We searched, following Orin, for a few hours. We went in circles for a while before someone came up behind us.
"Ingen! You lost this!" I heard him yell.
I turned around and saw a kid with my arm and two of his friends in tow running at me.
"Ay! Someone's got my back! Where did you find it?" I said, hiding my suspicion.
"It popped off when you broke through. When you walked away we noticed that it was left there. We figured you would want it returned."
'Why didn't they bring it to you in the infirmary? Seems too good to be true.'
'I like your thinking Spirit, let's analyze it when they give it to me.'
"Alright, hand it over." I retracted my Changling armor's fake arm.
The boy handed over the arm and I immediately noticed the tacks in the part that attached to my stump.
'This is the most pigheaded prank I've seen so far. Let's give him a taste of his own medicine.'
I used matter manipulation to move the tacks away from my stump and into the hand, almost sticking out. With a thought, my arm reattached and I noted that the three boys had lost their smiles.
"Hey, thanks, can I get your name?" I put out my artificial arm for a handshake, which the boy instinctively returned.
"No problem," He regained his composure and just hoped that I didn't notice "My name is UdeEEOWWW!" I stabbed his hand with the tacks.
"I sincerely thank you for getting back my arm Udeow, now please never try to trick me, especially taking advantage of my disability." I let go of his hand and detached two tacks that I launched at his friends. "And you two should stop following the leader and think for yourself."
"Why are you still standing there?" Orin growled, using Dominance.
"Bye! Thanks again!" I shouted innocently as Nalep chased after the injured kids. "Back to work then?" I turned to Orin.
"Yeah, after all, Laura has almost mastered thermal manipulation."
We worked our way back to the workshop, I would have flown but my Eneru was a little unstable and I didn't want to risk it.
"Ahh! I forgot to ask Nalep to tell me why my breakthroughs go wild! He said we'd talk about it when we separated but I got distracted with my arm!"
"I guess we will have to ask later. For now, we have to think of a better training method for Laura." Orin gestured to a lake that was partially frozen and partially boiling.
"This impact training is exhausting!" She shouted through pushups
"How much Eneru did you expend in your interval?"
"I don't know, maybe seventy percent?"
"Then you're done for today?"
"Sure, let's go get something to eat." She cooled herself with thermal manipulation and we set off.
********
Time flew by and soon it was almost time for the end-of-year assessments. I was going to graduate in three weeks.
"Total profit for the shop so far has been fourteen silver coins, but that's slowing down as people get the things they want. The best selling three things have to be the Speakwrite, Thinkwrite, and the Windcutter. I need more inspiration." I thought out loud, making sure to create a soundproof barrier around myself. Thinking out loud had given away my secrets more than once.
'I suppose you could afford to make a new product, even if it's not going to sell a lot before school is over, you will have some stuff for your shop out of school.'
'Since when did I say that I was going to open a store when I got out of school?'
'You'll need funds for a revolution, and there is no way you can start one on an employee's pay.'
'So the first step is to get cash? I just wanted ingredients.'
'Yes. you can't do anything without money.'
'Well, I guess I'm gonna have to. Anyway, what do you say I make?'
'We could test your theory about the pseudo-changeling armor.'
'True, changeling armor doesn't have to be for combat, without the Ryustitite, it's actually quite simple to make.'
With that, I started to make my own Mimic, in a simplified, slower form.
"The Dilute Mimic recipe makes like ten times more than Pure Mimic. With what I have I can make four Changeling Suits, but I don't have compression spheres for them so I'll have to sell them by the bucket." The Speakwrite took notes for me.
"Changeling Suit trial 1, no compression sphere" I activated the suit and it took form around me, copying my school uniform. "Success" I walked over to my worktable with it on, but as soon as I sat down, my upper half lost form and fell as fluid on the floor. "Strike that, failure"
'Check your desk, I think it's interference from something you made.'
I picked up each project on the desk and brought it closer to the working mimic, there was no reaction until I picked up the purifying hammer. As soon as I touched it, the Diluted Mimic on me separated into water and Pure Mimic.
"I guess that makes sense, I'll just have to put these back together." With a wave of my hand, the Mimic and water floated to the alchemy station to be reassembled.
"Speakwrite, note: Purifying hammer destabilizes Changeling Suits."
I continued on making suits and improving their design, but I never managed to fix the purification problem, I couldn't look at the spirit paper of it so it had probably been made using the same method that my Changeling Armor was.
I materialized the storefront and changed the sign, it now read:
INGEN'S INGENIOUS INVENTIONS
NEW STOCK! LIMITED TIME CHANGELING SERIES!
I set the price to four gold coins for a changeling suit, which was a good price because the materials were expensive and you would never need a new outfit.
I sold out in five minutes.