Does this work as a body?

What about this?

Maybe this?

…

Listen, together we can craft the body of your dreams, but we need to pick something temporary first to make sure we can swap bodies…Okay I guess that’s fair. If you can’t swap, you want to make sure your first body is good. I get that. Yes yes you’re fine with anything but what if it doesn’t work? I want something to remember you by.

Dododoo.

I don’t know how to make you a drill that actually drills? Rest is easy enough – I could try and chop you up a spirally spike but I can’t imagine a wood drill would do much outside of sand or something…

We need metal? I agree. That seems like a huge daunting jump though…we need to make a forge first and figure out how to get the raw metal ores – hi, Nizan9182. I got you. You can be the forgemaster9182.

I could make a drill out of cement and glue diamonds to it but then I’d have to find the diamonds…the crystals made with MCC are not strong enough for that and break into nothing when they shatter. Let's put a pin in the drill and work on the rest of this to start.

…

Hey! Didn’t notice you there. Come to watch the experiment? Sorry we are just sorting some stuff out. Give me a bit to make our newest recruit's body.

…

How doesn’t the market have cans??? Cans of beans! Cans of Boyardee! How can it have bread and not cans? How important are the cans, should I reach out to the goddess and use my favour on them? We just need a tube? Okay. That might be easier.

…

I’m not sure what I’m doing but Ishner is walking me through it every step of the way. We are sitting on the beach as we work tools surrounding the crafting site ready whenever we need them.

I have a knife, scissors, my old ripped apart mattress, twine, sticks, glue and a dream.

To start we have a light central core. I’ve fused eight sticks into a square pyramid then wrapped it in cloth.

I ended up putting a tiny bit of weird lumpy mattress stuffing in the middle for form but its not what I would call “stuffed”.

Next I’ve made eight turbine appendages extending off four crossed sticks glued to the top.

They kind of look like a helicopter and by giving them each a single limited hinge and gluing an insane amount of tiny little scraps from the bed they should count as wings at least a little.

Isner wanted the arms to be rope but I don’t think he would have been able to manipulate them how he was hoping – the only reason my helpers have been able to move so far is their wings being well…their wings.

I flapped this form a few times and it did provide a minuscule amount of lift so I think they count. I also glued a mana feather to the end of each for good luck then moved on to the turbines.

Wew creating moving parts is hard. Hinges are so much easier for me to glue than axels. We made it work however.

To start there was the turbine shaft. I made a mould out of sand. Wrapped it in cloth, and then glued cement cloth around it to sort of make paper mache. Releasing the sand on the inside lets me slide the tubes out and I’ve made six short ones pretty easily. Don’t know if this will scale to full pipes for my plumbing but I have high hopes.

Next I used more expensive storebought sticks for the inside of each tube – making good and sure the poles are smooth and straight.

At two spots I’ve glued tons of sticks into a sort of spiral around the shaft to hold it into place and then glued a cap onto each end to keep the shaft from sliding out. I ended up using the almost plastic sort of wrap the ash chocolate comes wrapped in to try and reduce friction but…well they could definitely be lubed up for maximum spinning power. I’m sorry all I have is friction based glue – the exact opposite of lube.

They…are not necessarily the best axels but we make them work.

It’s funny how making a turbine blade is easier than making a spinning shaft but there you go. Just takes an axe on some blocks of wood and some strategic gluing on the caps to make it work. Twist em about for some good angles – they shake way too much for me to think they are study but partway through the fourth turbine I realize just how dumb I am.

I literally just got a skill I almost immediately got distracted from. It seems perfect for this – I haven’t even locked my organ mana in yet. Dumb.

Let’s rephrase the problem of making a turbine as making a organ. Conceptually we have a shell around it already made. We have an input of air from the top – actually no we have an input of rotational motion from the wings that should be flapping and spinning this…we have the inner bit which is a pair of turbines…and the output which is conceptually the lift and maybe not conceptually the air getting shoved out…

I stare at the half finished turbine and mentally rearrange the parts a bunch. It takes a solid minute for the setup to start making sense to me and then it clicks.

I know technically I can create this device without any magic at all (ignoring the external wings providing motion) but that’s not enough. I want to make this work. I want to make it good.

I know the inside isn’t really conceptually transforming the motion to lift – if I made it correctly it's doing that as literally as possible…but I’m hoping by putting a drop of blood in each and marking them as organs I can help make them more efficient.

As is I think they are weaker than the base wings and that’s no good. Turning the wings sideways makes them work at half efficiency for some reason and if the goal was lift I’m probably better off just putting a huge amount of work into making the wings stronger…but isner wanted turbines and I’m dead set on making that happen.

The organ should boost it into being even better than wings. That’s the goal. I will settle for no less!

I do know the main requirement for this to be a organ is some sort of magical material in the middle of it. The core of the material needs to conceptually transform the input to the output and needs to be mana dense…so maybe if I glue some mana to the shaft it will count?

I tilt my head slightly as I look down at the tube in my hand.

I think that will work. Its hard to brainstorm the effects of a skill I haven’t even used yet so I might as well just do it and see if it works.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Gathering mana I just barely condense enough to make a weak mana crystal and reach in gluing the environmental mana to each shaft. I’m not putting specific mana types in here although I did filter out the sand and glue mana I found – those would probably weaken the spinning or make more friction. Just a hunch.

I continue on working until I have 8 mostly functional turbines and then cut my finger slightly and reach in to press a single mark on each.

I need a needle or better way of getting a drop of my blood on each of these.

A few seconds after my blood is placed in the organs I feel a sort of healthy positive feeling radiate off the tubes.

I’m so glad there’s feedback – without that I would have sat wondering if anything had even happened.

Staring inside I notice the mark of blood I left is gone and everything looks ever so slightly off…the mana crystal I glued to the shaft is now shaped like a corkscrew instead of a lumpy blob and the inside looks almost ever so slightly wet.

I don’t know if it looks like an organ per say but something has happened.

Reaching out I spin one of the turbines with a finger and feel it lurch.

Wew! Alright that’s some action right there. Give me a moment to glue these on and we can get to summoning you Ishner.

With a liberal application of glue I place all eight turbines to the drone arms and get to work on the summoning ritual.

Does this star look right Isner? Yep? Okay, just wanted to check.

Drawing a large eight pointed star in the sand and placing each arm under one of the turbines I clap my hands and stare down solemnly at Ishner’s body. Ready and waiting for eyes.

Carefully I slowly finish the pentagram with a circle making it as even as I can then chant Ishners name several times while reaching out with the chosen eyes.

I knight thee! Test Subject One Mwhahahahah!

…

You there?

Isher lifts off slowly from the ground at my comment wobbleing slightly before hovering in place.

Do you like your body?

Isner spins slightly “flapping” the turbine arms to pull them in and out.

Yes we can match your full request later if it works.

Feel free to fly about the property a bit – test out how the turbines work and if we need to change anything. Get settled in the body a bit and then we can move on to the swap test.

Isner bobs his whole body before lifting up smoothly – doing a massive wobble in the air – and then drifting off into the distance.

A few meters away from my spot Len appears flapping after him and then they are gone over the horizon.

I think I’ll start on the walkway while we let them test the concept out?

Nodding to myself I stand up and stretch. Then begin gathering small stones from the “desert”.

“Hey, the fishy miner, you there?” Looking around I notice the harness flapping around appearing aimless.

At my words, he turns and rushes over. “Want to help mark a path?” The harness bobs and I smile relived.

“Let’s connect you to a board and make a platform you can carry around.”

It takes a moment to glue together a big box and attach my favorite harness to center mass. The Fishy miner has quite a few mana feathers boosting his wings and can lift more than me even if he’s not quite crane strength just now.

If Ishner’s test comes back safe we might be able to boost him in the future.

Gathering as much stones as both of us can carry, I head towards the edge of my house and then begin placing rocks.

One rock.

4 steps.

One rock.

4 steps.

Collect an extra two rocks from the mobile barge.

One rock!

4 steps.

Together we make our way towards the sign, rotating and reorienting slightly as soon as it comes into sight and finish right before we reach it.

This trail of rocks will work for now. I’ll add to it in the future – making more trials and signs and putting down cobblstones if I have time and energy.

Nodding I walk back to the beach following the handy markers and meet back up with Isner.

“Alright! How was the test, any feedback for the future? Alright! I’ll keep that in mind.”

I nod thoughtfully and then stand there awkwardly for a moment.

How do we start?

What do I do now?

I’m nervous. What if it doesn’t work?

Has this been long enough? Should I let Ishner fly about a bit more?

Oh, I’m scared of doing something wrong. I don’t want to hurt my friends and this feels like it falls into that category. Why can’t we test it out on a plant or something before moving to friend trials.

It’s too much.

Isner bobs his permission drifting down to rest in the sand.

Okay.

I get it.

You want this.

Nodding I move and sit beside him pulling a bucket over to sit in my lap.

Test one.

Can I put some eyes on this temp body and hope you transfer?

I draw Ishner’s symbol on the sand, placing the bucket in the center and repeat his summoning ritual.

“Ahhhhhtherewegowhatdoyouthinkdiditwork?” I ask placing the eyes really fast and then covering my own eyes partly with my hands to hide from any wrongdoing.

The new bucket doesn’t move.

I mean…it doesn’t have wings so I don’t know how it would move but…yeah it doesn’t do much that I can see.

Beside me Ishner tilts back and forth showing it didn’t work.

Alright then.

Didn’t work.

Time to move on. Guess we know we can’t swap bodies.

Ishner looks decidedly annoyed at my antics for the first time.

I sigh and nod slowly.

All the way huh. Okay. You gotta sign the liability waver twice then. Dems the rules.

Reaching out I aim for his eyes.

Eyes are the window into his soul. These googly eyes…are his soul.

They twitch and roll slightly as I try and pull them off uselessly and I stop immediately worried I’m hurting him.

No, I’m not hurting you, keep going. Okay. I understand.

Reaching about my craft area I find the scissors. This seems safer than prying.

I stare at the scissors then at Ishners eyes and take several calming breaths.

I feel like I’m killing him.

Friends don’t murder each other. That’s a rule. I think an unspoken one but it’s a rule all the same I decided.

I want to close my eyes but that seems worse somehow. I just have to do it. Just gotta meet Ishers enthusiasm with my own.

Reaching out I cut out the eyes placing one hand on top of his body to hold him down as he starts to thrash.

This is traumatic. Even if it works don’t make me do it so often.

Ahhh!

With a final snip, I cut the eyes completely from the body and Ishner stills.

The movement stops.

His eyes…are no longer his eyes.

They don’t work.

They don’t move.

As far as I know Isner is dead and I killed him.

With shaking hands, I look about but I don’t see him.

I check the comment section just in case, but he is gone.

Where did he go?

Take a deep breath.

Keep going.

Stop panicking.

I close my eyes and quell my panic.

Next step. See if I can summon him back with new eyes.

Repeating my experiment, I take two new eyes and glue them to a bucket sitting in a pentagram. I chant the name again and again remembering to breathe all the while.

Ishner. Come back.

Come back.

Please.

…

I stare.

New eyes haven’t worked.

That’s fine. It might not be the end.

I take a few breaths.

That’s fine.

Theres a final test – the one most likely to work. It’s fine. Ishner’s not dead. Can’t be. If he is I’m asking the goddess to bring him back and sacrificing my favor if I need to.

Come on. It’s the test that’s most likely to work.

I wipe down the temp bucket and breathe deeply before glueing Ishner’s dead eyes to the new form. I almost imagine they flicker to life but it’s just my shifting as I glue them down.

This time I used less permanent glue and aim for as clean a press as I can.

I glue a little smily face down with sand and fix a gap in the pentagram as I work.

Okay.

Okay this is fine. Just have to calm myself. The skill might not work if I panic to hard. I have to stay calm.

I breath deeply and then reach out once more. Softly I chant Ishners name three times and then wait.

…

Ishner does not-The eye suddenly twitches!!!

!!!

!!!

I laugh in relief and watch as Isher slowly comes to life.

He’s returned! Returned to life! Reanimated on the new body! I jump up and pump my fist in excitement before leaning in close and making sure he’s okay.

Temp bucket doesn’t give much for Ishner to do. His eyes roll about a few times but that’s it.

I wish the mouth would let him talk. It’s harder to understand him in this form. Flick your eyes up and down for yes and back and forth for no – okay. Yep, ready to start.

Are you okay…good. Do you need a moment…okay got it. Want back in your first body? …yes.

Okay, give me a moment to find the heart I think I dropped somewhere and we can swap you back.

I calm myself down and then nod. Now that I know I can transfer your bodies by transferring your eyes I’m less nervous about this whole situation.

It’s less traumatic to pop Ishner’s eyes out this time and I patch up the OG body before gluing him back.

I’m worried he might get damaged if I take too long so I swap as fast as I can repeating his ritual and only relaxing completely once he starts moving about once again.

Well then. That’s enough excitement for one day! I think I’m going ‘go have a nap.

Isher...you have something to say? Go slow, I need to translate drone...NO! I'm not smashing your eyes as an experiment to see if that frees you up for new eyes. We figured out transfer and thats as far as we are going thank you very much.

I need two naps. Let's call it sleep actually, it's almost dark.

Tomorrow we can decide where to go from here.

As always, Thanks for being my friend!