Chapter 145: Capacity Expansion
Chapter 145: Capacity Expansion
Occasionally, boasting with Wei Dalei was a rare and relaxing activity for Chen Mu in his monotonous life. He never expected that Old Wei would foolishly go and boast to Tang Jing.
Oh no, he'll never be able to face Tang Jing again.
In the following days, Tang Jing hardly approached anyone to study the abilities, yet she remained very busy. When she wasn't sitting at the conference table, rapidly writing something, she was chatting with the two captives.
Chen Mu felt a bit guilty about it and thought for a while. As a result, he specially made a desk and a chair for her.
These two items took quite a bit of effort from him.
Designed according to ergonomics with a backrest, a footrest, an exquisite bookshelf, and a reachable cup holder... he even used cotton thread to create a cushion.
The desk and chair were intricately carved with dragon and phoenix patterns, which Tang Jing liked. They had a style similar to the treasured sword he had given her earlier. Most importantly, at the upper-left corner of the desk, the words "Tang Jing" were carefully engraved.
After busying himself for quite a while, he finally completed the work.
Chen Mu scrutinized the desk and chair for a long time, nodding with satisfaction. Then, he eagerly moved it over to Tang Jing. He didn't ask Wei Dalei for help, so it cost him a lot of effort.
Tang Jing was focused, writing something seriously, occasionally raising her head to ponder for a moment.
Hearing some movement behind her, she turned around to see Chen Mu standing with a serious expression, with a set of delicate desk and chair beside him.
"What's this?" Tang Jing smiled.
"The conference table's height doesn't seem suitable, and I noticed you were struggling while writing. So, I casually made a set of desk and chair, improving the design based on the style in the classroom," Chen Mu said with a tone akin to a real estate salesperson.
"Thank you, you're considerate."
Tang Jing walked over slowly, lowered her head to take a look, and ran her hand over the desk's surface. "The pattern is quite nice, and my name is on it too?"
"Yes, I carved it on a whim."
"You've become so skillful now?"
"Well... I've indeed become more proficient."
Tang Jing moved the chair, sat down, placed both hands on the table, felt the height, leaned back a bit, looked around left and right, and seemed quite satisfied.
"I never thought you had this skill. Don't tell me you used to work as an assistant to a carpenter?"
"Not at all," Chen Mu laughed. "But practice makes perfect, and after doing it a few times, you get the hang of it."
Tang Jing nodded, leaning her body back against the chair's backrest and resting her feet on the footrest below, looking relaxed and content. She said, "Your abilities are getting stronger."
"I also have to thank you for helping as my strategist," Chen Mu replied.
He offered attentiveness with the desk and chair to silence Tang Jing and prevent her from spreading his embarrassing moments, but the words of gratitude were also genuine.
Tang Jing didn't provide too many instructions on Chen Mu's abilities, but even with just a few words of guidance, she inspired him greatly.
"You mentioned earlier that your control over water has improved?" Tang Jing sat in the chair, tilting her head to ask.
Chen Mu immediately became serious. "Yes, and it's a significant improvement. I can't even figure out why. In the past, the growth of my abilities, regardless of its speed, was always a stable process, and there were traces to follow. For example, if I trained hard on a particular day, the growth the next day would be more noticeable."
"But this time, it was sudden."
"Can you show me?" Tang Jing asked.
"Yes."
The two of them approached the water tank, and Chen Mu quickly made a basin with water and then filled it with water.
With one hand in the basin.
The water submerged his palm.
Ripples slowly spread across the water in the basin.
Suddenly, a water column shot up into the sky, resembling a graceful dragon. After reaching its highest point, it changed direction and shot towards a nearby location.
However, it was evident that reaching a certain height was the limit. The water dragon lost its momentum and quickly dissipated, splashing water all over the ground.
"That's already the limit," Chen Mu shook his hand, and there was now less than a third of the water left in the basin.
"Not bad at all," Tang Jing nodded, her face showing a hint of surprise.
"I only succeeded like this in the past two days. Before that, I could only create some ripples at most," Chen Mu said while wiping his hands.
"Perhaps it's a case of quantity transforming into quality. The training value you've accumulated suddenly erupted," Tang Jing said.
"Uh... like leveling up in a game?" Chen Mu rarely played games himself, but Wei Dalei was a typical example of someone who would use other people's study time to play games.
Even though Wei Dalei's gaming skills were still terrible, it didn't stop him from bragging to Chen Mu, who was even worse.
"Perhaps," Chen Mu agreed.
Tang Jing suddenly asked, "Have you tried potatoes again?"
Chen Mu was taken aback.
He had long categorized the objects his abilities could affect. Ordinary solid substances like metal and plastic were generally manageable, albeit with varying levels of difficulty. As for liquid water, although it was more challenging initially, he eventually succeeded in controlling it to some extent.
The most troublesome substances were some biological materials.
For example, he had experimented with rice grains at the beginning, but there was no response. Later, he tried the bodies of ants and caterpillars during his outings, but still, there was no reaction. After he took over a truck in the city, he attempted with vegetables like potatoes and tomatoes, but again, there was no response.
When he infused his psychic power into these substances, it seemed to dissipate instantly, as if disappearing into the void.
It seemed that his ability had difficulty affecting biological entities.
Chen Mu wasn't particularly disappointed by this since altering the shape of a potato didn't seem to serve any significant purpose.
After learning about Gu Yinglong's ability, Chen Mu came up with a convincing explanation for himself.
Clearly, some abilities could only target specific categories of substances.
Gu Yinglong's ability complemented his own shortcomings and performed even better in that regard.
However, now, prompted by Tang Jing's question, Chen Mu's thoughts became lively again.
"I'll try."
Since he had made a breakthrough with water, maybe there would be progress with biological entities too.
Chen Mu quickly fetched a tomato.
Everyone in the Dawn Illumination team ate these every day, so it hadn't deteriorated much. Fortunately, it hadn't shown signs of decay yet.
In front of Tang Jing, Chen Mu concentrated his psychic power and slowly infused it into the bright red tomato.
Still, there was no response.
He felt a bit disheartened but remained unwilling to give up and continued to increase the input.
A continuous stream of psychic power was infused into the fist-sized tomato.
Finally, Chen Mu even seemed to go a little crazy, pouring in more psychic power.
Suddenly, the smooth surface of the tomato showed a slight wrinkle.
Although it was a very subtle change, both Chen Mu and Tang Jing noticed it because all their attention was focused on the tomato.
They looked at each other.
"It seems to be working."
Chen Mu's heart thumped with excitement.
Although changing the shape of a tomato itself didn't have much significance, it was of great importance to his abilities.
This further confirmed that the power to change shapes could be applied to all substances.
With this realization, a long-suppressed idea returned to his mind.
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