After leaving the smithy, I head for my little magical research institute.

As I’m almost getting there, I laugh at what I see. A big MRI sign with the exact words I just thought written under it. A 5-foot wide sign just sitting in front of the building. They were probably a little tipsy when they decided it was a good idea to call the institute that, but it’s not like I particularly care what they call it.

Inside I see Burges, head of the whole thing. As I enter it, I begin:

“Hi, it seems things are going well.”

He looks down at my laying form and a little awkwardly starts to speak.

“Hi Nash, you came for something specific or just want to check on things?”

“A little bit of both. Point me to someone that has the time to run me through all the research. And to where are the notes stored, so I can go over them.”

“I have the time, it will be better than letting some intern do the job.”

“Ok, That works for me,” I say simply as he turns and heads to a bookshelf with a lot of papers strewn over it. After a minute, he comes back with a good amount of the notes in hand and says:

“I think these are what you haven’t read yet. We need to come up with a better system, we were thinking of hiring some dedicated to it, but the budget is barely hanging on as it is.”

“We can discuss this later. Now let's sit and go over it all.”

It takes some maneuvering for me to get to a comfortable position that will allow me to see the papers on top of the table without being in pain. Just shifting the weight of my internal organs is enough for me to reactive displeased feedback from my side.

We sit there for well over an hour, much slower than if I had done it alone, but there were advantages to having someone going over everything with you like this. They could never capture everything on pieces of paper, and Burges not only understands magic but was present for most of the experiments.

I also put my two cents on their methodology and helped with a few of the problems they were having. He attentively listened given my experience with mana. As we run out of papers to leave through, he has a much better understanding of the ideas I had in mind.

“Now I’m caught up, there are a couple of things I want to handle. First, hire more mages. As many as you can with a daily 5 silver budget, try not to inflate the economy with it. So be conscientious of the money you are putting in the economy, but don’t be stingy either.”

“I can hire an accountant or something to help, along with a scribe or two to organize the research paperwork.”

”That is fine, just keep what I told you in mind.”

“The few volunteers we have working for free will be excited.”

“Yep. Done correctly, they will be a much better choice than anyone only coming for the money. Either way, send me a report of how the money is being spent every week.”

“Sure, but what lines of research do you want us to take? That is a lot of money to sink on just the transmitter and its communication applications.”

“I disagree, but let’s first pick other low-hanging fruit. No need to excessively rush things there Merling is working on it as well, focus on a few other things. I want to research how to make runes faster. What are the limitations? Can they be cast from molten metal already in shape and still work? Could you do it without someone with the appropriate skills even being involved?

“If that is not possible, what else could speed up the process? I want easier and faster ways to work. I want to understand the system and its seemingly arbitrary rules. Plus, seeing the magical inventions starting to make their way in the village, expanding our understanding of runes seems the prudent course of action.”

“You want a carriage that finally works?”

“For example. That said, don’t put too many people on it. If you a good idea pursuit. Otherwise, let the others in the village work on it, there are already plenty of people going over this exact problem. I’m talking about efficient, or rather different battery designs, different designs for mana conduits, runic control structures. If you can figure it out how to get video working over the comm network, would be amazing as well.”

“Ok, just that?” He says a little sarcastically. A disarming grin on his face tells me it was not a barb, just a reminder of the difficulty of the task.

“Put some people together to just throw things at the wall and leave the doors open so that everyone else also feels free to indulge in those kinds of thoughts. In moderation, mind you. If Merlin tried to keep things rigid, he would never have discovered the uses of his repelling rune used on our metal tires. This particular effect is not even remotely its ‘proper use’, just a ‘side effect’. Our entire carriage fleet is dependent on it otherwise we would not have decent carriages.”

“Or the shock absorbers.”

I look at him, not knowing about this particular development. Perhaps they found a way to make a simple shock absorber fit into the carriages without adding a ton of complexity.

Shaking my head, I come back to the matters at hand.

“Either way, I want a couple of specific things I mentioned. Besides that, I’m leaving my wish list, and if anyone has a viable strategy to go about it, put it into practice. Just don’t be afraid in your pursuit of magic. I want a broad base of knowledge early on for us to continue building upon. Also, get the comm table here fully connected with the city’s grid. I want to call from my house. There is no reason we shouldn’t make full use if there is already a link from the village. It will save me plenty of time.”

“I think it’s already integrated, you just need to ask the operator to connect to us. If that is all I will get on with it.”

“Yeah, yeah, go ahead,” I say no longer paying attention to him. I was focused on something else, my magical dream list.

-Flying vehicle

-Bicycle

-Text-based data transmission

-Automated engraver

-Magical 3d printer or similar

…

The list ends up pretty long, and I had some ideas of how a few of them could be made, but to spend any real-time in the minutia of getting them working was not a very efficient use of my time.

Next, I go to the back wall of the village. There is almost no one here, only a couple of guards occasionally roaming through to make sure no one was sneaking in.

I grow my roots a little above the ground, and start to experiment. After all, it seemed as if I would be stuck ‘in bed’ for a little while, it just seemed prudent to learn what I could do.

I start by just trying to increase the speed through different methods. I try and try, but half an hour later, I’m left deeply disappointed. Any kind of normal solution is either limited to the speed I can walk, or it becomes too bumpy for my condition.

Next, I spend half an hour growing the precise shapes of three wheels.

I succeed in going faster, but I don’t trust it enough to go much faster than walking speed. Not while I’m wounded. A fourth wheel would add a little bit of stability and trust to the system, but not enough I spend the time growing it. Still, I could use a hybrid approach, and I would be safe I kept my speed to below twice walking speed. It was already better than nothing.

I spend another few minutes on it, but in the end, no better idea shows up. There are other more pressing concerns. Like my finally getting my Pando coin off the ground. I had spent a few minutes here and there fiddling with it and it never headed anywhere. But I had a feeling it was important, very important. So, trusting my gut, I went and started to do something about it.

After getting a pair of tools from the smithy and ordering a simple machine to be made from steel, I head for what a few have come to call the secondary forge. A small room sitting on the back wall of the smelter. A small opening on it allowed me to place metal inside the fires of the smelter. It was not quite as good as Mr. Blackwood’s shop, but it was serviceable. Especially for something like what I was doing.

I start by Organizing all the tools and metals inside my inner world. Also, with the help of my roots, I cut a pair of deep iron ingots in the rough shape I need. Not a cylinder as I wish I could, but a hexagonal prism. Witch some would argue is the better choice for a coin die.

Thecnicly I could have done it nearly perfectly smooth with enough time, or if I spend some time on the dexterity of my roots, but it wasn’t strictly needed.

The fact, I can't move my own body is a significant detriment to the speed of my work. And it may not even allow me to increase my skill level… I think. But having everything inside my inner world, especially after this strange sixth sense of mine came into the picture is an entirely new experience I would trade for nothing.

With my new sense, I can see the legs on an ant if she stands inside the inner world, but outside even the biggest ants are just blobs, even against a smooth and clear background.

I focus my perception on the surface of the blocks I cut. Even the roughness of the metal becomes clear as day in this new sense. It is otherwise only noticeable because of the way light doesn’t glint on the metal’s surface, or if you run your nails over the surface.

I make try to make full use of this. Not much changes from the usual way of doing things for most of the work. It probably would, depending on the items, but for something like this, it’s only the last step that the stark difference makes itself known. Carving the face of the dies. The training in fine muscle control I accumulated over my life and this tutorial are of no use here.

I meticulously go over each line with absolute precision and carve them in the precise shape I want. Each of the lines reveals a little bit of the picture hidden under it. I even increase my Aether cycling to make this the best possible.

Seconds pass, then minutes, and then hours. I get lost in the process. Time which had become such a close companion of late, losses its meaning for a while. There is absolutely nothing else in the world I would rather be doing right now.

Thoughts come unbidden to me, like clouds.

I miss Pando, and although the little seedling by my side was a great comfort, it was like missing a friend while having his son beside you. This feeling would not fade while I didn’t come back to earth. I knew that what my heart longed for was there.

I expressed all of that and much much more in the tiny, but significant work just beyond my fingertips.

And like a cloud, I let go of the thought, until it comes again.

When I can think of nothing else to add, and my work is perfect to my eyes, I finally say:

“It’s complete.”

I stare as what I have just done comes to me. I watch the silver engraved die for a 10 copper coin. Hardened deep steel that will last tens of thousands of presses. Channels for mana to be imprinted in the making of the coin. The result, I would see in just a few minutes.

I take ten silver coins, nearly all of the money with me, and melt it. After casting it, I finish growing a wood replacement for the press I ordered and carefully place the misshapen lump of silver in the middle of the bottom die.

Pushing both parts together, I channel my entire mana pool, along with some more mana that I absorb and pass inside my own mana pool. The almost ritualistic action may have absolutely no effect, but I do it nonetheless.

A thousand mana enters the coin with a little bit of my Aether. Tough the more precious resource doesn’t stay as the coin is not a living entity.

I twist and turn the roots, pressing down as hard as the wood would let me. The pressure is immense, equivalent to what a hydraulic press puts out, even if using my roots is not a fast process. I relax and unwind the makeshift press to bring the coin to me.

I feel it in my fingers, and I’m proud. There is however something missing. I feel the root shapes formed in the middle, Pando’s image at the back, and the value at the front. A true work of art, but something nags at me, and I don’t let go of the nagging feeling. As I listen to it, I feel the problem is the lack of life.

With care, I grow a root interweaving it to the roots in the middle. Barely a tenth of the volume of the coin, but it changes completely how I look at it. Almost as if I knew all along that this was how it was supposed to look. As the roots finish growing, I’m happy with the general shape, but this coin is the first. And it’s also made of silver, It deserves something special. Something else that I need to add…

No, not add, just change. I send it back to my inner world while still keeping physical contact with it. My entire awareness is focused on it. Not a smidge is on all the other thousands of things that could be occupying my mind.

Not even the rest of the roots. Juts this piece of it, and knowledge that never before made itself known to me comes into mind. A different connection, not deeper just more detailed. It’s almost like I can feel the individual cells. And I focus on every single one of them trying to make them greater, stronger, heavier.

There are perhaps better methods to go about it, but in my inexperience, I stare at it like I’m looking at balsa wood, and I want to make it into the richest and strongest ebony possible.

I don’t entirely succeed, but what I end up, is perhaps even better.

About twice as strong and more alive somehow, I finally let go of it. Now, I can honestly say I’m finished.

The elation that Pando’s seed was transmitting to me, is now echoed within. He takes notice of my actions. It seems even he liked the direction I took.

With interest, he starts to do something similar on all the roots in the inner world. He splits his time between the new additions to the inner world and this new method.

With a smile I lookout, and I see the last of the day’s sun rays. I don’t regret for a moment the 9 hours I put into this endeavor.