I'd like to say that our [Stoneworking] skills have improved, but we're still no Michelangelos (nor can we afford any Michelangelos). Still, the statue is as good as it's going to get and ready to summon up a medieval dude. Once everything is ready, we pile on an assortment of tools, tableware, and utensils. I cheerfully sacrifice even my "sacred fork". This is what I made it for, after all.

Finally, I add a notebook I'd written up for this purpose containing notes in Common, diagrams, blueprints, and information about Clairvoyance skills just to see what happens.

Spawning Platform Spawned creature Dwarven Metalworker Aspects connection, balance, life Essence available 13,005 Required essence 10,000 Make sure only intended items are on the platform. Pull lever to activate.

Once we've got everything arranged, I examine the display with satisfaction. We've put a significant amount of our copper stock in here, but that's what it's for and we can always get more.

I pull up the Soul Nexus display to see who we're getting. The best match is a dwarf who was the reincarnation of a coppersmith from 16th century Sweden. The original version of said coppersmith is unavailable and far out of our price range, but this is fine.

Basalt pulls the lever, and the copper items melt into essence and gather into the statue. Stone becomes flesh, and a red-bearded short man stands where the statue had been.

Name Copper Hebron Tempest Tiganna

A rather on-the-nose name there, but I immediately recognize the concept.

We welcome the new dwarf into the world and Aunt Rosemary helps him get acclimated. Basalt and I let her do her tutorial, and head for the hearth for lunch to meet up with them once he's gotten all the usual questions out of the way.

Once his tour and tutorial are done, Aunt Rosemary leads him to the hearth.

"It is an honor to be found worthy to be reborn among the crafty folk of the caverns," Copper says. "I grew up on tales of legendary smiths and can only hope I can live up to their names."

[Hebron, if they were reincarnated as dwarves before, why do they not remember?] I wonder as I examine Copper's astral tree.

[I do not know,] Hebron replies. [Can you not figure it out? You are a psychic, after all.]

I need a closer look for this, and so I become I and not-I. As my contact with the physical world loosens, my [Astral Vision] sharpens.

Like Milo, Copper has only lived a few dozen lives. In his case, it wasn't due to his rebellious nature. No such warnings were attached to his file. I trace back his actual tree, past the dormant spirit buds and coiled-up tentacle-fruits. His past lives have largely been suckers rather than grafts.

I strain to reach all the way back to his root, which is fortunately not very far. A graft, bearing with it the soul of a dwarf tightly entwined with a soul from Earth. I recognize the signature by now, but this one doesn't lead off into an endless fractal tree. It has been severed like a plant cutting, but unlike Estelle's mangled spiritual tree, this one looks like it was snipped cleanly with surgical precision and healed over.

That doesn't explain why the Swedish smith's memories dominated over those of the dwarf, so I look a little deeper, because I'm nosy and curious. Unfortunately, that's about the limit of the details I can glean at my current skill level, so I return my attention to Drake for now. The strange resiliency of Earth memories isn't something I have an answer to right now.

We're always chasing after the next shiny question, aren't we? Drake thinks. This isn't important right now. Let's focus on what we're doing.

Fine. As curious as I am about how souls and reincarnation actually work, where we came from is less important than where we're going. The past can take care of itself.

We're back in the workshop the next morning, and I'm going to make a copper wand. Once he finds out what I'm doing, Copper is quick to assist. I guess I'm some sort of weird fey child or something to him? I'm not sure.

"I suppose, all of working with it in this life aside, it makes sense that I have an affinity for copper," I muse aloud. "On Earth, I built networks that could change the world, built on copper circuits, copper wires, and copper cables."

"It sounds like a wondrous time you lived in," Copper says. "And now… I don't understand half of what I've seen. The teacher has been kind and helpful. I had always hoped to one day meet one of the crafty folk, or even to touch one of the artifacts they forged. I had never hoped to be one or to have access to their strange powers."

While Aunt Rosemary told me that Affinity Invocations can project only concepts related to the material you have an affinity to, my [Copper Affinity] skill specifically tells me that it can be used to conduct any type of energy. Copper's symbolism is quite broad as it is. So here I am, pushing arbitrary concepts into the world so long as they're even tangentially connected to copper's symbolism.

I pour molten copper into some molds for half-meter long rods. What's worth doing once is worth doing five times, so you have backups. While the metal is still hot, I focus on it with my Invocation (Copper Affinity) skill. I concentrate intently on the concept of healing and life and try to push it into the metal. I imagine wounds being healed, diseases being cured, burns soothed, arrows repelled, breath cleared, bones mended, hearts calmed, minds opened, feet unshackled.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

It's an ambitious thought but I'm going to need to remake one of these. The mold cracks and molten copper spills out onto the floor. My mom scoops it up with her bare hands.

"Look out!" Copper says. "You'll burn yourself!" He pauses, noticing the lack of burns or cries of pain. "Or not?"

Anise laughs. "[Heat Resistance]. I love molding copper like clay with my bare hands. It's fun."

Copper is speechless for a few moments before saying, "Right then."

The other four rods are fine, at least. Copper gives some advice and assistance in not totally messing this up. I welcome advice from someone who actually knows what he's doing.

"Copper is forgiving," he assures us. "If you make a mistake, you can always re-melt it and try again. It bends and works with you. It doesn't resist."

"I'm not quite sure how to make the snake," I say. "I learned a bit of [Lapidary] but jewelry settings are tiny and delicate."

"Let me show you some tricks, then," Copper says, then glances over to see my mom coiling up a bit of metal in her hands. "That's almost cheating…"

"It's hard to get it even," Anise complains.

Copper shows me how to make copper strands to twist into snakes. While Anise is working with her own rod, he demonstrates with making another.

I imitate him and make my own snake and wrap it around one of the rods. As I'm working, I think about the symbolism of snakes and imbue those concepts into the metal. I can't help but think of a snake while making a snake, of course. Snakes are cool and have all sorts of cool symbolism to them.

And along with them, the concept of venom. To numb, to freeze, to alter the mind, to blind, to kill if necessary. I want a tool I can heal with and defend myself with if I have to, short of simply trying to use it to shoot lightning bolts at things. Pretty sure I can shoot lightning bolts with literally any bit of copper. That's my primary association with it, after all.

Congratulations! You have crafted a Fair focus. Skill acquired: Invocation (Imbue Item) Description: You can imbue aspects into an item. The amount of essence you can add depends on your resonance with the item.

Milo suggested using Recollection to remember things like the proper name of this rod, so I give it a shot. A memory bubbles up of something called the Staff of Aesculapius. Not from an encyclopedia or whatever, but from a video game. I distinctly recall now how you could wish for an item but you had to spell its name correctly, and that particular one was a doozy, earning it the fan nickname of the Staff of Misspelling.

This one's a rod and not a staff, but I'm still fairly happy with how it turned out for a first effort. It's still missing one more thing, and I'm feeling inspired.

"Please don't glue duck feathers to that one," Milo says, coming in to see how we're doing. "I know that look on your face. You have an idea."

"I wasn't thinking about duck feathers," I say. "I'm thinking about gemstones."

"Oh, yes, good idea," Milo says.

"Hey, Copper," I say. "Want to visit a weird underwater cave full of rock monsters with gems for eyes so we can kill one, pry it out of its face, and stick it in my wand?"

"That sounds like an adventure," Copper says. "I have seen these graven halls, but it would be interesting to see what is outside of this stronghold. I will need equipment, though."

"Of course," I say. "Why don't we take, say, a week to get you equipped and acquainted with the world in the meantime and learn a few skills first? Enhanced Heart (Rapid Healing) is a must."

"How would I learn that?" Copper wonders.

I gesture to the rod he made as demonstration. "Take that and meditate next to the fountain. I suggest tapping Aunt Rosemary for guidance."

Basalt has already gotten started on the next statue, since actually carving them is the biggest bottleneck toward increasing Hebron's population. This one will be our brewer, and it looks like he's making another bearded lady.

Everyone has been taking the opportunity to get new skills. Our new classes that make it easier or harder to learn certain skills, too.

My next project is making some practice weapons and leveling up my [Woodworking] a bit. Whatever Milo has been up to, the workshop is now stocked with wood from the surface. Not enough of it to build a house with, but plenty to make some items. With that, I make an assortment of wasters in different sizes, from dagger to longsword. For these, I try to imbue them with the concepts of training and not hurting your friends. I'm not sure how well that's going to actually work, but it can't hurt to try.

I get up the next morning and head for the workshop, but along the way, I hear the sounds of fighting in the practice room. I head over to stand at the doorway to take a look.

Jade and Rowan face off against one another with the wasters I'd made. Rowan has a shield in his off-hand, while Jade's got a dagger-sized waster in hers. Aunt Rosemary stands in the corner, overseeing their efforts and giving pointers.

"Remember, Jade, you're fighting, not dancing," Aunt Rosemary says. "Rowan, your shieldwork is sloppy. Don't ignore incoming blows just because your swords are made of wood."

"I was really hoping to learn some magic skills here," Jade grumbles. "I want blade Invocations!"

"Keep working at it," Aunt Rosemary says. "Given that you're an [Apprentice Pirate], it may help to practice on a boat. But remember that all training helps even if the system doesn't acknowledge your skills yet."

"And I'm an [Apprentice Bodyguard], so it may help to practice while protecting someone?" Rowan suggests.

I take the hint and go stand behind him. "Alright, fine. Jade! Try to hit me!"

Not wanting to actually join in the fight, I stand there while Rowan protects me, watching everyone's auras with Clairvoyance. They're both trying to learn an Invocation skill, pushing their vis through the practice weapons without success. Maybe because they're just dull wooden wasters and not real metal blades. We're not going to be using metal blades on one another right now, but getting practice in before we go fight monsters is always a good idea.

I want to try to find a Sorcery skill that will work for me. Sorcery is easy but very personal. At its root, you basically just have to think of something you want to do and then try to do it with your force of will alone. That's usually easiest through an emotional resonance. I am not especially emotional and so far have not unlocked any Sorcery skills, but I haven't tried especially hard, either.

While I'm trying to get in touch with my stunted emotional state, Rowan valiantly blocks every attack Jade makes in my general direction.

Eventually, Aunt Rosemary calls for a break. "I'm sure Drake has better things to do than stand there all day. We can replace him with a dummy and let him get back to work."

"You maybe didn't need to word it as 'replacing me with a dummy'," I point out.

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