Chapter 18: AQUA
When atoms or molecules of a liquid are able to spread out enough to change from a liquid phase to a gaseous phase, bubbles form and boiling occurs. This is a science that applies to all forms of liquid.
And with this very same science Ivan intends to transform the matter in front of him using his own energy; mana. This would be the first time he transmuted something from the outside world that isn't solid but that's precisely why he needed to do this.
The science of boiling isn't the limit either; so long as he adapts he'll be able to freeze his enemies and escape using thick clouds of vapor. Of course a different form of science would be applied to the former but to the latter it'd just be a matter of inserting more energy.
Ivan reached over and sunk both his palms into the lake in front of him. The liquid in the lake had a boiling point of 100 degrees Celsius (212 Fahrenheit) To be more specific, the water in the lake held the same boiling point as human blood.
So as far as Ivan was concerned it'd be the best training ground for him.
He closed his eyes and knelt in the sand on the shore. The hands he sunk into the lake went as far as they could without him having to lean his upper body over the lake. Compared to his past transmutations his hands weren't really touching anything at all. Instead they allowed themselves to be submerged in the target of his transmutation.
It was a different feeling for Ivan. He wasn't exactly sure where to carry on from here. Willing the water into molding to his touch wasn't exactly working.
That's when a thought hit him.
'Instead of a liquid, why don't I imagine this lake as a pool of marbles. Hundreds and thousands of marbles all connected to form the substance called 'water.' That's right. This is no different than anything I've transmuted so far. No different than earth. No different than crystal…'
Ivan controlled his breathing. And having complete faith in himself, he allowed his upper body to fall towards the lake.
BONK
As if sticking his hands onto a glass window, Ivan's fall was met with opposition. He looked at the transmutation circle that he had unknowingly formed beneath his hands. He pushed more and more forward yet it was that very same transmutation circle that kept him from falling in.
For the first time he had created a transmutation circle that wasn't connected to solid matter.
Well it was that very same line of thinking that undone his transmutation and made the circle disappear, effectively meaning nothing was there to stop himself from falling into the water.
SPLASH
"*COUGH COUCH* You gotta be kidding me! Guh, I suppose it is a very delicate line of thinking. I need to keep myself believing that what I am transmuting is indeed solid." Ivan swam hurriedly to the surface and made note of what might've undone the process.
But as far as he was concerned this little test trial of his was a success. Crawling back to shore, Ivan laid in the sand and began to think of which ways he should develop this new transmutation style of his first.
'Boiling seems the way to go, seems simpler than freezing anyways.' For now he'd focus his training into learning how to use this new transmutation style of his to boil liquids.
Taking off his wet clothing, Ivan inserted his hands into the lake once more. He thought of the matter forming the water and voila, he was able to replicate the earlier phenomenon.
But this time he did something different.
BZZT BZZT
Sparks started to form around the circle, Ivan only watched on in interest. He had yet to expel any of his energy (mana) from the circle as he wanted to make sure to document any of the changes as he moves forwards. Not noticing any changes in the water, including that of temperature, Ivan went ahead and expelled the energy built up in the circle.
"RRRAAAAAAGHHHH!!"
He immediately regretted his decision as he swiftly pulled his arms out of the water. Digging a healing potion out of his satchel, he uncorked it hurriedly and engulfed its contents within seconds.
The thing he currently wanted to do the most in his life has now switched from creating human life to slapping himself on the head. Of course if he made the water boiling hot while his hands were in it it'd end up affecting him.
He plugged up the empty vial again and threw it into his satchel as he sighed in relief. For a second he contemplated cutting both his hands off in desperation.
But in any case he succeeded in his goal. From now on he'd create his transmutation circles on the surface of the liquids rather than deep in them. Sure it'd be more difficult to immerse in his thinking but it's not like he couldn't add it on top of his other stuff to train at in the morning.
So closing the fear of burning his hands off, Ivan directed his hands toward the lake again, this time hovering them right over it. This time the only thing separating him from the water would be the transmutation circle.
What he was going to do this time was skip the boiling step altogether and transmute the water directly into hot vapor. It'd take a lot of energy but he wanted to make sure he could create a cloud of vapor thick enough that it would be impossible to see through. Only then would he be comfortable with using this amount of energy in creating a 'smokescreen.'
And so, gathering a plentiful amount of energy, Ivan opened his eyes in a flash and released it all from the transmutation circle.
WHOOOOOOSH!
A thick cloud of white smoke exploded from the lake and completely engulfed Ivan. Meanwhile, he who was inside the lake was about to scream out in pain again before regaining his bearings.
Sure enough it wasn't a good idea to stand in a cloud of hot vapor either.
'Note to self: make sure both of these attacks are NOT directed at me.'
While he wouldn't be able to control the direction of the vapor, so long as he ran as soon as he created it he should be fine. In fact it being a pain to whoever comes in contact with it was a good thing, If he ever needed to escape then he'll be sure to use this to temporarily stun his enemies.
Well, that now crossed off both his boiling idea and his vapor mist idea. All that was left now would be to incorporate his new transmutation style to freeze liquids.
Sure the first two ideas would need some cleaning up before he could incorporate them into his combat but for now he wanted to get the basics of everything so he wouldn't have to step out every time he wanted to try something new.
Compared to the boiling points of both water and human blood, the freezing points of both liquids are different. Human blood has a lower boiling point from water because of the different dissolved materials in it.
Meaning again, if he wanted to freeze human blood it'd take more energy than it would to freeze water.
Moving to a different part of the lake, Ivan took his stance once more, this time to freeze rather than boil.
What he needed to do now compared to before would be the reverse. Instead of inserting energy to spread the atoms or molecules apart and keep them moving fast, he needed to withdraw enough energy to slow them down and keep them together.
He would continue this process until they reached 0 degrees Fahrenheit, where the molecules or atoms would move at a speed slow enough that the liquid matter would change to solid ice.
In a sense you can think of adding energy (mana) as increasing the heat and withdrawing it to be the same as freezing.
Ivan calmed his breathing and replayed the simulation in his mind, once again the water in front of him became akin to a pool of marbles and what stood between him and that pool was a single pane of glass.
Slowly but surely that pane began to expand. The marbles in the pool floated to the pane of glass and attached themselves to it as they were forming a raft.
Ivan opened his eyes again and noticed the floating chunk of ice beneath him. He got up from his kneeling position and took a step onto it.
Tapping his foot on it to verify it's stability, he went ahead and rested his other.
"Ooooooooooo, this is it!"
He kneeled on the raft of ice and put his hands in the water in front of him. This time the marbles aligned themselves into a straight path to the other side of the lake.
"Hahahahaha, it was a success!" Dancing in jubilation, Ivan marched along his bridge of ice.
CRACK CRACK
"Uh oh…" It was when he made it half ways across his bridge that he heard an odd noise from beneath him. He lifted one of his feet and stood petrified at the cracks that glared right back at him.
"You gotta be shi-!"
The bridge of ice he was so proud of him crumbled instantaneously, leaving no opportunity to build another raft of ice to rescue himself from falling into the water.
"*COUGH COUCH* Ugh, I guess I should have focused on evenly distributing the surface before building something else in my excitement."
Once more he had another thing he had to add to his 'Things I Need to Practice In The Morning' list.
At this point he might as well be back in school.
He swam back to shore and laid himself in the sand again.
"I guess it was a good thing all my clothing got wet earlier huh…"
Ivan looked around a bit before sighing.
Don't get him wrong, he was excited to have so many things to improve upon. Well he was more excited at the prospect of having mastered all these abilities. To him that sort of progression is what gets him up in the morning.
If anything he was feeling a little….. lonely?
He wasn't sure how to describe but ever since separating from Claire the awkward silence between his screwups and quips just wasn't the same as the overreactions she had toward his antics.
It wasn't a feeling he was familiar with before meeting Claire and yet it was one that existed after working with her for over a month. He felt it was more appropriate to say he was a bit bummed out at having no one to share his accomplishments with.
'An adventure huh…. Is it really an adventure if no one is there to witness it?'
Propping himself up, Ivan dusted off the sand stuck to his body and picked up his clothing. He had made a challenge for himself to reach the 45th floor before the next time he had to rest and by god was he not going to let himself down!
But first he was going to have to dry his clothes…
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Man that was a pretty fun chapter to write. Then again I'm no scientist so maybe this triggered a few of you out there
I did the best I could with what I could find (google) and hopefully made an interesting exposition dump about Ivan's new transmutation power.
If you want to support me and read ahead 10-15 chapters, you can check out my p.a.t.r.e.o.n right here: https://bit.ly/ardoaleister
Anyways, thanks for reading! Don't forget to drop a stone or two if you enjoyed and I wish ya' a great day/night!
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