It barely took any effort at all to set the old fellow Botros up with a series of ever more difficult to move crates. Anton watched as the man pushed himself to his limits, and frankly beyond them in unhealthy ways. It wasn’t really fair to require this of him for the promised wages, but Anton didn’t intend to leave him with just monetary payment.
“You see now why I needed assistance with this?” Anton asked as he approached the man. He was struggling with a crate absolutely not meant to hold iron bars in it, one with far too much volume for such dense goods. “I can’t do all of this on my own.” Anton made a show of struggling with another crate- and indeed it was a little bit difficult to move if he completely cut himself off from natural energy. “Maybe I should hire some of those bulky young fellow…” Anton mused.
“N-no,” Botros groaned. “I can… do it.” It was difficult for an older man such as him to even get consideration for any job, and he seemed to be unqualified for much other than manual labor.
Botros swapped to a different crate, before returning with Anton to look at the one that had stumped him. “If we move it together I think we can accomplish it…”
“With my back?” Anton asked. “I think it’s better to not. But if you want to try, I did hear of a little trick. Might take a bit, though.”
“What is it?” Botros asked. “I think my stance is fine…”
“If it wasn’t, you’d have thrown out your back for certain,” Anton agreed. “Let’s see… what was it…” Anton frowned. “First, take your stance. Concentrate, not on what you intend to lift, but your own body.” Anton was actually slightly conflicted. If Botros was a few decades younger, he might have tried to set him up with something like Western Steel Body. He actually seemed quite suited to it. However, beginning any sort of focused body tempering method like that would almost certainly lead to disaster at his age. Regular energy cultivation could still cripple the man- especially with the mediocre natural energy levels in the area- but Anton could help with that. “Feel the pulse of blood in your body, the twitching of your muscles. Breathe deeply, drawing in from all around you.”
Botros had wasted no time, not waiting for Anton to finish. Anton was wondering how to make excuses for his knowledge and how to explain the last steps… but he seemed to get it. Anton did flood the area with extra natural energy, but when Botros absorbed some of it he naturally channeled it into his muscles. Anton would need to play around with his tasks so he would form a proper foundation instead of directly transitioning to muscle tempering, but Anton could also show him a proper cultivation manual when he asked about it.
For the moment, however, Botros managed to lift the crate that was just beyond the edge of his muscle and pure willpower. Some of the natural energy would be consumed for the task, while the rest would augment his muscles in the long term. Except it would also tire out the old man.
“It’s about time for lunch,” Anton announced. “Come on then.”
“Don’t need any,” Botros said stubbornly. “I’ll keep working here.”
Anton shook his head, “You won’t know where I want that stuff. You’ll just have to move it again. Come on then.” Anton knew the man had no lunch, as he led him into a side room that was barely an office, previously lit by a smoky torch before Anton came about. He spread out the food on the table between them as Botros sat down. “Ah, look at that. Packed too much food again. I guess it’s stale bread for dinner again, can’t just waste it…” Anton looked at Botros. “Or you can help me eat it. That way I don’t feel guilty and can get something better for dinner.”
“I did not think one of your stature would be concerned about waste…” Botros said slowly, clearly interested in the food.
“You don’t grow wealth by wasting money,” Anton said as he pushed some of it towards Botros. “Speaking of which, you’ll work faster with some of this in you. I’m sure you’ll work up enough of an appetite by evening to still eat with your family.”
The man took Anton’s offer, perhaps in anticipation of his stomach growling. Anton shared bread, meat, cheese, and vegetables with him. All with small traces of natural energy. Partly because Botros’ body wouldn’t be able to stand more, and partly because there really wasn’t much better available.
He worked the old man’s muscles in various ways for the rest of the afternoon, and sent him home early with the promised wages. For the first days- perhaps even months- Botros would be exhausted as his body got used to the changes happening. And if Anton let him continue to work, he would hurt himself.
He protested, of course, but Anton drove him off with something about having other business. But even if the day wasn’t quite done, the man knew he needed the full wages and couldn’t refuse that part no matter what his pride might have said.
Even in the afternoon, Krosburgh was dim. Part of that was the size of the buildings shading its streets, and part of it was their lack of a proper sun. Even from a close orbit, the brown dwarf didn’t bring enough light to Poriza.
Anton kept his senses on Botros until he was certain the man went ‘home’, a communal flophouse where the other members of his family crowded together with others. He stopped to buy food on the way, and Anton was glad he purchased enough for three. Perhaps Botros also couldn’t stand to let his family see him not eat.
Though Anton had other business around the area to take care of eventually, that evening he drew away to a further distance. He was still uncertain what he intended to do, but to have all of the options available he needed to gather data.
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First, the brown dwarf was right on the edge of being a proper star. With just ten or twenty percent more mass, it should sustain fusion inside of itself and become a red dwarf. At that point, its luminosity would increase at least tenfold, and its temperature would nearly double. If that were to happen it would make Poriza uninhabitable, though there was no risk of it happening accidentally. The orbits of the planets were stable, with no large masses that could crash into the pseudo star.
But it didn’t have to be an accident. The question remained whether it was a good idea, but Anton had the feeling he could do it. All he would have to do was crash one of the less interesting planets into the star. At the same time, to avoid unfortunate circumstances, he would have to push Poriza further away and slow its relative motion to settle it into a new orbit. The difficulty came with that, because he couldn’t do it slowly. If he changed the planet’s orbit too soon, many people would die. Too late, and everyone would die. And for what, a little natural energy? Or a lot of it. There was a fundamental difference in what the planet would receive from the star, even with it being further.
The fact that he was considering it at all was an extreme. It would be incredibly difficult, not least because Anton wouldn’t be at full power. He could tell that binding to the brown dwarf as it was would not empower him, if it worked at all. So he would have to rely on energy coming in from his other stars. Azun was close enough for him to feel its power, but he would need more. And Anton had no idea if it was a good idea even if he did it perfectly. He was already hesitant about uplifting the planet through the addition of the One Hundred Stars. But having a strong faction that operated with morals would ultimately result in good things for them. And they could improve the natural energy of the world in small ways, even if Anton did nothing extreme.
-----
“Are you sure you’re alright to go back tomorrow, father?” Aykorkem asked Botros.
“Of course,” the man said stubbornly. “I promised my son to take care of the two of you. For that, I need money, and to get money I need to work.”
“But you can barely stand…” she said. “At least let us go with you.”
“No, you need to keep looking for work suited for your strengths,” Botros said. “Which is not lifting crates.”
“I can help, though,” Nasima said. The young woman leaned forward eagerly. “I’m stronger than a lot of the boys.”
“Not strong enough,” Botros said. “Besides, this fellow said the job is short term. I’ll be done with it soon enough. I’ll get my pay as we need.” With that, the discussion was settled for the evening.
-----
It was actually a surprise to Anton when the young woman snuck after her grandfather to show up at the warehouse. He’d picked this family because of their drive, of course, but it was still a show of great boldness.
She had excellent timing as well, keeping just the right distance behind her grandfather. He entered the warehouse and she slipped in the door behind him. “I’m here for the day’s work, sir.”
“Good,” Anton said. “Start with the ones along that wall.” Anton wondered if Botros would notice that he’d taken crates out of the core of one area. Not that most were so recognizable individually. After Botros went off, Anton was left there looking at the young Nasima peeking around the corner of some crates. “So, what are you doing here?”
“Um… I- I heard you needed some strong fellows to help you in your warehouse,” she said, puffing herself up as large as possible and flexing. Her clothes were such that she could be mistaken for a young man by some.
Anton could feel she had some actual muscle but… “Too scrawny,” he declared.
“I’m stronger than I look!” she protested. “Just let me try.”
“Well… I suppose I can. This other fellow can show you the ropes. I doubt you can move much, but if you can manage to move these,” Anton pat a mid sized and not too densely packed crate. “I can pay you half wages.” He grinned. “Hey Botros!”
Nasima’s eyes widened. “Umm, actually I-”
But it was too late for her. Botros was swift to answer Anton’s call. “Yes, sir?” he said, making his way over. Then he saw Nasima. “You…”
Anton interrupted whatever was going to happen there. “This fellow wants to try the job. You know ‘em?” Anton asked. “Kinda scrawny, but I was thinking maybe the young one could move the smaller crates.” Nasima tried to look away. Botros frowned. “So, what do you think? You know each other?”
“We do,” Botros said.
“What would your judgment be, strong enough?”
“...” Botros’ hesitation was a good thing. He didn’t immediately say no, at least. He didn’t want to discourage his granddaughter, after all. “Might need some explanation of proper technique.”
“Alright then,” Anton said. “That’s your job for today. Good luck with that.”
“... What?” Botros asked.
“Just come find me when the young fellow can move a decent crate,” Anton gestured. “I have some business to attend to.”
Some of that involved sneakily adding lighter crates to the group Botros had been working on while they weren’t near that side of the warehouse, and the other was increasing the size of his lunch once again. Meanwhile, he kept some of his senses on the pair. Not because he was worried they would do something or be lazy, but because he wanted to see how the interaction went.
“This isn’t a light job,” Botros said. “It’s likely still best for you to find work elsewhere.” Nasima didn’t say anything, but also didn’t seem ready to back down. “But I suppose you won’t. So first thing to do is lift one of these.” As she stomped up to the crate, he stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. “They’re not as easy as you’d think,” he said. “You have to use proper technique.”
First he started with the basic, physical positioning that made it easier. But that wasn’t quite enough. Anton didn’t have a perfectly weighted crate just lying around, of course. He might have put his finger on the scales a little bit. Either way, Botros tried his best to explain the same meditative use of natural energy Anton had taught him- something he naturally did for the single crate he’d already moved. Nasima didn’t quite get it, but Anton still let her lift the crate. He would have some practical advice for them later, but he hadn’t expected a youngster to instantly pick up on the mental aspect of things. Though if he wasn’t wrong, it shouldn’t take more than a day or two to get started.