Qingfeng Village is a small village with few caravans passing by. Although there was a thoroughfare through the east and west of the empire that passed through the village, most caravans preferred to take the road to the north, which passed through more large towns along the way. The daily utensils and daily necessities of Qingfeng Village, except for those who can be self-sufficient, need to be purchased at the Split Rock Fort Market dozens of stars away.

Carrying a large pile of bread, snacks, and cheese, Ian walks side by side with the bakery's daughter, Elise, on the road to Rift Rock Castle.

He pondered his situation and felt anxious about how to survive here. The blue psychic image flashed through his mind, and he couldn't help but look at his right palm. Psychics, but what can be done with it?

After leaving the witch, he ran to a place outside the village every day, trying to manifest Zack's spirit with his own spiritual powers, as the witch said. It was only then that Ian realized that actively trying to manifest them was far less easy than through dreams.

From Zach at the beginning, to Andrew, and finally to Frynn, it took him a few weeks to barely "meet" with the spirits of several of his companions at the same time. Ian's mastery of his psychic power is too short, and his spirit is easily scattered, and if he relaxes, Zack's spirit body will collapse and dissipate.

Repeatedly collapsing, repeatedly reshaped, although the training process was slow and difficult, it also made him understand thoroughly that these were not the souls of his friends. It was just a spirit shaped by his own spiritual power, "a part of his own spiritual power", so when he successfully stood with Zach, Andrew, and Flynn at the same time for the first time, he didn't have the reunion-like emotion he expected when he first started practicing.

Ian watched them quietly, watching them behave the same as when they were alive, and as if they were just phantoms, quietly playing the fragments of their memories to themselves. Ian felt a hint of disappointment and loss, but it didn't last long for him as he moved on to the next phase of training.

He wanted to try to control them as soon as possible, starting with one spirit at a time. Although the goal was still vague, Ian's anxiety grew in his heart after he returned from the witch, and the witch's words always beat at his heart. He knew he had to do something.

"Ian?" Elise interrupted his thoughts, "We're here, do we see the gates? ”

"Hmm. Ian replied, not seeming to have much interest in Rock Rift or anything.

"You're tired of carrying so many things for me, aren't you? Ian felt Elise's eyes were as gentle as water.

"Yes, at least, I can still do this......"

Elise knew that he was still worried about the mushroom thief, and said with a smile: "Why do you still say that, those mushroom thieves are not as easy to deal with as Granny Su Mu said." ”

Ian accompanied Elise to the market and found a suitable seat for the stall. Ian had just put his huge rucksack on the ground when a boot stepped on it.

It was a military boot, covered in mud, probably from last night's rain. Ian looked up and saw the owner of the boot, sure enough, it was a sergeant.

"Kid, where are you from?" the sergeant asked, in a bad tone.

"Light Breeze Village. Ian said with a blank face, "Take your foot away." ”

The sergeant was holding a reed in his mouth, but he did not mean to move it, and continued: "You are going to set up a stall in the market?

Elise hurriedly came over and said, "We'...... I haven't heard of any proof required to set up a stall in this market......"

"If you don't have a certificate, you can't set up a stall!" Sergeant Dao took the reed grass in his hand, "However, you can make up for it with me." He grinned, showing a mouthful of yellow teeth.

Typical blackmail, Ian had seen too many of these faces in Black Hawk City. Although most of the sergeants are good, such ruffians in military uniforms can meet a few every year. They will not let go easily as long as there is a little bit of oil and water.

Even kids like Elise and Ian.

Ian looked around, and there were no other sergeants in sight. People passing by were in a hurry, and no one wanted to look at this place more. Some of the vendors around them glanced at them with sympathy from time to time, while others simply ignored them and only cared about their own business. It seems that Ian is not the only one who has been blackmailed by him.

Ian said to the sergeant, "This bag is full of homemade bread and handicrafts from the villagers, and we have no money for you!"

"No money?" the sergeant's face sank, "Get out of here if you don't have any money!" he said, reaching for Ian's shoulder.

Elise was in a hurry, and quickly pulled out a box of snacks from her backpack, the best item in her shop, and stuffed it into the sergeant's arms.

"This is for you!" Elise said softly, "We really don't have any money, this box of dim sum is the best in my store, give it to you, you don't have to worry about us......"

The officer took the snack box in his hand and shook it: "Today is cheaper for you." After saying that, he glared at Ian fiercely again before taking his leg off his bag and walking away.

"These damn scoundrels...... Ian cursed in a low voice, "shouldn't have been given to him." ”

"If we don't give it, we will have to go back empty-handed today. Elise sighed, "Forget it, we're not lucky today." It's okay, it's just a box of snacks, I'll just make more next time. Let's set up a stall, it's almost noon. ”

Ian suddenly realized that Elise, who had lost something, was still comforting herself.

Elise asked Ian to look at the stall for her, and went out for a spin herself, buying the ingredients that the bakery needed to procure, and the things that the villagers had bought for Elise. Old Browl's grill was broken and he needed to find some spare parts to fix it, and a couple of peasant women, Toily, brought back some kitchen consumables, kitchen knives, whetstones, handles for spatulas, handles for iron lids, and so on...... There were a lot of bits and pieces, and even the proprietress of the Wind Song Tavern asked Elise to help bring some spices back.

"There's no blacksmith in the village, but that's a trouble!" said Elise, smiling helplessly, turning the purchased items into a huge burden.

A thought flashed through Ian's mind, but he didn't catch it, so he asked blankly, "What did you just say?"

"What's wrong?" Seeing that Ian was stunned, Elise smiled and said, "I said, it's really troublesome to purchase like this!"

"No, no, not that. ”

"Oh, I say, there's no blacksmith in the village......" Before he could finish speaking, Ian jumped up.

"This is it!" Ian exclaimed, immediately lowering his voice again, "maybe...... Maybe I can do the work of a blacksmith. ”

"You—did you ever work as an apprentice in a blacksmith?"

"No...... No, but, my—brother," Ian wasn't going to explain Zach's relationship with him here, "I used to be an apprentice in a blacksmith's shop, and I've seen him work. ”

"I've seen others do it, and I do it myself, but it's different. Elise laughs, "I grew up watching my dad make bread, and it wasn't until the first time I got my hands dirty that I found out ......."

"I know, I know, but this might give it a try......" Ian's eyes lit up as he felt more and more that the idea worked, "Great, Elise, you're a genius!"

"Huh?" Elise looked dazed, "uh...... Well, then- let's go buy a little hammer and felt or something? I need some ore! I can lend you the money first, the one you just sold. She smiled slyly and secretly patted her tiny rucksack.

"No, no, I've got to try it first......" Ian didn't know how to get the embodied spirit to finish the forging work.

"How do you 'try' without tools?" asked Elise in his tone, feeling like Ian was in hysteria, something was not right.

"I ......" Ian looked at Elise's clear eyes, hesitated for only a moment, and then lowered his voice and said softly, "I may have spiritual powers." ”

Ian saw Elise's eyes widen, and his eyes were full of joy.

"Great, Ian!"

"I'm not sure yet, so—" Ian was suddenly overwhelmed by Elise's enthusiasm and unreserved kindness.

Elise suddenly covered her mouth again, and said with a smile: "We have to keep it a secret, and if the lords and officers know about it, we will be in trouble." ”

"Well, I'll be dragged to the army. Ian laughed too.

"Anyway, great!" Elise winked happily at Ian, "I'm so happy for you." ”

Ian suddenly felt that his face was slightly hot, as if Elise beside him was the sun, which burned his face, and he couldn't look directly, so he had to turn his head and stride in the direction of Qingfeng Village, which was full of burdens like a small mountain. The sun had set over the forest to the west, stretching the shadows of the two of them long behind each other.

On the second day after returning to Breeze Village, Ian immediately began his "advanced training" of psychic powers. He hoped that Zach in spirit form would be able to forge on his own as he remembered. The witch had told Ian that the essence of psychic power was his own psychic power, so Ian soon discovered that it was not difficult to skillfully control the actions of spirits, but that it was easier to "connect hearts and minds" than he had imagined.

The embodied spirit is a part of his own spiritual power, so there is no need to "give orders" and then let the spirit "carry out the order", but from the moment he has a thought, the spirit will start to act. The real difficulty was that no matter how hard he tried to improve his concentration, "Zach" couldn't do the right thing at blacksmithing, even though he was able to get "Zack" to pick up real forging tools and ore materials.

After repeated failures, Ian had to stop.

Once again, he carefully recalled the witch's demonstration of the lantern orchid. What did the witch say at that time? The lantern orchid was her favorite flower when she was young, so she could remember every branch and leaf very clearly, and it was engraved in her heart...... It's engraved in her heart...... Ian pondered the witch's words.

Eventually, he discovered the problem: Ian didn't know anything about forging himself, and Zack's spirit didn't have a memory.

The reason why the witch was able to easily visualize the growth process of the lantern orchid was because she had not only seen it with her own eyes, but was also very familiar with it, so she was able to do it in every detail. Ian didn't know the specifics of Zack's blacksmithing work, nor did he understand the principles of blacksmithing, so he certainly couldn't drive Zach to do it by his psychic power.

"I'm stupid," Ian secretly blamed himself in frustration, "knowing that Zach is my own spirit." ”

"What if you rely solely on your own psychic powers?" he thought suddenly.

Zack, who is embodied in the manifestation of psychic power, is able to hold tools and lift items, indicating that it can have "power" within the caster's understanding. If "power" is permissible......, then do the other fundamental laws of the world apply as well?

"If that's the case......" Ian is now familiar with psychic powers, and as long as he gathers his spirit and allows himself to concentrate highly, he can exert it. At this point, he focused on a piece of firewood in front of him, imagining it being slashed diagonally from the top of the right to the bottom of the left, as if it had been slashed diagonally from the top right to the bottom left by Zack's short sword.

As his associations gradually became more detailed and his spirit continued to be highly concentrated, the light blue points of light began to converge on the firewood, and gradually concentrated into a ray of light. Immediately after, this pale blue light slowly penetrated the firewood...... By the time Ian came to his senses, the firewood had been split into two parts, as he had thought.