(tentative) Play It

The first thing that i was aware of was the soft squeaks and barks of chitters running amok about the camp from shelter to shelter intermingling with one another among sleeping people, but i seemed to be left alone with a loudly snoring Spot on my chest. Once i was awake raising my head to look around, though, Spot was perking up in seconds with the changing dimensions around her sleeping body to raise her own headfrom under the hood of my coat and look around blearily with big round brown eyes that almost appeared yellow like a cat's. The others were all waking up either freaking out because of multiple baby chitters crawling around them as they come to- happily in Hitome's case- or wondering where their chitter hand gone once they were awake

Laying back down with a sigh of relief and reaching up to idly scratch the top of Spot's head between her ears with my index finger, i just lie back and watch the others restore order to the camp with a lazy smile despite my previous embarrassment and shame. When every thing and person was back where it belonged in their owners' shelters eating berries, we had our own breakfasts of finally dried sheets of scrowler meat and fruits while Harold and Hitome set about brewing tea for the camp with coconut milk for sweetener and filler with the lessening supplies of herbs. Spot sniffed curiously and constantly at my paper-like pieces of scrowler meat, but never actually ate any until i finally decided to experiment and rip a corner of jerky off for her to nibble at before quickly consuming before retreating to her cane cup of coconut milk to wash it down.

I had not even bothered reaching for my magic yet as i got up with Spot cradled in the hood of my coat that i now wore no matter the heat, but even as i gathered together my furs to set to work on my armor i could feel the echo of its presense like a second thought pattern somewhere in the back of my head just waiting for us to think along the same lines when it came time to decide on shapes and sizes of the metal augments in comparison to my body that i needed the use of my magic to make. Even though both teams had taken turns hammering my ingots into broad, thin plates or more compact, thicker plates, we all still needed the use of our magic to cut what we needed from as well as to make holes in what we cut that would fit all of our ever so slightly different rivets. Using my dagger to punch holes about the edges of the sleeves and sides of the outer scrowler layer, uncollared vest swath into which i lace similarly punctured sleeve and side swatchs, i leave the developing jerking unbacked for working on and anvile and instead only punch the holes in the scrowler hide cut for the back to attach to the sides.

Finally drawing on my magic as i walk into the storage structure for the first time since joining the camp to look for ingots that had not yet been worked so that the others could enjoy the fruits of their own labor, i carry my chosen portions of metal in my aura as i heat them up on the way out to my shelter before compressing them into large quarter-inch thick plates of iron as well as several long, winding bars of similarly thick bands no wider than two of my fingers together that stretched for several feet apiece. Spot seemed to enjoy watching me use up my aura, scurrying about the weaving of my coat's shoulders and hood to try and get a better view of what was going on in the hopes of finding out what invisible objects were morphing the iron, which helped to remind me that i could bond with the animal to have more magic at my disposal as my current aura of almost forty feet steadily neared critical as i shielded the leather with my aura to measure the hot bands and plates against my outer layer of armor before punching holes in both the plates and my unwoven armor body pieces and sleeves to make the places for studs to run through. Worn down to only a few feet of EMF to start recharging from by the time that i was done, i was simply glad to have gotten through the plotting phase in one go without having to wait and lose my place in my work while my aura recharge while i set about punching holes both vertical and horizontal by hand all throughout the pieces of my armor.

Weaving all of my horizontal strips of cordage that start from under the edge of my armor through the main body of my armor, i weave all of the horizontal weaves that start from over through the back piece to make it easier to incorporate the final piece of the outer layer before i started the vertical weaves after augmenting my armor. Spot did not quite understand what i was doing but seemed to want to help, constantly dragging a loose end of weaving back and forth over the pieces of my armor as if expecting them to magically undulate through the material on their own, but she was just so cute that i could not help but do my best to work around the small animal's antics. The others made sure to come by my shelter to watch me as i worked, probably with questions about their own armor, but nobody actually interrupted the fervor with which i worked except to pull back their chitter who now and then wanted to join in Spot's fun of tangling my weaving.

When i finally had enough aura to get back to work with magic, it was only to start plotting holes and augment places on the skirted leggings that i was working on before cutting out only a few portions of plates and sheets to fit about the sleeves of my jerkin before i was forced to lay down weaving groundwork in my leggings by weaving the outer layer of legs and skirt together with only their horizontal lines "So..." Harold says after having made several trips back and forth to look at what i was doing, finally breaking the odd silence in the camp, "I was pretty sure those pieces that i have been cutting out were, in fact... waist-wraps... but is there really nothing inside protecting the goods?"

"The clothes we are wearing now," i reply with a shrug. "This isn't a proper suit, this is just something that works. Sure, if somebody axed me in the junk it wouldn't be stopped by anything, but i need the open space for mobility that will already be affect by the skirt. Most actual greaves don't have anything there, and if they do its just some leather shorts skirted by layerd plates with quilted padding in the shorts and maybe a cup if you don't mind having a metal cup shoved up into your throat when you get axed. Inside my skirt i am going to line it with this one long iron band held almost invisibly in place by the vertical weaving and between the legs over the front outside i am going to rivet three pieces of band to the inner spiral for obvious protection that will make them try to attack the hips and thighs for seemingly easier crippling blows."

"What about these rivet patterns on the upper?" He asks, going for more information now that my own silence had finally been broken while pointing at my upper armor where Spot immediately jumps to come between him finger and the desired area. Fuffy came out of Harold's coat sleeve, then, barking like a squirrel at Spot who simply barked back in response as the two chitters seemed to fight over their masters. "And, has your chitter been acting like it's already your familiar or is really smart? Hitome's and my have tried to pick up our knives and stuff.

"Those are the rivet outline points of pentagon shaped plates what will point down and up into each other in rows around my solar plexus and upper ribs before using a prism plate over the sternum," i reply simply as i trace out the outlines of a few pentagons that i would soon be able to make, disregarding the chitter behavior as Harold withdraw's his arm and pets around his upset chitter's ears. "Each ab of my abdominal rectus is going to get a band of iron that stretches back around my ribs, the sides and underarms will get sets of five patterned squares, and the back will have a row of small prism plates going down the spine with bands stretching out across the back from where each prism meets the next. Depending on how much room is left, i may throw in a few random studs just flattened out by themselves between the back bars."

"That honestly sounds pretty sick," he says with obvious admiration. "And not too heavy, either, from the looks of what you've made. Just wondering, so i can keep playing go-between for you and the others while you do your own thing so everybody can just keep working around you. We're forming a gathering party of anyone who can spare the time to go gather more berries and look for edible plants for our chitters, in case you wanted to join and boost the away team's ratings."

"They're omnivores," i say as i finish one leg's horizontal weaving with several inches of excess to hem it with the inner layer. "I fed mine some jerky with its berries, and the fruit we eat can help keep them nurished and satisfied. If you are worried about a sustainable food source, put out some raw meat and smashed fruit under some sand nearby to attract insects. Our little guys are about the age when they would be first playing at gathering their own food from around the home tree, so the practice at catching insects when they are hungry will help everybody in the long run. Nobody should leave the island until their armor is done, we have everything we will need for at least another day or two- and that's in water."

"Not everyone even has enough hides, Emma actually gave up some of her minigame pelts because she only needs to pad her inner lining," Harold argues, pushing the reason for why my involvement to increase the chances of actually spawned mobs and larger gains than chitter pelts. "It's still, like, two hours at least before noon, we have plenty of time to hop to the closest neighbor and back."

Reaching across my bed for my pillow of pelts, i hold them out to Harold despite Spot's protests and say, "Distribute these as best as you can, I'll drink some ether and go hunting on my own. No but's," i add when he opens his mouth to argue. "With my special ability and EMF size, i can hunt down everything on one of these smaller outer islands oin the same time it would take a group of you to travel the entire island shooting maybe one or two in every group you come across. Also, yeah, Spot is crazy smart but also just plain crazy like she doesn't really care. I can point somewhere off to the side and give her a mean look that makes her go sit down, but then a few seconds she's right back to playing with my weaving like a cat. If she were bonded, though, i probably could teach her how to help me make the armor."

"The last time you went somewhere by yourself we all had to look at your butt while we ate," Eric calls loudly from somewhere within the camp, inspiring an awkward silence that actually seemed to make him regret making the joke.

Shaking my head to clear away the memory of being in the cafeteria echoing with so much laughter that i could have been sick, i say, "No, Eric is right. There was a time or two when i really could have used an extra set of hands- especially when it came to getting at Doc or carrying back gem fragments. I'll take two for backup," i add, looking around the camp to see that even Eric looked hopeful at being picked, only to notice Maxine at the back of camp playing with chitters with Hitome and giving me a very pointed look. "I need somebody i trust with a bow, Emma, and somebody i can trust not to get hurt keeping Emma safe in the event we are up against multiple enemies- Hitome. I can dash around the island looking for big stuff and Hitome can show Emma how i hunt chitters, which can cut time and effort by half if we go to one of the islands deeper in than where we have already been. Is this fine with everybody else?" i ask, now, looking about the camp and hoping i had done the right thing as Maxine ushers Hitome forward.

"Fine with me," Harold admits after a few moments of visually studying the armor i had prepped so far as i take the lid from my ether pot and let the drippings from inside the slate lid run into my mouth. "At a new island, we're likely to find more of the better herbs, like those daisy things, i still haven't seen any at all. I asked doc about them and he says most of the herbs we have been using have special requirements, like the yellow berries only grow among other berries because the older berries and plants that die in the soil produce the components they need- the spaghetti root thing grows in marshy waters and bog like your old island. More than likely, the red daisies are red and such potent healing herbs because they grow from actual dead animals and stuff in the soil like the... canniberries."

"Cannibal berries...?" I ask seriously, laughing at the accuracy of the damn and how easy it was to say. "Way better than Pspychic. Maybe not as good as Psykill, though," i add for his benefit as Emma and Hitome set about gathering their things.

"Are you going to take your chitters with you?" Harold asks as Spot climbs her way into my hood while i set about tying my swords and dagger sheaths onto my belt. "Won't they be in the way if you have to actually fight something?"

"This is a time trial, so i will be using magic, the swords and dagger are just a precauition," i reply as i take my spear from my shelter and cut free the one-purpose citrin head to instead tie up like an amulet with braided rope that i quickly put on. "This should make up the difference if i have to actually fight with magic, and is Spot smart enough to hide in my coat but I'm smart enough not to let the enemy get close enough to threaten her. Besides, if i am going to make a familiar of her, she needs the combat experience."

"I would never risk Fuffy such a way," Harold says in mock horror, holding the sleeve containing his pet close to his chest. "You're insane, taking a baby animal hunting."

"It will increase the likelihood of running into predators and her scent with mine will confuse wild chitters as to the purpose my existence," i argue flatly. "If they see me as a friend or are less wary of me than other humans- especially since i'm a human with a live chitter who probably reeks of dead predators as it is- i can get closer and use less magic to take them out. In the actual event of predators, i can use a golem shell on Spot for armor and control it to get them out of there if any fight becomes hands-on. Besides, Spot probably won't listen to any of you and will fight with your chitters because she's the biggest alpha."

"Mine fight constantly," Hitome chimes in as she comes over with her yari leaning on her shoulders as well as a bow and quiver adorning her back. "The runts are smart enough to stop bickering when i growl at them, but the big male i have left is stubborn and likes to try and take the others' food. If he keeps defying me, he's going on a diet and eating away from the others."

"I'm leaving Em here," Emma announces as she crawls out of her shelter with her weapons in one hand and her chitter in the other. "He's energetic and i don't think i can control him while out hunting."

"Maxine and Julia are babysitting for me, they will probably take Em," Hitome offers, jerking a thumb over her shoulder back toward her shelter between the other two girls' where they were all squeals and giggles over the myriad rambunctious little animals. "I love mine to death, but if we come across another nest i say we leave it for the birds."

"Agreed," Harold and I both say in unison, even though he was already taking Em from Emma. "But, they look like they have their hands full so i think i can handle just one extra little chitter until you guys return. If you'd like, Zai, i can use my magic to cut out the rest of your pieces using the rivet plots for size references while you're out, that way you can use whatever magic you have when you get here just finishing the armor. I have all of my stuff already laid out, I'm just waiting on the hunting trip to finish my own weaving."

"Take the arm and leg portions of those chitter pelts for yourself and ration out the bodies to the others, then," i offer, trying not to sound offensive. "But, yeah, i would honestly appreciate that. Even though the last session was pretty quiet except for something i did intentionally, Doc is always lurking and is probably why what i did got so much attention so the sooner i have my armor the better."

"Well, if everybody's ready," Hitome remarks before unceremoniously walking off past our shelters.

Spot was smart enough to switch from my hood to one of the pockets in my coat when we got to the raft, having some kind of innate fear of the water either naturally or after having witnessed crocodiles for the first time i could not be sure but it worked well in my benefit as i took my seat between the oarposts of my own raft without having to worry about her. Once the others were on the tall raft after moving us into somewhat deeper water, i began paddling out in silence until we met the current following along the side of the island and i left us to drift out into the canal that would bring us within range of the next island behind our current base. Looking out over the water while wondering what all could be out there just under the glistening reflective blue surface, i shake my head to clear my thoughts before holding out two fingers and imagines a green octagon before swiping those two fingers with a slight flick of my wrist.

A holoscreen not unlike my own from reality appeared, except that the entire window was honeycombes with smaller octagons that either just emptily filled in the background or carried icons and images just like Doc had told us about on the way to the cafeteria of hell. The page my menu opened to was just a blank page that bore the bold lettering across the central octagons that said, 'Welcome to Altera' with a line of enlarged octagon tabs near the top that listed off the different windows that we had been told about. It was a long and hard debate with myself, but i finally decided that i needed to learn about my special ability on my own before taking the easy route for developing it, so the first window i opened was Inventory.

The silhouette of my body was outlined among the octagons off to the right of the window with doubled octagons around the silhouette bearing icons and words naming my clothing and weapons and what could only be their durability ratios in the initial tab on the left of the window called Person. Underneath the Person tab was a shaded tab that was apparently locked called Void, then another locked tab called Property, followed by an active tab called Vehicles, another locked tab called Mounts, Pets was obviously active, but the final tab called Familiars was not. Opening the Vehicles tab first to see an enlarged octagon near the left side bearing an image of my raft and a second big octagon bearing brief damage stats under its health, i barely even glanced at this with the decision to make a new raft entirely after seeing it had sustained electrical burns in the underside and moved on to Pets where near the left again was an enlarged octagone with a perfect image of Spot eating a berry under a bold octagon bearing her name and surrounded in other bold spaces bearing stats like height and weight.

Two octagons stood out from among the rest, the one directly to the left of Spot's picture and the one directly underneath which both read, 'Bond Rating 8/10' and the more surprising, 'Magic Potential 2/10'. Even though it was only two out of ten, if the potential could be as low as zero then i was absolutely ecstatic to see not only how much Spot liked me but that she really was a variated chitter as i had hoped after first spying her in the nest at the top of the others. With this information, i no longer nedded to wait and study to see how our relationship developed to bond her and could go on learning about her personality and behavior after synchronizing our auras later this evening.

"You're only just now going through that?" Hitome asks from over my shoulder. "Don't worry, all i see is a big green octagon, but oh my God you did exactly what the doc said."

"This is actually kind of what my holoscreens in reality look like, its easier to piece different ones for different whole projects together in that shape when i am multi-tasking," i say defensively. "You forget, Doc and i have this personal game going on, no matter what level we escalate it to i just want you to know it's all a game. Even if i am carrying his shrunken head around like a good luck charm, it's all a part of the game. Especially if you really can shrink heads, then i will be the bearer of the shrunken head of this game's one and only true creator and god. Just imagine what you could do with something like that, especially if he is a mind mage because then that would be the source of a technical god's power."

"You're a special type of sick," Hitome says with a cheerful smile that was almost as grating as the professor's positivity if not for the fact that she was at least attractive. "I bet you brought Emma and I both along so you could try and be dirty with at least one of us if not both of us. Didn't you?"

"You're officially the pot," Emma says in an angrily high pitched voice as she joins the conversation at the front of the middle of the raft. "And i see now you're both a pretty dark match for one another. Zai used inhumane tactics against his boar," she blurts suddenly, as if this would actually darken Hitome's already twisted view of me.

"I had a boar and i wasn't all that nice to it, either," Hitome counters with a casual shrug, staring blankly at Emma. "I found an elevated position among some rocks and just kept throwing little spears at it while it looked for me. If you and Zai have a thing-"

"And that is where i bring up why both of you are here!" I say loudly and suddenly, cutting off the conversation as i wave the menu window aside to take up the oars and start speeding up our travels once i realize how foolishly i had picked my teams and deciding to try and take advantage of it properly. "Okay, so, after last session's hunting trip when i had Hitome freaking out trying to real me, some of the others have gotten the impression that i am a douchebag who only talks to ppl i have to and women i am trying to screw around with at the same time because i am already such good friends with Emma. I'll be blunt when i say i like you both, you're both hot and smart and funny and dangerous to boot, but... I'm a loner and awkward and unaccustomed to to being discussed behind my back with someone like Doc. Since he has access to our thoughts while in the game, Doc was totally on my side when i logged out last time to find me being talked about in the doorway, but still."

"So... I can't flirt anymore," Hitome realizes solemnly, looking deflated. "When this game is released, I'm going to be the first in-game celebrity besides Professor Harlen and make bank in streaming tutorials. Flirting and shitposting is like... life. This team just got way boring."

"Asian gamergirl streamer?" Emma asks skeptically. "You already make bank, probably."

"Well, yeah, but this beta is my foot in the door as the first streamer or at least first gamergirl streamer," Hitome argues. "Professor Harlen even said i could release my own tutorial footage a month after the release of the game to boost my ratings. But, long-term, i need an edge on the future competition, and that's this little giant. He's already proven to be a great tank against bosses, he's pretty much leading the beta's magic research, and his overall capacity always seems to be at least half a time greater than ours. Can't you just feel how dense his aura is? If you like him, you can have him, but i need him both to carry me and to be my impassable cockblock for all the weirdos out there- which means i need to be cute and flirty with him."

I always knew there was an ulterior motive for her behavior, i concede to myself with an inward sigh, having secretly hoped i was actually on that level to be wanted by a hot Asian girl. Emma, on the other hand, was all stutters and stammers for almost a full three seconds before she finally stopped and took a breath to say, "I like him, but... i have a life to live after the beta, school to finish and a career to start, and i won't get to play a lot so we wouldn't really see each other after the beta."

"So... you're not going to hit that?" Hitome asks with a smirk as she jerks her thumb at me. "I wouldn't say no but he would have to do a lot of work and make himself more professional with a tacky flare before we could put up with each other during the day."

"None of this leaves the raft and from this point forward i work with men-only teams," i say irritably as i focus on rowing harder and faster so that we can get to our destination and split up sooner with spot herself worrying from one pocket to the next within my coat with the heavy straining motions. "I feel like... i should just... tell you guys... we're just friends," i go on, inhaling and exhaling in time with my mundane rowing. "And to... at least tell... Maxine... we're just friends. I don't mind... being streamed, but i won't... pretend to be... your boyfriend. Hire an NPC."

"O-M-G, no, that's gross," Hitome argues, her verbal use of the acronym bringing out awkward laughter from Emma. "If i am going to lean on somebody and pout while a streambot gets a good angle, they're going to be somebody i know in reality and all the people i know in reality are ugly, total weaklings, or total douchebags. Plus, with you, i can get so much good footage so fast nobody will be able to catch up to me in ratings, anything after civilizations is stuff that i can release as soon as the beta is over and then we can do live-streams with our private packages after the beta. You can stream yourself, too, you've got a great personality for somebody your size, you'll be every ignored housewife or girlfriend gamer's dream."

Even before cynaptic gaming was developed, professional gaming had been a growing industry in large-scale pvp and sports gaming with profitability on the side in streaming for everything to do with games- even just phonecall podcasts between streamers speculating game releases and updates made people money. I had already retired to focus on this game while doing side projects to keep myself from wanting even after the game became old, but to use the game as a side project itself was not something that i had considered. Numerous of my characters in video games have been famous or infamous in their own rights throughout that game, but streamers were famous in reality which crossed through multiple games with their followers- if i could come out as my characters after this game then i would have my own army of people both in reality and in the game.

"Not at the cost... of my dignity," i reply at last, wondering if my characters still had any notoriety after a year of inactivity. "If i become famous, it won't be... as your playmate, it will be... as the screen... name of all... my past game characters- Zaijutsu."

"That's... original..." Hitome says carefully. "I think i have seen it in a few games, actually, like that last really big one by Harware, Vanguard. You were in the top fifty in both offensive and defensive power ratings. That's pretty good, considering your name was always right around mine- above or below- on the defense charts. Since you weren't a streamer, your only followers in that game would probably whatever clan or groups you belonged to. For me, all of my characters have actually looked like me- maybe a little emphasis in the chest or waist- and i have streamed my face enough times to be recognizeable regardless- which, in this game, wil bring me all the streamer fans because who wants to watch some blob of a nerd get smacked around by outlaws? Actually, i take that back, everybody would love to see a reality gamer get smacked down in this game. I'm sure you can still keep the weirdos away platonically."

"So... we're just friends, then," Emma says at last, a statement and not a question.

"Never said you wouldn't hit that," Hitome points out with a wicked laugh as we start crossing the next strait with the current toward our goal island. "Friends with benefits, come on people."

"For somebody... who won't date... my personality... you seem hung up... on benefits," i say with a warped laugh of my own.

"The sexual tension is high in this group because of your oblivious nature," Emma sighs, actually patting me on top of my head as i rowed. "You complimented us both and not individually, so you have yet to acknowledge her feminine wiles and thus they probably won't stop unless you sleep together. Which is why she is so hung up on me hitting that. What a said triangle we find ourselves in, if this was a movie we'd get a really bad rating. It wouldn't even really be that good."

"The sex or the movie?" Hitome asks with a sickly sweet innocent smile.

"Hold on... to the raft," i say suddenly, switching to power strokes for the last half of the mile-wide channel. Only a few moments later, we arrived on the beach of the island most of the way out of the water from one intense power stroke that raised us up from the furface of the water while entering the shallows. Standing up from my position with half of my aura drained, i say, "Hitome, you take the left just like with Bravo. Emma, heap up the right side of the middle of the island to forage and hunt as you make your way to the center. This is uncharted territory, so check your maps as you go to keep an out out for sizeable groups of trees that would house chitters to make hunting easier. I'm going up to dash around up the middle and then cover the back half of the island so after you guys reach the centers go in your directions for a while before doubling back to the beach. I'll probably meet back up with you guys around twenty minutes after that- give or take."

Taking her bow from her shoulder and an arrow from her quiver, Hitome begins distorting her aura within mine into a thin, far-reaching horizontal beam that begins circling her location like radar before walking off and saying, "I'll be back at the raft in an hour, we still have our own armors to finish."

"An hour or so, here as well," Emma calls out, performing a similar copy to Hitome's EMF radar before heading off in her own direction. Neither of them brought up their maps, so i guess that just left me and the speed usage of my power to check out the other facets of the island as i swiped open my menu once more and switched over to the Maps tab. The first page of Maps was a general overview of the entire island chain shades over but still breaking land masses to show the bodies of water in between, my island was color coded to its brown and gray slate surrounded in limey white quartz sand with short green wavy lines to signify grass and long straight, broken green lines for canes while the other types of trees were depicted as various branches with the slate cliffs appearing as a brief sketch of their elevated positions and lines of the faces.

Our current island was partially illuminated with a cresent of of yellow quartz sand and dense overlapping trees of what looked like oak leaves, birch bark, sparse sticks of canes, and even a few clusters of bananas deeper in the undulating brown lines weaving about the illuminated landscape that i could only assume were vines. The granite and pumice formations of the island visible from the beach that valleyed the island from opposing beaches looked like vague spires of stretching smoke on the map, so i doubted i would actually see discolorations of superficial deposits without actually being within a quarter-mile radius of them. Stepping down from the raft after tucking Spot away in a flapped pocket just inside the front of my coat for safety, i decide to start experimenting with my special ability by slowing myself down.

The fact that my current use of my special ability simply worked at will without any triggers was the biggest problem, and all it really is was the replication of a subconscious act while leaping a great distance, so in order to understand how my power worked after having watched myself pass nakedly through solid rock i needed to slow it down and study myself with my magical awareness. Even though i took one normal slow step before trying to slowly transition into a long-distance leap, but the only thing i really caught was a sudden fuzziness about my propelling foot as it sank into the ground before i was suddenly shot ten short yards away. The secret that i was looking for lay in that fuzziness of the propelling foot, but even after three more hops that take me into the jungle of the island only a few dozen yards from shore i was unable to actually percieve my foot through the fuzziness.

Then it struck me just like the cane tree my next hop threw me bodily into, the reason i could not percieve my fuzziness through the action was the same reason my clothes and gear had not passed through the rock, because my foot had become the fuzziness or blurriness of my body breaking down the same way i built up a golem. An angry Spot was scurrying about the ground around where i lay as i recovered from throwing myself into an exceptionally supple cane that slung be back on the ground, but all i really cared about at the moment was the hand that i now held up in front of my face and willed to begin breaking down. The grain of my skin was the first thing to go as i concentrated on my hand becoming a cloud of particulated molecules that could pass through the the spaces in another object's molecular structure, then the entirety of my hand began to almost vibrate intangibly before losing the shape of a hand entirely and becoming an amorphous cloud of dfferently colored substances like the vaguely tanned skin of my hands and the white of my bones or the thick red of my blood and muscle tissues.

Releasing my concentration on my power now that i finally understood this aspect of it, i continue to lie there in my oddly comfortable position and think about the crater on the rim of the clay island bundt that i had left from my first leap and how my foot particulated into the soil to solidify in high speed and use the repulsion of displaced matter as propulsion toward my destination. Which would mean the travel capability of my power could be increased with the amount of my body i displace into another mass, and the professor had already given away that i could break down other objects by better understanding my abilities, so it was now pretty clear to me that whatever my power was it was purely utilitarian in that it could become whatever i made of it. "Sorry, Spot," i say as i get up and stand still so that the baby chitter can climb back up my body to get comfortable in my hood, making several more short jumps winding carefully through the canes and trees until i come to an area where i can make a one-hundred yard leap through the jungle whose tree limbs were heavily burdened with thick brown vines that reminded me of water-bearing vines from reality.

Bringing my map back up after covering roughly a quart-mile to see that i still had another two miles of island to go before i reached the center, i now start to notice some very dark discoloration in the pumice formation near the bottom that my progress was beginning to expose from the shading that bespoke of superficial changes in the rock face among the rubble clouded foresty near the base of the mountainous formation. Surveying my area after looking away from my map, i spot the tall stalk of a banana tree and jump over to find something for Spot to snack on while i start searching the areas only to end up scaring almost a dozen chitters out into the forest from the banana tree. The tree itself was about thirteen feet tall and bore several large clusters of yellowing fruits well within the reach of my aura, the closest of which i used Telekinesis to snip its branch before catching it and separating it into small bunches to spread out about my coat before giving one peeled, seedy monstrocity into Spot's pocket where she chatters and smacks happily while munching on the high potassium fruit.

Lacing the top of my coat up to keep it somewhat closed while i worked, i take out my bow and arrow while using my aura for a radar to seek out the chitters i had scared and link a Pspychic tendril of energy to each one before drawing and knocking my first arrow. The closest chitter was in a tree above and behind the bananas in a forked branch behind several smaller ones, but my arrow-sized tendril wove arounder the banana tree and angled back toward the chitter between the branches to act as a guide for the arrow that i draw and fire almost blindly into my Telekinesis. The sudden start and slowly quieting squeal of a small animal's deflating lungs told me my first arrow and test at magically guiding a projectile had worked to full effects before i starts drawing and firing the remaining eleven arrows along their different angling and winding paths to fell a full twelve chitters from their hiding places before dressing and skinning them where they lay and launching them back toward the beach just as i had done the previous session before drawing in the hides to tie about the hems of my coat so that Spot did not have to interact with them.

Leaping straight on ahead to the center to maintain the one-hour deadline set by the girls, i check my map to see that much of the valley of the island was now revealed to me despite the rock formations still remaining in relative darkness. Following the process of using banana trees to hunt the chitters who lived off of them, i dash from one tree to the next until i finally scare another batch of animals into running away while making my way slowly toward the pumice region and stop to once again use psychic spells to track and kill my quarry who this time only numbered at five large males. I actually started to feel bad for these animals who questionably never existed until i illuminated its map area just for its sudden life to be snuffed out, but still i kept fulfilling my duty to the team until i had over two dozen pelts tied now into the weaving of my back and i went straight on ahead to the pumice formation.

Because pumice was the main ingredient to obsidian, i expected to just find igneous deposits with maybe some other quartz and variants but i ended up standing in a field of rubble made by a deep cleft in the pumice mesa that left large boulders bearing opaque, silvery black rocks that actually took me a few seconds to identify as cassiterite. Tin ore. "Well... What do we have here," i muse with a smile, opening my map window to check the island and see that my current deposit area was now labled with the word cassiterite in bold letters that stretched for the full quarter miled of the deposit on the map. Not only had my prospecting identified my area, but an illuminated deposit near the top of the formation at the edge of my available mapping bore a similar ore label and futher back toward the other side of the island near the extent of my illumination from where i had turned back toward the tin mine were more, darker brown discolorations among the light, almost pinkish brown pumice on the map.

Checking the sun overhead to see that we were still a ways off from midday, i give Spot a quick check in my coat to see that she was sleeping on a bed of mush-covered banana seeds before i start dashing along the foot of the pumice formation back in the direction that i had come. Even if my power did not seem to consume any physical energy, the physical act of running to actually use it was beginning to wear on my legs to the point where i just sat down on the closest boulder to rest before even looking around the area. "You know this is a video game when just a mile or two down from tin you find copper," i say with a laugh as i look around to see that the broken portions of formation in this area were caused by deposits of natural copper that actually shone vaguely in the early noon sunlight.

Considering the applications of just copper alone in wire and similar properties in bronze, i decide to set to work on a quick personal project by dashing into the jungle to create a large trunk of pegged canes lined with my chitter furs and then returning just a few minutes later to the copper mine. The copper itself was pitted and somewhat pourous from cooling among the pumice, breaking it brittle enough that using magic to break it away from itself with kinetic charges did not require too much energy, but i needed to stop and drink from my flask of ether water to quickly recharge my aura before i finished filling the box one third of the way with raw copper rocks and then precariously dashing over to the tin mine where i finish filling the box with broken shards of crystalline cassiterite made up of tin oxides and silicates. Returning to the beach with over one hundred pounds of either metal after several long minutes of carefully jumping along the foot of the pumice formation, i dash back down the beach where i find Emma and Hitome dressing the bodies of more crocodiles roughly eighty yards down the beach from the raft.

"Everybody okay?" I ask a little hesitantly after leaving the ore with the raft and flitting over, the smell of predators and gore startling Spot awake and up to my cargo jacket shoulder within my coat where she could gaze about the area."

"Since you were actually smart enough to through them away from the raft, this time," Hitome says as she uses one of over a dozen chitter pelts about her belt to clean the blade of her spear as Emma collected arrows. "But, you know, telling us before we split up would have been nice. But, these small fry were easy enough for us to deal with without our group's tank. Or magic, for that matter."

"I'm fine, i just used my power- Perception- to take out their legs while she ran up and gored them," Emma says with a shrug. "Perception allows me to increase my speed-of-thought and reaction timing, which is how i made those shots on the first croc back during grace. Now, i can use it to kind of slow time, i could actually kind of see you blurring up the beach toward us."

So her power gives her my level of thought speed and sensory translation, i muse with a slowly understanding nod. "Try to focus on increasing how much it boosts you, right now your power brings you to my reality thought speed and reflexes. I don't doubt, though, your power will grow into something that makes my displacements look like slo-mo. And, sorry, Hitome, it's just that we needed all the skins that we could get and using croc skin saves an entire layer of leather. Holes can still be bore through it to place metal and augments, of course. Also, i discovered some cassiterite and natural copper deposits in the pumice side of the island and mined a bunch of it- which we can use to make copper and-or bronze wire for construction and armor purposes. It's adding a lot of work, but with copper wire we could unweave our current leather strips and through each of them weave some wire down the length to increase our armor's stats. Copper would be quickest and easiest, like the armor that tech from the operating room was said to have made, because we can heat and pull it with magic at this point and the same for bronze."

"I want something pretty with rocks on it," Hitome says abruptly. "Maybe a bronze circlet or tiara, or even a choker. Maybe both, they'll go great with the browns of my armor and my armor is going to be hot- i have a reputation to uphold and i will not let my adoring fans down. Now, i have some nice pieces of obsidian i have been storing my power in, maybe we can turn one for my choker into a black heart and this big blank into a smaller version of Harold's spearhead to be the centerpiece of my headwear,"

"That does sound pretty hot," Emma admits, probably thinking of the choker or something similar with a hand near her own pale neck. "And nacissistic."

"If you weren't so busy copying Zai's armor like Harold is, i could have helped you make it... feminine," Hitome says with a smirk. "Instead, it's too late to make it with excess to weave a bodice from. Gotta protect those goodies, and use 'em, hun," she adds with a wink at Emma that actually makes her blush just a little about the cheeks. "If your opponent is too busy staring at your cleavage to want to stab you in the chest, you can put your own blade in theirs. I have dropped an avatar's top in a fight to gain the upper hand on some lonely nerds."

"And i get accused of using inhumane methods," i try to make my own joke, only to be glared at by both Hitome and Emma who seemed to like each other more than they did me, now. "Well, if we're done on this island," i add after a few moments of being otherwise ignored, deciding to test myself by hefting up the tails of two eight-foot crocodiles to my shoulders and start trudging back to camp to leave the girls with their own crocs to drag. It was not long before the others started off behind me, but i had quite a wait ahead of me when i finally reached the raft and they were not yet even half of the way down the beach.

"We got this!" Emma calls out when i start to head out to meet them after magically loading the broad box of ore onto the raft and started walking out to meet them. "We didn't need you to kill the crocs you baited in, we don't need you for this either."

"Women are confusing," i sigh as i just awkwardly stand there and wait to see if i am needed, wondering if i shouldn't just take the crocs by magic but also assuming they wanted the workout to work on their characters. Spot soon took her place in my hood after i had remained still long enough for her to feel it was safe, but even her presense could not console my feelings of dread at having upset my friends because we wanted different things and i had not been here to help kill the animals i had drawn in on top of it. Like Doc, i would just have to find some way of making up for my mistakes.

"I share the sentiment, even after twenty years of marriage and two daughters among several children," Doc himself says, as if summoned by my thoughts. "They actually think you're mad at them because they like you and actually have need of you, so they are angry with you for creating the situation and themselves for being in it if the female techs are to be believed. I wouldn't necessarily give them space, that would just make them think you really are mad at them, but it is advised that you let this situation lie like a sleeping dog and try giving them useful game gifts. Hitome already said the things she would like, but you will have to put some thought into what you give to Emma."

"She seemed to like the choker idea, but i can't give her the same type of thing i am giving Hitome, that would look lazy," i sigh wearily. "I can make her a necklace with a charm on it that could tie into a future choker, but i don't really want to use bronze for jewelry. Are you here for our minigames?" I ask, suddenly, wondering if he had simply appeared for no reason while the others were just reaching thirty yards away.

"I gave Emma another shooting challenge with moving targets this time, she aced it with fifteen chitters in one minute using Perception," he says somewhat proudly. "Hitome, i actually gave her a challenge to see how many cuts it would take to bring down a fully matured banana tree with her 'magic-alloy' yari. Quite perceptive of you, i might add, discovering how magic is imbued into crystalline structures. Sure it can be imbued into wood to make increadibly strong staves and spears or construction, but only magical wood like dragon- or ironwood can maintain any semblance of crystalline energy. I'm also grateful to you that you did not take the easy route with your super power, the gods only give something like that to people they believe can truly utilize its capabilities by understanding it- and it is called Particle.

"As for your minigame, i suppose i can offer you some special treats considering your circumstances and achievements," he switches topics quickly while raising his voice a little to keep from looking suspicious while the girls came ever closer to where we stood several yards away from the raft. "I will increase your mining haul by half and trunkspace to accommodate if you can now Particle your clothes and equipment. If you can do so without having to break yourself down as well, i will mark on your map a nearby island bearing more useful ore. Sadly, that trip will have to be made alone because it comes naturally guarded and i would personally like to see a good solo fight of you with your abilities and gear- it will be against multiple opponents, one another magical enemy, i feel i should warn you."

"Accepted," i reply with little care, already preparing myself for the event that this would be another ploy as nakedly humiliating me as i closed my eyes and began transfering my awareness to my magic and then to all of my belongings while Telekinetically placing Spot on the ground out of the way. After acquiring a full comprehensions of the components making up my gear as well as their structures, i begin concentrating on breaking them down into a particle cloud about my body without the use of my magic. After my awareness within my belongings was dispersed outward from my body, i open my eyes to see myself surrounding in a thick mist of organics and glittering metal or stone before ending my concentration completely and reverting the particle clouds back to their original states and places.

"Astounding, first attempt at using your power on another object and that was it," he says with several slow but loud claps of his hands as the girls finally made it to us and just dropped their crocs at my feet before going over to the raft to take a seat. "Your main Maps page now has an island on the other side of iron with a goal marker on it, your big-box just got even bigger and heavier, and i went ahead and threw in some more canes of water back at camp from all the water wasted in the canes we both used. Please, do the best you can when it comes to your armor, the company and I are quite anxious to see what everybody comes up with," he adds to not just me as i start toward the raft with a croc trail over either shoulder before he disappears completely.

"I'll push us out this time," i say lamely after rolling the crocs onto the raft in front of the four-foot tall trunk heavily loaded with ore, unable to think of anything else to say but to try and talk things out- which simply does not seem to work in my life right now. Once we were back on the water and i was back between my oarposts, i simply spent my entire aura rowing against the current to bring us straight back to the marina where i power-park the raft just like before. "I'll recharge for a minute and start bringing the crocs in, could you guys run ahead to grab the others for help with the ore?"

"We'll send Harold," Hitome assures me as she and Emma start walking off from the raft into the island.

"You get a basic choker of interlocking circles with littles one to place the heart in," i whisper to nobody in particular long after she and Emma were gone and i was left alone with Spot and the luggage. Idly scratching Spot's head between her ears while i stretch out on the raft, i muse, "Maybe i should just go my own way after the tutorial, like i originally planned. If we come to a small settlement, we'll probably just stop for supplies before continuing on to the center where we would be able to actually leave the archipelago and then... everybody will break off and do their own things or stick together in one group or a couple. But, me? I'm not good at people, people are hard to deal with... so maybe you and i, Spot, we'll just go do our own thing. Maybe fill in the spaces with more familiars, that'll keep us both plenty of company."

"You're lazy when you're on your own," Doc points out, appearing standing over me to cast a shadow from the sun beginning to sink below its peak high in the sky. "When there are other people and a real mutual goal to work for, like the scrowlers and these hunting trips, you are way more productive and motivated. Especially when it came to aiding someone injured, despite your own injuries or your own reasons, you worked hard and ignored all to get there and get it done. Stick it out, things will get better again long before you reach a settlement- not to mention the center of the archipelago."

Getting up with a recharged aura to heft over twice my bodyweight in reptilians onto my shoulders to start walking down from the raft with, i say, "I don't have much of a choice but to stick it out, right now, but i really do need to take some time to myself eventually. Maybe not just go run off on my own, but it's usually for the best if people like me get a break from others- some time to just... digest things. I'm sure you know what i mean."

"It may be some time before you get more than a session on your own," Doc warns me. "Not just some time before you reach a settlement or society at which to rest, but things have been set in motion that i was entirely unprepared for since i marked that ore deposit on your map. The gods seem bored with how the beta is progressing, not enough excitement for them, so they placed a domino at the ore vein that will possibly chain react into all sorts of excitement if you take care in how you handle the situation before you. Assume nothing, trust your instincts, i know you're a good person at heart so things will go well for you. I know it." With that, he was gone.

I met up with Harold, Angel, and Sasha almost half of the way back to camp with Spot riding in my hood, who were immediately excited at the sight of the new crocodiles that Hitome and Emma had apprently said nothing about. "Oh yeah, Hitome and Emma did a number on these guys," i say to the others after Angel asked about the injuries about their legs and ribs. "I wasn't even there for the fight, even though i baited them in again, i was distracted with mining ore to make bronze fromfor more armor possibilities. That's what i need help with, transporting my big-box."

"Your... big-box," Sasha echoes in a wary question. "Is something going on, by the way? Hitome and Emma barely said a word except that they were tired and you needed our help."

"They're kind of mad that i wasn't there for the crocodiles," i reply kind of honestly. "Here, if you guys want, one of you can take this amulet thing i tried to make and use its energy to help transport the box, I'll finish getting these four back to camp with just my aura when i need to. Sound good to you guys?"

"We'll manage," Harold assures me, reaching out to pull my braided rope and citrine necklace from over my head. "Try not to push yourself too hard and get hurt," he adds before they continue on their way to the raft while i go back to dredging through the rusty sand and dusty rocks toward camp.

The last few hundred feet required most of my aura and then getting the crocs up onto the slab itself took what remained of my magic, but after that i was able to finish off my flask of magic water to recharge despite the possible hangover in the next session and get the crocs to the storage structure where i skin them in my EMF before drawing moisture and salts from the tropical air to magically treat the scaly hides with. Taking the opportunity to check on some of the group's oil projects, i see that most of the game fat from the leaner animals like scrowlers and mundane wolves from tutorial threats were already liquified in the tropical climate around their cane containers with some solid mass at the bottoms but that the boar fats were still fairly chunky and would need to be cooked into a tallow more suitable for large candles than filling a lantern. Coming back out of the storage shelter taking small groups of bananas out of my coat to distribute around the shelters at camp, i leave the slab to go off and meet Harold's transport team on their way with the big-box of ore and copper to help.

They were already about half of the way back to camp when i met up with them and the large cane box of almost four hundred pounds of material, Harold carrying the weight at the back middle of the box while Sash and Angel lead the way from either front corner until i showed up to split the back weight with Harold between the back corners. With the four of us splitting the weight, the box began to move much faster, especially after i tapped into the amulet Harold wore and lifted the box enough so that each person only bore seventy-five pounds, but winding our way through the boulders and crumbling formations with the bulky box ate up most of our time and more of the amulet than i had hoped after bringing it down to about half of its capacity. Once we had gotten it up onto the edge of the slab while calling to the others, however, it was not long before our four-man team was walking casually- if a little tiredly- back into camp behind the others who were actually having trouble managing the weight between so many different people.

I considered using magic to construct a bloomery through which to process the cassiterite for its tin content, but the magic it would take to make one even from just stacking pieces of slate would have been enough to melt most of the ore into a slag and hope the tin superficially separated in the controlled temperatures, not to mention we would need to travel to an island with lime rock and sand that would naturally separate the minerals from the metals when melted in a bloomery. Then a new possibility struck me even as i was preparing to melt the ore with what remained in my amulet and separate the tin from the molten mass with magic, i did not need to melt the ore to separate the tin any more than i needed to use magic to dissasemble its structure. "I need volunteers to let me use their magic," i call out to the camp as i empty the broken, jagged ore from the top half of the box and start exposing the relatively unharmed chitter hides keeping it all inside.

My volunteers ended up being Harold and a surprising turn-out of Emma even though she never said anything, but after syncing the few growing feet of my aura to their own full EMFs i was able to integrate all of our energy into the ore while saying, "This part might be tricky. I'm going to need both of you to put your consciousness into our energy with me so that i can show you what we are looking for. I am going to use my super power to turn all of this ore into one big particle cloud and you guys will use what i teach you to pick out all of the tin oxides from the minerals so we can refine the oxides into tin on its own- like the iron oxides into iron- without needing any catalysts to draw the minerals away from the metal. I'll be inside waiting for you all."

Emma was the first to bring her awareness into the mass of our energy concentrated on the ore, silent except for widespread psychic pulses of her shock and awe at being in this state of existence for the first time after being draw out by my presence and magic. Harold was slower to join us because his source was his body, but his presence was immediately and loudly announced by a questioning expletive followed by a one large pulse of shock at having heard himself outside of himself followed by another shock from having felt himself. Because we are bonded by our conscious minds and magic, we seem to have a kind of telepathic connect, i think experimentally through our energy, my thoughts translating through our EMFs like sound vibrations through eardrums. Then, using my control on our magic to draw them in on a single piece of cassiterite, i link some of their individual magics to an area of oxide structures bonding among glassed pumice obsidian and vaguely brown smoky quartz deep within the ore.

This ore is known as cassiterite, it comes in several variations of color and so on depending on surrounding sediments, but this is black from obsidian and dark quartz bonding with the oxides to form an actual gem stone, i begin explaining to them as they explore not only the bonded oxides like aliminum's corundum in a ruby but also the rest of the structures of the igneous ore. I want you guys to run through all of these stones with me and essentially mark all of the tin for when i break it down so you guys can collect it. This should take a few minutes, even for me, so don't be worried and take your time to make sure we get all of the tin we can. Harold, you take the ore in this right area of the pile, Emma you get the left, and I'll take the big heaping in the middle.

Using the individualizing of our EMFs to separate our on-fourth, one-half, and one-fourth portions to make it easier for us to find out way, it was not hard at all for me to start by covering the entire bottom in a thin sheet of myself to start slowly scanning upward where i use minute amounts of their magics stored about their person to mark all of the dioxide of bonded tin oxides in the ore for their use while monitoring their individual rock process until they became away of my own method. Once they stopped and started over from the bottom to spread themselves out as a much more magical awareness, begrudging respect and appreciation for me allowing them such access to my own magical methods and scientific knowledge with small psionic impulses of empathic data, the process really did take no more than ten minutes to complete before it was finally time for me to shift my focus. Here comes the fun part... i don't really know if i can Particle all of this ore at once, but we can definitely pick through it all in no time at all.

Because i was already integrated with all of the crystalline ore, it was actually easy to start breaking the pile down from the top-down as a mass even though i could not do it all at once, and once the entire pile was a swarm of cloud that encompassed our bodies as well as our auras without actually interacting with anything physically Harold and Emma set right to work broadening themselves around the particle cloud that i started to draw in and concentrate somewhat into a pile of its own. After several minutes of them slowly scanning themselves back and forth across the cloud that reminded me of cosmic particle and electrical storms, both of them had separated their own clouds of glittery tin particles in the laps of their bodies that i experimentally solidified into cubic structures without the other minerals. When the tin dioxide was in two large, forty-plus-pound ingots of square schist-like blocks, i simply compacted the mineral cloud together into a large block of just dust held together by magic before finally releasing the others and their magic from my own.

"And that, my friends, is pretty much the most potentially powerful magic i know," i tell the others who were drowzily coming to, freeing themselves of their heavy metallic burdens while i used the magic of my amulet to empty the copper from the box and bring out the quilt of pelts. "I hunted all of these with a special magic i developed called Homing Missile. Tag anything or person that cannot magically resist with a long line of tendril and you can fire an arrow if the curvature is wide enough through limbs to hit it- like these chitters- with a variation of Telekinesis. I imagine a smaller projectile would require less curvature, so i will begin working on my own throwing weapons tomorrow," i add as they take the quilt and i continue using my magic to procure my empty and dried crocodile lungs into which i begin pouring stabilized sediment.

"Today was kind of that last day for preparing on iron island that we talked about," Harold says somewhat pointedly, meaning he himself was ready to move on with the tutorial. "You said three days and fifty feet, this is probably the fourth day considering we had that conversationon on day four and we have played at least a week. You're pretty much fifty feet as it is."

"Doc gave me a special assignment," i reply with a helpless shrug as if there was nothing that i could do about it. "I have to go to an island somewhere over there to find another mineral deposit that's supposed to be guarded naturally by the game or something. The company is getting big on putting togther a content trailer from the beta so we can all probably expect to be thrown into solo tests for good footage. Plus, nobody here has actually gotten a day to rest or to pursue their own goals. This armor and magic training and hunting is all game-mandated and the one day we could have really done whatever to just enjoy ourselves we had a little dragon dropped on our heads- and i personally want to pursue that mineral deposit full of garnet when I'm done getting beat the crap out of."

"Okay, fine, one more day," he says after a few seconds of tiredly shaking his head. "I honestly wouldn't mind a session of just lounging by the beach working on my tan hoping something big and worth some money crawls out of the water after my worm."

"Harold!" Emma exclaims loudly, aghast with the joke Harold had made as he and i break down into loud laughter as the rest of the group watched curiously.

"You'd need a big worm," i remark through my own laughter, struggling to stifle myself behind my hand as Emma just glares at me angrily without actually saying anything. "Oh, come on, this is normal behavior."

"Not around me," she growls, promptly turning and stalking off back to her shelter with her chitter, Tiny, scampering along behind her.

"I guess one of us should go try to talk to her," Harold says, probably not wanting it to be him considering she and I were supposed to be closer.

"Or we get to work smelting this bronze," i say instead, preferring to give Emma her space after the day that i had given her. "She needs a break day as much as any of us, but i could still use an extra set of magical hands to help me pull all of this bronze into wire. The annealing process for making wire is just forcing it critically heated but solid copper- in our case, bronze- through a funnel, which also acts to pressure quench the metal as it passes through and undergoes compression and its structure stretches out of the other side. If we had a third person to smelt the metals together, i could use my aura as a funnel and your physical sorcery would be the best magic for pulling it through whatever funnel that i make, but we can make do with you using the rest of my amulet's power to smelt the ore together in my auric funnel before you pull with anything it still has and your own power. Sound good to you?"

"So you're just going to stand there while i do all the work?" He asks with a smirk taking the spearhead from me when i offer it to him.

"I'm going to telekinetically maintain somewhere over two hundred pounds of molten material sideways in the air while you hold onto a little bit of it with magic and walk baclkwards," i clarify with a grin of my own, gathering up the ore and copper in my aura compressed together in a large cylindrical hopper that i hold three feet over the ground upright with my finger plugging the actualy funneling point at the bottom. "With one finger. You may begin."

Pulling the big-box over to stand on so that her could hold his hands cupped together down over the hopper, Harold casts Ignition on the spearhead in his hands and uses the sides of his palms to concentrate the projection of flames and heat her pours forth into the hopper with slow churning motions of his hands. Sustaining my aura's shape under the torrential downpour of thermal magic was harder than i had anticipated as it flowed freely about the whole metals of crushed dioxed blocks and broken natural copper and i had to fight to keep it away from my finger, but once the metals began to reach their criticals over a thousand degrees and soften into one another with the shifting push of Harold's magic they formed something of a baricade between his heat and the funnel at the bottom of the hopper i simply had to fill with compressed energy to keep the heat of the smelting metals at bay. After only a few minutes of his swirling onslaught, the hopper was soon a slowly churning mass of glowing orange molten material that was becoming safe to hit with less and less heat while throwing in the kinetic energy of moving his arms to quicken the stirring of the blending bronze.

"Alright," i say after another minute or two of the mixing that stops with the slow cooling and solidifying of bronze, using a thick glove of energy about my free hand to lean the hopper on as Harold quickly hops down from the lid of complaining canes. Removing my finger from the funnel and uncorking the vacuum of energy to suck out a long stretch of quart-inch bronze wire that was steadily softening in glow from yellowish orange to orange-red, i say, "Grab it and go, as hard and as fast as you can." Harold did exactly that, grabbing the stretch of cooling wire in both hands coated in a kinetic buffer after dropping the darkened citrine crystal before backpedaling hard and fast to stretch out yards of partially quenched bronze in seconds that cooled to a dark, almost pinkish brown or gold color as Harold kept going.

Harold had to stop at the edge and come back to reheat the bronze and begin pulling all over again several times as her pulled out little over a pound of material with every four feet of wire, soon stopping entirely to help me hold the half-empty hopper while the others took turns keeping the bronze hot and pulling it out across the slab after watching our struggles. The sun was half of the way down to the volcanoe by the time we were all done stretching out a few hundred yards of heavy bronze wire, making multiple spools from slate with which to coil and package the wire in one-hundred-foot rolls of magically alloyed bronze. Everybody got their own personal spool while the rest were added to the slate box containing all of our ingots and spare arrowheads still in their molds., which was when i finally got to get back to my shelter to work on my armor after drinking another lid of ether condensation.

My first move after depositing Spot to the back of my shelter, with a partly peeled banana on several chitter hides the others must not have needed from today's haul,was to unwind all of the current weaving in my armor pieces to separate them once again before magically sharpening one end of the bronze wire to start sewing carefully along each of the strips of furry leather cordage that would cover the entire outer layer of my armor. Once all of my pieces were woven mostly back in place with shiny new wiring for added blade resistance, i went ahead and started placing the cutouts that Harold had made for me in my armor while using magic to heat and compress skinny rivets barely thicker than the wire into place through the cutouts and bands about the front, back, and sides of the torso of my armor without even bothering with an anvil hammer as some of the others were still doing. Wrapping and studding thin sheets of iron about the forearms of my bronze woven outer sleeves and shaping the tops of the extra long rivets into rounded points, I finally put the pieces of my outer upper armor together before magically inserting all of the vertical weaving underneath all of the plating.

Taking a break to play with Spot using large round banana seeds that she tries to stand up and catch with her middle hands while my aura recharged, i soon scratch her head and give her an opened coconut to drink from before setting to work on piecing together the metal free inner lining of the sleeves to attach through the layers of weaving before piecing together the loosely woven inner body, i use layers of magic to separate the high collared inner vest from the rest of the armor before filling the space with boiling steam for several long moments while monitoring the swelling and tightening of the leather that squinched its grains together into a hard, almost plastic substance whose loose weaving had now tightened with its growth around each other. Flaring the cheek-high collar outward by lacing its in a slight fold to the lower collar of the outer linings so that it reached up to chin height from further out around my neck after i finally put on the layered jerkin to test its feel. Even with the tightly woven inner lining of the loose outer sleeve, there was plenty of breathing room for my already tightly sleeved arms among the incredibly hot, furry armor that weight somewhere over twenty pounds.

The shadow of the volcanoe was already stretching out over our island by the time i finished putting together my lower armor with an extra woven layer about the inner lining for my butt for extra protecting against the rivets of the bands wrapping about between the layers of my skirts addorned by multiple sets of short bands to take away from the sexual innuendo of having only the one set of frontal bands. The leggings were tighter than i had anticipated for padding against the extra large rivets that were sharped to two-inch spikes on the front sides of my shins, but otherwise my mobility were otherwise unhindered by the armor which remeains somewhat loose about my knees and thighs. Using the time and materials that i had left to put together a face-wrapped helmet of bronze-woven leather patches that wrapped around to the back from around my eyes and was sealed by a patch of bronze-woven leather running down from the top center to the back of my neck that i hardened while wearing to conform about the top and back of my head before finishing with a a wrap of woven, furry leather around my neck than i could roll up to pull off of my face.

Making plans to one day make a pair of gauntlets with my next suit of armor while already improving on my current designs, i walk around the fight in front of my shelter examining the vague magical polish of the metals in my armor as i test the mobility and flex of my gear. "I went with shoulder pads like a tunic," Harold says from nearby, wearing his own armor that was similar to my own except that all of its banding were prisms and instead of pentagons he had slightly spaced prism plates about his torso. "But, now, i wish i still had some hides left to make a helmet with. That looks totally sick, Zai."

"If anybody has extra croc skin, you could make a helmet from that," i offer, thinking of the few pelts i had remaining that Spot was using for a bed. "I have plenty of trimmings and stuff left over you can use for weaving. Though. Maybe, tomorrow, a croc will come up on the beach after your worm and you can make a real helmet then, maybe with like a cobra hood or shoulder and neck guards lined with back ridges. Or, early morning hunting trip to make one like mine in our next session before you go naked fishing."

"Okay, enough, i reget making that joke enough as it is," Harold sighs tiredly before walking off around the camp in his armor to check on the others.

Hitome soon walked over, wearing a long, woven-pleated gown gleaming with bronze over stiff spiky leggings not unlike my own. The sleeves of her armor were all six-strand belts of leather and bronze wire running down to her wrists with similar belting encircling her arm all over to leave plenty of pale tan skin with the bustier styled top of her gown was held around the shoulders and nape of her neck by more metal and leather braided belting. She looked hot in a purposefully kinky way, and it was hard to look at her without my eyes following the diamond shaped exposure of her cleavage among the belting guarding the rest of her chest. She looked at me long and hard up and down, circling me slowly while poking and prodding or kicking parts of my armor to test them before finally slapping the hardened padding of my butt and saying, "I love it. Every square inch has some metal coverage and the full mask hides your pretty face, making you look dangerous and mysterious like a rogue warrior or ninja."

I barely felt the slap to my but through the hard, thick woven leather, but i could not help but look about the camp to see anybody who did see it barely seeming to care. Everybody has kind of seen me naked, and I'm not exactly bland, so maybe this behavior is actually acceptable in friendly social circles, I try to console myself before actually saying, "Don't do it again or I'll make sure you regret it. And, thank you for your compliments, i was going for my full-face coverage from vanguard. You celebrities live on your faces being seen, i kept my stats up by not using it for anything but eating punches in duels. Hard to hurt something so pretty when its so heavily protected instead of... in your face."

"You wish you could put this in your face," she counters, turning sideways and striking a pose which garners much of the group'se attention.

"I won't deny it but i won't affirm it," i say with a helpless shrug, wondering if she could tell i was smiling and sweating under my helmet. "But, if you would bring me the pieces of obsidian you wanted to use for your accessories, i can get to work on them now that my armor is done."

"I made my own stones," she said, reaching into the coat she carried draped over her arm with multiple clinging chitters performing a confused balancing act at all times to withdraw a small pouch of woven hide. "It's smoky quartz i made from slate after watching you using Emma's and Harold's energies, but i would definitely appreciate it if you used your wonderful supply of stones to make a few more pieces for my... tiara?"

"I'm not entirely sure how to make a tiara, but i will see what i can do," i reassure her with another helpless shrug that i was actually beginning to get good at. "But, yes, i will add some dark garnet to the headgear, something to accent the smoky quartz that probably came out a little purple from all of the feldspar, and if not i will synthesize something with feldspar for a better color scheme. Best i can do," i add before quickly retreating into my shelter.

Unwinding and clipping a bunch of lengths of bronze wire at relative random, i straight braiding them together into simple three-strand braids that i then fold over the of their spool to braid into a six-strand belt that would encircle Hitome's head for at least some protection before i start braiding more wire together to make another belt from that i loop around the back before running up to the front where i wrap the six loose ends of the braid around the front of the first belt. Leaving the ends sticking up and carefully picking at the individual braind to wide the spaces and shorten the ends, i loosen the drawstring pouch Hitome had give me and take out the leaf-shaped spearhead Hitome had made for herself about the size of her palm out of darkly purple smoky quartz that may as well have been amethyst if not for the outer layer of clear quartz. Placing the centerpiece between the middle two strands at the top of the encircling belt, i press the braids along the faceted edges of the quartz before folding the loosened braids over to hold the spearhead in place with a rounded, almost lace-like border rising up to the point where either strand overlap and fold over each other on the way back down to pass along each other and further secure the bottom of the centerpiece before i simply clip the ends and smelt them together in a small knot.

Fetching one of the longer shards of garnet from my jewelry box under my bed while particulating feldspar from under the cane box, i go ahead and break down the already crimson colored garnet to mix on the inside with a darkened core of purple feldspar inside of two long, thin shards of deep red garnet that were roughly the same height of the centerpiece and were shaped to its curves despite being ensnared by the remaining two sets of three-strand braids from the back of the centerpiece and leaning outward to almost appear as a dark hearted flame adorning something of a bronze crown. As i had threatened earlier, the choker was just interlocking rings of bronze that i smelted together, but i gave her three sets of braided wire for actual protection while each ringlet contained a diamond that matched the exposure of her cleavage and hopefully made the spaces of the choker tight enough that even one of my slender arrows could fit all of the way through unless perfectly perpendicular with a diamond while the central front diamond bore the smoky purple quartz heart. The heart its was wrapped around either top and the bottom with simply twisted wire that was heated and pinched about the heart to look like thorny vines or, more literally, barbed wire ensnaring the heart in the central front diamond.

Working three extra belts of bronze wiring across the top of Hitome's actual crown to make it more defensive, i wonder if i should not just turn it into a crowned helmet of sorts when Hitome herself pops up and says, "It's almost true dark and you're still at this? Zai, that's enough," she add with quiet ire. "I wanted a tiara, you're trying to put me in a bedazzled safety helmet. This is perfect for wearing over my hood, so i don't need an actual helmet. As for the choker, i love it! That spiking around the tops and bottoms are like actual jewelry. I can't wait to start charging them up with magic." Then, with a quick hug around me over my arms and looking up at me with a broad smile so that i was forced to look down at her and her cloths, the grabs the jewelry and dashed off back to her shelter where some of the others were already waiting while their chitters played.

Spot was contentedly snoring on her bed of furs with two mostly eating bananas and their seeds making her fur sticky, and i myself was starting to get tired as i considered Hitome's words about it being true dark, so it was with some sadness that i took off my armor and set about getting some food for myself to sleep on a full stomach and fight the affects of the magic hangover from drinking so much ether today. Wondering what kind of ore i woud come across as i wake Spot to share some croc fillet with her, i sit on the edge of my bed and look out at everyone gathered around their shelters of the fire talking about the armor and showing off for one another and then began wondering what exactly i would come across. A quick opening of my menus brought me to my baps where an island further back from iron island that the bronze island had been on the opposite side from bronze island was marked with a white triangle near the middle of the oblong island's broader portion almost as far from camp as possible and three islands deep into the archipelago from our second row position.

If i am going after an ore useful to my circumstance, then it is probably some kind of precious metal. Most precious metals like gold and silver and platinum are naturally occurring because of their densities separating them from singular crystalline microstructures, so if it is an ore bearing precious metal it would be an ore form of another metal whose density or structure would bond with the precious material. After a quick check of my multi-metal geology studies, i had a most likely answer. Galena, a lead ore, also compromised a lot of reality's old silver mining, which means i can process it to refine silver from among the lead after i deal with the guards.

Those can only be one thing, considering how valuable precious metals would be even in this tropical economy, which would explain why Doc want's me to go alone to get a good look at my skills, I mull and muse as i lay out in bed, shaking Spot's pelts clean before stacking them up and folding them in half to use as a pillow with my pet on my chest just like the night before. Even if i bond Spot tonight, i can't bring her with me against possible outlaws and i can't bring any of the others in case an outlaw escapes to a greater group and informs them of an enemy group in the area. I would have to go in solo and silent and try to figure out how to actually see magic again so that i can pick out which enemy not to Psykill... or, for the sake of Doc's footage, which enemy to save for a final duel if i can manage to melee my way through the underlings.

Continuing to plot and plan my way through many different scenarios that included different goeological layouts of the island itself, i ended up drifting off to sleep completely unaware of myself.