>>5750405Consecrated temple nails and metals blessed by monks are the most strict in terms of application, but offer greatest protection against the supernatural.
“It’s pretty easy to awaken. Beginners and old witch doctors use these.”
Flowing metals are the most varied in terms of power. Higher beings, such as serpents or birdmen collect and bestow them to those who earn their favor. Some are as glossy as jewel beetles while others are little more than misshapen growths.
“Most in the occult world don’t really use this. They tend to be too specialized for most.”
Coffin nails and undertaker tools are the most powerful as they have the closest connection to death. They attract the most vengeful spirits, although not necessarily malevolent.
“More common amongst people that don’t do it full-time. That’s also what my fokos and knife are made of.”
Just as she was about to talk about her reconstructed eye and the things she saw during the first few years with her adoptive family, we arrive at my house — one made not from precisely cut wood, but bamboo. It is stilted to prevent flooding much like hers, and is accompanied by a porch with railings, but gone are the wooden balconies and any accessories that decorate the roof.
This type of housing — some call it tied-type or temporary-type, or even countryside-type, is generally considered something that can last two or three years, only quickly set up by farmers or used by laborers. And indeed, its negative reputation isn’t entirely false — heating and rain were quite a pain when I first came here, but one thing that wasn’t mention was the modularity of it: I could just keep adding or replacing things without having to take the entire thing apart, and so I did. Replaced the roofing with more durable wood. Added more stilts. Added more rooms. Installed fences.
It’s almost a decade now that this was first built. Pretty sure I stayed in it for half of that. And now, it’s has more in common with a castle’s great hall than a mere shed for grain.
