Warhammer 40: Shattered Steel Soul

Chapter 12 Self-directed Learning
Morse leaned on the wicker chair and slowly slid down the back of the chair to adjust his perspective and take in the exquisite murals on the ceiling.

He tasted in the fresco style of the court of Lokos something of an olive branch and an Attic temple.

Damex arranged the best guest rooms for his distinguished guests. When Morse was bored, he used his spiritual power to glance at Damex's living room and found that it was even simpler than here.

Then, the rattan chair above his head creaked, and a pair of young hands pressed down on the rattan chair, attracting his attention.

"How would you like to teach me how to forge, Morse?" asked Perturabo.He took a bath, got a new gray brocade robe, finally put on sandals to save his weathered toes, and stubbornly gave himself a haircut - his black hair was a little too long, and Perturabo was unwilling to accept himself and the sight of him. people have more in common.

It took a lot of courage to utter the question, and Morse could read that from the boy's restless brow.

"You are testing me, and the reasonable price I can get from you is too little."

Morse said briskly. Halfway through, a boring thought popped into his mind, and he casually told a joke he knew: "You have to provide some residual value."

Perturabo obviously felt that there must be some tricks in the wording of these words, he frowned, and said dryly: "I don't want you to give me a hammer, you teach me how to forge iron."

Morse said sharply: "You exchange my knowledge for the gift I am about to give you?"

Perturabo grasped the top of the wicker chair. His persistence gradually became fragile and pale under Morse's gaze, like a thin piece of iron. It seemed to be shiny and indestructible, but in fact it was not that hard to bend. fold.

"I..." His words were stuck.People who have nothing are not afraid of challenges, but they are afraid of giving.

Morse continued to look at his ceiling. After he almost finished rearranging all the patterns on the ceiling and made a unified style design drawing in his mind, he still didn't hear Perturabo's next words.

Sometimes the child's brain is a little bit off, not slow, but unable to turn.

He no longer used Perturabo's performance to torture his patience, which was as rare as the early morning mist. He raised his hand and snapped his fingers in front of Perturabo's eyes to bring him back to his senses.

"That's a question," he said. "It's not a rhetorical question, it's not a question, but a general question. Do you want to change?"

Perturabo's eyes lit up. To be fair, his eyes were more beautiful than the gems on the decorations in Damex's palace. It was extremely difficult to stop admiring the craftsmanship of his creator.

"That's it, I'll exchange." He immediately accepted it and showed no nostalgia for the hammer Morse promised him. This straightforwardness made Morse sigh.

After the negotiation was settled, Perturabo relaxed a bit, threw aside the soft seat cushions of Locus Palace, sat on the hard chair, and straightened his back in the most comfortable way.

He was still a little confused: "Morse, do you think this deal is fair?"

"Why not?" Morse was curious about Perturabo's thoughts.

"I didn't bring anything in exchange for your gift first."

"Gifts are special terms that are independent of the laws of fairness. The giver has no right to ask for a price from the recipient." Morse grinned and slid up the back of the wicker chair strangely until his eyes were level with Perturabo .

"What about the gift in return?"

"It just depends on the conscience of the recipient. I don't mind if you don't have it." Morse said, putting his hands on his chest and clasping his palms together, "Okay, I'm going to throw you into the training workshop. I The hand-in-hand skills are not suitable for the general public who are weak in psychic skills, and the lack of creativity in teaching-based forging will damage my mental health."

"Wait..." Before Perturabo finished speaking, his mind was immersed in the space constructed by psychic energy.

The dense darkness outlined the cave of the stone chamber, and a ray of fire was cut into several bright fragments in the depths of the darkness, which in turn split the dark horizon.

While cursing Morse secretly—for no reason, just smoldering anger in his heart, he walked towards the light source.

Statues of different sizes fell into the squares and corners of this spiritual space, some with skillful techniques, some with jerky techniques, and some works can show another set of artistic styles that are somewhat incompatible with Morse's style.The desire to explore pushes him to lean over and reach out, but the darkness rises and spreads like mist, turning into fluid to block and block.

Perturabo had to give up studying Morse's secrets for the time being and came to the light source.

The blacksmith's full set of equipment was breathing the fiery flames and scalding wind alive, waiting for Perturabo to use it.

Next to it, a strange metal black cube is suspended in the air.As Perturabo approached, the surface of the thing lit up.

He curiously touched the bright surface with his finger, and a small square spread out and became larger, occupying the entire rectangular bright surface; a small imitation human figure appeared out of thin air in the rectangle, and spoke to him, talking about some things. Forging introductory knowledge.He also found himself asking questions, and the thing even answered, as if alive and thinking.

Perturabo stared at the silver gadget that seemed human but not human, gave up thinking about what kind of strange creation it was beyond conventional forging knowledge, and concentrated on listening to the lecture.

In the real world, Perturabo's body fell to the side, knocking the entire chair over with a crash, then crashed into a clay jar on the side, and pressed against several document rolls in the jar with a majestic momentum. The chain reaction almost spread to the side. Heavy bookshelves several stories high.

The cold spread rapidly, and ice crystals took away the moisture in the air.In the blink of an eye, all chaos is terminated as if time is suspended, and then everything spontaneously returns to its original position.

Except for Perturabo, who unfortunately fell to the ground and was ignored.

Morse didn't think lying in a less comfortable position would interfere with the normal development of such a delicate creature.

He walked around the boy who was blocking the way, took away the clay pot, took out the scroll in the pot and started reading.

It is worth mentioning that although these things are paper rolls, they are more similar to a layer of soft screens that automatically light up, and are not really made of tree fibers.

The scroll contains a selection of some popular local novels and poems in Lokos. Compared with the local technology, which is not so backward, the selection is particularly old: it is nothing more than a discussion of heroes at sunset, warriors blessed by gods, and wrong love caused by a combination of circumstances. and the like.Morse found the celebratory play numbers at the beginning of the scroll, indicating in which years and for what celebration these stories were performed at the Coliseum of Lokos.

After reading the scroll, he went back to his residence in the forest, first stuffed the finished daguerreotype into another secret storage room hundreds of miles away, and then found the Perseus statue that was being re-engraved. On the shoulders, and then pulled out from the corner the small stone carvings of two people that Perturabo had recently developed on his own, and brought them back to the Locus Palace together.

Before leaving, he snapped his fingers and the entire house collapsed.

Return to the palace.Morse used his imagination and stared at Perturabo's half-finished product for a long time, thinking that it might be an engraving of how a boy showed his magical powers and unscrewed a man's head.

As for where these stones that suddenly appeared in the palace walls came from, Morse believed that the tyrant Damex would come up with the answer himself.

(End of this chapter)