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As with previous buildings, all of it, except for the entrance, was covered with vines. When I got inside, I saw a round grey room that had three doorways in addition to entrance. A line continued to the doorway that was in the middle.
— What are these doorways for?
— The middle one is a portal hub for different practice areas. The left one is a hub for miscellaneous facilities like armoury and infirmary. The right one is for personnel only, it has mainly maintenance facilities.
The room that was beyond the doorway was pretty much identical to what was in the library: white half-sphere shaped room with writing on the floor. As soon as I entered a voice in the room spoke:
— What is the purpose of the visit?
— I want to train my ability.
— Would training ground number three be acceptable?
How do I know whether it is acceptable or not? It's not like I was here before.
— Rue, what can you say about that training ground?
— Yes, it should be sufficient for Master's needs.
— Then, it's okay.
— Affirmative, transporting...
The light got brighter, air warmer, and I felt pressure. Again it ended practically as soon as it started. When my vision adjusted I realized that I was standing right beside the forest. Trees, rocks, vines... This is basically same the type of forest that is outside. I am standing on the clearing with three wooden poles in the middle and a lake behind me.
— Rue, I want to ask you one very simple thing.
— What is it, Master?
— What was the point of going from the forest to the Training Complex if it simulates a forest? I thought it would look more like some kind of a fitness centre.
— Master won't be spied on, and, when needed, different training exercises for improving reaction and strength can be activated.
She does have a point. Though, it still feels strange. My questions answered, I decide to start experimenting with my ability.
First things first. I pick up a pebble from the ground. Then, as I close my eyes, I relax myself and try to recall a feeling I had in the library. The result wasn't immediate, but after a bit of trying I saw it before my mind's eye. On the right is a grid with cells and on the left a figure of a human standing up. This figure is mimicking my posture, but I still don't know what to do.
This figure is undoubtedly linked to how I need to use this ability. This is supposed to be a product of my subconsciousness, so shouldn't this be intuitive? If this was a game, just picking up an item would allow me to put it into inventory. The pebble is in my hand, so I should be able to move it there somehow. Thinking on how to move the pebble into inventory, I realized that at some point the pebble I held in my hand appeared in the hand of the figure I saw in my mind's eye. So that's how it is...
I'm trying to imagine the pebble on the picture moving into one of the cells in the grid. As soon as I do that, the weight in my hand disappears and the pebble appears in the top-left cell. I open my eyes to verify contents of my hand. The pebble has indeed vanished. I look around myself to make sure that it hasn't dropped, but it has indeed vanished. Closing my eyes I see the inventory with the pebble in it. As I picture moving the pebble into my hand, it disappears from the inventory and a weight appears in my hand.
To continue experiments I pick up a twig. Trying to repeat a process I close my eyes, but surprisingly can't see the twig. That's strange. In my mind's eye I see the pebble that is in my right hand, but not the twig that is in my left hand. I concentrate on the sensations of the twig in my hand and suddenly it appears in my mind's eye. After this happened it was easy to move the twig in and out of the inventory. What's the cause for this delay?
I pick up a leaf. The same as the previous time, it isn't immediately visible in my mind's eye, but upon slightly concentrating on the feeling of the leaf in my hand, I can immediately move it in and out of the inventory. Continuing with experimentation I try using my ability on whatever my sight falls upon.
In ten minutes the inventory has been filled with an assortment of twigs, rocks and leaves. According to my feelings, the bigger the object was, the longer it took for it to appear in my mind's eye. As for the bigger objects, like for example trees, they just wouldn't appear in my mind's eye at all. It is of course possible I haven't been waiting for long enough. In any case, I can't think about it properly. I am exhausted. It feels like I can't move anything into or out of inventory. I just want to drop down and take a nap. Having no strength to resist it, I do just that.
Quite a strange dream I had. I think I stayed up too late last night. The dream was interesting, but a little freaky. I don't want to wake up, but I feel quite weird. Why am I sleeping on the ground? I open my eyes, and immediately close them. No. I don't want this. Though, seems I can't escape from this. Opening my eyes again, I see a faerie sitting beside me.
— It wasn't a dream, was it?
— It appears Master has been sleeping for past forty two minutes. Could Master clarify as to what the term 'dream' is referring to?
— No, I already got my answer. Don't bother.
Seems I have overused my ability. Still, I wonder why I am not feeling hungry. Usually in these situations characters feel extreme hunger, while I only felt sleepiness. Of course as soon as I think about hunger, I become hungry. I still haven't eaten anything except that pill today.
— Rue, could you explain to me why I felt so exhausted from using the ability, but no hunger?
— Using Ether Link is taxing only the mind. It doesn't require any physical strength, so resting the mind is sufficient. It appears Master wasn't accustomed to it and overused his ability.
Basically my ability uses only MP and no stamina. When it hit zero I couldn't think properly so my mind 'shut down' and after recovering I woke up.
— Rue, are there any mana... I mean potions to recover myself, so that I am able to use my ability for longer periods of time?
— There are. They are referred to as Link recovery items, but since using an ability taxes the mind, any medicine to allow yourself to tax your mind more wouldn't be healthy. So they are for emergency use only.
My situation IS an emergency, but probably not critical enough to intake concoctions with unknown effect only for the purpose of training. Plus, I have pretty much recovered. I just need to make sure I don't use up all my strength, so I won't pass out.
According to the earlier experiments, I need to be touching the object for it to appear in my mind's eye. Also, the bigger the object the longer it takes for it to appear. For ideas on what I could do with my ability I thought back on what had happened in library. There is one thing that puzzles me. First I managed to make an arrow disappear during a flight and then I managed to make it reappear with the same velocity it originally had. This implies that moving things with kinetic energy into the inventory doesn't remove that kinetic energy. And what's more, the arrow wasn't exactly small, so how did I manage to move it instantaneously into the inventory? Am I doing something wrong?
Learning to move things in and out of inventory instantaneously would potentially allow me to use my ability as a shield for projectiles and weapons. There is also a possibility of absorbing projectiles beforehand, so I could use it instead of a gun. Though, I'm afraid there will probably be problems along the way. For example MP consumption might be a problem. Or would saying 'Ether Link consumption' be more appropriate here?
Still: 'Yay, my ability can be useful and theoretically OP'. But that is only if I will have enough time to train it. In addition to that, I don't know what abilities my opponents might have. If even my crappy inventory-ability can be turned into something strong, then others might have abilities that are even more overpowered.
This means the first thing to learn is to discover how to move objects without having a contact with them into inventory. To that end I sit down, place a twig in front of me and hold my hands towards the twig so that they aren't touching it. The distance is a couple centimeters. I close my eyes and call forth the inventory-view. This third person view is quite disorienting. Nothing except my sitting body is visible in it. I try picturing a twig in front of me. Nothing is happening. I try doing it for a bit longer, but without any result.
Disappointed I lower my hands to the ground. As soon as I do that a few pebbles that my hand is touching appear in my mind's eye. After moving them into inventory, I'm trying to materialize them at a distance from me, but it doesn't succeed. Then as I try moving them from my inventory onto my right shoulder, it surprisingly succeeds. A few experiments later I'm sure that I can move only to and from a place in direct contact with me. Something isn't right. I should be able to affect things without direct contact. Raising my hands, I concentrate on a twig. I try picturing it in my mind's eye in a place where it is supposed to be.
After a while of concentrating I feel slightly exhausted. I relax my concentration slightly. As soon as I do that, in my mind's eye I notice a small patch coming out of my hands. It is barely there, but since there isn't anything else, it is noticeable. As I concentrate on this fog I am able to move it slowly forwards, towards where the twig is supposed to be.
After a few experiments with this fog, I discovered that I could see things that were inside it, as well as move them into the inventory. Moving things out of inventory was also possible only in places where I spread this fog. Basically this fog was the area my ability could affect.
Feeling slightly exhausted I made a small pause. I don't want to pass out again. Now that I was able to move in and out of inventory objects I am not touching, I can try affecting objects that are moving. It is also interesting what would happen with hot objects if I moved them there. Would they cool down? Also, does the time pass for the objects that are in the inventory? With that thought in mind:
— Rue, do you have some kind of device to measure time that I can use?
— Yes, Master. I can summon it right away.
— Then, please do so.
— Right away, Master.
In a familiar manner Rue summons a circle, from which she takes out a small grey coloured bracelet.
— I am really annoyed with this grey colour everywhere. Is there anything that could be done about it?
— Master can customize this however he likes.
— How do I do that?
— Activate customization mode, and picture how it is supposed to look.
— Would that work for the buildings and other dull looking things around here?
— That is correct Master. Though Master does not have authorization to do so anywhere except his own room.
— That's already a big improvement. So, how do I turn customization mode on? For that matter how can I turn the watch on? I can't understand these symbols.
— Localizing...
The screen of the bracelet, that originally had unknown symbols on it, went blank.
— Master, please imagine what you would want this to look like.
I imagined a jet black bracelet that was slightly thinner than a phone.
— Customizing...
When Rue finished, there was before me what resembled a jet black armband. Finally! Something that isn't grey. Surface close to me lit up with a familiar penguin logo. Pretty thorough customization they have here...
After this small distraction I finally managed to make this armband show time. If this breaks it will be pretty sad. I braced myself and moved the armband into the inventory. A few minutes later I took it out. To my relief the device seems to work. More than that, it has an error message on the screen: 'Time measurement desynchronized. Synchronize with the server? Yes / No'.
This means that for objects that are in the inventory, no time passes. It's a dream of any food shop — no need to worry about expiration dates. It is bound to be very convenient... Probably... I just haven't come up with a way to use it yet.
— What functions does this have beside measuring time?
— Closest synonyms in Master's language seem to be 'smartphone' and 'smartwatch'.
Chatting with friends, playing games and checking news... All of these 'important' functions of a smartphone are really relevant right now. Like a pile of gold to a man dying of thirst in a desert. Meanwhile Rue continued:
— It's main purpose is communicating with an assistant faerie like myself in case it was sent on an errand. Communicating with other people is another common way to use it.
With the way everybody acts here, communicating with somebody will more likely include bloodshed than words. Meaning, unless I send Rue away to do something, this will be a dead weight. Still, having an analogue to a smartphone is oddly comforting, so I just put it on my hand.
In this manner, with breaks along the way, I continue experimenting with my ability.
By the end of the day I have learned some interesting things about this ability and ways to use it. Since an object can be moved into inventory only when it is completely covered by the fog, I tried to extend this fog around myself. I had only a partial success. Currently the fog can't reach more than twenty centimetres away from me. Any further and it becomes too dispersed. This allowed me to absorb objects that flew towards me, but it requires good reaction and timing, so it fails more often than not. On a side note, throwing pebbles at me seemed to amuse Rue, even if she didn't admit it when I asked.
Another discovery was that this 'fog' allowed me to see things that were behind me or otherwise out of my line of sight. As long as I was able to cover an area with the fog, I could see what was inside. For example I could see roots of plants that were underground. This had an obvious limitation though — currently I couldn't extend the fog farther than twenty centimetres, so I couldn't really 'see' with the help of it. Hopefully my range will improve.
Interestingly enough, halfway during my experiments, in my inventory-view a blue bar appeared. It seems to indicate how much strength I have left for using my ability. Basically it is like an MP bar in games. What puzzles me is the absence of HP bar. Usually they go side by side. If you think about it, why didn't MP bar appear immediately? If I had to make a conjecture, it would be that I had to use an Ether Link to know how much I could use. After doing it a few times, my subconsciousness learned to measure it and gave me an output in a form of MP bar. If I go by that logic, the HP bar will appear when I take enough damage... I don't want the HP bar to appear!
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