Steel Trim
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Engineering, Magic, and Kitsune Ch. 23
🕑 Added 2025-03-31 19:34:06 +0000 UTCJohn looked out the door with a mild frown. Rin had taken to work eagerly, which he didn't expect. Even now, she was weeding the central courtyard, pulling plants from between the stones with a steady hand… although he did have to stop her from cleaving them with jets of water and blades of ice at first. She had clearly never done any gardening in her life; she didn't even think about dealing with the roots.
Her eyes did light up, and she mumbled something about "that's what my father meant" when he explained it to her, so he supposed that things were working out. Aiki and Haru looked like deer caught in headlights toward the side as Yuki explained the situation, though, with an occasional glance toward the enthusiastic Dragon-Blooded. How strange that he was alone here a scant few days ago. What would he have done, he wondered, if Aiki and Haru had come to his doors if Yuki hadn't been there to anchor him?
He would have probably fled, now that he thought on it. He almost did when Yuki showed, after all. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but he was a coward, and they'd almost certainly be dead by his inaction.
John slid the door closed with a huff and returned to work, uncovering a half-completed focus component. He hadn't had much time to work on it recently, but it was roughly ready to be transferred to the detail workbench. After all, it was approaching the limit of what John could do with his slightly shaky meat hands. Alas, if only he had the insane precision of watchmakers.
There had to be a secret to it beyond just practice, but alas, having access to Google would have made the last few years much less painful. He would love to have avoided playing the gripping game of "Is this poisonous?" before he remembered contact testing. Man, he was glad he figured it out before those green stems that looked a lot like rhubarb; those absolutely would have killed him on the spot if he was stupid enough to try and eat them.
Sighing, he picked up the small gray crystal and the diagram before transferring it to a workbench with… quite a setup. John removed his casting gauntlet and placed it off to the side, clear of his working area but still in reach if needed. Of course, he disengaged the lightning focus from it. Proper safety and all. He set up his blueprint with all the dimensions to the side next to it, using the gauntlet as an anchor to hold it down so he didn't accidentally blow it off the table if he got all grumpy and huffy again.
Although he had yet to actually manage proper optics, he had managed to retrieve a convex lens that the Nameless had managed to miss on a cart for reasons beyond him, and it was a good enough substitute for a magnifying glass.
It was mounted a lot like one of those movable bathroom mirrors on swing arms and was plenty precise enough for his uses, but that wasn't the only reason he needed this bench. No, that was the roughly six-inch-long miniature arm. He took a seat and grabbed a harness leashed to the table, bearing various small focuses set into it onto his right arm.
To be honest, this thing was even more of a nightmare to make than the lightning focus, and that was saying something. The insides did a lot of math using magic as a medium, like how transmissions were fluidic computers on the inside. The insides already looked like demonic sigils enough without getting actual magic involved.
Essentially, it was his telekinesis focus, just… different. Each "node" on the harness was linked to a hinged or ball-jointed spot on the miniature arm rather than being able to freely target things, and when active, they'd try to mimic his movements, just on a smaller scale. He moved his arm forty-five degrees to the left, and it would match it. He would curl his fingers, and it would match that, too.
It was inspired by surgical robots, so he couldn't claim that he made anything particularly new. Still, it was ideal for detail work. He tightened the clamps to hold it in place with his spare hand, laid out the diagram for what it should be, which he probably should have done before strapping in, and went to work.
After turning the harness on, John used the arm to grab one of the tiny files and went to work, rounding down extraneous bits with much more precision than he could have with his body alone.
It was almost meditative in a way. Soothing. Working away in a shop, isolated from all the more complicated issues outside, just him and his tools working towards a clearly defined goal.
This one would be something special and solve one of those annoying, complicated issues… assuming he didn't mess it up again.
That was always the issue with making foci; they were rather sensitive creations with extremely tight tolerances. John constantly checked the diagram, regularly measuring the dimensions with a tiny ruler to ensure he didn't go too far.
Hmm. Now that John thought of it, he'd have to go fishing later. With Rin here, his food supplies are starting to look dicey for winter. Still, if he were to supplement some things with foraging… Yeah, that'd work. Hell, now that he knew the local kappa to some degree, maybe he'd be able to bribe—No, trade him for some fish?
Although Yuki said that sending apology baskets wouldn't be terribly appropriate, she said nothing about some mutually beneficial trade! While he was busy plotting that, he heard someone clear their throat outside the door.
"John, it's Yuki. May I come in?" asked the kitsune, and he felt his blood pressure spike. Should he? It was his sanctum, his place to get away from the world. His stomach churned. Underneath his emotional turmoil, he was well aware that he'd eventually have to show it to Yuki as part of their deal to teach her about his magic.
Why didn't he feel this strongly when he had Aiki bring over some fabric? It was frustrating. Maybe he was even more unstable than he thought.
Still, he saw no logical reason to decline.
"Yes. Please don't use any magic and close the door behind you, though, I'm doing something sensitive," he finally conceded. It took forever to figure out how much magic going on was too much when producing a focus and even longer to make the arm and file fall under those thresholds.
The door slowly swung open, and the monochrome kitsune poked her head in curiously. Glancing around at all the machines, her eyes widened, and her ears perked. Unspoken questions burned in her gaze as she examined the numerous devices. Yuki was frozen on the spot as she looked the pseudo-lathe up and down with an almost voracious hunger for knowledge.
Finally, she looked over to him, and the trance was broken. Stepping through the door, she closed it behind herself and hurried over to him with a spring in her step, stopping a respectful distance away even though she was clearly locked onto the miniature arm.
He waved, and the arm mirrored it.
"What a fascinating device," she murmured. "This is how you do precision work beyond your physical capabilities back home?"
He frowned, shaking his head. "Not quite," he admitted. "Generally, we'd use a bunch of incredibly specialized machines to do the exact thing we want every time, with minimal input. Imagine having a saw that could cut the same standard piece of wood the same way every time… but those tend to be—" John stopped, coughing as his overworked throat gave out on him again.
"Don't strain yourself!" Yuki chided, pulling a… tray with two steaming clay cups from behind her? She set both down beside him and pulled over a spare stool for herself, sitting by his side. Taking the farthest of the two cups, she delicately sipped at the beverage within. "I'm a big fan of stoneware for blends like this, but clay works well enough for this particular brew."
John curiously picked up the cup itself and gave it a sniff. Long past memories surged to life at the familiar scent of a life long gone. "Tea?" he croaked, and at her nod, he continued, "When did you have the time to get tea?"
And with what money, of course, but it felt like he had strained his throat enough as.
A devious grin split Yuki's face, which was promptly hidden behind the cup as she took another sip. "This? Your throat being rather sore just happened to come up in conversation with a lovely old woman earlier today. You really should meet her sometime. Believe it or not, she had almost exactly the recipe I would use on hand and was happy to lend me some… in exchange for some of my own blends down the road, of course. Now, drink up before it gets cold."
He sighed, eyes drifting back down to the cup. Whatever the blend was, it was borderline black and smelled earthy, almost like caramel in some ways. Taking the cup, he delicately sipped it, eyes widening in shock. It was deep and rich, nearly malty. Bitter, too, and he could tell immediately it was absolutely loaded with caffeine, his sweet, long-lost friend.
It took much of his self-control not to start gulping it down, but even though his will wavered, he did not break.
Now that he got past the shock, he couldn't help but notice a slight, almost medicinal aftertaste to it that lingered on his palate for a moment after he sipped. Clever. Whatever was in this was likely rather unpalatable, but he could drink this all day.
The two drank their tea quietly for a time; no words were needed as they relaxed. John kept an eye on how fast Yuki drained her drink and matched it, lest he come across as rude. Of course, he didn't doubt that she noticed him doing this, but he imagined she appreciated the effort.
"It's good tea," he complimented, finally breaking the silence after his cup was half empty. Perhaps it was just his imagination, or his throat was much drier than he thought, but he swore some of the scratchiness was already gone.
Yuki tittered, "You must really miss your caffeine."
He groaned. "Yuki, you have no idea. People with my profession back home? We live off the stuff. Three cups a day, at the bare minimum."
Her eyes widened. "Truly?" she asked. "You must be as valued as nobility. You must consume a good amount of a farmer's coffee crop yearly on your lonesome."
Frowning, John shook his head, considering how much he should tell her. On the one hand, he still wanted to keep much of his origins on the down low, and letting her in on just how massive industrialization could be something that gives him away as not of this world. On the other hand, what could she do with knowing there were machines for picking crops back home? Besides, he was trapped now; if he didn't elaborate, it would be far more suspicious.
"Many of our machines are big and mobile," he began hesitantly. "Some are good for planting crops. Some for weeding. Others for harvesting. I think one farmer with proper equipment, mixtures for the soil, and seeds can feed… one hundred thirty or so people?"
Yuki's eyes widened, and she straightened. "That many?" she quickly asked, continuing before he could respond. "That would free up so much manpower! John, around half of all people who call this land home primarily deal with creating food."
To him, that sounded low, now that he thought of it, but he supposed with the aid of magic—
"Even if one could 'only' mimic a fraction of those benefits here, having one farmer capable of feeding ten people would…" Yuki trailed off, looking into the distance. "This is part of how your people's homeland got so advanced, wasn't it? As you figured out better ways to do less work, people ended up doing jobs less about surviving and more about thriving."
He paused. That was surprisingly accurate, even for Yuki. Fuck, he was glad she was on his side. John hesitantly nodded. "Yes. Many historically thought that the poor were stupid, but the reality is that being uneducated is a whole different thing. Most of the geniuses that could have changed the world as we know it? They lived and died without even knowing how to write."
Silence stretched between them, a frown drifting onto Yuki's muzzle.
"Back in my time, it was a bit different, even if not perfect," she began. "There were Imperial Examinations back in the day, which would have helped at least pick some deserving candidates out and elevate them, even if they did little to help the uneducated." She paused again, letting silence reign as she stared at the wall like her gaze was boring through it and toward the evening sun.
"I haven't seen hide nor hair of them since I’ve been released. No prospective examinees preparing together. No eager buzz of parents talking about how their child bettered their lot through hard work and study. I fear that things have slid backwards into hereditary foolishness once more. There are certainly things that are better than back in my time, but… that is not one of them."
John found himself speechless. He couldn't imagine what it was like to be sealed away for countless years, the world marching by without you, revealing shapes familiar but utterly alien when you finally achieved freedom. The closest thing he could compare was him being transported to another world, but at least that left little expectation of what things should be like.
He wondered what was worse: to be torn away from all you knew or to see it become unrecognizable? At least his home still existed somewhere, even if he'd almost certainly never see it again.
"I'm sorry," he instinctively apologized.
Yuki blinked owlishly, turning toward him. "Why? You had nothing to do with it," she replied.
John shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "It just felt like the right thing to say was all. Nobody should be ripped away from the world they knew like that."
She searched his expression for a brief moment before a smile flickered back onto her muzzle. "I think this conversation has grown too heavy for my liking; this has already been a rather serious day. What are you working on, if you don't mind sharing?"
He eagerly nodded, turning back to his work. "I was thinking about the recent fight, so I decided to accelerate work on my previous project, as it is likely the ideal solution to a problem that recently became clear to me," he explained, pausing for dramatic effect. "My speed, or more accurately, my lack of it. If Rin decided to draw on me at that close of range earlier today? The outcome… would not be clear, especially if she realized my weaknesses."
John turned back to his work, delicately filing off another small piece of the crystal as he thought over his words, carefully picking each to make sure he was understood. "This is part of an attachment for my crossbow, derived from a previously scrapped project. This is the emptiness-aligned portion. The plan is that, upon being triggered, it will coat a crossbow bolt in a quickly deteriorating sheathe of energy using air, order, emptiness, and gravity. You fire it, emptiness scatters the energy around the area in a field, and gravity attracts it back to any source of magic in the area, like an Unbound. From there, the lingering field of order and air holds everything in place around them, creating a slowing effect by making it much harder to move."
Yuki's eyes widened, looking at the little carving in a new light. "A potent tool. How strong is the effect? And how big is the radius? From the sounds of it, you just need to get close enough to a target, not hit them directly." Leaning over and slightly invading his personal space, the kitsune looked through the lens at the subtle details.
He leaned away, and after a moment, Yuki pulled back.
"About… two and three-quarters of my body lengths, although the effect will be weaker towards the edge or if there are multiple targets. It'll likely get split between them rather than applying to everyone equally, so don't expect it to slow a horde much. It would at least be strong enough to make Rin a bit slower than a regular person, but… I'm not sure until I can test it. It wouldn't be the first time my calculations were off," he explained, sighing. If only he had gotten it right on the first shot every try; otherwise, he wouldn't have nearly cooked himself on his first few ranged heat focuses. Something creating a radius of thermal superconduction rather than a beam was an extra-large oopsie, but that's why he kept his warding on him when testing.
"It's a good start," Yuki hummed thoughtfully. "I'd prefer if you had a way to become stronger or faster, though. This would be useless against anyone powerful enough to muscle through it or those who might avoid where the arrow lands. I assume catching it would still be enough of a sudden stop to detonate it, though?"
John groaned but decided to leave that comment about catching arrows for now. "Enhancing yourself is a lot easier when you internalize magic and can play it by feel while having your subconscious do a lot of the heavy lifting. I don't think there would be a single person back home capable of devising an external mechanism alone."
The mere thought of trying to figure out whether increasing the power of his muscles would give him a heart attack or what increasing his reaction speed by boosting signal speed would do to his metabolism stressed him out. Even that was assuming he could find some way to figure out how to begin with, a biologist he was not.
"Still, you need more than that to keep yourself at range," she mused. "Perhaps you could fly somehow? Kicking off the air is a common technique once you become passable, so perhaps you could create a derivative that moves itself."
Wait, fucking what?
John's eyes widened, and he sat up straight, putting his file to the side. "Excuse me? What's this about flying?" he quickly asked, locking onto Yuki.
"It's the same principle in how I leapt to the top of the wall," Yuki explained, tilting her head. "Why do you think I could jump onto the wall from such soft ground while carrying five men? I reinforced the ground. One can do the same with air, although it's less stable than earth or stone."
Wait, no, it couldn't be that simple! He could see doing it with order, but—No, that can't just be it.
It'd be nearly uncontrollable and so likely to send him careening face-first into the earth. It's not like he could stabilize something with…
Wait.
Comments
aerolyte
He’s going to make an iron man suit isn’t he…..but with magic
BarelyA Survivor
Sounds like the Iron or steel plow used by a plow horse would be a huge increase in farming ability, not to mention threshing machines and mills, and corn planters . a single farmer could Farm 100 acres instead of what they must be doing now. He could farm 7 acres a day by himself alone.
