Chapter 38: Infusion

Chapter 38: Infusion

“This may look like a toaster,” Mr. Yu explained, holding up the appliance from the same box he’d tested me with. “While it is a tool you use to make toast, any tinkerer will look at it and see nothing but possibilities.”

No matter how I looked at it, it was just a toaster. Even Analyze wasn’t offering any help. To his credit, Mr. Yu limited his resources to what he’d offered me. It was a good way to demonstrate what he expected of me. He flipped it upside down and took a screwdriver out of his belt.

“Having your own tools is an important part of being a Tinkerer,” he explained as he removed several screws holding the toaster together. “A good Tinkerer is always prepared for two things. Opportunity and catastrophe. It all started when the original Tinkerer, Wilmer Macgyver, invented artificially sustained flight. That’s the kind that doesn’t rely on magic, mind you.”

“What are you going to do?” I asked, watching intently as he pulled the appliance apart. “Are you going to make that flash freezer thing you mentioned?”

He chuckled. “Should I? I think not. It came to mind when you mentioned Yeti blood. In this case, I am doing this to both instruct you and provide you with your first tool. I intend to make this mundane appliance into an infuser. Consider it a training wheel that will teach you one of the fundamental skills that all crafters use.”

“What is that?” I asked as he ripped the plug out of the toaster.

“This is the tool that will teach you to imbue all of your creations with your mana,” he explained, taking a dull blue gemstone and placing it in the space where the power condenser had once been. Then he took a small jar from a pouch on his belt and removed a sticky substance that he used to attach the wires to the gem.

Mr. Yu proceeded to take a pair of heavy-duty cutters out of his pouch and snip apart the divider that separated the toaster into two compartments. He also removed the center heating element, making the device have one single chamber that definitely wouldn’t work as a toaster. Next, he used a file to smooth out the rough surfaces before putting the entire thing back together again.

Info: You have Observed the Innovate skill. You may Mimic the skill (1) time. Observe (999) more times to make the skill permanent.

“What’s wrong?” Mr. Yu asked when I gasped at the message. “Don’t be impressed by me yet. This is the bare minimum you should be able to do.”

“Oh, right,” I replied, peeling my eyes off of the words. Watching Mr. Yu work was going to pay off big time. “I was just surprised by how simple that was.”

He laughed, handing me the modified toaster. “Coming up with the idea is the difficult part. Implementing it is just a matter of having the right tools for the job. Now, let’s practice infusion. It’s a simple process where you supply your creations with power using your mana. This only works for personal creations, of course. We can’t go expecting customers to power their own devices now, can we?”

“Why not?” I asked, wondering if there was something that prevented it.

Mr. Yu made a sound that was a cross between a grunt and a cough, his face twisting in a smirk that told me he’d probably thought the same thing I did. “A product that requires external power will be seen as incomplete. You can make them, and people might buy them but someone will inevitably make one with power that will render yours obsolete. It’s better to create a complete product in the first place.”

I took notes while he talked, eager to learn as much as possible.

Crude Infuser

Grade: D

Condition: 100

Owner: Yu

Mr. Yu dropped a marble in the modified top of the Infuser, where the toast used to go. “Go on, infuse the marble.”

I looked inside at the marble that rattled around against the metal insides of the toaster-turned-infuser. “How am I supposed to…”

Something bit my hand. I felt tendrils of mana leak from my fingers the same way they did when I activated an Arcane Circle. It dawned on me to inspect the tiny blue gemstone more closely as the marble started to glow.

“As you can see, the device works all on its own,” Mr. Yu pointed out as the marble started to vibrate. “You might want to set the infuser down else the marble will explode and damage it.”

I did as instructed and the marble slowly settled down after a few moments. Mr. Yu reached in with a set of tongs and picked it up, holding it out to me.

“Is it safe?” I asked, worried it still might blow up.

He laughed, dropping it into my open hand. “Don’t worry. The only way that would happen would be if you infused it manually, which I haven’t taught you yet. Even if you knew how to do it, that technique is voluntary and won’t happen without you initiating it.”

I wondered. I’d done it enough times. Infusion. Both the Infuser and the Arcane Circle gave me that nudge, but if what Mr. Yu was saying was correct, I should be able to do it myself. I closed my eyes and focused on the feeling of mana leaking from my hands with a purpose. Suddenly, the marble was more than just a tiny glass sphere in my hand. I was inside of it, feeling not just the material but the molecules that held it together. My mana was there too, of course, which was making the marble behave in strange ways. Motes of light sparkled and moved like a mini-universe inside of the marble. It was absolutely beautiful, and I wasn’t even seeing it with my eyes which were closed. I sensed that and more through my connection with the mana.

“You’re a quick study,” Mr. Yu said softly somewhere beside me. “Not only have you figured out how to do it but you also knew not to overload it. You are instinctively at a much higher level than I gave you credit for.”

When I opened my eyes, I wasn’t prepared for what I saw. The marble shone like a lightbulb in my hand but was still cool to the touch.

Mr. Yu shielded his eyes. “I suggest you put that away for now. Also, it looks like my first gift to you is going to go to waste. It was meant to guide you to the skill you just demonstrated so expertly. Next, I am going to have you infuse several different items for me and tell me how they differ.”

He started with something simple, a shoe. It was a little different from the marble as there was more than one material used in its creation. I also noted that it was just a regular shoe with none of the enchantments that Miss Spencer taught me about. It was also well worn, so there was an added layer of grime that my mana had to pass through. I felt all of it. I could even tell where the grime came from and what it was made of. Mud and sweat. Other than the fact that my mana was now a part of the shoe, I was unaware of what other benefits it had.

“Next, you’re going to charge a tinkered device,” Mr. Yu explained, though he didn’t produce anything for me to work on. “However, we’re going to eat lunch first. I trust you have more of those sandwiches.”

I took the sandwich I’d duplicated with Mimic before and made another copy before handing one of them to Mr. Yu.

“Is there a limit to how many times you can do that?” He asked, unwrapping the sandwich and taking a bite. “At least it still tastes the same.”

I unwrapped mine and took a bite. I didn’t have much to compare it to since I hadn’t had one yet but it was delicious. Then a thought crossed my mind. What would happen if I infused food? Closing my eyes, I began the process again. What happened next was a culinary journey through the many ingredients that made up a well-put-together sandwich. I started with the bread, which was perfectly baked rye bread. It started crisp and gave way to a soft middle with a rich flavor that complimented the corned beef I was assured I would find within. Next was the layer of sauces which included mayonnaise, ketchup, horseradish, and several different spices. The layer after that was aged swiss cheese followed by a mountain of corned beef. The whole thing was topped with sauerkraut which added acidity. Infusing the sandwich felt like eating it…almost. The problem was, I emerged from the process drooling, and I was still hungry.

The first bite made me gasp. It had not tasted as I expected it to. Somewhere in the process, my mana had altered everything. Not only did it melt in my mouth but there was an added flavor that I couldn’t place in any of the natural ingredients. It was…bitter but in a good way that brought the other elements together. The more I ate, the more I wanted.

“You really like corned beef, don’t you?” Mr. Yu asked, ignorant of the explosion of flavors I was experiencing.

I nodded, mumbling something unintelligible with my mouth full. He chuckled and I took my time finishing my meal. He’d produced the next thing for me to infuse by the time I’d finished.

“Don’t try to lift it,” he said, setting it on the workbench in front of me. “It’s far too heavy for you to hold as you are.”

Rumble Stick

Grade: C

Condition: 47

Owner: Yu

Charge: 0/5000

It looked like a baseball bat with a small wrecking ball on the end. Only, I knew there had to be more to the device just under the surface.

Info: An empowered crafted weapon that creates kinetic explosions on impact. 5000 Mana is required per charge.

A part of me expected the rumble stick to siphon mana out of me the way the infuser had but it didn’t. I started slowly, worried that it would explode violently if I pushed too much. That was what it was designed to do after all. The moment my mana entered the bat, I knew it wasn’t normal. Mr. Yu had lined the wood with veins of a type of metal that I didn’t recognize. It sucked up all the mana I offered it, ignoring the bat around it as though it wasn’t there. Once my mana hit the dense metal ball at the tip, a floodgate opened up. The next thing I knew, I was on my knees depositing the contents of my lunch all over the floor.

“That’s what happens when you expend all of your mana at once,” he explained, offering me a towel to clean myself up. “I’m sorry for letting that happen to you but it’s the best way to teach it.”

“But I’ve used all my mana on rituals before, and it’s never done that.”

Mr. Yu shrugged. “Did you use one of your class skills when you did it?”

“Sort of,” I replied, trying to piece together how Arcane Circles were tied to my Analyze skill. “I suppose it’s related, loosely.”

“Infusion is like using a pipe without a faucet,” he explained. “If you don’t come up with a way to limit the flow, you’ll expend all of your mana until you drop. Skills related to the system have automated fail-safes built in.”

I took another look at the Rumble Stick.

Rumble Stick

Grade: C

Condition: 47

Owner: Yu

Charge: 500/5000

“So I have to do this nine more times?”

He chuckled. “There is a way to do it only once.”