Hah… Finally, the flashback is over. Cain takes a deep breath, calming his nerves and collecting his thoughts. His eyes open slowly, revealing a wooden ceiling. I don't recognize this ceiling… wait, since when was I lying down? He abruptly sits up, his gaze falls on the assassins sitting before him, still unconscious.

—Dms: Cain and Dresil— (22ms)

Cain: ...did you move me while I was in the flashback?

Dresil: Yes Master. You were hunched over. If you stayed like that, your back would've been messed up.

Dresil: It is currently 7:26pm by the way. You've been in that… trance for 22 minutes.

Cain: Sweet, thanks. Can you heal any brain damage that may have occurred in Myles and take note of where and how it occurred?

Dresil: Yes, Master. Shall I make a model of his brain using mana?

Cain: Yep, let me know if you need my help. Sustain the model using a magic circle and I'll put enough mana in there to last it a week. Ask Bob to create a small dimension to store the models.

Cain: Also make sure the assassins stay unconscious.

Dresil: Understood Master.

--------------------------

Dang, Dresil is the best. Let's wrap this up so I can sleep. ...Crap, I need to take a bath. I'll think about my plans while doing so. Pleased with the flow of events, Cain sighs a little bit and walks behind the assassins, facing the corner of the room. Although there is a bucket of water outside intended for cleaning, it's not enough for what he plans to do.

Cain stares off into the empty corner, his back facing the backs of the assassins, formulating the requirements for his bath. Hmm… I'll need an ellipsoid of water roughly 1.5 meters tall, with a cross section being a circle that has a radius of 1 meter. That should give me enough room.

A mana net of roughly those specifications appears before Cain. The threads grow thicker before shrinking in on themselves, leading to a denser and stronger twine. This process happens thrice, followed by the holes of the net being filled with dense mana layers, as if they were panes of glass. A magic circle appears beneath the ellipsoid, or egg-shaped, mana net. It's sole purpose is to maintain the integrity of the net and provide its mana supply.

I'll need about 788 kilos of water to fill this net… Heck. Although I'll just need to fill it up roughly 85% of the way so I can still fit without overflowing it… There's no way there's 670 kilos of water in the air around here… Guess I'll just have to steal the water from the other rooms…

Cain focuses his senses on the Mana Zone, using it to perceive the dimensions of the water bucket outside his room and the other buckets inside the zone. At most, the buckets can carry 15 kilos safely… looks like I'll need to borrow from 50 rooms, with 5 of them being extra for the next step…

He extends a stream of mana in a bee line across the complex housing the apartments, targeting 50 random rooms' buckets; this was to avoid suspicion that he had a part to play in it. After every bucket was marked, he converted the contents into mana, and directed the newly created streams of mana into spatial portals that opened up above the buckets.

Since Cain was busy focusing on the task at hand, Dresil had contacted Bob and coordinated with him to open the portals above the buckets. In this way, they were able to avoid any suspicion from individuals who would've been able to notice the massive streams of mana that should've flown into Cain's room.

The exit portal opened inside the mana net, dumping millions upon millions of mana inside. Cain quickly converted the mana into water while Bob synced the output of the mana to Cain's creation speed.

Roughly an hour later, all of the mana was completely made into water that now sloshed around inside the net. Cain's knees almost buckled due to his exhaustion; the only thing keeping him from doing so was Dresil who still resided in his clothes.

—Group Chat: Cain, Dresil, Bob, and Rex—(37ms)

Cain: Finally… Thanks for the help guys.

Dresil: Anytime Master.

Bob: You're welcome.

Rex: ...I didn't even do anything, but np.

Cain: ...Rex go boil the water. Bob, can you create a dimension and open a portal to it inside the mana net? Size doesn't matter. I'll refer to it as Mana Trash from now on; I'll eventually convert everything in it to mana.

Bob: Understood.

Rex: Wait, what?! Why?

Cain: Either that or more thermodynamics chapters.

Rex: Nope, nope. I'm boiling, I'll do it.

Dresil: :laughing point:

Bob: :eating popcorn:

Rex: :cry_pain:

Cain: Bob, can you make sure the height of the net doesn't change? If you need help with it, think of it as freezing the coordinates of the mana net, with the origin of the coordinate system being that bottom corner of the room.

Bob: I'll try, no guarantees though.

Cain: That's good enough. Dresil, can you record the experience? Some basic things that need to be recorded: mana and height fluctuations, change in position per mana unit consumed, and if there's any jittering (inconsistent or unwanted movement).

Dresil: Understood Master.

--------------------------

The bottom of the mana net, where the magic circle was keeping it intact, is currently at Cain's waist level. A large flame lights up under the net, quickly heating the water inside to boiling temperature. A small portal opens up above it in which the vapor escapes into.

Seeing that things are being taken care of, Cain relinquishes his control over the mana net. If Bob wasn't ensuring the net didn't move, it would have fallen due to gravity at this point. It convulses slightly, then slowly stabilizes itself. Dresil takes this moment to completely leave Cain's clothes. She sits on the edge of the bed in a nightgown, intently observing the assassins.

After relinquishing his control over the net, Cain began to undress, converting his dirty clothes into mana as he took them off. When he went to take his shoes off, his fingers latched onto his socks instead. Eh…? I thought I had shoes on, why is it just my socks… They're even disguised as shoes though…

—Dms: Cain and Dresil—(13ms)

Dresil: You were summoned without shoes, Master. After I ate your shirt, I tried fortifying your socks to prevent tears. I kept improving on it whenever I learned something new and it eventually matched the hardness of a leather shoe while still being soft on the inside.

Dresil: That's why you didn't notice.

Cain: Huh… so it's like whenever I have my hats on and forget they're there… Wait! My haaaaaaaaaatsssss. :cry_pain:

Cain: Is there anything you can't do?

Dresil: Hehe~

--------------------------

Cain takes his socks off and converts them into mana; leaving his bare body exposed for all to see. That is, except for two sturdy roots that clung to his waist and wrapped around his knees, preventing him from collapsing.

He converts all of the newly generated mana into his own, observing the process intently through his eyes; every feature being unrestricted. It really is reproducing like a pathogen… hardly any mana is being consumed for the process, too… Interesting.

While Cain was observing his mana reproduction, Rex extinguished the fire beneath the water net. A film made of fire then covered the net of water, creating mana seemingly out of nothing. The portal inside the net closed while this was happening.

—Dms: Cain and Rex— (11ms)

Rex: It's done. I even cooled it down for you.

Cain: Sweet. Were you hoping for less workload?

Rex: Maybe…

Cain: Pfft. Don't worry, you've got the rest of today off; once you answer my questions. After that it should just be mediocre work from there.

Rex: :celebration:

--------------------------

—Dms: Cain and Bob—(14ms)

Cain: Can you create two portals, one for each of my nostrils, then a portal inside the room?

Cain: The goal is to make it so I can breathe while inside the net.

Bob: Understood. The positions of the nostril portals may flicker somewhat.

Cain: As long as it's smoothed out before I go for the plunge. If you need help, take my face as the coordinate plane; the bridge between my nose and eyes would be the origin.

Cain: It should be easier than maintaining the mana net's position.

Bob: Understood.

--------------------------

Cain stuck his hand inside the water net to gauge its temperature. Perfection. A small smirk appears on his face, sending chills down Rex's spine. He pulls his hand out and shakes it lightly to dry it off.

Three portals were instantly created, 2 of which roughly where Cain's nostrils were. Cain started moving his head in abnormal directions; while moving his body in the opposite direction. This helped Bob calibrate the exact position due to the real time results and values he could manipulate.

A few seconds passed of Cain doing this funky dance until the portals were firmly seated in front of Cain's nostrils. He takes a few big deep breaths, listening intently for any signs of whistling. If there was any, it would have represented a gap between the portal and his nostrils, thus posing a danger during the bath.

He continues to do this for a minute. Only after getting confirmation from Dresil, whose hearing range exceeds the average human's, is Cain convinced. He closes the distance between the capsule of water and himself that the funky dance created.

He stuck one arm in, letting sit in there for a solid few seconds. The hairs on his arm stood on end, then gave way to water; swaying back and forth. His pores opened and closed. His skin was seemingly alive.

When his arm experienced something similar to goosebumps, the rest of his body was still. When the skin on his arm relaxed, the rest of his body experienced goosebumps. This cycle repeated thrice, making it seem like his skin was breathing.

After the third cycle, Cain plunged his other arm in, shortly followed by his upper body. He used the muscles in his abs and back to lift his legs off the ground and curl them to his chest. The roots on his body gave way to the net, falling to the floor as they contacted the water. His body folded into the fetus position, slowly rotating until his head broke the surface of the water.

—Dms: Cain and Bob— (11ms)

Cain: Open up the Mana Trash dimension, but don't let anything out yet.

Cain: I recommend taking this chance to configure the dimension so that everything but natural mana can enter, and only mana can exit.

Bob: Understood. What will you do with the mana then?

Cain: Once all of your tasks are done, I'll need you to create a dimension to store it all. We'll have to work on it together to ensure a low decay rate.

Bob: Understood.

--------------------------

Cain directed the mana created from his clothes to the top of the water capsule. Two magic circles formed, in which a soap bar slowly took shape above each one. A portal leading to the Mana Trash dimension opened above his head, allowing a small stream of Cain's mana to enter.

His mana spread to the walls of the cubic dimension, creating magic circles on the boundaries of it to turn all matter inside to mana. The natural mana that was created was then converted to Cain's mana and filed out of the portal; creating water on it's exit.

The bars of soap were finished at roughly the same time as the ellipsoid was filled to the brim. A mana net formed around each bar, allowing Cain to manipulate it as if he had telekinesis. They plunged into the ellipsoid; the magic circles they were created from disappeared shortly after.

The soap swam throughout the ellipsoid, furiously scrubbing every nook and cranny. Occasionally, Cain would extend his arms or legs slightly to allow the soap to pass. Several minutes passed while the bars of soap flew around Cain at varying speeds and directions. Hmm… I should be able to do this using little brain power now. It's time to think about the next steps, but first I need to get a good grasp on everyone's abilities.