After his productive discussion with Dwalin at The Gilded Thorn, Silak decided against heading straight home. He still had several hours of daylight left, and a new, efficient plan was burning in his mind.
He turned his steps toward the cave dwelling of Gahumdagat. He was eager to test the limits of the borrowed spatial satchels and begin the monumental task of clearing out the guardian beast's hoard of materials. The sooner he started, the sooner he could estimate how long the entire project would take.
As he made his way back, the contrast in the atmosphere was jarring. The trading district was a loud, chaotic swirl of commerce and opportunity, but as he drew closer to his tribe's settlement on the forest's edge, an eerie, tense quite descended once more.
He entered the familiar cave, his soft footsteps swallowed by the immense silence. He moved carefully so as not to wake the slumbering guardian, approaching the glittering mountain of furs, bones, and ores that Gahumdagat considered junk. His plan was simple: put everything he could inside the satchels now, and sort through them later with Dwalin. Efficiency was key.
He picked up the first of the four borrowed spatial satchels and attempted to open it. Nothing.
The drawstring was pulled tight, as if sealed by an unseen force. 'Hm, why can't I open it?' he wondered. He tried again, this time using more force, pulling at the leather until his knuckles turned white.
Still nothing. He tried whispering commands like 'open,' and even offered a silent, hopeful prayer to the Goddess. The satchel remained stubbornly shut.
["That's not how you open it, young prince."]
Gahumdagat's voice echoed directly in his mind, laced with a clear and ancient amusement.
"Senior!" Silak started, feeling a flush of embarrassment. "I apologize if I woke you with all the ruckus." He turned to see the great beast's massive eye regarding him, crinkled at the edges as if it were smiling. It had clearly been observing his struggles for some time.
["It is quite alright. I am sleeping almost all the time anyway. Your fumbling was a welcome, if brief, moment of entertainment."]
"By the way, Senior," Silak said, embarrassingly changing the subject, "I borrowed these from a friend of mine, a dwarf from Khaz'Zorak named Dwalin. It seems these piles of… junk… are quite valuable to blacksmiths. I plan to sell them to him for a profit. Is that alright with you?"
["It is better than leaving them here to gather dust and rot,"] Gahumdagat acquiesced, before adding a crucial piece of advice.
["However, if your friend is as skilled as you believe, I suggest you have him set aside the very best materials. Commission him to craft proper equipment for you. A warrior needs his own armor and weapons."]
Silak's eyes brightened. It was a perfectly timed suggestion. Had it come after he'd sold everything, it would have been too late. 'That's a brilliant idea. If these materials are as valuable as Mister Dwalin says, then I must keep the finest pieces for myself. I can have him forge them into equipment that will grow with me.'
"Thank you, Senior! That is an excellent suggestion. I will be sure to do so!" Silak said with genuine excitement, his mind already buzzing with the possibilities of what could be forged.
["Now, as for your earlier dilemma,"] Gahumdagat continued, its voice returning to that of a patient teacher. ["A spatial satchel is a tool of Qi. You must infuse it with your own energy to awaken its properties. Without Qi, it is little more than a sealed leather pouch."]
Silak focused, drawing upon the pool of Qi in his Dantian. He guided a delicate stream down his arm and into his fingertips, carefully touching the mouth of the satchel.
As the Qi flowed into the leather, the pouch seemed to hum, a low vibration against his skin. The drawstring, previously immobile, magically loosened itself. With a soft pop, the opening widened, revealing not a simple cloth interior, but a shimmering, circular portal of perfect, silent darkness.
["It only appears tedious because it is your first time,"] Gahumdagat noted, nodding in satisfaction at the boy's careful control. ["Soon, you will get the hang of it, and opening it will be as natural as breathing."]
"I appreciate your guidance, Senior!" Silak said, peering into the void with fascination. He picked up a heavy, fist-sized chunk of unfamiliar glowing ore and tentatively pushed it toward the opening. The moment it crossed the threshold, it vanished without a sound, and he felt no corresponding increase in the satchel's weight. He grinned. This was incredible.
"I'll get started now, Senior. This might take a few trips to clear out completely," he said before turning back to his work, eagerly feeding anything and everything he could grab into the satchel's waiting void.
Several hours later.
Silak slumped onto his bed at home, every muscle in his young body aching with a satisfying weariness. He hadn't realized just how physically taxing hauling and lifting, even for short distances, could be. Despite his advanced cultivation for his age, he was, after all, still a boy just a few months shy of his seventh birthday.
After a short rest, he saw there was still time before dinner. He carefully hid the four, now surprisingly heavy, spatial satchels under his bed. He then sat upright, assumed the lotus position, and began to meditate. It was time to cultivate.
He knew that the best way to prepare himself to learn the powerful Eclipsing Maw technique was not to rush into it, but to first polish his understanding of his current foundation: the Qi Gathering stage. He centered his mind and began to chant the mantra for his Cosmic Meridian Flow technique.
"Inhale the heavens, exhale the earth.
Circulate the rivers of boundless flow.
Let the stars pulse within my veins,
As essence gathers, steady and whole."
Silak understood from his extensive reading for years that true mastery came not just from practice, but from enlightenment—from understanding the universal mysteries behind a mantra.
"Inhale the heavens..." He thought of the vast, starry cosmos he had witnessed in his visions. "Exhale the earth..." He grounded himself in the solid, tangible world around him. "Circulate the rivers..." He pictured the Qi flowing through his meridians, a microcosm of the great rivers of the world.
He knew that if he could truly master this simple-seeming technique, he could build a foundation of unparalleled stability. To try and learn a higher-level technique now, without mastering his current one, would be like trying to build a tower on sand. It would be a foolish overestimation of his abilities, and there would be no third chance at life if he exploded from his own arrogance.