The Way Ahead

Chapter 106b: Derailed

I really hope that this fails. Okay, thats not entirely true. I kind of want it to work because the amount of stuff I could do with it, but definitely dont want it to be that powerful. But if this does work even a little bit sheesh, he thought, Railgun with literally anything whats a good semi-volatile explosive? Nitroglycerin? To whatever System moderators there are out there deciding how Skills work, please, please let me have a nitroglycerin railgun. But not a relativistic railgun. Just give me something unreasonably powerful but that remains firmly in the bounds of Newtonian physics.

Stand back, he warned, This might be dangerous.

He was telekinetic now, so he didnt bother picking up a pebble from the ground, instead letting his Tether snap one to his hand. He intentionally didnt pull as hard as he could just in case he was right, but it still jumped into his grasp in less than a second. Not a great sign.

He quickly cast his mind through Mathematics to try and figure out how much he could get out of his pebble if it were to slam into the giant rock that the tower was made out of. He was about, oh, ten meters away, and it weighed maybe fifty grams? Ten-ish newtons, ten meters, and a twentieth of a kilo? At an acceleration of 200 m/s, it would be going up to 65ish meters per second by the time it struck, that would be, what, 200 joules? That was something like twice the energy of a speeding baseball, so definitely beyond what a random human could normally throw, but it should be alright. Definitely wouldnt break the stone tower at least.

He pinched the rock between his fingers, sighted his target, and let fly. The pebble sped off in an almost straight line, cracking into the towers base and either bouncing off or shattering so fast Edwin wasnt able to keep up with its motion.

He frowned. He wasnt entirely sure why, but it didnt feel quite right. Casting his gaze around for a larger rock, Edwin spotted a fist-sized stone only slightly embedded in the dirt near the towers wall and he summoned it to his grip. Numeracy informed him it was about a kilo, and he repeated the test with the larger stone.

A bit over 1 second later, it too crashed into the rock wall, breaking into a few fragments and cascading to the ground. Edwin nodded to himself. When compared to something heavier, it was clear what problem the smaller stone suffered from. It felt slippery in comparison, the Skill not finding adequate purchase on the tiny object.

Edwin breathed a sigh of relief. It was both good and disappointing to know that he hadnt been handed a railgun unless Infusion changed that?

Some testing later, it was fairly apparent that Infusion suffered from some pretty harsh limits when applied to, again, anything too much under a kilo. It took him half a minute to maximally infuse his tether when applying to a half-kilo rock, and pebbles correspondingly less time.

Some more messing around gave him better numbers- and a few more levels in the Skill, bringing him up to 7 overall. The force he could exert grew really fast, and he was worried about what it would look like when he hit level thirty or sixty or beyond in the Skill. But that was future-Edwins problem or blessing.

For now, he needed to explain to some very worried-looking companions what exactly hed been doing for the last twenty minutes.

Okay, so I was just making sure I couldnt accidentally destroy the world.

You what?

Calm down, calm down! I cant. So my new Skill can let me accelerate objects other than myself, and you see, the energy of a projectile is based way more off its velocity than its mass, whereas how fast I can accelerate stuff is strongly based on its mass.

His companions seemed to mostly understand Edwins concerns by the time he was done explaining things, though he didnt go too in-depth as to what would happen if he accelerated a rock to 90% the speed of light. Just that it would be bad.

He planned to experiment more with his newfound railgun later, but while he still had the attention of his companions, Edwin figured it made more sense to test the other uses of his Skill.

It took a bit of practice to get the timing right, but eventually Edwin got to the point where he could reliably jump, use Infused Longstrider, apply Unbound Tether, and get the boost from Infused Unbound Tether simultaneously, launching him nearly fifty meters into the air.

Discovering that had promptly earned him another level in Longstrider, but he wasnt keen to find out how much that had increased his vertical range by. It might have only taken a minute per jump to fully set up, but after coming out of his miniature warp drive so far off the ground that Numeracy was barely able to tell him how high he was it wasnt an experience he was keen to repeat any time soon.

At least he didnt have to worry about his Flight tether breaking anymore! If he used Unbound Tether on an object that could support his normal Flight, the moment he got within his six-and-a-half meter range he could use the full functionality of his magic.

There would be many more experiments in the coming weeks, of course, figuring out the exact limitations, but Edwin was quite happy with what essentially amounted to push/pull telekinesis.

He also wanted to kick himself. In his haste to get his new Skill, hed completely blanked on his plan to unlock the Artisan path and use it to try and unlock Dexterity. He meant to do it, he should have done it, but hed just forgotten. Hed gotten too focused, and missed the bigger picture.

At least he didnt lose out on too much. Without the boosts from completing further Paths, Attributes didnt do that much, and Skilled Arcanist was unlikely to have granted many physical attribute points.

Well, hed have another chance once he finished with his actual newest Skill, and got ready to evolve it. Hed just need to not forget again.

Stamina Manipulation

Raise your hand if you need help with that

Manipulate your personal stamina

Improved flow per level.

It didnt do anything obvious. Well, that wasnt strictly true. Edwin found after getting the Skill that he was able to vaguely direct his Stamina to do stuff inside his body, sloshing around like something somewhere between oobleck and molasses. Unfortunately, he didnt have any idea how to leverage the presence or absence of his Stamina to useful ends. He wasnt even entirely able to block Overcharge with just his Skill. He could make some progress, yes, but it seemed that Health played the larger part in preventing the mana from suffusing his entire body.

Well, he had time. Mana Manipulation had been an absolute pain to level and figure out how to use, but Edwin had other things that he could work on. Justified or not, he was kind of annoyed with being the weakest person around, and he was going to change that.

A marble of phosphorus jetted through the air, speeding up with every passing second. The moment it was about to hit the boulder Edwin was aiming at, he flexed his Firestarting.

BANG

Okay, so that was about a foot in diameter, and Bomb Throwing didnt activate for it.

Edwin made a note in Almanac, and summoned the next sphere of phosphorus to his hand.

It followed its predecessors arc almost perfectly- while Edwins Throwing Weapons skill didnt fully cover shooting with a telekinetic railgun in its effects by default, Edwin could still mostly trigger it by making a throwing motion with his arm.

BOOM

Okay, a meter and a half in diameter. Bomb Throwing did activate that time. But what was the difference?

Further testing required.

Still no luck, Edwin sighed, Ive yet to find any consistent thread between when Bomb Throwing is able or unable to activate. Theres not even consistency between when I make the ammo, or on testing rounds. Sometimes, itll trigger every time, others it never will. Others itll be a mix. Rillah thinks it might be something to do with whats magically recognized as a bomb, but I dont know what that might look like.

Oh yes, Im sure that she would know, Inion shot back.

Okay, come on. Whats your problem with Rillah? And dont tell me its her dropping me, that was months ago. This constant sniping is much more recent than that.

I dont like her.

Well that much was obvious. But why? Why cant you go five minutes without making some sort of jab at the other?

Shes too friendly, too nice.

Oh, really? You sure youre not jealous of the fact Im spending so much time with her?

I told you before, I dont care

You say that, but then any time youre in the same room together youre snapping at each other! It feels like I have to justify the time I spend with her whenever she comes up, like I cant just have friends.

Of course you can have friends.

Oh, just not with her?

No!

Look, I dont know what youre looking for, Edwin exasperatedly replied, She told me about a bunch of her Skills!

Oh, did she now? How many does she have?

Well Edwin hesitated, I suppose she didnt actually tell me that many of her Skills yet, but she was willing to!

So why didnt she?

I just wasnt feeling up to it then, and then I didnt feel up to it, I guess.

Shes Persuaded you to give it up, then? Clearly, she doesnt want you to realize what shes doing to you with them.

Shes not using Skills on me! he snapped, Other than the ones I ask her to. Id know it! I just like her, alright? Shes nice and understanding, unlike some people I know.

Oh, you think Im not understanding?

Youre arguing with me over whether or not Im allowed to have a friend, so yes I would!

You can have friends! What about Fissath?

Oh sure, lets talk about Fissath! Heres an idea. Why cant you just keep your nose out of my friendships? Im my own person, Im not just your human you know. Its my choice, not yours, who I spend my time with!

Inion seemed to recognize that raising her voice wasnt doing anything, so she appropriated a more sedate tone, Shes obviously using a Skill on you, you just cant see it. Do you really think that you could see very subtle manipulation Skills with your second-tier Skill?

Id notice it, he defended himself, Ive noticed it before. Shes only used Calming Touch on me, and even thats rare!

Exactly! You know she can use mental Skills and you know that she does. You have no idea what shes doing to make you trust her.

Yeah, well maybe its because shes the first human- or close enough to one- Ive met thats actually my age whos actually willing to spend time with me for a very long time. Its perfectly reasonable that I want to spend time with her, I dont know why you have to be so paranoid.

Its not paranoia! You spend a lot of time with her, you know that she uses mental Skills on you, and youve opened up to her far faster than you ever did with me.

Oh, so it is about you then. Well Ill have you know that Im not an idiot, and of course Id be slow to trust a fey. And yes, sure, youre alright, but can you really blame me for not believing that you genuinely didnt want me any harm when the first thing you ever said to me was about blood sacrifices?

Youd just given me one, and it was an explicit request to never do so!

Not the point. Besides, what if I just want to try and be more trusting, then? Its not like Rillahs given me any reason to not do so.

Other than dropping you and using Skills on you.

Other than dropping me- by accident- sure. But Im not going to not try to befriend someone just because they let me down once.

It was not just once

Edwin struggled to hold onto the smooth river rock as he continued to charge Unbound Tether. Force continued and continued to build the longer Edwin held it back, but he was determined to not let go. In other circumstances, he probably wouldnt have had a choice, but while Athletics may not have been quite as potent as some of his more specialized Skills, it still had an impressive effect on his strength.

He was positive that he wouldnt have enough grip strength to hold onto the stone without the Skill. With it though, it was a struggle, but a manageable one.

Eventually, he hit his cap, and Edwin tried to gently release the supercharged rock. Unfortunately, as soon as he began to soften his iron grip on the stone, it wrenched its way to freedom, snapping his fingers back and flying straight ahead. It collided with the rotten tree stump Edwin was using as a target, causing the wood to explode into a cloud of splinters.

Even as he grinned at the result, he still waved his hand to try and dissipate the sting permeating his fingers. If he was going to make this a regular part of his attack routine, he seriously needed to figure out a better launch method. Maybe between his palms? He certainly wouldnt mind being able to fire off artillery-grade attacks with just a little bit of setup.

It was a little annoying to have his cannon be made practically irrelevant by a new Skill, but it was rather impractical to begin with, and Edwin had learned a fair bit while making it, so it wasnt a complete loss.

Plus, hed gotten the Artillerist path from it, and it was definitely on his shortlist for what hed want to try and evolve Unbound Tether with when the time came. If the Skill was this potent of a weapon when completely incidental to the Skills use, what might it look like if it were the focus? Definitely not a loss in that case either.

The System was nice in that way. There was very little that was actually pointless. Well, in science nothing was pointless. Null results were still results! Though they were rather boring back on Earth, here they were just as likely to grant a level as some brand-new, earthshaking revelation. Okay, the latter would probably grant more rewards than the discovery that rocks did not in fact fall to the ceiling when exposed to electricity, but the sentiment remained.

Sometimes, an avenue of research was just made redundant. That wasnt a problem, you still learned something. You still discovered something, your understanding of the world around you going just that much deeper.

Though if he was going to try shooting a projectile from his hands after charging it up for an extended period of time, there was definitely something he needed to try.

He looked over at where Lefi was standing, the adventurer assessing the sort of damage Edwin had done to the trees and stumps hed been using for target practice. Yeah no. He wasnt going to embarrass himself around other people, doubly so when Rillah was also around somewhere.

Hed try it later. When there werent any spectators, then he could indulge in all of his geekish fantasies.

He still thought it, the next time he was charging up for a two-handed shot, and he couldnt stop a bit of a grin creeping across his face as he did so.

KAMEHAME-

Level Up!

Skill Points 963988 (Average level: 51)

Alchemy Level 9394

Bomb Throwing Level 5657

Flight Level 5960

Longstrider Level 4850

Mana Infusion Level 9091

Numeracy Level 4849

Outsiders Almanac Level 135136

Ritual Intuition Level 4647

Skillful Assessment Level 4950

Stamina Manipulation Level 13

Unbound Tether Level 111

Watchful Rest Level 3738

Status.

Name

Edwin Maxlin

Age

2

Race

Extraplanar Human

Class

Alchemist-Errant

Attributes

Health 25

Impact 7

Mana 37

Perception 19

Stamina 30

Skills

Alchemical

Alchemy 94, Alchemical Analysis 40, Refining 36, Alchemical Dismantling 46, Sappers Apparatus 60

(Purify: 75)

Magical

Basic Thermokinesis 32, Feys Caress 43, Ritual Intuition 47, Mana Infusion 91, Unbound Tether 11

(Flight 60), (Basic Mana Sense: 82), (Basic Mana Manipulation: 9)

Physical

Overcharge 27, Longstrider 50, Fresh Air 44

Stamina Manipulation 3, (Athletics: 81), (Breathing: 76), (Flexibility: 74), (Nutrition: 73), (Packing: 92), (Seeing: 72), (Sleeping: 73), (Survival: 76), (Walking: 74)

Mental

Numeracy 49, Prototyping 40, Anatomy 43, Polyglot: 70, Memory 65

(Language: 36), (Mathematics: 74), (Research: 50), (Visualization: 80)

Combat

Bomb Throwing 57, Adaptive Defense 42

(Throwing Weapons: 48)

Utility

Outsider's Almanac 136, Watchful Rest 38, Skillful Assessment 50, Arcadian Elixir 35, Improbable Arsenal 39

(Firestarting: 94), (Improvisation: 14), (Status: 22), (Identify: 80), (First Aid: 82), (Harvesting: 76), (Construction: 77)

Paths

Skill Points: 988

Combat

Assassin 0/60, Bomber 0/60, Giant Slayer 0/60, Heedless Hunter 0/60, Hunter 0/30, Killer 0/30, Titan Slayer 0/90, Warrior 0/60, Way of the Empty Hand 0/60, Trapper 0/60, Artillerist 0/60, Sapper 0/60

Alchemy

Alchemical Medic 0/60, Demolitionist 0/60, Makeshift Alchemist 0/60, Potioneer 0/60, Practical Alchemist 0/60, Mystic Alchemist 0/90

Science

Chemist 0/60, Experimenter 0/60, Researcher 0/60, Purifier 0/30, Scientific Revolutionary 0/90, Scientist 0/60, Engineer 0/60, Physicist 0/60, Mathematician 0/60, Material Scientist 0/60

Magic

Aerialist 0/60, Fey Friend 0/60, Feybound 0/60, Feycaller 0/60, Mage 0/60, Magical Gardener 0/60, Micro-Biomancer 0/90, Primal Constructor 0/90, Primal Ritualist 0/90, Realm Traveler 0/120, Fey Supplicant 0/60, Feykind 0/90, Attuner 0/30, Schooled Mage 0/90

Mental

Dedicated Student 0/60, Lecturer 0/30, Scholar 0/60, Unbowed 0/90, Canny 0/60, Steady Mind 0/60, Mentalist 0/60,

System

Almanac Administrator 0/60, Forerunner 0/60, Outsiders Almanac Specialist 0/90, Pioneer 0/60, Skill Researcher 0/60, System Scholar 0/60,

Trophy

Blackstone Conqueror 0/60, Deepwoods Panther-Hunter 0/60, Stonehide Vanquisher 0/60, Titan Spider-Slayer 0/60

Career

Brickmaker 0/30, Butcher 0/30, Diver 0/30, Gardener 0/30, Lumberjack 0/60, Merchant 0/30, Potter 0/30, Scribe 0/30, Woodsman 0/30,

Physical

Ascetic 0/60, Daredevil 0/60, Physical Alchemist 0/90, Survivor 0/60, Physical Laborer 0/30, Athlete 0/60

Traveling

Escapee 0/30, Exile 0/30, Traveler 0/30, World Traveler 0/60

Medical

Field Medic 0/60, Medic 0/30, Steadfast Medic 0/60, Medical Lecturer 0/60

Misc

Arsonist 0/60, Autopyromaniac 0/60, Burglar 0/60, Child 0/12, Expert 0/60, Imperial Ally 0/60, Novice 0/12, Pyromaniac 0/30, Razer of the Ruined Tower 0/60, Rebel 0/30, Slave 0/12, Trainee 0/60, Traitor 0/60, Brushed by Power 0/60, Lirasian Citizen 0/30, Royal Advisor 0/60, Favored by Power 0/90, Insomniac 0/30, Sleepless Disciple 0/60, Student of Power 0/60

Completed Paths

CharLimitCanttalkmuchNocluewhathappenedDidmybesttohelpyouli, Mage, Skilled Arcanist, Physical Alchemist, Bomber, Linguist, Beginner, Warrior, Path Less Traveled, Athlete, Scout, Unkillable, Superior Alchemist, Adventurer, Explorer, Outsider, Skill Researcher, Wanderer,Alchemical Warrior, Novice Pyromancer, Novice Ritualist, Alchemist, Physicist, Engineer, Physical Arcanist, Biologist, Practical Alchemist, Fey Scion, Feytouched, Skilled Arcanist