Damien stood 10 meters from a wooden structure with annoyance plastered on his handsome face.
"Fay?"
"Y-yes?"
"Why are the horses lying on the floor, covered in frost and not breathing?"
"Well, you killed the stable master a few weeks ago? Snapped his neck in half, do you remember?" Fay asked with annoyance evident in her voice.
Damien's glove flew over with surprising speed and grabbed Fay's neck.
"Of course, I remember; why didn't you look after the horses like I ordered you?"
"I tried, but I have no idea how to look after horses; I changed their food and water every few days," Fay responded and went limp in my grip. 'Oh crap, she's suffering from blood loss. I forgot', Damien quickly released his grip.
Damien picked up a rock from the ground with his glove and directed the glove over to a crudely made metal trough with Psychokinesis. Due to the ten-meter distance, they couldn't see the contents of the trough. But Damien already had a slight suspicion; it was January, one of the coldest months here in Kassinki. A thin layer of frost covered the ground, showing the low temperatures.
Once above the metal trough, the glove released the rock; it fell until it impacted something hard, and the sound of ice cracking resounded through the air.
Damien turned to Fay and pointed toward the stables surrounded by dead horses, "You are supposed to move the horses inside and regularly replace the water during this cold month; the water freezes over due to the cold wind, and the horses die of dehydration and lack of protection from the cold."
Fay seemed surprised by my knowledge; this wasn't knowledge I gained from playing the game but from endlessly browsing documentaries online. However, just a basic understanding of water's freezing point would allow anyone to make this assumption even without this knowledge.
A carriage was in front of the wooden stable; it was a tiny wooden box with a door-sized hole. Apart from two iron bars for axles, the rest of the carriage was no different from a glorified farmers' wagon.
The carriage had leather reigns attached to the front so a single horse could pull it. But unfortunately, the coach was so small there was no room for a coachman to sit. So instead, a servant would ride upon the horse's back and direct it manually.
A small window allowed the Baroness to direct the servant to her destination and observe her surroundings.
Damien observed the carriage and then the mud road that led out of this mansion's grounds. In most cities, the nobles like to live as near to the city's centre as possible, usually where the royal family lived. But here in Kassinki, nobles preferred living away from the loud and foul-smelling city and placed their estates around the city outskirts.
Nobles also enjoyed the freedom and space for recreational activities such as horse riding and Magic practice. Of course, some nobles still prefer to live in the city centre, but the vast majority chose to live out here.
The city walls could be seen in the distance, about a 30-minute walk away, by Damien's estimates. But that walk certainly was not a pleasant prospect in the cold weather. On the other hand, the carriage would take only around 10 minutes. Moreover, there was only a simple dirt road from here to the city gates; he would get mud on his shoes if he had to walk.
Damien had visited the city a few times since he arrived here; every time he took this carriage, he had Fay ride on the horse. Since she was a noble, horseback riding was part of her education.
But with the horses dead, was there any other way?
Damien rubbed his chin while formulating a plan, 'What about Psychokinesis?' He walked towards the carriage and climbed up to sit inside. A single wooden bench inside faced the window, allowing him to see the frost-covered dirt road leading to the city gates in the distance. 'There's no padding; it's just a simple wooden bench. The Baroness was too poor to be willing to ride in this.'
Damien released control of his gloves and closed his eyes to concentrate. He felt his mind manifest a large spectral hand behind the wall he leaned on. Giving it a push, it creaked from the force, but the carriage didn't move. Finding his efforts futile, Damien sighed, 'I thought pushing it like a toy car would work, but it seems rather inefficient.'
Damien then spread his power over the whole of the small carriage and tried to move it forward. Instead, the carriage floated a few centimetres off the ground and moved forward slightly before crashing back to Earth.
"Ugh," Damien clutched his throbbing head. 'That used way too much concentration and mana. It seems I can't just pick up the carriage and float along; it's far too heavy.'
Damien took a moment to relax and allow his [Lazy] trait to kick in and restore his mana.
"Master, are you trying to move the carriage with magic?" Fay asked from the side. Humorously, due to her short stature, she could only see the floor of the carriage and Damien's shoes.
"Yes, but it uses too much mana," Damien replied rather sluggish while still clutching his head, trying to massage the headache away.
"Did you try to move the wheels?" Fay asked.
"No… wait. The wheels!"
'I have only been using Psychokinesis to move entire objects so far; in the game, players could only grab complete objects with Psychokinesis. I was thinking of how to manipulate the individual fingers of my gloves earlier! Psychokinesis is way more versatile in real life than in the game….'
Damien took another five minutes to control his headache and then attempted the new idea.
He reached out with his mind and located the wheels. Damien knew that he didn't need to move all four wheels at once; two-wheel-drive cars existed back on Earth. He just needed to put force into two wheels, and the other two would follow along.
Only the front two wheels of the carriage could rotate to change direction; meanwhile, the back two wheels were fixed in place. Therefore, Damien chose to put power into the front two wheels and simultaneously use them to steer the carriage.
For the first attempt, Damien exerted force onto the entire wheel, his control was still lacking, so the wheels just tried to escape from their brackets to the carriage instead of rotating.
After a few failed attempts to turn the entire wheel, Damien realised, 'I need to exert physical force onto the top of the wheel to make it rotate forward.'
After another twenty minutes, Damien sat in the carriage with sweat dripping from his forehead and freezing onto his skin. He was breathing heavily but had a happy and triumphant smile.
His Psychokinesis hadn't upgraded to B grade, but he could feel he was close. His level of skill with his powers was increasing. Using magic was challenging but very rewarding, and Damien enjoyed the experience.
Wiping his brow, he turned towards the shivering Fay. She stood there quietly while watching Damien trying to move the carriage. Although the space inside the carriage was small, it technically could fit two people.
Damien felt being trapped inside a small space with that woman would be repulsive and against all his noble traits. His human mind tried to reason with his body to take the woman inside, but his vampiric body refused the notion of sharing a carriage with livestock.
She is dirty, my [Germaphobe] trait whispered.
His [Noble Vampire] soul argued that a noble vampire would never sit on the same bench as a lowly blood slave.
Damien just sighed deeply. He felt terrible, but she does want to stab him, to be fair.
Damien compromised, "I will use the carriage to get to the university. You can stand in the doorway and direct me, but you cannot sit down on the bench next to me."
He almost made her walk the rest of the distance, but that would greatly slow him down, and he was already feeling the cold more than he cared to admit.
Fay nodded and used a rock as a stool to climb up into the carriage with great effort. Finally, she sat down in the door shaped hole and dangled her legs off the edge.
Turning his gaze from her back, Damien looks forward. Then, keeping his eyes open, Damien exerted physical force on the top of the wheels, and they began to turn. Of course, the speed is slower than a horse, but the world's first Psychic powered car was on the road!
Damien stood 10 meters from a wooden structure with annoyance plastered on his handsome face.
"Fay?"
"Y-yes?"
"Why are the horses lying on the floor, covered in frost and not breathing?"
"Well, you killed the stable master a few weeks ago? Snapped his neck in half, do you remember?" Fay asked with annoyance evident in her voice.
Damien's glove flew over with surprising speed and grabbed Fay's neck.
"Of course, I remember; why didn't you look after the horses like I ordered you?"
"I tried, but I have no idea how to look after horses; I changed their food and water every few days," Fay responded and went limp in my grip. 'Oh crap, she's suffering from blood loss. I forgot', Damien quickly released his grip.
Damien picked up a rock from the ground with his glove and directed the glove over to a crudely made metal trough with Psychokinesis. Due to the ten-meter distance, they couldn't see the contents of the trough. But Damien already had a slight suspicion; it was January, one of the coldest months here in Kassinki. A thin layer of frost covered the ground, showing the low temperatures.
Once above the metal trough, the glove released the rock; it fell until it impacted something hard, and the sound of ice cracking resounded through the air.
Damien turned to Fay and pointed toward the stables surrounded by dead horses, "You are supposed to move the horses inside and regularly replace the water during this cold month; the water freezes over due to the cold wind, and the horses die of dehydration and lack of protection from the cold."
Fay seemed surprised by my knowledge; this wasn't knowledge I gained from playing the game but from endlessly browsing documentaries online. However, just a basic understanding of water's freezing point would allow anyone to make this assumption even without this knowledge.
A carriage was in front of the wooden stable; it was a tiny wooden box with a door-sized hole. Apart from two iron bars for axles, the rest of the carriage was no different from a glorified farmers' wagon.
The carriage had leather reigns attached to the front so a single horse could pull it. But unfortunately, the coach was so small there was no room for a coachman to sit. So instead, a servant would ride upon the horse's back and direct it manually.
A small window allowed the Baroness to direct the servant to her destination and observe her surroundings.
Damien observed the carriage and then the mud road that led out of this mansion's grounds. In most cities, the nobles like to live as near to the city's centre as possible, usually where the royal family lived. But here in Kassinki, nobles preferred living away from the loud and foul-smelling city and placed their estates around the city outskirts.
Nobles also enjoyed the freedom and space for recreational activities such as horse riding and Magic practice. Of course, some nobles still prefer to live in the city centre, but the vast majority chose to live out here.
The city walls could be seen in the distance, about a 30-minute walk away, by Damien's estimates. But that walk certainly was not a pleasant prospect in the cold weather. On the other hand, the carriage would take only around 10 minutes. Moreover, there was only a simple dirt road from here to the city gates; he would get mud on his shoes if he had to walk.
Damien had visited the city a few times since he arrived here; every time he took this carriage, he had Fay ride on the horse. Since she was a noble, horseback riding was part of her education.
But with the horses dead, was there any other way?
Damien rubbed his chin while formulating a plan, 'What about Psychokinesis?' He walked towards the carriage and climbed up to sit inside. A single wooden bench inside faced the window, allowing him to see the frost-covered dirt road leading to the city gates in the distance. 'There's no padding; it's just a simple wooden bench. The Baroness was too poor to be willing to ride in this.'
Damien released control of his gloves and closed his eyes to concentrate. He felt his mind manifest a large spectral hand behind the wall he leaned on. Giving it a push, it creaked from the force, but the carriage didn't move. Finding his efforts futile, Damien sighed, 'I thought pushing it like a toy car would work, but it seems rather inefficient.'
Damien then spread his power over the whole of the small carriage and tried to move it forward. Instead, the carriage floated a few centimetres off the ground and moved forward slightly before crashing back to Earth.
"Ugh," Damien clutched his throbbing head. 'That used way too much concentration and mana. It seems I can't just pick up the carriage and float along; it's far too heavy.'
Damien took a moment to relax and allow his [Lazy] trait to kick in and restore his mana.
"Master, are you trying to move the carriage with magic?" Fay asked from the side. Humorously, due to her short stature, she could only see the floor of the carriage and Damien's shoes.
"Yes, but it uses too much mana," Damien replied rather sluggish while still clutching his head, trying to massage the headache away.
"Did you try to move the wheels?" Fay asked.
"No… wait. The wheels!"
'I have only been using Psychokinesis to move entire objects so far; in the game, players could only grab complete objects with Psychokinesis. I was thinking of how to manipulate the individual fingers of my gloves earlier! Psychokinesis is way more versatile in real life than in the game….'
Damien took another five minutes to control his headache and then attempted the new idea.
He reached out with his mind and located the wheels. Damien knew that he didn't need to move all four wheels at once; two-wheel-drive cars existed back on Earth. He just needed to put force into two wheels, and the other two would follow along.
Only the front two wheels of the carriage could rotate to change direction; meanwhile, the back two wheels were fixed in place. Therefore, Damien chose to put power into the front two wheels and simultaneously use them to steer the carriage.
For the first attempt, Damien exerted force onto the entire wheel, his control was still lacking, so the wheels just tried to escape from their brackets to the carriage instead of rotating.
After a few failed attempts to turn the entire wheel, Damien realised, 'I need to exert physical force onto the top of the wheel to make it rotate forward.'
After another twenty minutes, Damien sat in the carriage with sweat dripping from his forehead and freezing onto his skin. He was breathing heavily but had a happy and triumphant smile.
His Psychokinesis hadn't upgraded to B grade, but he could feel he was close. His level of skill with his powers was increasing. Using magic was challenging but very rewarding, and Damien enjoyed the experience.
Wiping his brow, he turned towards the shivering Fay. She stood there quietly while watching Damien trying to move the carriage. Although the space inside the carriage was small, it technically could fit two people.
Damien felt being trapped inside a small space with that woman would be repulsive and against all his noble traits. His human mind tried to reason with his body to take the woman inside, but his vampiric body refused the notion of sharing a carriage with livestock.
She is dirty, my [Germaphobe] trait whispered.
His [Noble Vampire] soul argued that a noble vampire would never sit on the same bench as a lowly blood slave.
Damien just sighed deeply. He felt terrible, but she does want to stab him, to be fair.
Damien compromised, "I will use the carriage to get to the university. You can stand in the doorway and direct me, but you cannot sit down on the bench next to me."
He almost made her walk the rest of the distance, but that would greatly slow him down, and he was already feeling the cold more than he cared to admit.
Fay nodded and used a rock as a stool to climb up into the carriage with great effort. Finally, she sat down in the door shaped hole and dangled her legs off the edge.
Turning his gaze from her back, Damien looks forward. Then, keeping his eyes open, Damien exerted physical force on the top of the wheels, and they began to turn. Of course, the speed is slower than a horse, but the world's first Psychic powered car was on the road!
