The Way Ahead - Chapter 105a: Evolving Awareness

Edwin felt like an idiot at times. After so much time trying to figure out how he could replicate alchemical reactions inside of rocks and pebbles to no avail, it was really embarrassing to have to be reminded that he had the perfect setup for mimicking alchemical reactions already.

Namely, him actually performing alchemical reactions.

It would be fairly straightforward, too. He was working with metaphorical training wheels, after all. The goal would be the ability to mix up spell ‘potions’ on the fly, whenever, wherever, and with whatever he wanted, but one step at a time.

So here he was, back at square one, going through the motions of making something actually useful as he trained his magic to cooperate.

He would have preferred to make health potions, of course. He could make those practically in his sleep these days- given Watchful Rest, possibly literally- but he couldn’t introduce his personal mana into the equation without messing everything up.

Failing that, he wanted to at least do something productive, but he really didn’t have any nonmagical reactions that utilized liquids at the moment. If he had nitric acid, then things would be very different, but he didn’t have nitric acid and the steps to get it were so obscenely complicated it was a wonder that he could even call it up with Memory, to say nothing of the people who figured it out in the first place. It was the cornerstone of modern chemistry for a reason. Chemistry, because of how much stuff fixed nitrogen was involved in, and modern because of all the stuff needed to make it work on a commercial scale.

He broke himself out of a slight daydream where he had been imagining himself with magic that could break down atomic bonds and bypass all the complications required in ‘fixing’ nitrogen, that was, pulling the most common gas out of the atmosphere and just shoving it into a beaker of water. Instead, he pulled his attention back to… water.

It was in theory the most trivial experiment possible. Mixing water with water, what could the outcome possibly be? Still, for all its simplicity, it did have its advantages. Mainly, that there was no way it could go wrong in some dangerous way. Almost as valuable was the fact that water and water were perfectly miscible. He should have no problems with the normal oil-and-water issues his types of mana had with itself. Or if he did, then that would be interesting as well.

Win-win, really.

Edwin forced himself to imagine his Mana Infusion as pouring out a bottle of mana potion, but unlike most of the time he used the Skill, he didn’t let go at the end, instead maintaining a small measure of contact with his mana as it settled into the water. It was a bit of an odd sensation, but not one that was particularly unpleasant.

With his other hand, he repeated the process. For his first experiment, he wasn’t changing anything about either of the Infusions, it was purely a test to see how they behaved when combined.

Experiment one. Unaltered mana Infused into waters A and B. B added into A slowly while stirring. As predicted, A and B mixed with no incident or notable interrupts.

Experiment two…

Edwin kicked his feet through the air near the tower, mildly miming the motion of swimming on his back as he lazily chatted with Rillah. He just felt… so at ease around her, even when she wasn’t using Calming Touch. It was very nice.

“Okay… so is it an appearance Skill, then?” he guessed, “Like I can see some of the resemblance to what I think is Idyllic Form. What, do you just really hate the way your ears look or something? Is it some kind of Skill that lets you reshape your body a bit?”

The adventurer looked at him like he was an idiot.

“Actually?” he sat up in surprise, “I was not expecting that. Um, don’t tell me.” He cupped his hands in front of his mouth in thought, “Seasonal Appearance?”

“Close guess! Mercurial Form.”

“Wait,” he thought, “So then that skill line goes,” he counted them off on his fingers, “Unweathered Form, Greater Unweathered Form, Idyllic Appearance, and then back to Mercurial Form?”

She scratched her head, “I don’t see what you’re going on about.”

“Well, most of them are something-Form, but number three is Idyllic Appearance.”

The girl raised an eyebrow, “Is there something different? Oh! They Polyglot differently for you?”

“Oh, yeah. I guess so. Weird. Anyway, shapeshifting?” he excitedly asked.

She looked to the sky, muttering something unintelligible.

“What?” he asked, “It’s a cool Skill. And I’m kind of curious as to whether your DNA would change, or if you could do something with your blood type to make you an actual universal donor. Also, can you make yourself grow an extra finger or something?”

“…What? Why?”

He shrugged, “Just to see if you can. Is your skeletal structure mutable? Can you look like different people? How much can you actually change?”

“Oh. That’s… better.” She waved off Edwin’s implied question as to what she meant by that, “I don’t think I can do much other than some cosmetic changes. Well, maybe. But it’s rather limited, and not one I’ve played with that much. Mainly, I just use it on my hair and ears to avoid getting too much attention.”

“Wait, hair? Why? Also, if you’re trying to avoid attention, why use it on your eyes?”

She glared at him, and he raised his hands in defense and apology, “Sorry. Touchy subject, I see.”

“Well, those are the color of my eyes for one, and for another, they won’t change color with the Skill. Lastly, I like them that way. As for my hair, it changes color with the seasons too.”

I’m surrounded by anime protagonists, he mentally sighed, “Too? Wait, so then that means your eyes change color?”

“How… how do you make every question I’m so sick of sound so reasonable?”

“Uhhhhh….” Edwin had no clue how to respond to that one. Should he apologize? Make a joke? Sympathize?

“My eyes change with my magic, yes. Surely you’ve noticed them lightening?”

“You think I notice stuff like that? You have one green eye and one brown eye, that’s about all I can ever remember.”

“Yes, well that’s just in the fall and spring. Blue and amber in the summer and winter.”

He nodded, “Very cool, I see why you like them. What about your hair then?”

“Brown in the spring and fall, red in the summer, blond or almost white in the winter.”

“And you went with brown year-round?”

“I like it. It’s less eye-catching.”

“Ah yes. Less eye-catching. That’s exactly how I would describe you.”

She halfheartedly swatted at him, “Jerk.”

Edwin chuckled, “We got way off topic. So, your ears? What do you need to change about them? Don’t tell me they change with the seasons as well.”

She hesitated, clearly deliberating what she wanted to say.

“I can promise that no matter how what it is, I won’t laugh or make fun of you about it,” he reassured her, then paused in thought. “Unless it’s really funny, in which case I might be unable to control a small laugh when I first see them, and might tease you about it if you seem amenable to the idea later on.”

Rillah glared at him.

He dramatically shrugged, “Hey. You were the one who said you liked my honesty.”

“That’s… fair,” she sighed and rolled her eyes. Ah! Was that a joke or was that actual exasperation? Um, shoot. Ah, damage control, damage control…

“I can lie if you want!” he blurted out.

She glared at him.

“Or not!” he made vaguely helpless motions with his hands, “I don’t know! Look, if you just keep glaring at me I’m going to have no clue what you mean.”

She sighed, “You’re fine, Edwin.”

“Are you sure, because…” he trailed off, but his mind filled in the blanks, Because that’s exactly what I would say to someone I was exasperated with and just waiting for a chance to get rid of but didn’t want them to feel bad about it. And I don’t want to chase off another person who I actually like spending time with. I have so few to start with!

“I’m sure,” she tried to reassure him, and sighed, “It’s just been a while is all.”

Edwin was about to ask about what she meant, when he saw the Skill working. Her ears quickly shifted from normal to distinctly pointed. Pointy ears, pretty girl…

His eyes got very wide, “Are you an elf?” he excitedly asked.

“What? No!” she shushed him.

‘Sorry,’ he mouthed.

Rillah shook her head, sighing, “It’s alright. I should have warned you to stay quiet. You’ve never met an elf, I take it?” he shook his head, “That’s what I thought. You’d never think I was one if you had.”

“Oh? Well, does that mean you’re… what, half-elf, then? That’s still so cool!”

Rillah raised an eyebrow, “Not what I was expecting.”

“Rillah, I don’t know how to break it to you.”

She tilted her head in an indication to continue.

“I’m from very far away. I get that I ‘react unusually’ a lot. If you’re expecting me to be anything close to normal, hi, I’m Edwin and we clearly have never met.”

She laughed, and Edwin immediately felt better. Hm. Was that a Skill? Joyful Laughter? He shook his head slightly to try and focus it.

“I just thought you knew.”

“Well, I just… didn’t, I guess.” Dang it, he’d really screwed up this time, hadn’t he? He was usually better at… well, not being asked questions about people he knew.

“Hm. I could have sworn I told you at some point, or at least mentioned it while you were around.”

“Okay, clarifying question though: was I involved in an experiment, planning an experiment, or had literally anything other than just directly talking to you going on when you said this?”

“Edwin, is there ever a time when one of those don’t apply?”

“I mean… you could definitely grab my attention whenever you wanted,” he joked, and had to fight back a wince. It had sounded… much better in his head.

“Hmmm,” she assessed him, “We’ll see.”

“So… what’s that like?”

“What’s it like being a human?”

Edwin paused, “Point taken. But like… what sorts of reactions do you get?”

“Edwin, I keep my ears permanently shifted to look like normal human ears, what do you think?”

He wasn’t able to hold the wince in that time, “Right.”

Then he thought about it a bit more, “Wait, but why? I feel like I’ve seen at least six different species living in the Empire essentially in harmony. Avior, humans, gnomes, halflings, dwarves and… okay, maybe just five, unless there’s another that looks really similar to one of those guys. But still! Why elves, or not even full elves?”

“Where have you been?”

“Highpeaks, traveling, Vinstead, the middle of the woods, Panastalis, and here.”

“Ah, never seen Kinea?”

“Can’t say I’ve heard of it, no.”

“That’d do it. Also, just try visiting the mainland. Not as many humans, way more strange looks. It’s even worse if you’re not actually human. But beyond that, there’s lots of bad blood between Kinea and Quoena.”

“Oh hey, I know that one… that’s the elven city, right? But why would… oh, who am I kidding. People are awful. And that holds in the rest of the Empire, then? Sheesh. So… dad?” he guessed, “I presume if it were your mom you’d be living in the elf place, or if you were an outcast from there you wouldn’t be a normal adventurer. What is the normal procedure for people from another nation visiting the Empire, actually?”

“You’re clever, you know that?”

“That’s what people tell me,” Edwin awkwardly deflected, “Feels like I’m wrong more than I’m right, though.”

“Nonsense. But yeah, mum was the one to have the scandal, and here I am. She spent too much time in the Verdant, I suppose.”

“So… where are you from, then? Not Kinea?”

“Rhothos.”

Edwin frowned, “Is everyone from Rhothos? I know Yathal’s from there, and I’m pretty sure Lefi is as well. At least, that’s where his Registrar is. Then you’re from there too?”

“Nah, Lefi’s not from Rhothos. Don’t know where he is from, but he just likes Vinstead. The province is quite well-populated and is friendly to adventurers, though.”

“I never got that sense while I was there.”

“Most other places are worse.”

“Okay, I can’t refute you there. You are the well-traveled one, even if-”

“Even if you have the World Traveler path, yes I know. Rub it in a bit more, why don’t you?”

“Oh, only if you insist,” he teased, “In fact-”

Edwin didn’t finish his sentence, distracted as he was by something else. A grin crept across his face, “I hit it!”

“What?”

“Flight! I just got the notification, it hit level 60!” he fist-pumped the air, “I was hoping I might finally get it today. I need to figure out what I’m doing with it now.”

“Well, what do you have for Paths?”

“Just a second. Hm. There’s no way to show someone else your System stuff, is there?”

Rillah shook her head.

“Ah, pity. Well, this will take a minute, then…”

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, Skilled Arcanist 0/60, Fey Supplicant 0/60, Feykind 0/90, Attuner 0/30,

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, Outsider’s 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