Chapter 74a: The Wheel Turns Ever Onward

Chapter 74a: The Wheel Turns Ever Onward

Edwin slept fitfully, dreaming of fire and water, of shadows and blood. He woke up several times to find Inion next to him, tending to his wounds.

When finally he awoke fully, it was nighttime, and Inion was cradling his head in her lap. While Edwin felt mostly light and sturdy, he was still sore in many places, leading to him trying to pull himself into a sitting position, only for Inion to gently keep him down. Not wanting to really cross her after what he had just seen, he obliged.

Not yet, she reassured him, You may feel better, but you still need your rest.

How long?

Were you out? Only about a day. You still have a few bones that are cracked, and it took a while to get all the poison out, but youre recovering nicely. Health suits you well.

You can tell? Wait, of course you can. My Class changed besides, and you can apparently see my Status? he finished processing the rest of what she had said, Poison?

Inion nodded, It was a slow poison, but a poison nonetheless. Quite tricky to purge, but I got it all in the end.

Thanks, Edwin admitted, This is what, the second time youve directly saved my life? Have I thanked you properly before?

Not quite. She agreed, and Edwin winced.

Sorry. Im not very good at it.

Its okay. You dont need to say it, I can feel it.

You can? Edwin frowned, to which Inion only replied with a smile. Did that mean she was joking or agreeing with him? But it doesnt matter. I want to get better at it. I need to get better at it. Youre my friend, and while that can be a thankless job, I dont want it to be.

I finally managed to be your friend? I feel honored, Inion teased him, and he halfheartedly swatted at her leg.

Best in the whole world.

You dont have any other friends on Joriah.

Well, how else would you ever come out on top?

She laughed and shoved him playfully. It hurt, but Edwin was still able to smile through the pain.

So bugbears?

Another good nights sleep with First Aid and Sleeping active had Edwin to mostly functional, though dont push it status. That meant his break from training was blessedly extended, and left them chatting about the attack. Edwin had a lot of questions.

Ya. Inion nodded, Big and strong yet sneaky, usually live in the Beneath. Cousin to goblins and orcs with a strong aversion to strong light. They love taunting their prey, terrifying them and playing with them until they collapse from fear. They basically never go for the kill at their first opportunity, which probably kept you alive.

Edwin frowned, Im pretty sure this one did go for the kill right away, but I got lucky.

Oh? Do tell, do tell.

I was looking to carve a log, Edwin explained, and it popped out of the ground just in time to intercept a bolt to my throat. Kind of unnerving, and that was the first glimpse I got of the bugbear.

Interesting. Thats unusual behavior for a bugbear. Though youre somewhat wrong about one thing.

Oh?

Probably not luck that kept you alive.

What else could it have been? Edwin cut in, Were you messing with me? he accused.

If youd let me finish.

Sorry, Edwin mumbled in apology.

Anyway. You mentioned you thought he might have been from the dwarves, ya? Edwin nodded, Ya. Their violation of hospitality rights would mean youll find these little coincidences happening a lot more than usual. Youve probably exhausted it now? What with it saving your life and all, but its effects are a bit more pronounced when living with me.

Whys that- Edwin cut himself off as he realized, Fey thing?

Inion nodded, Youve bound yourself to me, which means that I get some human-like abilities from you, but that also means that you get some fey-like abilities from me. But perhaps most importantly, she gestured around, This is your home. A place to be safe, to defend you from attack. Obairlann itself will come to your aid in ways much like what you saw. The walls are nigh-unbreakable in the face of all but the most overwhelming of power, and things will fall in your favor more than with any who try to attack you here.

Huh. That was really interesting, Does that affect you too?

Inion nodded, Im far stronger here than I would be anywhere else, because not only is my home here, but your home is here as well, and Id usually be acting in service to try and protect you, which also lends some aid to my might.

Edwin mentally revised his assessment of Inions strength from utterly and obscenely terrifying to really darn intimidating, do not annoy, Im not sure if thats reassuring or not. If you attack me, who gets the advantage?

Also I dont think I ever got an answer. Can you see my Status?

Inion weighed her hands, I can after a fashion. I can see your Skills to a certain extent, and I could pry further if I tried, but youd notice if I did.

You were able to tell what the bugbear had for his Paths, though?

Only vaguely. He had a lot of them aimed in a very particular direction, and thats noticeable.

I dont suppose you could teach me how to do that?

Well see what Skills you get. Take some of your fey Paths, it might help. Youre getting closer, ya?

Tell me about it, Edwin agreed, looking at his gains from the past few days.

Level Up!

Skill Points 12191235

Progress to Tier 2: 1370/1770 (Avg level: 66/77)

First Aid 71 73

Athletics 69 70

Breathing 66 68

PackingCombinations

[When used with Mana Infusion, a carried object will become more durable. This can unlock the Mana Reinforcement skill.]

PackingTestIndex

[PackingTestA1

PackingTestBConclusions: the B series is pertaining to the investigation of Packing reducing the weight of affected objects

PackingTestB1

PackingTestB2

.]

Nothing new there He frowned at the reminder of his A series test, and that he needed to relabel A and B into a single series, changing his flight experiments to series B. Series As tests of if Packing truly increased his raw strength had just been an attempt to lift tough objects and then see if he could break them, which if his strength was truly increased, should have been trivial. It hadnt worked out, and hed abandoned the series after only a single test, as reducing weight seemed to be a better explanation. It had held up to testing, too! Hed done 5 different tests, and number 5 had seemed to reallly confirm his hypothesis.

Hypothesis: Packing decreases the weight of objects it is used upon.

Test 5: If weight is decreased, the weight of myself holding heavy objects should be significantly less than the weight of myself and the heavy objects individually. Set heavy object onto a sinking plate, then stepped onto sinking plate, then stepped onto sinking plate holding said heavy object, with depth sank in each step compared.

Results: Set heavy rocks on a flat stone resting on mud. Sank approximately 8 inches.

Reset standing stone and stepped onto. Sank approximately 10 inches.

Reset standing stone and stepped onto. Sank approximately 14 inches.

Conclusion: Hypothesis confirmed. Packing reduces weight of carried objects.

Now, though? With his failure to lift a boulder during the attack? He needed to revisit his tests. First up, seeing if the difficulty of lifting things underwater was replicable.

Hypothesis: Packing decreases the weight of objects it is used upon.

Testing: if weight is decreased, the density of lifted objects ought to be decreased, resulting in the capability of flying akin to a hot-air balloon, or utilizing even very dense objects as flotation devices within water. This test was performed with a Packing level of approximately 70, which from PackingTestA6 should grant a weight reduction of approximately 1/30.

Test 9: Rocks (density of 1.5 g/cm^3) dropped into water (density of 1 g/cm^3) and attempted to lift while underwater. With the current level of Packing, the resulting density of stone should have been approximately .04 g/cm^3 and be highly buoyant in water.

Results: Stone refused to float. Lifting the rocks was just as hard as normal while swimming, though lifting the rocks when bracing against the bottom was quite easy. Similarly, lifting a rock submerged in water from the shore was not significantly easier nor harder than lifting the same rock from dry land.

Conclusion: Packing does not reduce the weight of objects. As this contradicts PackingTest5, re-attempting Test 5 with more rigorous measurement technique. See PackingTest10.

Edwin was coming to realize hed likely made some incorrect conclusions regarding the nature of Packing. Hed previously thought it directly lightened whatever he carried, and he wasnt quite convinced that wasnt what happened, but his experiments underwater showed a distinct lack of buoyancy from pretty much anything he tested that didnt already float, so that meant he would at the very least need to revisit his plans for flight.

Hmmm.

Maybe it was a limitation of the water in some form? Skills could seem to be somewhat arbitrary at times, maybe Packing just needed his feet planted. Perhaps that was just the fundamental problem?

Hypothesis: Packing does not decrease the weight of objects it is used upon when in water, but said property is unique to water. Outside of water, weight is reduced by Packing as normal.

Testing: Setting up a makeshift scale, and stepping onto it while holding heavy objects. Once the scale has settled, the heavy objects will be set directly onto the scale, and will then be stood upon. If weight is decreased by Packing, the scale should shift significantly once the objects are no longer held and thus having their weight reduced via Packing. If it is not decreased but rather redirected somehow, the scale should shift only a small amount if at all.

This test was performed with a Packing level of approximately 70, which from PackingTestA6 should grant a weight reduction of approximately 1/30.

Test 10: Set a log up as a lever, and stood on one end while holding a heavy rock while stones were added to the other side, until the two sides reached parity. Then, set down rock and stood upon it.

Results: The scale did not noticeably shift towards the experiments side, meaning there was no difference in weight measured between holding and standing upon weights.

Conclusion: Results are more in line with PackingTest9, and overturn PackingTest5. Notes have been made. New methodology is required.

So if it didnt help by reducing weight, what did it do, then? Did the weight somehow skip him?

Hypothesis: Packing offloads weight of carried objects, making much of the weight of affected things not apply force to hands, arms, or legs, but are directly supported by the ground beneath the carrier. The percentage of this is determined by Packings skill level.

Testing: Attempting to see if this force reduction affects stacked objects when carried via Packing. Placing a heavy object on top of a fragile object while held in-hand, then setting down the stack onto another surface.

Test 12: Held a pottery bowl upside down, then placed a large rock on top of the bowl. The bowl did not break. Carefully set the bowl onto the table.

Results: Initial versions of this test had the bowl not break at all, as the rock used was insufficiently large. However, once the stone was large enough, holding the rock and bowl enabled the bowl to support the rock, but the pottery was crushed immediately upon setting it on the table.

Conclusion: Force between carried objects is lessened. Hypothesis tentatively confirmed.

So, it offloaded force between objects. Was it a form of tactile telekinesis, perhaps? If so, that was even better than the gravity-manipulation idea. His dreams of flight werent yet grounded!

However, that would depend on if he was able to convince the Skill to accept shoes or something he was standing on as part of him to exclude from the force distribution. If he did it properly, he might manage to airwalk!

Hypothesis: Packing shunts force off to the exterior of the individuals frame of reference. Namely, anything which travels alongside the individual with Packing is excluded from excessive forces, whereas what is stepped on gets the full force of all carried weight.

Testing: Creating relatively fragile platform shoes which supports full bodyweight and a matching platform with similar structural stability. Will stand upon platform wearing the shoes, gradually holding more and more weight and see whether the shoes break before the platform. If the platform breaks significantly prior to the shoes, hypothesis is confirmed.

Test 15: Created clay clogs with three diameter, 2 tall pillars as support, and platforms with matching pillars. Gradually held more and more stones until one broke.

Results: Platforms broke well before the shoes did. Shoes never broke; ran out of ability to hold rocks before it did.

Conclusion: Hypothesis confirmed. The limits of how the System determines what counts as shoes or not needs further testing.

It took more work to properly determine what he could get to count as part of him for Packing to work on. The general guideline did end up being what he suspected, however; namely that if an object moved along with him as he walked, it was freed from internal forces.

He ended up being able to push his Skill pretty far, as well. He made shoes supported by stalks of grass, tiny twigs, even wet clay. It all worked out just fine, breaking only under fairly extreme circumstances most of the time. Every once in a while, it just didnt work, and Edwin couldnt figure out why.

The attached to him restriction seemed quite arbitrary. Edwin understood it from a magical perspective, perhaps, where objects could be discrete and laws of nature were more. guidelines, than actual rules. But from a physical perspective? He was attached to literally everything in the universe via gravity and electromagnetic forces, no matter how weakly, and gravity and electromagnetism were the only forces which kept macroscopic objects together. There was bound to be some kind of trick he could exploit, it was just a question of what.

He kept working at it, though. He still had plenty of time.

That time slowly vanished as Inion slowly ramped her training back up, but it was still, as fall slowly fell past, one of the few things that Edwin had in abundance.