"Beautiful," I repeated as I looked at the forge area, still feeling surprised by the change I was able to achieve in less than four hours. The huge blast furnace was still spitting out fires, but was at its last batch. At the same time, the number of iron shelves I built had reached more than a hundred, though the number and sizes of their sections varied.

Some of them even had iron doors in case I wanted to isolate the samples from the environment. It was a poor substitute for a sterilized environment, but it was good enough.

Still, it was temporary. The next step was to dig down to create a basement for those materials, but I delayed that a bit. After all, I was already digging a huge pit to mine the iron ore. It would be easier to use that rather than trying to dig a second pit.

However, while those changes had been nice, the real source of pride was the steam engine that sat on top of another iron platform, sputtering as it consumed the last of its fuel. The more I dug, the more water seeped into the resulting pit, so I had to make the pump faster than I had been initially planning.

As a result, it was a simple atmospheric water engine, an early type of steam engine famous for being inefficient. It had a huge cylinder, which was filled with hot steam to rise to the top, and once that reached the top, it triggered a switch, which cut the steam feed. Another flip opened, spraying some cold water to cool down the steam. Condensing steam created a vacuum, and atmospheric pressure dealt with the rest.

Then, it repeated the cycle.

It was inefficient and bulky, but it was also mechanically simple enough that I was able to put it together in mere minutes.

And, inefficiency was easy to deal with thanks to the intensity of the fire. Too bad I would have to redo the whole setup to add a separate condensing chamber and a flywheel tomorrow, which would require a complete redesign, which would allow me to add a crank to connect to the feeder of the blast furnace, automating that part as well.

I didn't do so immediately, because I needed to check the designs. While I knew how such an engine worked conceptually, the exact mechanical details weren't as clear. And, like anything else mechanical, the System was utterly helpless.

"There is always a gap between the theory and the application," I muttered even as I walked away. I still had some time to experiment, but not without sacrificing hunting time.

Today, I wanted to increase the number of shells I collected to fifteen hundred, which would give me a revenue of sixty gold, which would give me the necessary money to build a modest residence and hire some guild members. Technically, I could get away with hiring something like twenty members, and build an elite team that could generate me some income, but I didn't want that.

No, I needed to hire as many people as I could manage. The more crowded they were, the more nonsensical tasks I could slip in — like coming up with some designs for a steam engine.

Trying to build a tech base was not a one-person job.

Maybe I should look into hiring farmers in bulk. Not only could I give them a better living, but it would also give me a way to use the excessive number of rare Nurture skills I had while giving me an excuse to move a ludicrous amount of carts around.

I doubted that I would be able to make a profit, but I didn't really care.

I went back to the third floor and used the extractor to start hunting. First few, I killed using my sword, pushing the skill even further

[Stalwart Guard (Uncommon) 79 - 91]

Admittedly, by increasing that much, I was playing it a bit risky, but the promise of a Rare skill that I could publicly use was too valuable. Especially since I was confident in my method of improvement.

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"Speaking of methods," I muttered even as I switched to the spear, and started pushing my health through its heft, trying to replicate the Vitality attack without the assistance of the skill. I pushed merely a point or two, trying to shape it.

Every time I killed an insect, I tried to use that attack. And, I failed. Again and again.

From a certain point of view, what I had been doing was a waste of time. It wouldn't take long before I would upgrade both skills to rare, which would give me superior Vitality attacks. However, that was the exact reason I had been trying to do so.

The Vitality attack from the hammer was even more complicated than the Mana Blow from Forging. And, even Mana Blow, I wasn't able to properly reverse-engineer. If I ever wanted to discover the trick behind Vitality attacks, I needed better insights.

"First, the movement," I said even as I paused, trying to put together the impression of the two energies. From what I could tell — from my extremely limited perception — Mana behaved mostly like a gas, though there were aspects where it behaved more like a liquid.

Except for the times it reached certain geometrical patterns and suddenly solidified, which was what enabled the delivery of the Mana attacks.

Of course, that was just how it reacted in Mana Attacks using the weapon as a medium. I didn't have the slightest idea what actually happened while casting a spell.

In comparison, Health was more consistently liquid, but the feeling it gave differed between uses. When it was used for healing, it flowed almost gently. When used as a part of the Nurture, it had a slow, sluggish feel, almost like tar.

When used to support an attack, it felt more like mercury, rapid yet heavy at the same time. The feeling of my hammer attack and Eleanor's ranged attack had been similar enough.

However, it differed at the point of trigger. Mana simply dispersed after the attack — whether it vanished or simply took a form I couldn't perceive was another question — while Vitality, for the lack of a better term, burned.

However, it wasn't a sense of burning life flames. Maybe implosion was a better descriptor, but ignition still felt more accurate. However, regardless of the term, the process was clear. The energy dissipated, turning into the effect of the attack.

At least, that was how the Quake effect worked. The Health spread into some kind of shatter pattern, then at once, ignited to shatter the target. Combined with the blow from the hammer, it shattered the target perfectly.

"Maybe that's what I'm doing wrong," I said even as I stood up, ignoring the slight delay it would cause. Ultimately, I was trying to replicate the feeling of a hammer attack with a spear. And, as much as the scientist inside me wanted to argue that it shouldn't matter, considering the way the System worked, it likely did.

And, since a hammer attack required that smashing effect, maybe I should try to lean into a piercing concept —

"I'm a moron," I muttered even as I slapped my head. I had missed something even more obvious. Yes, a spear method of delivering damage was piercing, but my variant was also about movement. Both the Perk I chose, and the name of Swift Spear implied it.

I closed my eyes as I ran a few steps, using Fleeting Step to change directions rapidly, climb a steep hill, and even make a few pointlessly complicated dancing moves, replicating a ballet routine perfectly. And, the more I repeated it, the more I realized the distinct concept of the Fleeting Step.

Just like the Vitality attack from the Hammer Art carried a sense of earthquake.

"I hope I won't blow my feet off," I muttered even as I used Fleeting Step again, but this time, I pushed that mercurial variant of Vitality to my feet.

[-1 Health]

Pain hit me.

Yet, I laughed, simply because of the source of pain. It wasn't my legs like I feared, but my head. I wasn't able to compensate for the sudden burst of speed and lost my balance. "Again," I muttered as I stood up.

For the next twenty minutes, I stumbled around like I was reenacting a drunk scene from a terrible comedy. Yet, every repeat only made my smile bigger and bigger. I might not be able to stand on my feet, but it didn't change the fact that I was able to imitate a Vitality attack, and did so on something that was not actually an attack.

I was able to use it … somewhat. It allowed me to burst forward in a straight line, but it was certainly loud. Also, it was hard to maintain balance if I tried to push over twenty yards.

"Let's see. What's the core of a spear technique? A quick, merciless piercing attack," I said, trying to focus on that concept, trying to imitate the shape of Mana as I used a chisel to stab the nearest stone. My spear sank deep.

"Success," I chuckled. Of course, it wasn't the fact that I was able to stab through a rock, which I could have done before. No, the proof was the ragged, uneven edge.

Then, even in success, I froze. Since I could somehow empower the movement perk with life energy, could I do the same with other perks.

Like Observe?

I could feel my heart beating with excitement. If that was possible, the implications were incredible.

It looked like I knew exactly what I would be doing tonight.