Reid looked at his new creation, and felt a twinge of pain as his eyes shifted.

"Now, it's good work, but far from perfect. I'm going to point out four errors that you need to correct before you activate it, and I want you to focus in tight on just those areas, alright?" Reid nodded. "First, roll the outer edges of the funnel and create 30 ribs that wrap from the outer edge down into the thing. Make them slightly angled, and have the ends curve." Reid followed her instructions as closely as he could. "Good. Next, change these seven tubes. Move those ones away from each other, loop that one, and then bring it back into the... great. Now, change up the design here, so you can directly fuel the suction by pushing in energy - that will let the whole thing function faster. Alright. Last you're going to add a failsafe. The ribs you made are going to more efficiently corral energy and the change you just made will get it spinning as much as possible so more energy can be sucked in and pushed into the skill. There's technically more advanced things we could have internally, but if I'm being honest you're not quite ready for that yet. Instead, we need to worry right now about overloading the machine."

"Your blow off valve is a decent start - but it won't be enough if you manage to send as much energy in at once as you're capable of, which... Well, let's just agree that you're going to test that limit sooner or later. So our final failsafe is going to be the stopper. Simple design, where you can use the thing to plug the inlet and completely choke out the process. Make two articulating bits, and have them extend towards - yes, right on. Now attach them to the sides... nice. And make a nice big tail for the release so you can more easily find it. Done. Good work."

Reid took a few metaphysical steps back, and stumbled. His head was throbbing - and might've been getting worse - but the real disorientation and pain again seemed to be coming from his new creation.

"Nyx - something's wrong. When I stare at this thing, I keep getting dizzy... it's like looking at a beacon."

She let out a chuckle that was half-snort.

"Of course you are. You just made something that shouldn't be possible until you're in the middle of E grade. When there are things you can't or shouldn't be able to understand and can't truly rationalize, you end up with a bit of a brain jostling. That's why you can't properly focus on beacons - there's underlying tr-..." Her voice cut out for a few seconds. "Suckerpox. Uh, there's... stuff... in there your brain wouldn't be able to handle."

"We built something that's going to jostle my brain?"

"I mean, now that it's built, you don't need to stare at it, so it's fine. And you were only looking at small sections at a time when you were building it, which is probably okay. And using it should be safe. Give it a try."

Reid lifted an eyebrow. He did feel a bit of unease about having something within himself that was somehow 'beyond' him. But he believed in Nyx, and trusted her - and he wasn't one to leave an advantage sitting unused.

With a mix of excitement and a bit of trepidation, Reid gathered energy in the area and watched it churn. Fully empowered, dense, and potent, he took a few moments to simply watch it move and drift. Energy like this was so much different from the norm. It practically sparked with the intense energy it contained, like the power it contained fought for control over the forces that prevented it from simply shredding and dispersing. Comments Nyx made early on, about physics and magic popped into his mind.

There were things about that swirl and that intensity that Reid hadn't discovered. He could tell the ideas were still beyond him - but they were there. Some kind of lesson waiting to be learned about something fundamental. A new idea and new knowledge that would take him to even greater possibilities. Just like the new tool sitting in front of him.

Power was the best stat. It was undeniable. But Reid could admit Nyx was onto something with intelligence. Keeping this knowledge and manipulating his internals to facilitate change both had reliance on her favorite stat. The more he worked on himself and experimented, the closer she was to being right. But Reid wouldn't give up the argument. Intelligence was just an asymptote trying to overtake the line that was power. Reid chuckled internally, then worried whether making math puns was a bad sign for power supremacy.

He shook his head, and focused himself back. He focused not on the structure, but the energy around it. Reid made it move and swirl in the right directions, as a tendril moved down towards the area for the fan. As it closed in, Reid could feel connection. Before the energy touched the contraption, it was pulled forward and the tendril he'd been manipulating seemed to pull taut as it flowed down and into the thing.

The energy spun the fan, and the true action commenced.

Energy, roiling and moving just moments ago, was devoured by the maw of his creation. He watched it hug the sides of the funnel as it careened in and over the rounded edges. It smashed hard into the curved fins, but rather than lose momentum, the new force and path made the whole thing run even faster down towards the fan and the opening. Energy followed energy, like it had surface tension much higher than something like water. The swirl inside the vortex caused almost everything outside to be sucked in close to the creation as well - no longer churning, but still moving within itself.

The fan continued to spool, and the entire process intensified on itself. Energy flowed down the vortex and into the first sets of pipes and chambers. Reid felt it more than he witnessed it. Trying to watch the process felt like slamming his head into a nail, and he would've ignored that if it didn't also partially blind him.

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Even focused in on a small area of the process, watching the internals wasn't happening. Feeling it was something unavoidable.

If his regular energy was like gasoline, and power-infused energy was like high octane gas, the newly compacted substance being minted in Reid's metaphysical self was rocket fuel. It was impossibly dense, and powerful - and volatile. He knew, instinctively, that the stuff needed a target. A destination. Otherwise, it would find more violent and unpredictable ways to break itself down.

He did the only thing that made sense, and focused himself and his efforts at the outlet. Nothing had appeared there yet, but it would. When it did, Reid would just need to guide it to a suitable destination. To Brock's Recall.

Reid only had to wait moments.

What came out of his creation was more... real... than what he was used to. Like the truth about mana and energy and how it was supposed to be instead of everything he'd been using up until this point. It was many steps below the pure intensity of the energy he'd felt from the beacon and his evolution, but it was closer to it. And that felt right.

His attention fully turned to controlling the rocket fuel mana as it came out and seemed to aimlessly shoot forward. It struggled against him, even as he shoved on the stuff with as much force as he could muster within himself. This was not the same as just putting more energy into a skill - it was like fighting mana itself.

Reid's metaphysical arms ached with effort as the current slowly turned and moved towards the recall for Brock. As it neared the trait structure, the same phenomenon occurred where the energy itself seemed to 'connect' with the structure, and aligned itself to match the opening and the destination.

The structure blazed so brightly Reid couldn't bear to look at it - despite how much he wanted to.

The connection seemed to shudder as it took in the energy, and the much-denser mana slammed itself against the walls Reid had reinforced. The structure held up against the onslaught.

In the real world, ten seconds passed, then Reid's hands flared with intense light as Brock was remade in record time. He felt the weight of it fall into his palms, and notifications flashed by too quickly for him to read.

He kept his focus on the machine within him, as much as he could.

It was still trying to suck in the last remnants of energy, but the plug came free and stopped the inlet from allowing more inside. The blow-off valve seemed to trigger automatically, and energy within the structure flowed out harmlessly.

The process of plugging the contraption and activating the blow-off had another impact that Reid wasn't expecting. The current of rocket-fuel like mana that was no longer being used within the trait seemed to unravel from the end of its tail. As it did so, waves of energy spilled over Reid's ethereal self and the structures sitting in the space with him. The waves made him realize there was more going on where he was than the one trait and one creation that he'd been focused on. Other structures were there - either just out of focus, or somehow distant and near at the same time. He couldn't quite place what the sense was - only that he would probably be able to interact with the other items if he chose to do so, and only tried to do it with one at a time.

When everything calmed down, Reid realized he was panting - both in the real world and his metaphysical self. The entire thing had been a truly electrifying experience.

He wanted to do it again.

He wanted to try it with something new.

He wanted to read his notifications.

Congratulations! Advanced Metaphysical Mechanism, [Mana Compressor] Created! Congratulations! Equivalent experience awarded for producing an advanced metaphysical mechanism.

New Achievement Earned!

Meta-Mana Architect (Earned for creating a mana-focused advanced metaphysical aperture).

Meta-Mana Architect Slightly increases understanding of mana-related processes, applications, and metaphysical mechanisms.

Experience: 1,728,001 / 3,276,800 -> 4,228,001 / 6,553,600 Level: 41 -> 42 [Hidden] Control: 470 -> 490

Reid took a shuddering breath. The whole thing had felt intense and monumental - but it was always good to have confirmation. He stared at the newest title added to his repertoire. There were probably going to be other things like this in his future, so long as he had Nyx around to guide him towards those solutions. And maybe some he'd be able to find on his own. Plus, nearly everything he did involved mana - he might even be able to start understanding a bit of how Lycra's contraptions worked.

"A new achievement, new level, and you did it all by getting the Brock recall time down to ten seconds...Top marks, Reid. So tell me, how does it feel to be one of only three people to ever make a Lobonc-Kell Mana Compressor while in F grade?"

Reid stared at the massive 2.5 million experience the creation had earned him. "I don't know what the Lobonc-Kell part means, but this thing rocks." He gestured for her to hold up her hand, and then gave her a high-five. It made an odd, dull noise.

Nyx tilted her head. "Reid, you cannot name this new creation after rocks. Not allowed."

He held up his hands in a placating gesture. "I wasn't going to name it after rocks."

Her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Okay, but what about... Mana Supercharger?"

Nyx let out her version of a sigh.

"Absolutely not."

#

#

After his new level and achievement, Reid capped everything off by putting as much energy into Marrow as he could to grow his armor's power, Recalling Requiem while using his new 'mana compressor', and going to sleep. The timer told him he'd been out for about 18 hours, recovering from the over-use of his energy during his experimentation.

The new mechanism was incredible - but also drained him of energy quite quickly. He popped a few bites of mole king steak, drank a water, and set to work.

-

By the time his shrapnel brock landed and sent its shards hurtling into the guinea pigs, Reid had already made it to another bush. Shortly after impact, he shifted his hands to hide the light and started the recall process.

Then he hurled a slug towards a beast that had gotten slightly separated from the troop. It mangled the creature as it blew through the thing's shoulder and out its side. One of the twins vocalized at the direction the slug had come from - but Reid had already repositioned. He knew he wasn't a stealthy man, which meant his Venator achievement really was making it more difficult for the beasts to notice him.

Distance helped, sure, but credit to his achievement for keeping him hidden.

Another shrapnel brock fell, and slammed into the ground while the twin was distracted trying to find Reid. It took down another two of the troop.

He'd made steady progress in thinning their numbers today, thanks to the 'mana compressor'. The name was fine, but it didn't sound as neat as Mana Supercharger... or any of the other things he'd tried to call it. Nyx refused to allow it - her response something to do with foundational lessons and future learning.

But by utilizing the mana compressor, Reid had been able to keep up a consistent tempo of throw-reposition-recall, and the troop was feeling the pain. Another hour or so of this would see the troop's numbers truly dwindled, and he'd be ready to take a rest to recover his energy.

Then, he'd take on the twins.

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