NOVEL NEXT Ch.39: Preparations and Meetings
Man, this is… “Wow!” I can’t believe that Oliver’s crystal scales function almost like mana ore! This is amazing! I just need to properly synthesize a doop and then! Wait do dragons use their own scales in products? They have to shed them sometime right…. looking at the pictures I took of Oliver’s scales didn’t really hint at anything but for them to house a ball of mana like that. It's possible there's more to them then just holding mana? Maybe they're compressed? Then it probably hurts to break one, so getting a sample might be asking too much.
“Maybe Ivy might be able to…….but she’s busy with her engine. The slimes might be able to figure it out too but then that’ll put me back a few hundred.” I mumbled to myself as I examined the scales.
If only… oh well! It’s a lot funner to figure out possible materials. Looking back at a few sample materials that looked and functioned similarly, sample 03 seemed to be the closest but when I tried them, well they didn’t have the same power behind them. only seeing area mana and just a fraction of object mana. Leaning back I thought about how Oliver’s scales looked like. They were rather glossy like he polished them but felt pretty hard like thick glass or plastic.
There are slimes that replicate materials if absorbed enough and I know of some monsters that eat ores or minerals and make mana armor. But Oliver doesn’t eat anything like that. Straining my head I remembered the day his body ripped itself apart and….the popping and cracking. I could still remember the screams.
……
…
I haven’t really talked to him about it.
Do I need to though?
It feels nice around him ever since we talked, warm and oddly safe? That thought made me laugh at myself. What? He gets the hot girl bod but I get the girl personality? Man, I must be going nuts if I’m thinking about all this random junk. “Or working too hard?” Looking at the clock, it was only six pm.
“Nah, I said I’d get a prototype done by Saturday so I will.” I said turning back to my samples. “Maybe if I mix them into a polymer or some alloy?” I mumbled
I’ll just ignore those stupid thoughts. They can’t hurt me.
Damn, I thought a fifty would be enough to work with but I guess not. Putting the dumbbell on the rack, I didn’t think I’d be this strong… looking around I spotted a lone pair of dumbbells sitting in the middle of the room on a green metal rack. Walking over and looking at the huge dumbbells, I found that it was labeled as ‘280’, I wondered if this might challenge me. I noticed that the metal sparkled like granite or an amethyst geode and the handle was wide enough for both of my hands. With a smug grin I wrapped only one hand around it, trying to squeeze the handle with my fingers.
“Bow before m-“ I began as I tried to lift it but the hunk of metal didn’t budge! “NOw urh bow mmmmm!” I groaned as it refused to be even move an inch. Wrapping my other hand around it, I even used my tail to help pull my body weight as I tried to lift it. The dumbbell only lifted off the rack by half an inch before I couldn’t lift it any more.
Dropping myself on the floor, my eyes were wide and full of shock. Did that dumbbell weigh more?! Staring at the dumbbell I spotted a label on the side, ‘now with mana drinking for increased weight!’ I leered at the cursed thing before deciding to test it, charging my body with mana, I grabbed the weight. The moment I tried lifting it, I felt a sensation. It was like dipping my hands in a running stream, the warmth from my hands slowly getting absorbed with the water. It was absorbing my mana! Staring at the dumbbell, I realized something odd. “Is… it getting bigger!?” I shout in amazement. The sparkly metal expanded like a sponge, becoming less sparkly and more yellow- no, golden!
It went from a couple thick discs to the size of a small book shelf! “What am I lifting? A house!?” I exclaimed in shock. Letting go of the now giant weight, I stepped back feeling my arms, they didn’t feel too stiff but not too flexible either. “God, these things are the ultimate challenge!” I said as I pressed on my sore arms. “I can’t wait to conquer you.” I added with a sinister smirk.
After another hour of running and a quick shower, I was now sitting at my desk watching tutorials on my computer. Damn! Why can’t it be simple? The stuff I was learning on my phone was wrong. Apparently I was learning how lizardmen communicate with their tails when I thought it was for lamias. What I learned would’ve ended up me asking about eggs and fertility in lamia, not what I wanted to do if I was going to talk with Steph. Especially after what happened yesterday. I really need to think of some escape or cool down plan just in case.
Anyway, the video I was watching was going over the basics of lamia tail communication. The lamia presenting and demonstrating the info was wearing several ear rings and kinda looked like she worked out.
“So for all you non-lamia viewers, you have to remember that a lamia’s tail talk is it’s own language. There’s two types, visual and touch. Touch is for partners and tailed mates while visual, what I will be teaching, is generally public communication. Now most people wave their hands to say hello or good bye, but waving your tail means something else to a lamia. It means you want or need something but if you remember what I explained in last video, then you’ll know the more force you put into a tail movement, changes what is a suggestion to a demand. Now a simple movement you might see certain lamia do in front of a group of lamia is moving their tail from left to right in an arch. That is how a lamia in higher rank dismisses subordinates under her, it means good job or well done.”
Wait! Those lamia that grouped around me were acting as subordinates! And I went with Steph’s suggestion… maybe it was ceremony? But even then I’m not too sure why? Other than some weirdo bugging them, who might be annoying the Oni and succubi too. They also did something similar….could I have done something without thinking? I wasn’t too sure but these were thoughts for later, I had some tail talking to learn more about.
“By waving your tail in an S motion or even a small flick to the left means hello. But by the doing the S motion is similar to saying, “It’s really good to see you”, while repeating the motion twice means you missed them. Just keep in mind how much energy you put into the movements, a sluggish motion just translates to a rude or distant response. Almost like a teen or rude child saying ‘hey’ or ‘yeah’ instead of a welcoming hello or friendly greeting, they’re probably trying to get past the conversation than waste energy. Now flicking your tail to the right means a curt or formal bye but moving your tail into a backwards C and then flicking it is a more causal or friendly ‘see-ya’. Combining this with dropping your tail quickly means you’ll miss them and in some cases can be used as slang for take care.”
Practicing the tail movements the lamia was showing wasn’t too hard, considering how flexible my tail became the closer it got to the tip. Though I don’t know about the coiling parts, twisting my tail into knot like shapes is a little too hard to do, unless I break it…. I’m not going as far as self-harm to apologize. Not in a billion years of a trillion gods, nope. Luckily I wasn’t going into the more complex stuff, I just needed to understand what I’m saying and probably that it’s not for other tailed races. Don’t want to end up saying stuff about their mother or slinging insults.
Wa
lkinWhat a weird day.
What’s so weird about it?
Been playing a little classic and decided to mod it. Let’s just say that it was not what I was expecting. Beat in 20 mins.
So? Get on with your life, you’re still on the same place.
I mean when I left my house I felt that my alleyway looked long and empty. I think the trees are watching me!
What are you saying? You’ve gotten through worse odds before.
Yeah…. But then I’ll have to play more games again to distress and I’ve gone through my backlog already. Also are you sure?
Yeah. The line’s been tapped. They’ve been reading it.
Soooo no more here?
Nope. But just to screw with them, we’ll move up some plans. The sooner the better.
Alrighty, more games it is, I’ll see ya in the sky.
In the sky.
“Before you leave for lunch I want you to remember about that little quiz tomorrow! If you fail it then it’ll be affecting the rest of your time here! And I will be looking at you differently!” said Mr. Minnow with a face full of danger and eyes warning of horrors.
The whole class were stiff, some looking away to distract themselves. Others gave forced smiles or tapped their desks. Regardless of what they did, no one wanted to make a noise.
“YES! YEEEEEEESSSSSS!” shouted Emily, pumping her fists like a sports fan who’s favorite team was about to win nationals. “Mother said to be patient and by Novia’s name, my waiting’s paid off! Challenge here I come!” She chanted in a manic joy.
While everyone’s eyes were on Emily, I noticed Mr. Minnow holding the temples of his head and shaking his head. His teeth were clenching and his veins were bulging on his forehead and arms, it looked like he was trying to crush his own skull! While everyone else was giving Emily side eyes or upset faces, the Orc looked like his face was melting in annoyance. Steph was just letting her palms hide her face and Belle stared at Emily while hiding behind his desk with his ears pointed backward.
I just shook my head, it’s not everyday someone takes something like a quiz to champion themselves and turns the whole class, even the teacher against them. Though I don’t mind if it bugs Mr. Minnow, considering how much he’s hyping up the difficulty of the quiz. Maybe he’ll change how he handles these big quizzes and tests, or he’s locked in? I take that back. “Poor Mr. Minnow.” I whispered to myself.
“Uh? Why is everyone staring at me?” Emily asked finally noticing the class. “Are you guys excited too?” She asked with an innocent smile. Was she hoping for a partner in this? I looked back at Mr. Minnow. The power that two Emilys would bring might shatter the four realities with Mr. Minnow at the epicenter.
Sitting at a lunch table, I imagined I was having a conversation with holograms. We were discussing how people were might figure out this technology already. Considering how there’s magic and some weird dimensional stuff going on with that mini town, fake dungeons with actual working monsters and all whatever else I’ve witnessed in the past few weeks here. Sadly my cohorts weren’t too sure if it was possible or not, some believed that maybe it was something outside of science while the others believed that the science developed alongside magic and enchanting. They thought that science was instead branching off enchanting or another magical field, the same way alchemy turned into chemistry in my world…. Did that work the same way?
Typing the question into my phone and…. ‘Chemistry is just the modern way of saying alchemy, it focuses on creating magic less reactions in the world with chemicals. While alchemy uses magic and chemical to create reactions. Many are arguing for the two to be separate but the opposition argues that magic reaches the same results faster. Meani-‘
So magic existing before the sciences were named is the problem? But I don’t understand why their being so stubborn with the naming unless it’s more of a politic issue, someone got pissed at another person so they aren’t letting it pass or something stupid like pride keeping things the same. I rolled my eyes at the thought, people can be difficult for the most annoying of reasons.
Finishing my lunch, I got up to leave the tray near a trashcan but found Two green eyes peering up at me.
“Oh, hey Belle. How are you?” I asked, keeping it formal but friendly.
“I’m doing pretty good.” He said with a cheery voice and big smile. “Come on. Steph is ready to talk!” He said with a happy voice as he motioned for me to follow.
