“Come on, let’s go! Let’s go! Let’s go! Give me the next lesson! I can keep going!” Kyle rapidly sputtered.
A bit of blue dust clung to his lip.
“You are insane!” Theodor shouted. “I’ve never heard of anyone even attempting that!”
“Come on, it’s not a big deal,” Kyle said as his body jittered, a big smile on his face. “Let’s go! Teach me more forging!”
“You’ve given your mind an overdose of Ether,” Theodor said with annoyance. “When you eat something, it goes to your body and Center, and your Center distributes it accordingly to the remainder of your Aspects of Power.”
“But when you breathe things in, the majority goes to your mind. You are currently in an unstable condition due to Ether imbalance. You can’t learn things like this,” Theodor said. “You need to be calm to forge!”
“Who cares?” Kyle said with a wave. “I’ve done this plenty of times. I was on this stuff during half of your trials.”
Theodor became speechless.
“During that first digging thing, I snorted that yellow dust, and it gave me so much power that I passed it easily,” Kyle said.
“During that fight with the golem, I just ran it over with all of my energy. Worked wonders, I tell you!”
“There was Basic Mage Stone in your third trial, and it gave me a big boost of energy, helping me pass that trial as well!”
Theodor just looked at Kyle in shock.
His trials!
They were ruined!
His first trial was supposed to test someone’s willpower and patience, but instead, this idiot just forced his way through with dumb confidence and a surplus of energy!
His second trial was supposed to test someone’s courage and basic combat abilities, but this guy just ran that trial over as well.
The way Kyle had dealt with the third trial was the worst! The third trial was supposed to test someone’s cleverness due to the perceived loophole in the rules.
How did this guy even pass the third trial while being in this state of mind?!
“Fine,” Theodor said with a snort. “Dwarves can only learn when they feel the pain of their mistakes.”
Kyle just smiled. “Come on! Hit me! Give me a hard one!”
If Theodor had lungs, he would take a deep breath.
Alas, he was a stone in Kyle’s brain.
“Take another piece of Basic Mage Stone,” Theodor commanded.
Kyle grabbed one and waited impatiently.
“Close your eyes and feel the ore-”
“Come on, we’re already past that,” Kyle said, interrupting Theodor. “Just tell me what to do.”
Theodor’s metaphorical face sneered.
“Turn the stone into a bar without turning it into powder,” Theodor said. “You must change its shape without refining it.”
“Sure, let’s go!” Kyle shouted, looking at the stone with bloodshot eyes.
At that moment, a lot of Ether came out of Kyle’s hands and entered the ore.
The stone melted and-
BANG!
It exploded into powder.
Theodor remained silent while Kyle looked at the powder in shock.
For two seconds, Kyle didn’t move.
Then, he jumped for the powder and rammed his face into it.
Theodor looked with disgust at Kyle’s degenerate behavior.
“Whoooo!” Kyle said, trying not to wake Samson’s family. “Round two!”
He quickly grabbed another stone and shoved his Ether into it.
The stone cracked in several places and changed shape.
And then…
It obediently turned into a cube.
“There you go,” Kyle said with a smile. “Wasn’t so hard!”
“I want a bar, not a cube,” Theodor added.
Kyle just rolled his eyes.
More Ether entered the ore, and it became longer.
In the end, it turned into a cuboid.
“There you go,” Kyle said.
“A bar needs to be angled. The top and the bottom should have a different size,” Theodor quickly answered.
Kyle rolled his eyes again and put more Ether into it.
At that moment, he became hungry again.
“Give me a sec,” Kyle said.
BANG!
And buried his head into the dust again.
With bloodshot eyes, he glared at the cuboid.
The cuboid shook a bit.
’Oh, too much! Gotta slow down!’ Kyle thought.
The shaking calmed down, and the cuboid slowly changed shape.
In the end, it took the shape of a bar of metal.
“And done! That’s a bar, right?” Kyle asked with a smile.
Theodor didn’t answer immediately.
“More or less,” he begrudgingly admitted.
Kyle just smirked.
While Kyle was busy feeling proud of himself, Theodor had to go through the process of processing how Kyle had processed the Basic Mage Stone.
Changing the shape of a metal without any equipment was not easy.
When Theodor had told Kyle to just feel the Basic Mage Stone for two hours, he hadn’t thought that Kyle would succeed in these two hours.
People generally needed several hours to synchronize their minds with the ore.
Then, they would need another couple of hours to force their will on the ore and refine it.
Meanwhile, Kyle had refined the entire thing after only a couple of minutes.
Theodor hadn’t even explained how to do that.
Kyle just did it on his own.
However, changing the shape of an ore without refining it was even harder.
Students generally destroyed between ten to thirty pieces of ore, and that was only when they took several minutes to gather their thoughts and review the process.
Then, they would succeed once, and they would need to practice many more times to get everything down.
And yet, Kyle only destroyed a single piece, and while the second changing of the shape had been close to failing, he had quickly saved it.
Even more, students were supposed to remain clearheaded and calm while interacting with the ore.
They needed to be able to sense even the slightest inconsistencies and fluctuations.
An excited mind easily overlooked things.
Lastly, Kyle had a disadvantage.
Artificers had a strengthened Soul and a strengthened mind.
Sure, Kyle had the same thing, but the relevant part here was the difference in the Center.
Artificers had much weaker Centers, which meant they had much less Ether to use.
With less Ether, it was easier to control it.
If an Artificer accidentally used a bit too much Ether, they could still save the refinement. They didn’t have a lot of Ether to begin with. It would be like adding a bit too much salt to a dish.
But if someone with a big Center messed up, they would add way more Ether with a mistake.
Theodor had difficulties accepting the current reality.
Kyle was an enigma.
The way he worked broke convention, but he still succeeded.
It was difficult for Theodor to admit it, but there was no doubt.
Kyle was exceedingly talented when it came to controlling his Soul.