Not the usual wind through leaves, not birdsong—no, it was deeper. A dull resonance, like every tree, every stone, every scrap of moss was an out-of-tune instrument.
I walked with the quartz fragment clenched in my palm, my only anchor in a world that refused to stay stable. Without it, everything dissolved into a fog of floating atoms and bonds—a puzzle missing the box to check the final picture.
— Need shelter. Or make one. Not the time to figure out what the hell is going on.
I stopped near a stream. The water ran murky, thick with grayish sediment. The pebbles weren’t smooth—they were rough, coated in a slimy film that glowed faintly in the Ether’s light.
A sharp smell rose from the water—not moss and wet stone, but something metallic, rotten.
I could also see the water molecules buzzing like swarms of bees, their hydrogen bonds flickering like faulty neon.
The Ether—that golden thing seeping into everything, no matter how small—swirled around the current, as if riding its kinetic energy. I crouched, dipped my fingers in.
Cold. Normal. Almost normal.
I looked up.
The forest sloped gently, but it wasn’t a healthy forest. The trees leaned away, as if fleeing something. The cliffs in the distance weren’t just gray—they were stained with blackened patches where the rock seemed to have melted and recristallized.
— Need a spot that’s less… cursed.
I followed the stream upstream, avoiding areas where the golden mist swirled into vortices—Ether hotspots, as I’d started thinking of them.
With every step, I had to consciously overlay the two visions: the normal forest (trees, rocks, moss) and the real forest (unstable atomic grids, erratic Ether flows, matter that seemed to breathe). My brain protested. It felt like reading a book while listening to two different podcasts in languages I only half-understood.
— Maybe if I close one eye…
Nope. Of course not.
A rustle in the bushes. I froze.
Nothing. Just wind. Or an animal. Or—
— Stop. You’re getting paranoid.
I kept walking, slower now, scanning the rocky walls lining the stream. Most were cracked, their fissures filled with a golden glow that pulsed like a dying star. Then, between two thorny bushes, a darker shadow.
A cave.
Not big—barely enough to lie down in—but deep enough to block the wind. I crouched at the entrance, brushing the ground with my fingertips. Dry. No mold. No glowing fungi (at least, none visible to the naked eye—because at the atomic level, everything glowed a little now).
— This spot looks decent.
I stepped inside. The air was cooler, thick with the scent of damp earth and stone. Normally, I’d find that comforting. Here, I also saw the walls breathing—oxygen and silicon atoms vibrating slightly, as if alive.
The Ether here was less dense than by the stream, but still present, threading through cracks like smoke in a hallway.
I pressed my hand against the rock.
A vibration.
Not in my fingers. In my bones.
— Feedback?
I pulled my hand away. The vibration stopped. I pressed it again. It returned, stronger this time, as if the stone recognized something in me.
— I’m losing it.
I took the quartz from my pocket, pressed it against the wall.
The vision sharpened.
Atoms aligned in my mind, their bonds becoming clear, logical. The cave wasn’t just a random hollow—it was a structure, with stress points and stable zones. The cracks weren’t weaknesses, but pathways, places where Ether seeped in to… what? Repair? Destroy? No idea.
But one thing was certain: here, I could act.
I closed my eyes, took a deep breath.
This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.
— Alright. Let’s not blow everything up.
The first contact was an accident.
I just wanted to feel the rock. Understand how it reacted. My fingers brushed a fissure near the ground, where Ether pooled in a thin golden thread. A thought crossed my mind—what if I could seal it?—and suddenly, the stone moved.
Not physically. Not yet.
First, a sensation of resistance, like pressing my fingers into modeling clay. Then a diffuse warmth spreading from my palm along the crack. I jerked my hand back.
The fissure was gone.
[MINOR MATERIAL MODIFICATION (STANDARD STONE): STRUCTURAL REINFORCEMENT]
[First-Time Bonus / Ether Use / Tangible World Impact]
+30 XP
Progress: 57/100 toward Level 2
In its place, a smooth line, almost polished, as if someone had sanded the rock for hours. I touched it. Solid. Stable. Perfectly stable.
— So… I can fix things?
I stepped back, examining the wall. The Ether around the modified area swirled faster now, like water around a rock in a stream. I hadn’t added anything—just… rearranged. As if I’d recoded a chunk of reality in real time.
— Cool. Super cool. Now I just need to figure out how I did that.
I sat cross-legged facing the wall, the quartz clenched in my left hand. With my other hand, I mentally traced the cave’s contours—stable zones (little Ether, coherent atomic structure) and unstable ones (cracks, Ether buildups). If I wanted this place to be livable, I needed to reduce the stress points.
— Hypothesis: Ether behaves like pressurized fluid. It seeps where matter is weak. If I reinforce the structure, it should flow elsewhere.
I placed my hand on the rock again, this time near a larger fissure. I focused on the silicon, oxygen, aluminum, and iron atoms—strangely, I could identify them—and their covalent bonds. In my mind, I saw them rearrange, forming a denser network.
Nothing happened.
— Maybe I need to… want it?
I closed my eyes.
I want this fissure gone.
Heat in my palm. Then sharp pain, like needles under my fingernails. I gritted my teeth but didn’t let go.
— Fuck—
A sharp crack.
I opened my eyes.
The fissure had shrunk by half. The rock around it was darker, almost vitrified. And the Ether—it was fleeing now, as if driven out of the area.
[MINOR MATERIAL MODIFICATION (STANDARD STONE): STRUCTURAL REINFORCEMENT]
[Ether Use]
+11 XP
Progress: 68/100 toward Level 2
— OK. It works. But it hurts.
I shook out my hand. My fingers were red, as if burned. No blisters, no visible marks—just a tension, like I’d overworked an unknown muscle.
— Note to self: don’t overdo it. Or find a way to reduce side effects.
I stood, inspecting the rest of the cave. Two more major fissures near the ceiling, and one spot where the ground seemed… soft. I knelt to examine it. On the surface, it was normal dirt.
But looking through—at the atomic level—I saw the bonds between particles were loose, almost liquid. Ether swirled freely there, forming tiny golden vortices.
— If I touch this carelessly, I’ll probably end up with a gaping hole in the floor.
I searched for a flat stone nearby, found one by the stream. I picked it up, placed it on my thigh to examine it. Granite. Solid. Stable.
— Perfect for testing.
I focused on the stone, visualizing its internal structure. Then I pushed—not with my hands, but with… I didn’t know what to call it. My will? My imagination? Whatever it was, I felt resistance, then a mental click.
The stone changed.
Not its shape—its texture. The surface became smoother, almost glassy to the touch. And when I flipped it over, I saw tiny crystals had formed inside, as if it had been under extreme pressure for centuries.
[MINOR MATERIAL MODIFICATION (GRANITE): STRUCTURAL REINFORCEMENT]
+15 XP
Progress: 83/100 toward Level 2
— Good. So I can modify matter. Not just repair it.
I smiled.
Then the stone exploded.
A shard grazed my cheek. I stumbled back, swearing, hand on my skin—no blood, but a thin, burning scratch.
— What the hell?!
Granite fragments were now scattered around me, some still intact, others reduced to fine dust. Ether swirled around the debris like seagulls around a fishing boat.
— Too fast. Too hard.
I rubbed my temples.
— Need to find balance.
I returned to the cave, determined to go slower this time. The two ceiling fissures could wait. For now, I needed to stabilize the ground.
I sat cross-legged in front of the unstable area, placing both hands flat on the loose soil.
— Gently.
I closed my eyes.
This time, I didn’t force. I suggested. As if whispering to the matter instead of shouting orders. The atoms responded in gentle waves—tiny rearrangements, almost imperceptible. The earth gradually compacted under my palms, growing denser, more coherent.
When I opened my eyes ten minutes later, the ground had hardened into a smooth gray slab.
[MINOR MATERIAL MODIFICATION (SOIL): STRUCTURAL REINFORCEMENT]
[Stabilization Bonus]
+15 XP
Progress: 98/100 toward Level 2
Structural modifications seemed to give less and less XP. Probably because I kept using the same rocks and doing the same thing. Redundancy must reward less.
A thin golden line glowed on my wrists—Ether clinging to my skin like static dust.
— Great. Now I glow in the dark.
I stood up, wincing (unknown muscles protesting), then left the cave to search for more quartz.
If I wanted to survive here, I needed more than shelter.
I needed tools.