The Way Ahead

Chapter 17: The Time of our Limes

Edwin fumed in his cell, peeved about his meeting. He wasnt a miracle-worker, he didnt even know what Blackstone was made of! It was presumably some variant of concrete, but that was still a pretty big assumption. For all he knew, it was magically transmuted water or something. Or cooled magma. It did look vaguely igneous in nature, but Edwin didnt even know how to begin determining that sort of thing. Actually, it being volcanic in some form would make a lot of sense

Escaping had become a much higher priority, now, but he was still nowhere close to managing that. He needed more skill levels, more experience, more materials More everything, really. They all probably had skills of their own, and hed need to combat that somehow. And hed have to somehow do it while only able to really focus on Blackstone/Concrete. That was fine. Some experimentation with lime could probably show some impressive results.

Edwin moved back to his lab bench. Hed have to keep working to make his Task-compulsion thing happy, and it sounded like trying to defy it might cost him his life. Rashins words suggested that he was still under some level of protection from the host, but Edwin wasnt about to risk his life by calling a bluff. Besides, the actions of the dwarven lord so far were anything to go off of, he probably didnt care much for hospitality rules, at least not in spirit. Maybe in letter? Who knows. Someone with a more complete picture of the forces at play and a grasp on dwarven psychology might manage it, but not him.

So that meant work. Lots of work. They didnt micromanage him, at least. Small mercies and all. He had a system down, which was also nice. Still doesnt make it easy, though, he thought as he brought his sledgehammer down, crushing another chunk of limestone into rubble. That rubble then was loaded into his kiln, heated for a couple hours, pulled out (putting in a new set of limestone) and pounded into dust. Mix the powder with a bit of water (carefully, trying not to make it into a paste), and repeat.

Another batch of plaster was produced. Another day passed, more lime was made and pounded into dust. Edwin practically ran on autopilot as the days turned into weeks, interrupted only once every few days for him to be dragged out to Lord SFishkill, yelled at for a few minutes about his lack of results, told his Task was to make Blackstone (or concrete, which was added later) and returned to his cell. After a few times where Edwin returned to find his notebook or other tools decidedly not where he had left them, he realized that his workshop was being searched, presumably for any weapons like the limelight he might be creating to try to escape.

Sure, having his only real human contact be a self-important dwarf with anger management issues probably wasnt healthy in the long run, but he could just stay silent in the meetings and it wouldnt make a difference. So he just tuned out all of S... Sineedbetterinsultss ranting and it all worked out.

Rashin started making an appearance at one point, coming in as Edwin was summoned from his cell and walking alongside his escort, standing off to the side in the court, and walking Edwin back. He tried striking up a conversation a few times, asking Edwin more about himself, but he never obliged.

Edwins Logbook

Day 24

Notes on plaster creation: Infusing small amounts of mana (rate of 1 second of infusion per estimated 10 kilos) into lime prior to mixing in 5 kilos of (nonmagical) water would give the reaction just enough energy to seemingly completely react while still leaving no excess moisture in the plaster. This powder form seems to be stable and nonmagical.

No noticeable variation between plaster made of Infused powder and made of nonmagical powder subsequently Infused after it was mixed with water. Namely, higher mana content stiffens the plaster slurry, allowing it to be set quickly. Mana can be removed from this set plaster to return it to uncured form. However, over several hours, this latter aspect fades as the plaster sets via the natural method.

Mixing magical water into nonmagical plaster resulted in a very watery slurry that solidified via crystallization, curing in patches rather than all at once. The process seems to mimic freezing.

Using magical water and magical plaster resulted in a magically-saturated plaster which automatically cured at a rate comparable to mundane water and mundane plaster.

Notes on mana infusion: It seems as though mana is infused at the atomic or subatomic level, but the effect of said mana is variable depending on what molecule said atom is bound into. Some mana is released during a chemical change. Some experiments seem to contradict one another. Further research is required once I have proper measurement tools.

On Mortar creation:

Mixing sand into plaster creates a mortar mixture much more structurally sound than mere plaster (which is hard but breaks under sustained force).

N-N-N: A nonmagical mixture of plaster, sand, and water creates a basic mortar mixture. Functions basically as my memories of mortar on Earth, just not as high-quality. Infusing it with mana causes instant curing.

N-N-M: When using nonmagical plaster and sand, but magical water, the sand seems to slide out of plaster mix as it cures, condensing at the bottom into a form of sandstone.

N-M-N: Using nonmagical plaster and water but magical sand results in the sand refusing to interact with the plaster and water, sliding directly off. Resulting mixture is just plaster mix.

M-N-N: Depending on the ratio of magical plaster to nonmagical sand used, this can result in making something like permanent sand structures (such as sand castles) which can be sculpted and harden without gaining much strength or, by Infusing it once set but before cured, can mimic M-M-N mortar (below).

M-N-M: Creates a very sticky mortar, which readily adheres to almost anything. When cured, it remains attached to whatever it was in contact with but loses its stickiness.

N-M-M: Creates a substance when cured which looks and acts similarly to wet sandstone in most respects, but has a very low coefficient of friction (lab equipment not precise enough to properly measure, but is comparable to ice). M-N-M does not adhere, but does not slide freely across it either.

M-M-N: Seems to function as standard magical mortar, being supernaturally tough, capable of supporting at least twice the weight a comparable amount of N-N-N mortar is capable of holding.

M-M-M: Cures slowly into a substance resembling concrete. Is difficult to shape properly, but is much stronger than M-N-N, with the current best sample withstanding an additional 50% additional force before breaking.

I need a better naming scheme, Edwin thought as he updated his notes with his latest test, the cracked M-M-M cement, gah, its even bad in my head, resting on the tabletop in front of him. Maybe Slipstone for N-M-M? Supermortar for M-M-M and Magical Mortar for M-N-M? M-M-N isnt distinct enough for its own name, and maybe Sandsculpt for M-N-N? Im no good at this. Still, at least the way it currently is doesnt take many characters.

Edwin sighed, removing his gloves and setting his notebook to the side. It was getting late, and he was hungry. That was enough work for today. As he settled into his chair, eating the food provided for him, he decided that hed look over his skill-ups today. It had been about three weeks since he had last done so, after all. At first it was just because he was too mad at lord Stupid to want to give himself a distraction, then just as a way to make the days go by faster. Regardless! It was time to change that.

Level Up!

Alchemy Level 115

Research Level 2932

Outsiders Almanac Level 2834

Mana Infusion Level 1426

Basic Mana Sense Level 2429

Identify Level 1527

Athletics Level 1821

Nutrition Level 914

Language Level 412

Walking Level 1920

Firestarting Level 2123

Sleeping Level 1116

Breathing Level 1113

Throwing Weapons Level 58

Mathematics Level 3135

Visualization Level 1823

Whew. That was a lot. It put him at 97 Skill Points, which was enough to fill out almost any of his Paths, but Edwin held back on assigning them right away. Hed need to think about what he wanted next, and what would help him in his current predicament. Still, that was practically all of his skills getting in on the action there. Apparently he had been walking around enough just in his tiny workshop to get a level in that, and breaking enough rocks for three levels in Athletics. Throwing Weapons would probably have leveled up with that one incident last week that he didnt want to think about, Language from studying his dwarven dictionary regularly, and the others probably just from routine use. Sleeping must have slowed down somewhat, though. That was a shame, though if it hadnt it might have been too easy a source of skill points.

He was getting close to the end of his time here. After nearly a month of work, he had fairly good ratios for his strongest mortar, though it still wasnt Blackstone. He was still nowhere close to understanding the stuff, and despite constant reminders from Mr. give me Blackstone telling Edwin he had better hurry up if he wanted to live, it was too alien a stone for Edwin to even have a clue where to start. Edwins Alchemy instincts only helpfully provided that it didnt seem alchemy-related in the slightest, but was more likely instead the strange product of some form of highly-evolved skill. In other words, he wasnt going to replicate it this way using the sort of alchemy he knew. Well, at least not the kind he knew so far.

So, he wasnt getting out that way. Which only left fighting his way out, not that he ever really anticipated otherwise. His weapons were limited basically to whatever was closely related enough to cement and concrete for him to focus on for more than an hour, so only things he could make out of limestone. Still, that meant he had limelight, slipstone, quick-drying mortar, steam grenades, and powdered lime, which would absolutely cause chemical burns if it got on someone, especially if it were Infused.

But if he were to escape, hed still need to get somewhere. Which brought up what he was going to spend his skill points on. He pulled up his Paths to check his options.

Very Much Yes- Eventually

Micro-Biomancer 0/90, Path Less Traveled 0/90, Realm Traveler 0/120, Scientist 0/60

Promising

Stonehide Vanquisher 0/60, Titan Slayer 0/90, World Traveler 0/60, Researcher 0/60, Explorer 0/60, Outsider 0/60, Linguist 0/60, Bomber 0/60

Maybe One Day

Survivor 0/60, Athlete 0/60, Daredevil 0/60, Pioneer 0/60, Novice Pyromancer 0/60

Meh

Lumberjack 0/60, Way of the Empty Hand 0/60, Trapper 0/60

Micro-Biomancer probably wasnt going to be helpful either in combat or to help him get away without being recaptured. Path Less Traveled and Realm Traveler were wildcards. He had no idea what they would do, though they might at least help him survive the wilderness better this time. Scientist was cool, but again, he wasnt sure how much it would help.

Stonehide Vanquisher, from what Rashin had said, would give him a cool item of some sort, possibly a cloak made of the train-sized beasts eponymous hide, Titan Slayer would probably give him some kind of combat-based skill, so it went on the shortlist. World Traveler and Explorer did as well, as they would help him after he escaped. Researcher was discarded for the time being accordingly, and he was about to do the same to Linguist when he reconsidered. If Rashin hadnt been lying- and would have he?- it was likely to give him the Polyglot skill, which would be really useful to interact with anyone. Outsider might do any number of things, so it was similarly too risky to try. Survivor and Athlete... were both possible. Either would most likely help him in some way after he got out, and maybe even in the meantime depending on what they did.

Bomber, though Bomber would probably be the most beneficial overall. It would most likely make his steam grenades, his most potent weapon, more effective, evolving either Firestarting or Throwing Weapons to do so. That would help him get out, then hed need some way to survive once he did.

The Blackstone road leading down the mountain would keep him from getting lost, so whatever benefit Explorer or Survivor provided would probably be redundant, so long as he brought along enough food. It would be risky traveling in such open space should the dwarves try to pursue him, but he was more focused on not getting lost in the wilderness again. If he did get lost in the wilderness somehow, he could always just complete the Path then. Not like hed get much chance to level a wilderness-survival skill while he was in here.

Still, he couldnt just stay away from civilization forever. Some people might enjoy making everything they used from absolute scratch, but not Edwin. So, that meant it was inevitable that he would want to interact with other people eventually. Plus, if dwarves were chasing him, hed need to be able to persuade other people that they were in the wrong and they should help him instead of them. That meant communication, which meant Polyglot, which in turn meant the Linguist path.

Bomber and Linguist combined took 120 skill points, so he wasnt quite there yet. Also, with how low his Throwing Weapons skill was, he should probably try to get a few more levels in that before taking a chance with Bomber advancing it and wasting his chance for easier levels. How to level it, though, was the question. Hmmm. Following his gut, he picked up a piece of relatively smooth limestone that fit into his hand and threw it at the corner of the room. It hit slightly off-target and clattered across the floor. With a slight groan of exertion- hed been sitting down for too long- Edwin picked himself up and went to retrieve it. A dozen tries, and a quick diversion working on cement production later, and he had what he was looking for.

Level Up!

Throwing Weapons Level 89

One down, twenty-two to go.