As I run, my mind is still scrambling around. There’s something I should have done before I left the house, but I can’t remember what that was. It will come eventually. How can I test this paradigm? What other powers might there be? What if I tried to reinforce my fist instead of surround it? What about doing the force burst as a burst and not a punch? What about telekinesis? Is that something I could do with psionics? I know there’s some overlap in the magical/psionic systems on that point in many of the legends I read. Are the legends of my first life any good here? Would they lead me to more mastery or more danger? Or both? I’ve already had a severe incident when I lost control of myself once before, literally burning some of my health away.

My feet take me on the accustomed path, out to the edge of town, then back toward the middle. It’s approaching mid-day when I make it to the city center and I realize what I forgot.

I’m outside.

In the middle of the day.

For nearly 45 minutes.

I’m going to be a ball of sunburn and sadness by the time I get home.

I begin to giggle, then it breaks into a chuckle, building to a series of laughs and guffaws. I can’t stop laughing, so I have to stop running. I lean up against a nearby building, my eyes leaking tears from the continuing laughter. I’m sure I’m drawing attention from anyone on the street, but I can't be bothered to care.

I just healed what was likely a hairline fracture in my hand, and I’m stressing about sunburn? It’s not really all that funny, but I can’t stop laughing for a while.

The extended bout of laughter releases the tension that my run had not, and my frenetic thoughts gain more focus. I’m going to have to test these ideas. I can work on how when I get home. I manage to achieve a zen state as I finish up running home, feeling the world wash by around me, letting my emotions and excitement wash over me and then fade away.

By the time I arrive home, my breathing is deep and only slightly elevated. No longer is the excitement running away with me, instead it’s harnessed and ready to serve at my command. Good. I walk into the garden area and pump water over my head, cupping my hand and gathering some to drink. When I’ve drunk my fill, I stand up and shake off the water, scattering droplets and eliciting a yelp from my mother who was approaching me with a water jug in her hands.

“Grinnnntellll Coddlestahl,” she elongates the name, but doesn’t pull out the dreaded middle name, so I know I’m not in much trouble.

I cock my head to the side, so that the water doesn’t run down my face and get in my eyes. There’s a twinkle in her eyes and her expression carries a mix of frustration and affection. “That’s me.”

“Fill this up since you’ve made a mess.” She holds out the jug, which I take.

“Yes, mom.” No sense pushing my luck. I do manage to keep my mouth busy with a small grin instead of some smart aleck comment. “Here you go, did you get anything good from the market today?”

“Just the usual supplies, plus extra eggs again, since you are going through them so quickly. I swear you eat like 2 starving horses.” She takes the jug from me, turns and begins to walk away, speaking over her shoulder. “You need a full bath before supper, not just a quick rinse… you’re beginning to stink. I don’t want funk-flavored fish tonight.”

That’s fair. And it’s good news. She did get something good from the market. We’re not anywhere near water, so the morning train must have brought in some fish packed on ice, and she’s splurged on it for us.

I do some more training in the trenched area I have yet to fill in, doing steps. I try repeatedly to concentrate on healing while I’m in motion, but I can’t ever get into the right mental space to trigger the ability. Maybe it’s the motion, maybe it’s the distraction of the wheeling thoughts, but it’s not clicking.

A few hours later, I finished my workout, cleaned out and repacked the shed and improved the groaning hinge problem by firmly seating the nails once again. One of the nails won’t stay in, so I put a sliver of wood into the hole, then drive the nail in again. Still could use some grease, maybe I can pick up some from work, something non-food based instead of filtered lard. Now, I really need that bath.

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I get both buckets out of the shed and fill them, setting them inside the back door. After my mom empties the first pair into the large basin she’s placed on the stove, I go back and forth several more times. Once the tub in our bathing room is filled, I take off my footgear and leave it at the back door to dry. A flashback to hot showers makes me a bit nostalgic, but then again… I’d be taking really cold showers for a while in the other world, because even warm water on a sunburn feels painfully hot. Thinking of that, I put away the buckets, avoiding the damp and muddy area near the pump, and then sat down on the back steps, meditation coming quicker than I thought it would. A minute or so later, feeling my face and arms finally stop itching, I sigh and stand up. I’m still a bit pink, but that’s likely exertion. The bath will tell.

Protecting my hands with some rags, I carry the basin of hot water to the tub and pour it in. Quickly stripping and then wiping myself down with a damp rag, I then settle into the tub and relax for a moment before realizing I hadn’t grabbed the soap or a fresh cloth, and they’re across the room.

Crap. I’ll get them in a moment. For now, the water is warmish, and I’m feeling a bit lazy. Hmm. I wonder if that might work. I wanted to test telekinesis, and this was as good a time as any. I concentrate on the imaginary arm, much like I had when I discovered the Fragile Fleshy Fist of Failure™, only this time, I’m not trying to punch something, but rather grasp something with my “hand”. I’m pleasantly surprised when the soap wiggles a bit. Nice. Telekinesis for utility might just be workable. Not throwing bad guys around the room level, but “at least don’t have to get out of the tub” seems to be a nice start. Since I don’t have a handy swamp or a helpful, but odd, green trainer, I’ll take what I can figure out. I concentrate on the objective, willing the invisible hand to close around the soap and return to me. I feel the drain increase significantly as the soap lifts from beside the washbasin, but it is working. The soap slowly floats over to me. I am all powerful, master of the… bathroom. Seriously, that was way more effort than getting it by hand, but again, really cool. I’m giddy. Two massive discoveries in one day. Really it’s one massive discovery. The paradigm shift. The healing and the telekinesis are part and parcel of that discovery.

Two powers to test now, but one is significantly stronger. I’m not seeing the whole picture, but I have a glimpse behind the curtain. It’s like a safe deposit box in a vault in a bank. It’s not just ONE key, it’s four and maybe more. Visualization, focus, energy, and skill combine. Affinity for certain things may be a kind of catalyst that makes them more potent. An efficiency enhancement to the power used, effectively making the energy more effective at the desired outcome by reducing transmission and conversion losses. So much I just don’t know, and I’m not sure where to start looking, other than the guess and check methods I’ve employed so far.

My bath grows cold as I work through my thoughts. Coming out of my reverie, I hurriedly scrub myself with the old rag and the soap. Yup. I miss showers. But I’d be out of hot water by now anyway, I’ve got the wrinkles on my fingers to prove it.

What did I learn? That hand was weak and slow, but it had a range of at least 10 feet, and could handle 2-3 ounces. The most interesting part is that it, like the healing, worked without the usual buildup times. It kept working as long as I could concentrate. It was clumsy, and far more draining than the effort to get up and walk. About as much drain as what it took to reverse the sunburn damage, maybe a bit more. Curse you Basic Guide! I want more numbers!

Hmmm. That may be a bit far, I had more idea about my growth here than I did in the last world. Need to concentrate on the full half of the glass.

So, the telekinetic hand thing worked out. Perhaps it might be a better analogy than hand is to call it a long thin stick with a ball of duct tape on the end, but that’s unwieldy. Telekinetic hand it is. It was probably useless for anything that would require significant force, I was struggling to control a few ounces. Based on my failure with it before at doing any visible impact on the log, that was a reasonable guess, but a sample size of one does not a good test make. For now, the obvious answer was if I needed to throw something, I have arms that work much more effectively, quickly, and precisely, even when you take into account my mediocre physical abilities. If I needed something that I can’t reach, and it’s small enough and light enough, I now have a tool for that! I check my status so I’m not tempted to do so at dinner, and my skills have gone up a bit, but stats are unchanged.

{

Skills:

Energy Conversion

2.906

Energy Emission

2.564

Energy Control

2.122

Channeling

0.050

Meditation

2.558

Walking

5.017

}

I got out of the tub. Slipping a bit as I lurched toward the towel my mom had left out by the door, I managed to fight off death in my valiant quest for getting dry. Hey, I'll take what wins I can get. It’s been a fantastic day, and supper awaits!