming Abode. He wore some of them, but they were too eye-catching and valuable. One set of them was destroyed, but then he sold the rest when he needed money. Before he sold them, he carefully tested and studied them a bit, using the memory trick he learned in the Soul Taming Abode’s library. He ran energy through them and mostly deciphered their effects, creating a sort of full reproduction within a Memory Sphere. Since that time, he’d mostly ignored them. It was only when he was creating the Formation Armor that he remembered them and used them as inspiration.

They weren’t as much help as he’d hoped. Each of the garments were extremely complex, layered with many different arrays and supporting effects. Sage had learned a little bit about controlling energy flow with worn magical devices, but that was about it. The intricate and delicate effects of the clothing were far beyond the simple mass production armor he was building. On the other hand, he had been reminded of the clothing and now that he was forced into resting, it was a good time to study. Formation Master had always been his main profession, and it was also the foundation that Refiners based their skills upon.

Studying the interactions between so many small and intricate formations was a very useful learning experience. Especially since a Tailor used very different formations than a Formation Master would use. Formation Master’s created huge defenses, illusions, alarms, and traps. They used the arrangement of natural elements, alignment of the stars, the changing seasons, weather patterns, and all sorts of other events to empower and anchor their formations. A Tailor on the other hand, used a cultivator’s residual and active Qi flows to enhance the cultivator’s capabilities. They had to make tough, flexible, comfortable, and stylish outfits that not just protected, but strengthened their wearers. They had to function in all sorts of different environments and usually had passive and active effects. The passive effects were powered by residual or stored energy, while the active ones were powered by the cultivator whenever they chose to expend their Qi upon them. Formation Masters created strategic resources, while Tailors enhanced individual personnel.

It wasn’t all that important for him to use right now, but it was very enlightening to study the work of a high level Tailor. The insights he’d gained from first studying the garments, as well as his work creating so many magical devices in a Smithy had led to his being a 3 Star Tailor and Blacksmith. Since that time long ago he’d created a whole line of steam powered magical devices, a set of Formation Swords for Song Lu Tian, as well as a new set of equipment for the Jade Horde. With those attainments, Sage felt that he’d long since passed the threshold of a 4 Star Blacksmith, and was well on his way towards a fifth star. It was just that he’d not had time to formally take a test. Now with some time to study, he deepened his knowledge on the tailoring side of things. While it wasn’t true practice, it helped him to cross reference between the three professions and brought improvement to all three.

After a few weeks, Sage’s meridians had recovered enough for him to do some gentle experimentation and of course he first had to try out the Blue Icesilver. This was the first time he’d truly mastered a Heavenly Material. The Seed of Life had basically planted itself inside his body and while it brought benefits he had no control over it. The same went for the other Heavenly Materials he’d collected. The Eye of the World had nearly killed him and he never controlled it, only stored it like a toxic hazard. First Light and Stormbreath had both been sealed up and while useful were inert to him. A similar thing happened with the Sovereign Stone, it had been partially sealed, but before he had the chance to figure out what it was the Seed of Life took over and scooped it up.

Now that he had control of one, he spent a few hours a day playing with it. He could only use his Qi for a few minutes at a time before having to rest again, so those few hours were spread out throughout the day. Only getting a couple tests in before having to stop. This was bad in that he couldn’t really fine tune his control, but also good in that it gave him a lot of time to think about what he would do next. Luckily, this worked in his favor as the Blue Icesilver was a Heavenly Material that was one of the most difficult to master.

Something like a Heavenly Flame was reasonably simple. It burned things. It consumed the cultivator’s Qi as fuel and grew larger. Certainly there was plenty of room in learning the intricacies of manipulating flames. Whole lives had been spent trying to master specific techniques and intricate applications of a flame that moved how one willed it to. Alchemists based half their profession upon manipulating flames to refine pills. That said, getting a basic mastery of a Heavenly Flame was pretty simple. Insert Qi, direct flames. Blue Icesilver on the other hand, was more like jumping right into the deep end. Its basic use was quite similar to the advanced usage of a Heavenly Flame. Inserting Qi changed it to a liquid state. Then the owner had to control both its size and shape, willing it to hold a shape while also withdrawing Qi to make it harden again. Sage felt like he was trying to build a house of cards with his tongue. The good news was that it felt like he’d grown a dozen extra tongues, but that sure didn’t make it easier. Worse yet, that was only the basic usage, advanced usage consisted of making only certain parts of it solid, forming a flowing tendril of liquid metal with a solid cutting edge or claw.

He made pretty good progress, exploring many different ideas and wanting to find the limits of its expansion and defensive ability. At least until his body finally recovered. He inspected his meridians, excited to see that the last fine cracks had disappeared completely. Of course, at that point the Seed of Life acted. It made him wonder whether or not it really did have a mind of some sort, but it was not a time for him to ponder such questions. The Seed of Life let out a bright green light. The Blue Icesilver had been floating near the top of his Dantian, far away from the nebula of liquid Qi droplets that orbited and spiralled away from the Seed of Life. The sudden green light changed that equilibrium. Like it was a tractor beam, the green light shined on the Blue Icesilver and the chunk of metallic ice was drawn slowly into the center of the nebula.

When it got closer, the other four Heavenly Materials that orbited the Seed of Life flew over to the Blue Icesilver like they were greeting a friend. They swirled and spun around each other for a while before flying back towards the Seed of Life. The now five Heavenly Materials fell into orbit around the Seed of Life. Each of them emitting their own glow of light, mixing together with the glow from the Seed of Life. Those energies seemed to intermingle and swirl faster.

I sure hope this goes well.