17-Mind Tripping Over Body

5/1/5/4353 M.A.C - Niwut - Late Morning

Doro picked up a small lump of steel and prepared for his workout. He decided today's training would focus on wasting less energy when inducing phase transitions.

Since I'm trying to change the shape of the surface, I could concentrate on just infusing the outer layer, but with the jogging and kinesis practice, it might be a bit much. On that note, I should also limit myself to one lump for now, since I just started working on my shaping skills.

Doro jogged through the streets of the industrial district as he practiced. After a few attempts at shaping the lump mentally, while keeping it aloft and maintaining his running form, the exercise proved more difficult than he'd expected. It reminded Doro of the few times he'd made attempts at juggling in the past. When he gave his shaping exercises enough attention, one of his two other activities would suffer.

He had previously set the lump floating in front of him, using [Somatic Support], but since he wasn't out of energy like the previous day, he attempted to keep it aloft with his mind alone. The problem showed itself as soon as Doro started diverting his attention to the third task. Either he would concentrate on the two mental exercises, only to find out he had slowed to an intermittent walk, or he would concentrate on running, and find himself trying to shape a solidified lump to no avail.

Maybe I'll be able to do it this way if I practice enough, but this is not doable for now. I need to find a workaround.

Doro continued his practice while trying out different ideas he had come up with to solve his issue. At first, he experimented with [somatic support], using one arm to keep the lump floating. This proved insufficient however as whenever he attempted to shape the lump, his issue would crop up again. He then tried to use motions to help with the shaping, but having one arm encumbered, holding up the lump, made this exercise rather awkward.

I wonder...I've been using my arm to keep it aloft, but I can use other parts of my body to carry stuff normally, like balancing something on the top of my head. If I was seated I could use my lap, If I was standing still, I could raise a knee and keep something on there. If I hunched over enough, I could probably lift something with my shoulders but that wouldn't be a good posture for running. I guess the only thing that would work while running would be managing to keep it on my head.

After a few tries, Doro managed to achieve the results he had pictured. In truth, it had turned out better than expected, as the lump seemed anchored to the top of his head and responded to its tilting without slipping and falling off.

Ok, that's pretty cool. If I had to fight and my arms were incapacitated, I could just shake my head like a metal fan at a concert, headbanging people at a range with....heh...metal. Actually, scratch that, seems like it's making my neck muscles work so, large violent movements might not be advisable.

Doro chuckled to himself at the lame almost-pun he had thought of, and attempted to put his new understanding to use. As it turns out, Doro found it much easier to keep two physical and one mental task running concurrently, instead of the inverse. After a few minutes, Doro grew more comfortable with the exercise and started trying out different motions to help with his shaping, to find some that wouldn't get in the way of his running.

Alright! This works for now. But liquifying, shaping, and then solidifying the lump, might not be the most mentally efficient process. It might prove easier if I got a softer material for practicing. I could infuse it with a lot of energy and set a small constant flow to keep it malleable until it runs out. With this, I wouldn't have to pay more than very minimal attention to [Phase Transition]. However, It would probably slow down my improvement with it. Guess I should bring two different lumps with me, and switch between the two exercise variations from now on. I'll keep going like this for today and I'll go find a softer metal for the second lump this afternoon.

***

Doro started jogging back towards his home as he went through the different motions he had come up with. Making a perfect sphere was slightly too difficult for him at this point, but he had found a way to make a decent one, by cupping both his hands together and turning them as if he were polishing off a snowball.

Snow...there wasn't really that much back in California, but Manzat is on another level. If not for my previous life's memories, I'm not sure I could even picture it. I imagine sandball fights wouldn't really work. Maybe mudballs? Meh, the adults would get mad at the cleanup.

Even though he had the memories, and could live through them again thanks to his Ability, Doro could not help but want to have some fun in the snow firsthand. The memories of his previous life had changed Doro greatly, but part of him still remained a nine-year-old boy.

Back when he had been Ben, people had teased him, by saying that he had a Spock-like quality. Ben had been very level-headed but had needed to plan everything ahead of time to feel comfortable in a situation. He understood social cues to a sufficient extent, so as to not be considered too much of a weirdo, but he wasn't very at ease around strangers, especially in large gatherings like parties.

Doro, however, originally had no such issues. One could say that he was a friendly and passionate little boy. After recovering his memories, he still kept his friendly disposition, and all the new information only served to make him more curious and outgoing.

Well, I had a lot of people that I was friendly with as Doro, but unlike in my previous life, I don't have any really close friends, like Meg or Emi. The way it is going, maybe I'll grow close to Sarima, but it wouldn't really be the same. Maybe when we grow older, and she graduates from my lessons, we can be close friends. Until then I am somewhat responsible for her development, so I can't really just chill. I want to find Meg and Emi, but they could be anywhere and it will be at least a few years before I'm able to go traveling on my own to find them.

Doro realized he had gone off on a tangent and resumed his run. As he kept going, he started performing quick plucking motions, grasping the air between his thumb and forefinger, before sharply pulling. With each pluck, conical spikes grew from the steel orb, their lengths proportional to the pulling motions. The quicker and larger pulls created thin and long needle-like spikes, while the slower and smaller ones created shorter and thicker cones.

Damn, this ball is basically a steel urchin now. Wouldn't want to step on it, or get it thrown at me. Better make it into a safer shape before I trip and hurt someone...or myself.

Perfectly straight lines also proved rather difficult to pull off with the steel urchin floating in mid-air. When crafting the binder, he'd used flat surfaces like the countertop to flatten what he needed, and then used a knife and ruler to cut straight lines. At first, he'd thought he could pluck out a hair and pull it taught, to serve as a guide, but after feeling the small spike of pain from pulling the first one out, he decided it wouldn't be a good long-term solution. Eventually, he found that he could get fairly good results by aligning his fingers with his palms, to make his hands as straight as possible, and then connecting both hands at the fingertips. He then used the point at which his hands met as an axis, allowing him to get corners sorted out easily, and to roughly control their angles.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Alright, that's squares, rectangles, parallelograms, and a bunch of other polygons sorted. If I make a cone first, I can also use this to make it into a pyramid easily. Still, my angles and lines aren't super accurate so past a hexagon, it becomes really obvious the sections aren't uniform. That's fine though, I made a lot of progress in the last hour. I must look ridiculous though, like a mime learning how to Vogue.

Doro's stomach growled at him and he started picking up the pace. He was happy with what he had achieved and focused on making his way back home as quickly as he could, to satiate his hunger.

Doro opened the door to the kitchen and tried sitting down at the table, but Khetep sent him off to wash up first. Doro headed to the bathroom and gave himself a quick wipe-down, with a wet towel, before returning to his room to get a fresh shirt. While there, he slipped his hand underneath his mattress until he felt a cold round disc.

Thank you for your investment Captain Aonghus. I'll try to spend it productively. May you make it back safely so I can return your goodwill.

Doro pocketed the Gold Mark and clapped his hands once. Doro had never really been superstitious, in either of his lives, and whatever loose religious beliefs he had held previously were mostly voided by the insight he'd gained from Gallius's message.

But yeah, magic is a thing here. Maybe thoughts and wishes carry something more than they did back on Earth. Doesn't cost me anything but a few moments. I can definitely spare that on the off chance it helps.

By the time Doro made it back to the kitchen, both his parents were seated and the table was set.

"Ha! That's my son! You tryin' to get fit for the young ladies of Niwut? Don't worry if you don't manage to grow a bunch of muscles, some of us ladies are more than happy with softer men. I married your father, Didn't I?"

Suyum gave a small laugh at the mildly offended glare Khetep directed at her in response to her comment.

"Nah, Mom. Seeing as I have to make my way to the central district once a decan, I thought I'd build up some stamina. Well, that was the initial reason. It turns out that increasing my physical strength will come in handy for some of my Abilities, so I decided to work on my fitness in general."

"See, Suyum? Give our son a little bit more credit. He wouldn't go through all that effort just to try and attract girls. Also, I'm not sure he is even at that stage yet, hairless as his body is."

It was now Doro's turned to look mildly offended.

"Uh, Dad...If you are going to take shots... I happen to think that being fit could only help me look better, and be in better health. Maybe you should join me sometimes, it might help you survive Mom's attempts at giving me a younger brother or sister."

Suyum burst out laughing and started patting Doro on the back. Khetep's eyes were wide open, in fear, as he looked at his wife and son across the table.

"Oh no...there's two of them! Son! I thought you were on my team?"

"Nope. I'm on my own team, and if you want more collaboration from my end, maybe avoid calling me a hairless wonder next time."

"It would seem, sweety, that you underestimated our son this time. Although his idea isn't bad. Like that, you could get some father and son bondin' done as well as....extra benefits."

Suyum winked seductively at Khetep. Doro lowered the spoon that he was in the process of bringing up to his mouth.

"Instant Karma, ugh! I regret my decision greatly. Dad, will you let me back on your team? I don't want those images in my head as I eat."

Khetep wiped a non-existent tear from the corner of his eye and spread his arms wide open before replying in such a melodramatic way that Doro thought he deserved a Razzie.

"My son, you have seen the light and returned to your senses! Quick, rejoin me on the team of propriety and logic, before your mother's jokes pull you deeper into the dark side. I forgive you for erring and welcome you back to sanity!"

The dark side heh? No, if I start Palpatine's speech on the dark side of the force in front of Mom, she might get inspired. Gotta hold back.

Suyum flicked a small balled-up piece of bread into Khetep's mouth mid-speech. It hit the back of his throat and stopped him in his tracks as he coughed.

"Yeah? I might not be as "sane", but at least my team has all the fun!"

Suyum looked back at Khetep with an unconvincing pout, before letting out a small chuckle.

"Actually, there is something I wanted to ask. I want to go practice one of my Abilities and I need to find a lot of minerals and ores to look at. Where do you think I should go?"

Khetep drank a glass of water to help him clear his throat before replying.

"Well I usually go to specialty stores, because I need very specific materials, but if all you want is a large variety, the market at the edge of the industrial district is what I would recommend. That is where the nomads set up temporary stalls to offload their latest haul. Since they have mining villages working on both the mountain range to the north and the one to the south, they should have the greatest variety, aside from the larger stores in the central district. The large stores also deal in foreign goods, and rare stuff, but they would probably chase you out after a few minutes if they realized you weren't there to buy anything."

"Alright, thanks Dad. Also, Mom, I'm sure you overheard me speaking about the gifts I made for Dad and Sarima this morning, but I'm also planning on making you something nice. To that effect, could you let me know if there is a specific color you would like it in? I won't tell you what it is until I give it to you, but I'm sure you'd like it better if it was a color you chose."

"Really? I was startin' to feel left out you know, with you spendin' your whole mornin's with your father and the two of you actin' all buddy-buddy lately. What color though? Lately, I've been missin' some of the vibrant greens I used to see around springtime back in Umayer. For a month, the great lakes flood the lower plains because of the meltwater from the mountains. Then, after the water returns to normal levels, dark green mosses and other fast-growin' plants cover the plains. So, yeah, a vibrant green, or deep green color would be nice."

"Green eh? Thanks, that is actually one of the easier colors you could have asked for considering my plans."

"Well, that's lucky. So, how long do you think it will take you?"

"It depends on how lucky I get at the market, but it should be ready in a few days if I find certain things. Since Mom wants green, I might plunder a bit of copper from you, Dad. Is that fine?"

"Eh, not too much alright? I have a bit in stock, more than I need for my current orders. Just don't go overboard. Copper is not as cheap as it was before the Empire started using it to implement Thermaen plumbing on a large scale, since it doesn't rust like steel or iron."

Okay, that settles it, I really need to refine some chromium. It'll not only get me a nice shade of green for Mom's present, but with it, I'll also be able to make stainless steel. I really need to figure out if this world has patents, or something similar, because this could really make me rich. Another Blessed might get to it before me if I don't do it quickly, so I'll try to get the info from Scholar Atwut.

Doro finished his plate as fast as he could and stood up with his mouth still filled with the last portion he'd shoveled in.

"I'mf off to fhe mawquet. Shee you laher!"

By the time Khetep and Suyum figured out what he was trying to say, Doro had already slipped out the door.

"Uh, Suyum?"

"Yeah?"

Khetep turned his head toward the sink.

"Is it me, or did he just skip out on his chores? Guess we'll have to clean up after ourselves today."

As Khetep finished his sentence, and looked away from the dirty pots Doro had left for them, he noticed that the seat across from him was strangely empty.

"Ugh, never mind. I guess I will be the one who cleans up. She may act like she's the head of this family, but this house would burn down without me around, even if it is mostly made of stone. I don't want to imagine what would happen if I died first and she was left in charge of the kiln. Niwut might never recover...Wait, I'm alone, who am I even speaking to?"