Kyle thought about the Yin-Metal some more and noticed that he was getting really invested in how this weird thing worked.
'Stop!' he thought, shaking his head quickly. 'One Law at a time! Yin-Metal is a Level Two Law! If you start looking into this thing now, you might never finish!'
'First, compression!'
Kyle quickly went and repaired his hydraulic press and only used durable Rank S Material.
Then, he started compressing the metals again.
This time, he went slower since he wanted to focus on how the Fire Ether developed.
Thanks to his Ether Sense, he could feel how the Fire Ether appeared, even while it was completely surrounded by Metal Ether.
After repeating the process several times, he had already found a pattern that differed from how Fire Ether was produced via impact.
'This time, the Fire Ether actually isn't appearing out of nowhere. I can actually feel how a bit of the Metal Ether turns into Fire Ether.'
'That means the mass of an object actually reduces as it gets hotter. I don't think that's how it works on Earth, but what do I know? Can't go back to Earth and check.'
Kyle experimented with the hydraulic press for about two months and finished his overarching concept of how compression created Fire Ether.
'That was easier than the impact one,' he thought as he dismantled his hydraulic press. 'It's just a conversion of one kind of Elemental Ether into Fire Ether. It just absorbs Ether from its surroundings to heat up.'
'Theoretically, with enough pressure, I could transform the entire container into Fire Ether.'
'Anyway, next stop, chemical reaction,' he thought as he summoned a bunch of metals with certain properties.
One of them was the black stone that exploded.
'No Fire Ether in there,' Kyle thought as he looked at the black stone.
Then, he slowly moved his finger closer and poked it.
BANG!
The stone immediately exploded.
Of course, the explosion wasn't nearly strong enough to injure Kyle.
'Huh, I actually already know how this particular kind of metal works. I mean, I've detonated that thing so many times already.'
'It's kinda funny. In a way, it works similarly to how Fire Ether is created via compression. It just transforms one kind of Ether into a different kind.'
'Actually, if I break it down, isn't that how literally half of all Laws work? Oh, well.'
Kyle grabbed some other materials and detonated them as well.
Sure enough, they all worked differently but also similarly. 'There's a certain instability in the Ether that gets triggered by something in the environment. It's like inherent potential to turn into Fire Ether.'
'I mean, wood can also just turn into fire if you light it on fire. That's kinda just how fire works.'
'Speaking of, there's more than just metal.'
Kyle left the underground and grabbed a bunch of different materials.
When he got them, he just smashed them together to see if anything funny would happen.
99% of the time, nothing of note happened, but sometimes, he got surprised.
There was a kind of stone that literally just exploded into powder when put under a lot of pressure. Then, as soon as the powder was created, it immediately exploded.
'Could've used that knowledge when I was shooting myself with a cannon,' he thought.
During his experiments, Kyle had also mixed different powders together and found some powders just suddenly turning into quite hot flames as soon as they touched each other.
'I'm a chemist,' he thought as he hit one stone with another stone.
After around two months, Kyle got through all the different kinds of materials he could get his hands on.
Sadly, it wasn't enough to create an overarching concept, which meant that he had to get materials that were not readily available.
He went to some local farmers and bought a bunch of leather, wool, bones, and gallbladders.
When he got through those materials, he started to pay visits to people specializing in poisons.
These people had quite interesting materials at hand.
Sadly, that still wasn't enough, which forced Kyle to look through different cities in the Winterfire Empire for interesting materials.
Procuring the materials was annoying and time-consuming, but after another two months, Kyle was done with his overarching principle.
'Who would've guessed? Turns out, it's just one kind of Elemental Ether turning into another kind.'
'Breaking news: Water is wet, and anyone who disagrees is a pedantic asshole who people avoid talking to at parties. Lucky for them, this happens rarely. You gotta have friends to have parties.'
'Anyway, I should get to the last part… hopefully. I mean, it's possible that there's even more that I just didn't think of.'
'Just straight-up adding heat.'
'Lucky for me, I've already done that so many times that I already have some idea of how that works.'
'I mean, stuff gets hot and catches on fire.'
Kyle grabbed a bunch of materials and just added a bit of Fire Ether. At some point, Fire Ether started appearing on its own.
Kyle barely learned anything after a couple of days of watching how the Fire Ether acted in these scenarios, since there was barely anything to learn.
Most of the stuff already made sense.
Kyle dropped his materials and thought about the Law of Fire for a bit.
As he started to create an overarching concept, he realized something.
'No, this doesn't feel right. I'm missing something. Condensing the Law of Fire feels unnecessarily forceful. It's like it doesn't want to condense. I mean, I could be pushy, but I don't want to be a creep.'
'Well, if you have no idea, you gotta ask the smart guy.'
Kyle left and went to Sebastian.
Yet, before Kyle even got there, he felt a bit nervous.
It wasn't the kind of nervousness that told him that he was in danger.
"Oh, hey!" Sebastian transmitted when he sensed Kyle.
A moment later, Sebastian appeared in front of Kyle.
Kyle's eyes widened.
The speed at which Sebastian had just moved was… something else.
It was almost like he had teleported!
That was when Kyle realized what kind of nervousness he felt.
It was the kind of nervousness one felt while being with a friend who was over a foot taller than oneself.
Yeah, they wouldn't hurt you.
But deep inside, you know.
If they really wanted to hurt you…
You would be helpless.
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