The Way Ahead

Chapter 14: There Are Worse Internships

Edwin paced restlessly in his new room. It may not look much like a prison cell, but that was apparently what it was, as the notification he was currently upset with testified.

Congratulations! For being forced into a non-paid working arrangement, you have unlocked the Slave path!

He knew for a fact he was never filling out that path. Still, looking at it was just making him mad, so he dismissed the message and took another look around his cell. Overall, his new surroundings were decently similar to his previous rooms, though not quite as large. There was still the bathtub in one corner, a bed on the other wall, and a table bearing some delicious-looking food located directly under a steel hatch, presumably for delivering more.

Really, the main change was simply where the door led to. Instead into the hallway, it instead opened into a fairly large workroom, with a layout vaguely familiar to Edwin. There was a large table in the center, a burning stove, a basin of water, and miscellaneous lab equipment and glassware. While most of the implements werent entirely unfamiliar (only so many ways to set up balance scales, bowls, and sifters after all), though with slightly different dimensions, there were a few that were completely novel. The most interesting of these were an entirely sealed glass orb, a device that looked like a balance scale fixed in one position except there were glass bulbs instead of platforms, and a tightly-sealed hinged metal sphere.

A noise in the workroom broke Edwin out of his aimless thoughts. Moving to investigate, a none-too-welcome face greeted him, You. I suppose this is typical for you? Taking half-dead people from the mountain and enslaving them the moment they have something you want? he spat.

Rashins face was unreadable as the door closed behind him, sealing into the wall without so much as a seam, Lord Sfashkchlil is fully within his rights to desire recompense for abusing our hospitality.

Abuse? Ha! I fell out of the sky not a week ago, have been here for two days, and demanded nothing! All I wanted was to not die out on the mountain. Just let me go and keep your hairy noses out of my life! Youre just slavers, thats what you are.

You offered no gifts of thanks nor gave any indication when you would leave. Abuse of hospitality can be a serious offense, be thankful you are still alive after taking our clothes and eating such fine food with neither thanks nor indication of intent to leave. Ignorance of the law is no excuse. You are not a slave in the slightest, merely a worker, free to go once your debt is paid. Your Task is to develop Blackstone through whatever means necessary, and to do so is to be your only concern.

Edwin glared at the scheming dwarf, This was intentional. I dont have the faintest clue about your customs nor the value of what you freely gave me, and you know that. You even provided me with finer conditions once you heard about the sorts of things I might- might!- be able to provide, which I suppose was just to get me in debt? Youre slavers, plain and simple, his eyes narrowed even further, Youre going to keep throwing me deeper into owing you, arent you? Thats why this food is even nicer than before, isnt it?

Not at all. We are a hospitable clan, we do not wish for your time in our service to be uncomfortable, the traitorous dwarf lied.

They stared each other down, Edwin glaring at the mass of silver hair, who returned a cheery gaze even as as the dwarf lied directly to Edwins face.

Eventually, the tension was too much, and Edwin broke the silence, What do you even need me to make Blackstone, anyway? Isnt that your whole thing? Clan Blackstone and all?

That is classified.

Edwin glared.

You are not allowed to know that.

I know what classified means, darn it! I just How do you expect me to make the stupid rock if I dont even know where to start? At least give me some of your lab manuals or a paper on the stuff, though I dont know why you couldnt- Edwin stopped as a thought occurred to him, You dont know how to make it, do you? Someone in your glorious Legacys past didnt write the instructions down and now youre floundering, looking for any chance you stumble across to try and find it again. You do need me, because concrete is the closest thing youve heard of to whatever fragments you know about it. You could have just asked! I would have gladly helped you out in thanks!

If that is so, Outsider Edwin, Rashin glowered, throwing something at Edwin, Prove it.

Edwin fumbled for a moment to catch the sudden projectile, but looking at it showed that it was a thin notebook of some sort, Whats this?

What I came here to deliver, and conveniently, what you requested. Notes on the properties of Blackstone, copied by my own hand. Solve it, and you can go free.

No, you wont. That will just make me even more valuable. And if Blackstone is really so important to you, youd never let me go knowing your secret, Edwin thought as he thumbed through the notebook, I dont even know how to make concrete! Let alone whatever black magic Alchemy stuff itll take to make your stupid rocks. I need to at least learn how to use alchemy if you dont want me flailing around blind.

Then I suggest you do so.

How am I supposed to do that?

That, Outsider Edwin, is your job. We shall keep our hairy noses out of your life. That is what you wanted, no?

With a wordless cry, Edwin threw the closest heavy object- a metal bowl- at Rashin, but missed by a few inches.

Such a temper. It wouldnt do for you to break anything you might later need, would you? Do let us know what materials you shall need.

Rashin knocked on the wall, prompting the door to swing open and latch shut a moment later, vanishing back into the wall, and Edwin found himself alone with his thoughts once more. He vaguely wished he could have rushed out the door and left this whole mess around, but before he could act on it, the moment was gone.

Stupid treacherous dwarf, stupid alchemy, stupid world, he muttered to himself before regaining his composure. His burning anger faded quickly, which made Edwin wonder. Did Rashin have some form of emotion-manipulating skill? It would explain why Edwin felt so trusting of him, and the sudden wave of anger when he was visited now. How far did that extend? Was there more mind-control in play? It would be something hed have to keep in mind. He did feel his thoughts continually drift to concrete, which was odd. Was that another Skill, meant to keep him on task? He could ignore it, but it was annoying. Easier to just go along with what it was prompting him to do, which was admittedly fine for the moment.

Idly, he looked through the notebook, glancing at its specifications.

Sheesh. I can see why they want this stuff. Stronger than steel, barely denser than water, magic resistant, supposedly liquid until set, insanely good insulator, almost entirely scratch-proof. Heck, I want this stuff now! But first things first. Start with concrete and see what I can get from there.

Water, sand, and cement, right? Was there something else? Cross that bridge when we get there. What is cement made of, though? Lime? Uh calcium carbonate? Are those the same thing? Is there lime in limestone? Gah, I wish I had the internet right now.

I need a notebook. And some limestone. And some samples of Blackstone, see if I can learn anything from that, He looked out over his workroom,eyes narrowed and hard, But they have another thing coming if they think theyre getting any Blackstone from me. You locked me in a cave, and I have way more than just a box of scraps.

Edwins Logbook

Day 1:

Analyzed samples of sand, limestone, and Blackstone.

Blackstone sample held up to reported attributes. Unable to scratch or crush with available tools, slightly heavier than water, and did not heat up when exposed to flame nor cool in water, staying at a constant warmth.

Attempting to use Mana Infusion on Blackstone failed, the skill finding no purchase on the material. Seems to function as a mana mirror? Needs more testing. Basic Mana Sense was apparently disabled. Re-enabling it resulted in momentary sensory overload, and so disabled it again afterwards. Note to self: train mana sense tolerance.

Initial attempts at extracting lime from limestone via crushing probably unsuccessful (no way to check). Crushed samples now soaking in water to see if that helps.

Limestone, when Mana Infused, grew harder. Unable to crush samples post-infusion. Established a second cauldron to attempt to soak Infused limestone.

Sand seemed normal. The magical fires in the workroom are not quite hot enough to melt it (seems close, though), so uncertain if silicon (proceeding under the assumption it is, not that it makes a difference?).

Infused Sand has odd properties. Outsiders Almanac recognizes it as a distinct material compared to non-infused sand. Individual sand grains have no apparent change, but refuse to pile together, spreading out like a liquid. When held in a container, they flow like water.

Hypothesis: friction on Infused sand has been reduced or is negligible.

Trial: Spread layers of Infused and non-infused sand out and compare the force required to move an object across the bed of sand

Conclusion: Infused sand refuses to support weight. Any objects placed on top of Infused sand immediately falls through as though sinking through water. Trial inconclusive.

Hypothesis: sand has taken on the properties of a liquid

Trial: Attempt to mix with another liquid (using unspecified oil for non-polar liquid, water for polar liquid)

Conclusion: Infused sand refused to mix with either water or oil, instead sinking to the bottom of the respective containers. Was wet and oily respectively when retrieved, and the two samples had no issues mixing with each other.

Trial: Attempt to measure viscosity and buoyant force.

Conclusion: Viscosity of Infused sand appears to be close to 0, and buoyancy is negligible.

Hypothesis: each grain of sand has an upwards force on it, nearly cancelling the weight of gravity on it, like in aerated sand.

Trial: compare equal volumes of Infused and non-infused sand on scales to compare weight.

Conclusion: Infused sand has the same weight as non-infused Sand.

Congratulations! For conducting rigorous scientific research via the scientific method, you have unlocked the Scientist path!

Edwin sat back with a sigh, rubbing his forehead as he completed his latest notebook entry, an act more intensive than he would have thought. How did anyone ever write with a feather quill? That thing was impossible to use! The Infused sand was definitely behaving as a fluid, though the how was beyond him. It seemed to basically act how people thought quicksand worked- sucked whatever touched it immediately all the way to the bottom. But he couldnt imagine how that physically worked, and there was no way hed accept just magic as an answer long-term. Hed have to for now, though, as sand wasnt close enough to concrete for his focus to stay on it long-term, apparently.

After he had tried and failed to use Mana Infusion on Blackstone, he wondered if it was just a matter of making concrete with supercharged magical ingredients. He had the second part of that down, at least. Though if he was dealing with an almost-superfluid with sand, he wasnt sure if that would interfere with the concrete-making process. Hed have to make a nonmagical patch of concrete first, then add magic one ingredient at a time.

Despite his frustration with actually measuring its properties, he could barely contain his glee at his Infused sand overall. Hed been at this for less than a day, had really only tried using magic on three (well, four if you counted his bath the other day) different types of material, and he had already found an object really close to a room-temperature superfluid! What else might he find with just a bit more experimentation?

He was done for the day, though. Edwins body clock was all off, but he was starting to feel tired, and the limestone would need to soak overnight anyway before any further steps probably. He could be totally off, for all he knew. Maybe concrete didnt need lime, or lime wasnt actually in limestone thanks to some weird linguistic quirk. Most likely, limestone wasnt water soluble, but he needed to be thorough.

Only one way to find out, I suppose.

Edwin flopped onto his bed with a loaf of bread and his dwarven. He didnt have anything better to do, might as well try and learn the dwarven language. Perhaps hed be able to get a book on alchemy at some point? That would be a huge help. There was no way something as incredible as Blackstone didnt involve it in some way. He was running blind in far too many directions, and didnt like it. Maybe he should next focus on filling his Physical Alchemist path? That seemed like the most promising avenue to explore.

And that was all without even touching how he would be able to escape. That would require a whole host of tools, hed need to be prepared to survive in the wilderness again, and he needed some way to break out of his room. Plus, hed need to do it while under an unknown level of surveillance and with an inability to directly think about it for extended periods of time, because it wasnt hard enough already. Any weapons he created would have to not only be essentially untested, unless he wanted to risk them finding out he wasnt just working on Blackstone, but also using materials and methods similar to concrete. All Edwin could really do was hope that he happened to stumble across something weaponizable in his research, which was a dubious prospect, but he also knew that compounds could have all sorts of unexpected properties.

Heck, was it even so bad to be only researching concrete, really? He got to do magical research, didnt have to interact with anyone, and had food and shelter basically for free! The thought of being a slave, though, even if the work wasnt too bad, was not the life he wanted. No. He needed to get out, and the sooner the better. All of that, though, required him to be stronger, to complete more Paths, to advance his Skills. He could do all of that during his research, probably. It was a long road ahead of him, but honestly?

Level Up!

Language Level 14

Research Level 2026

Nutrition Level 67

Mana Infusion Level 212

Outsiders Almanac Level 2425

Improvisation Level 1112

Basic Mana Sense Level 2123

Throwing Weapons Level 34

Breathing Level 1011

Hed be lying if he said the compulsion was the only thing making him look forward to it.