Most of the new metals went straight to the research lab for in-depth study, while a few ores were lent to the territory’s top metal users to study. This included not only Garan, but also Helios and Oslo.
This was one of the exercises Metal users did, and for now, it was unique to Alterra.
The metal users would hold a type of metal—which in Alterra could be iron or copper (or stainless steel if they were connected enough)— and had a feel of its components in hopes of improving the quality of their own metals.
This was a long and tedious process that hadn’t seen much obvious results in the past few months. However, it seemed to have worked on Garan, so a lot of the metal users followed his practice.
In Garan’s case, he could improve his metal’s malleability, creating even more intricate metals using less energy, by studying copper, while improving its hardness and resistance with stainless steel (which was closest to his own passive metal).
The others had no such luck yet. However, when the research center studied Garan’s current manifested metals versus the data they had months ago, he did show increased control over his elements, so he hadn’t stopped the exercise since then.
This new metal, Criel, was a very difficult metal, though, and Oslo, for one, had no idea what to do with it even after staring at it the entire night.
He went to visit the research lab for some clues the next day, hoping to get a hint from whatever data they had so far. Interestingly, he found Lin, the woman who found it, there.
She was quite beautiful in a different sort of way than the others. Her eyes were slightly slanted but with a blossom shape, and her hair was so black it seemed to absorb everything.
"Hello there," he said, using his voice that had a naturally flirtatious tone. "You cleaned up very well."
Any other woman would swoon or get flustered, but Lin’s eyes fixed on the metal. "So you’re giving it back now?"
"..."
He cleared his throat. "Well, no, I’m here to ask for help," he said, handing it over to her.
Because he had been holding and rubbing on it the whole night, his fingerprints were all over it. There were also traces of his own metal when he tried to feel it by encasing it with the material he was most familiar with.
Anyway, it looked a bit different from how it looked when she lent it.
Her eyebrows furrowed and she gave him a disgusted look, as if silently reprimanding him for not taking proper care of the metal.
"..."
This was the first time he received a stare like this, and he wasn’t quite sure what to do with it.
Seeing that his small talk—for once—wasn’t gaining him any favors, he decided to go straight to the point. He cleared his throat because it suddenly felt a little tight.
"I’m here to ask for assistance," he said. "I learned from Miss Althea that learning more about something’s composition would help me understand it more."
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