Waking up I was ready to try out another idea I had, since it was premature for me to use my black hole idea I would try something else.

This was more for the technique aspect and strengthening. I remember the difference between graphite and diamonds was only the covalent bonds they had. Meaning that they were made from the exact same material, but the different way their covalent bonds was set made them diametrically opposed. One was a flaky dull matt material that was used in pencils, while the other was known for being the hardest and one of the most beautiful materials on earth.

Now I didn’t actually remember how the diamond was setup, but I did remember the hype from graphene, and that had an extremely easy hexagonal single-layered design that made an extremely tough flexible light material that was an excellent conductor.

I was wondering how that would work with mana, as a lot of engineering was about how to maximize your materials. The same amount of metal could break under a hundred kilos or easily hold up several tons if it was structured properly.

My plan was simple I would first try to superimpose my mana over my body in a hexagonal grid with concentrated mana on the connections with a solid flow between them. It wouldn’t be easy as my manipulation skills weren’t up to par for doing it at the levels I intended, so at the start it would be a crude experiment.

The addition of a proper image and intention would come later. I also wanted to create a complete mana structure that properly overlapped and reinforced my bones, muscles and add a layer of it on my skin for protection, but that would all come later. My start would only try to simply create a structure of my body with a layer of hexagonal grids. I needed to make them as small as possible while trying to see if it had any positive effect or not.

Mixing my lifeforce with my soulforce I was sitting in a comfortable position while trying to create the intended result. I wanted to see if this would have a better effect than just marinating my body in mana.

Spending most of my day just sitting still and trying to get the right flow going was all that I managed, but I wasn’t worried.

This was excellent practice as it was the hardest thing I had done with mana itself, and I didn’t expect to suddenly succeed and become superman on my first attempt.

In the worst-case scenario this would be manipulation practice and in best I would create my personal technique.

I really wanted to sign up for the mercenary guild and get access to some real techniques. They might also have some incantations for space spells that I could use and study. But I would wait for the girls before I would go that route, it would be better to do it with them after I have some information and maybe some semblance of strength.

After I felt completely drained by my experiment I headed for the clinic. I wanted to see if everything was okay and wondered how Clara was doing.

Getting inside the clinic it was empty this late in the evening, there wasn’t that much traffic here anyway.

Knocking at the side of the door.

“Hello? Anyone here?”

Lisandra stuck her head out of the side room, seeing me she smiled while waving.

“What brings you here today? You didn’t get hurt again, or did you want to give us another show? Hahahaha”

Lisandra was a jovial person, always laughing and having a friendly smile on her face.

“No, I was just making sure everything was okay. I felt bad about the mess I caused here. Plus I wanted to see how Clara was doing.”

“Don’t worry about her she is fine. But it should be fun seeing how she will react when she sees you again. Let's go, she is in the back.”

Getting a bigger smile on her face she leads me back towards Claras workshop.

“Hey Clara, look who came to check up on you.”

“There is nothing to worry about Eris, I’m fi….”

She was talking normally until she turned around and saw me standing next to Lisandra.

Freezing completely in her motion she stopped dead still with her mouth still open while her face grew a shade redder by the second.

“Hey, I’m sorry for scaring you yesterday. I wanted to see if everything was okay, hope I didn’t ruin your work…”

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“Hahahaha, It’s fine she was trying to make some kind of skin cream or something. It doesn't work at all since it just adds a layer above your skin that is smooth and shiny. By the way your shirt is over there if you want it back.”

Looking at the shirt that was drenched in alchemical fluids, it had a smoother look to it than it used to.

“So there is no problem with this?”

“No no, if you're unsure about it just wash it or we can take it off your hands.”

Picking the shirt up it was smooth and felt nice to the touch, completely different from the rough feel that linen clothes had. It was smoother than cotton shirts back at home, but not quite like silk.

I was intrigued by it as I still wasn’t completely used to the clothes I was using here.

Trying to rub the stuff off didn’t work. The fabric had absorbed the substance and gave the shirt a completely new quality.

“Wow, this feels really good. Do you know if it’s temporary or will it last like this for some time?”

Clara jolted when I turned towards her with my question. Fidgeting she was still red in the face and while lowering her head she stammered out.

“I d-o-n-n’t kn-o-w-w, i-i-t w-w-a...”

“Oh my god, get it together woman. How can you be so timid...”

Lisandra got exasperated from the slow stammering Clara was pressing out. Looking towards me she continued for her.

“She was trying to make a healing cream that helped with small cuts and dry cracked skin with some cheaper ingredients so that it wouldn’t be so expensive to make. This was her second or third attempt, and I haven’t heard about it used on anything except for its intended use, so she probably doesn't know. You should just wash it and see what happens.”

Shrugging her shoulders at the end Lisandra just shook her head towards Clara who was completely petrified in my presence after what happened yesterday.

“Well sorry again for yesterday, I’ll try the washing thing and see what happens. Cya.”

Nodding towards them I headed out of the clinic.

Walking back towards my room I rubbed the shirt even harder trying to see if I could peel it off if I added some effort, it actually held. I had seen some better quality clothes on some rich and affluent people I saw, but I didn’t really know how theirs compared to this. Well this was interesting, musing to myself I idly wandered back to my room.

***

“HULK BEHIND!”

Inara yelled out to her companions.

There was a hulk that ran into the fight, the lower reaches of this cave was insane. It kept stretching further down with the mana density constantly increasing.

Cassandra quickly cast a concussive flash in front of the hulk's eyes while the party swerved. The monster kept rushing ahead like a freight train, but since Lyria and Cassandra had already moved out of its way it slammed into the wall with a deafening crash.

It bellowed its grating soul-crushing roar while Nyla was busy keeping their initial contact at bay while the whole party shifted.

They were fighting a humback centipede, it was a monstrous centipede that had long sickle forearms and a hump over its head that stored noxious acid that it sprayed on its foes. It was two meters wide and part of it was still outside their line of sight stretching around the roof from its hidey-hole, they couldn’t see the whole length of the nasty bugger. It’s glistening deep purple carapace was harder than metal and the razor-sharp mandibles could cut through regular steel like butter.

Inara knew she had to buy some time for the party and instantly moved towards the hulk. It was slightly faster and stronger than the first one they met in the cave complex, but they had gotten familiar with fighting them over time.

Inara threw a knife into it’s blinking eyes while yelling at it.

“Hey you fat blob of shit, come get me!”

Smashing her mace into its groin, she quickly ducked under its two-handed grab that tried to crush the pesky bugger that was bothering it. Being thoroughly enraged it roared with pure hatred while staring death upon her and rushing her with its gorilla charge.

Inara jumped backward while making sure the hulk always had a clear sight of her, she was leading it towards the way they came from. She knew that direction was cleared of any beast or roaming monsters. In this case it was her job to keep the additional threat busy until the party could either disable or disengage from the initial fight.

She had to lure it towards a side path that was cleared out before, so the party had an open route back towards the surface. The last thing she wanted was to pincer her friends between two monsters if things went south.

Staying dangerously close to her foe she kept on edging it with slight dodges followed up with jabs towards any vulnerability she could reach, it wasn’t about outpacing it or doing damage. It was mostly so that it would feel some pain and be close enough that it’s focus never wavered from her.

Hearing a deafening crash from the other room she could only hope that it was a good thing. Inara had to quickly roll out of the way when the hulk leaped during her brief moment of inattention. It’s following roar shook her core, but she had learned how to reinforce her ears and body against their type of sonic attacks.

She might have called them slow oafs at the start, but that was only compared to speed type creatures. Hulks really deserved the level three threat classification as she couldn’t imagine an army of regular people would have a chance to hurt or even survive against this tank.

Getting it to the designated location she could finally start dishing out some hurt and not just jump around like a monkey.

Turning around she slipped under its huge stretched out arms while nicking it under its armpit. Before it could turn around she stabbed her sword into it’s minuscule ear, like the rest of it the ear was a veritable fortress of rock-like hide and thick muscle that protected it from any forms of penetration. But it was still thinner with an entrance point for her edge to draw a sliver of blood. The hulk waved its arm backward in an arc trying to swat her out of the air, its breathing became more ragged from the rage while it turned around with its swing.

Giving it her predatory smile she chuckled while moving in again.

“Stupid oaf, you should have hid in your corner. Might have come out of this alive… Not.”

Widening her smile from her own joke she was ready for the long haul.