The Way Ahead

Due to the incredible amounts of heat the Infused plaster powder (he needed a better name for his Infused materials) generated during its creation, Edwin wasn’t able to physically get close enough to the reaction to feel where the mana Infused in it went. He knew that it was full of mana before the reaction, and was drastically reduced afterwards. Unless it was somehow absorbed by the powder (could something magical turn into something nonmagical?), that meant it had to be released in the process. Or maybe magic didn’t follow the laws of thermodynamics, but that possibility was non-actionable so he ignored it for now.

There was one obvious product of the reaction; namely heat, and it was obviously related to how magical the substances were. Measuring the amount of water and lime before and after mixing them (nonmagical in this case, Edwin didn’t have any way to compensate for the flash-boiling of the magical reaction, so a lot of water would be lost) revealed there didn’t seem to be any weight loss, so there probably weren’t any secondary products involved, gaseous or otherwise, at least not in any appreciable amount.

While he didn’t have any precise method of measuring mana content beyond metaphorically eyeballing it, the plaster powder seemed to have about half the mana content of the lime, and that in turn was reduced once he turned it into putty. However, there was no release of heat, light, or anything else that he could detect as he made it.

Turning on his mana sense while creating the plaster allowed Edwin to feel a small pulse of magic during the reaction, corresponding with the wave of heat, though it was only barely noticeable above the background mana content. Certainly, whatever was released was not enough to account for the difference in mana between the reacted and unreacted compounds. He tapped his chin and spelled out the formula for the reaction so far as he could tell.

Water + Lime + Mana → Plaster + Heat + Less Mana

Hmm…

Edwin turned his mana sense back on, and after a bit of a fight against a bit of a headache from the initial sensory overload, but he managed to adjust in time. Hopefully, doing so would give him more insight into the mechanics of what was going on.

This time, when doing the reaction, Edwin tried to monitor the entire batch constantly, trying to see if he could catch the exact moment the mana content dipped. It stayed the same as he added a drop of water, fell ever so slightly after the flash of heat, and then lowered when… when… Huh. It should have dropped by now. He took a sample of the plaster powder and compared it to an equal amount of lime. Yep, it had definitely dropped. But the mana content had… stayed… the… same.

Edwin removed his goggles and gloves, massaging his forehead and unsuccessfully suppressing the urge to scream into his hands, I’m an idiot.

Yes, the mana density in the plaster had dropped, which was all he had been measuring. He kept comparing the mana content of equivalent-mass samples of plaster and lime, which of course would be different. Making the powder required nearly as much water as lime, and because he was using entirely mundane water, half of the contents for the plaster was nonmagical. He had entirely forgotten to account for good old dihydrogen monoxide, despite knowing full well that it could be Infused.

Edwin sighed. At least he had caught his error after only a couple hours of work, not days. He’d done worse before. It still was annoying to overlook something so obvious, though. Hmm. He should check his notifications. That would probably make him feel better, especially if he could finish the Physical Alchemy path now.

Level Up!

Research Level 27→29

Mana Infusion 13→14

Basic Mana Sense Level 23→24

Identify 13→15

Outsider’s Almanac 27→28

Skill Points: 96

Excellent. Who even needs life-or-death situations to level when you can do science? Or… alchemy?

You have completed the Physical Alchemist path!

Alchemy, that strange and long-derided practice, has for so long been a mild curiosity, something for practitioners of the healing arts and craftsfolk, not meriting study nor prominence. And yet to the eyes of an Outsider, it is a path without equal as you rend reality to its base components and rebuild them to your whims.

That… sounded quite awesome. Though it did bring up the question as to whose knowledge these messages were based on. It couldn’t have been custom-made from the System administrators, his previous experience with that indicated they would be trying to communicate with him more directly if that were the case. It couldn’t be generic, his messages referenced things that were distinctly from Earth. It also couldn’t just be his own thoughts, either, as he didn’t know the state of alchemy practice on Joriah. Maybe some sort of combination? Generic messages, filtered through his own knowledge? More notifications had been piling up, though, so Edwin shifted his attention towards that.

Alchemy

Spin moonlight into threads as strong as steel, forge weapons as light as air, brew life itself

Create magical materials

Proficiency increases with level.

You may evolve your Improvisation skill into the Alchemy skill!

Accept Evolution? Y/N

Done!

…

Calculating Rewards…

Class Change!

Outsider Apprentice → Outsider Chemist

The rush of satisfaction from completing a Path wasn’t getting old anytime soon. Edwin felt a distinctly odd sensation of a second set of instincts settling in next to his half-remembered quantum physics class, not enough to really tell him anything, just enough for him to get a vague idea of how to use alchemy more effectively. There was more to it, as well. What he was doing- chemical reactions with magically-infused materials- was just the surface of what alchemy could accomplish, though he had no idea how to do anything else. Maybe with more levels, maybe with more experimentation, but just not yet.

Unbidden, a thought rose to mind. Limelight…. That was a thing, back in the 1800s. That used lime, right? If it burned brightly enough to be used as a spotlight, Edwin could only imagine how brightly the magical version would be. His next batch of lime was ready, after all. May as well give it a go.

He yawned. Tomorrow, then.

Edwin, armed with full lab equipment getup and a set of long grips, took a pebble-sized chunk of lime and carefully set it on a stiff mesh. Then, with goggles firmly in place, set the burner beneath it to maximum heat and spun around. The first trial was only the control, as he tried to see if nonmagical lime burned at the temperatures he had at his disposal, and how bright it was. That said, he didn’t want to blind himself, hence he made sure to turn around before it started to burn. The precaution proved itself quite valuable as the entire workshop was lit up by a harsh white light, casting sharp shadows on every surface.

Well, that seems to have been a success.

The light didn’t seem to be fading, though. Why wasn’t it burning up? Through squinted eyes, he turned around and groped blindly at the limelight’s source, eventually managing to knock it off its pedestal, and it fell onto the counter and its glow began to fade. Once it was dim enough to look at comfortably, Edwin studied the white pebble. Did it not burn up? A quick Identify confirmed it was still made of lime. Where did the light come from, then? Something to look into, he supposed.

Edwin made a quick note of lime’s luminance before taking the pebble and Infusing it, then putting it back onto the pedestal and starting the burner again. This time, the light was utterly blinding. If he thought the previous trial was bright, it was nothing compared to the mana-powered continuous flashbang levels of brightness he was currently dealing with. Even the reflection from the walls was enough to blind him. Through his mana sense, he was able to feel the magic radiating off the glowing rock until it ran out a few seconds later, and the light returned to the comparatively much more bearable levels it was at before.

So, he had managed to find a substance which gave off mana as it reacted. He could use that. His next step was to create a dome of uncured Infused putty, place it over the recently re-Infused lime pebble, and start up the fire again. The covering managed to contain both the light and the mana admirably, and neither radiated uncontrollably across the room. Testing the dome, he found that it had mostly, though not completely, cured from the mana given off by the light. It made sense now why it cured over time if it passively absorbed ambient mana.

Edwin was mulling over possible ways he could use what materials he had at his disposal to escape when he was startled by the door into his cell slamming open. In came two gruff-looking dwarves, wearing almost full plate armor and open-faced helmets.

“Hey! What’s going on here?” Edwin demanded, only to receive no response, the newcomers instead marching over to where he was standing and grabbing his arms, twisting them until he was in front of the dwarves, and half-marched, half-shoved out of the room and into the hallway, “Hey! Let… me… go!” he struggled, but the grip of the dwarves was absolute.

As Edwin was dragged along, he kept an eye out at the layout, which he hadn’t quite managed to memorize as he was being pulled into his cell the first time. His room was near the end of a hallway with no other visible doors, and the single guard posted nearby joined in the march. The hallway itself was essentially featureless (though the walls continued to be intricately carved), and about fifty feet long. It then opened into what appeared to be some kind of mess hall, with hundreds of dwarves milling about at masses of long tables. Was that iron ore some of them were eating? Did they eat rocks? What the heck was going on with their physiology that had them eating literally raw iron? Oops, don’t get so distracted that you miss which archway was yours. Oh, the one directly opposite of the main entrance? Well, that was easy enough to remember. Hopefully it wasn’t always this busy, though.

Out the main entrance brought about a huge stairway (with dwarf-sized stairs, no less. Those were a pain to climb) going up and up and up… A few individuals were here, though not too many coming and going from the seeming feast below, and then it opened out into the main cavern of the citadel, complete with still-flowing rivers of molten metal. Edwin didn’t get a chance to stare more at the spectacle, though, as he continued to be yanked around, this time up a short flight of stairs to where the dwarven lord S’omethingorother sat upon a Blackstone throne.

“Where is my Blackstone, human?” he asked, and Edwin blinked.

“You speak English now as well? Oh wait, is this that Polyglot thing again?”

“I require no such skill to comprehend your pitiful language, Outsider. Now I ask again. Where is my Blackstone?”

“What? It’s been like three days!”

“I told you to make me Blackstone. Do you not understand your position here?”

Edwin struggled futilely against the grasp of his dwarven escort, “What the heck? I’ve barely had any time to even reinvent concrete, let alone your stupid supermaterial! I have to reinvent an entire branch of material science with nothing but half-remembered linguistic tricks and then discover a wholly unique branch of science with no assistance! I-“

“Enough.” The dwarf cut him off, “I will not hear your excuses. You promised me Blackstone, I intend to collect.”

“I didn’t promise you anything! And I’ve been working non-stop on this stuff. It’s not easy. Honestly, you’re worse than my professor.”

“Oh?” S’limeball let out a bark of mocking laughter, “You claim to have been working on Blackstone when you have in truth been working on weapons to use against us? We know your tricks, saboteur. We should have never accepted your aid.”

That statement left Edwin blinking in confusion. Accepted his aid? What? Also, weapons? Was it the limelight? So, could they see into the room? They were either negligent or didn’t think his accidental explosions yesterday were worth worrying about. It had to have been the limelight, then. Sensitive eyes, perhaps? If they were a subterranean race, that could be their weakness…

S’laver noticed Edwin’s confusion and seemed to willfully misinterpret it, “You admit to your wrongdoing! Why should I not have you executed where you stand?”

“Because you… want the Blackstone really badly and I’m the best chance you’ve gotten in that direction your entire life? Because I’ve already gotten farther in three days than you did over the course of years?” Edwin guessed wildly. Something clearly drove the dwarf to near-madness in his obsession with the material, so it had to have been really valuable and made the clan desperate. Sure, it was a shot in the dark, but what else was new?

Something he said must have struck a nerve of some kind, as his captor fell relatively silent, before speaking up again, speaking in dwarven. As Edwin was dragged away, S’nob spoke up, switching back to English for his last threat, “Hear me, Outsider. Your Task is, and continues to be to make me Blackstone. Fail, and you are worthless to me. Plot against me, and I shall keep your head to myself. It is possibly the only useful thing about you. You are to only work with things which you know are relevant to your efforts. Now, begone and resume your Task.”

Edwin’s last glimpse of the dwarf as he was turned around and dragged off was him looking unbearably smug.