Chapter 171. Center-parted Has a Promising Future
"Give it to me."
Natsume snatched the milky-white short dagger and small round shield from center-parted's hands.
"Pikachu?"
Center-parted looked at Natsume in confusion, only to see him envelop the dagger and shield with telekinesis and knead them hard.
In no time, the short dagger was kneaded into a small handgun.
The small round shield was kneaded into a pile of nails and bullets.
With a sweep of his hand, Natsume scattered the nails on the ground.
"Bang!"
A jeep's tire popped, the vehicle lost control, and rolled onto its side.
The next second, a chibi Natsume, as if following preset programming, instantly conjured another jeep and barreled toward Natsume and center-parted.
Natsume raised the little handgun and aimed at the jeep's tire.
He pulled the trigger.
"Bang!"
Natsume was sucked under the vehicle.
After a while, Natsume picked up a heap of viscera and walked out.
"Weird. Why didn't it work?"
He reassembled his body parts in order, and the Life Doll hopped down from the car, streams of blue telekinesis pouring into Natsume to repair his mental body.
Natsume stared at the Life Doll, momentarily dazed.
Ever since stepping into the inner world, Natsume had found many clever uses for this extra Life Doll.
Often, it felt like a tiny clone of himself.
Born from his own telekinesis, a single thought was all it took to project himself into it.
In his inner-world laboratory, the entity conducting experiments was the Life Doll.
And when the inner-world laboratory wasn't needed, he could stash it in center-parted's mental world to serve as a merciless training machine.
But today, Natsume wasn't here to study the Life Doll.
From the Life Doll's feedback, he learned that center-parted was getting more and more adept at using the milky-white vapor.
So Natsume came to test it himself.
He guessed this milky-white vapor was something that built dreams.
After all, this place itself was essentially center-parted's dream.
The milky-white mist could concretely manifest things from the outside world within the dream and carry the same traits.
He had discovered this by testing the short dagger and small round shield.
In that case, why not manifest something more formidable?
"Pikachu!"
Center-parted picked up the milky-white little handgun, carefully kneaded it back into a round shield, and slung it on his back.
"Hand it over."
The next second, Natsume snatched the shield again.
With a thought, he kneaded the shield into a little handgun.
Natsume raised the little handgun and aimed at his own head.
"Click!"
Nothing happened.
"Huh?"
Natsume was puzzled.
How could that be? It should carry some of the outside world's properties.
He willed it, and the little handgun became a small hammer.
Natsume brought it down on his own head.
"Thud!"
His head burst open, blood everywhere.
He sat there woozy for quite a while.
Why? Could it be that only simple things retained outside traits?
That shouldn't be right; in theory, it should be developable.
"Pikachu?"
Center-parted had already picked up the little nails, and the milky-white mist had morphed into a tiny stool.
He sat on it, looking curiously at Natsume.
His Trainer seemed to have a bit of a masochistic streak.
Seeing the Pokémon Center–style little stool under center-parted, Natsume froze.
He held the little handgun up in front of center-parted.
"Do you recognize this thing?"
"Pikachu—"
Center-parted shook his head.
"Oh."
Natsume nodded as if enlightened.
"Then I'm telling you now: this thing is called a gun. When I press this trigger, it will make a loud bang."
Center-parted nodded.
Seeing that, Natsume pulled the trigger.
"Wooo-wooo!"
No bullet came out; only Dragonite's roar sounded from the little handgun.
Natsume blinked, then used telekinesis to simulate the sound of a gunshot to demonstrate.
"Bang!"
"It's this sound. Got it?"
"Pikachu!"
Center-parted nodded.
He understood—of course he did—as long as the Trainer wasn't making him do special training, he understood everything.
Natsume kept pulling the trigger.
"Bang!"
Still no bullet, but this time the little handgun produced an authentic gunshot.
Without further talk, Natsume gave center-parted a direct visualization of the little handgun firing.
"Understand?"
Natsume looked at center-parted, full of hope.
"Pikachu?"
Center-parted nodded, half understanding.
Natsume pulled the trigger once more.
"Bang!"
A tongue of flame flared at the muzzle, the bullet fired, and struck the grass.
"Poof~"
Natsume's delight hadnn't yet faded when the bullet hit the ground and melted into a patch of milky-white mist.
Natsume turned and fixed his gaze on center-parted.
"Pikachu?"
Center-parted also tilted his head in puzzlement at Natsume.
"This thing is supposed to be lethal, you know?"
"Pikachu—"
Center-parted nodded.
After several tries, the results were still unsatisfying.
Gritting his teeth, Natsume poured out a massive surge of telekinesis, conjured a huge screen inside center-parted's dream world, and began explaining in exhaustive detail the destructive power of firearms, the principles behind that destruction, and the specific construction of the little handgun in his hand.
No one knew how long it took.
"Bang!"
Center-parted raised the little handgun and aimed at the oncoming jeep's tire.
"Bang!"
The bullet punched through the tire.
The jeep lost its balance, swayed left and right, and toppled on its side within a few meters.
"Pikachu!"
Center-parted looked at Natsume in delight.
Why didn't you tell me there was something this good earlier!
Seeing this, Natsume wiped the sweat from his brow and let out a long breath.
Teaching center-parted knowledge was harder than volunteering to teach in a remote region.
Fortunately, he did take it in.
Natsume could now also pin down the criterion for whether the white mist's manifestations would work.
It had nothing to do with simplicity versus complexity, and nothing to do with anything except center-parted himself—it depended solely on center-parted's understanding.
If center-parted clearly understood an implement's construction and its general physical characteristics,
and the principles underpinning those traits, then the item manifested by the white mist could share those properties.
For example, a short sword—very sharp, able to cut.
A small round shield—very tough, able to protect you.
As for whether center-parted could use the mist to make a llama—
In theory, yes; it was his dream, and you could conjure whatever you wanted.
But manifesting in a dream required center-parted to be intimately familiar with the target.
Otherwise, even if he made a llama, it would just be an empty shell with only an exterior.
Manifesting living creatures—
Natsume didn't expect that fist-sized head of his to hold that much knowledge.
In the room, center-parted opened his eyes, still not fully satisfied.
"Come here!"
Natsume pinched the back of center-parted's neck and set him in front of his computer.
A video was playing on the computer—a classroom.
There was a whiteboard, and in front of it stood a white-bearded old man.
"Pikachu?"
Center-parted looked at the whiteboard.
There were human words he couldn't read and pictures that looked a lot like the little handgun Natsume had kneaded.
Only the "guns" in those pictures were strange—some with very long tubes, some with bipods, and even the "bullets" were enormous!
"I paid for this online course for you on Rainbow University's official site."
"Watch carefully. From now on, you'll watch online classes by day and do willpower training by night!"
Natsume felt his plan was perfect.
At that, center-parted's vision went dark.
There went his daytime free time, too.
"Pikachu—"
I can't read human writing—
Center-parted felt he could still make a dying struggle and try to haggle.
"It's fine. The 'me' in your head can read it and will sync it to you via telepathy."
Natsume smiled and patted center-parted's little head.
If center-parted studied diligently, he might pilot a mecha before Natsume did.
But center-parted being diligent was unlikely.
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