Kyon continued experimenting, a knowing smirk playing on his lips. He learned a lot.

{Hmm... I can create electrons and protons from the energy of the ether but no antiprotons, positrons, and other quarks with charges... The element is not omnipotent. Or maybe the superior category of the ether will allow me to create them?}

His eyes sparkled with delight. The knowledge base he'd acc.u.mulated in the past offered him prospects of something surprising and incomprehensible for the local people. To begin with, he decided to recreate the barrier of the ether, which Juno constantly used. The principle is easy to understand - he needed to create a layer of stable charged particles above the skin surface. When there's a physical object within their reach, they instantly push it away with one of the four fundamental interactions. The same force comes into effect when you touch something with your fingers - for example, a table, body, or an apple... Your fingers do not pa.s.s through matter due to a certain fundamental force, the barrier-ether mechanism works in the same way.

When Kyon understood the essence of the principle, he set to work, but he couldn't put the theory into practice. There is no stable foothold in the element of ether that stably fixes the energy. No kind of surface keeps the field stable. The body as a point of leverage is not an option.

He got a brilliant idea - to combine pure force with ether. The first one could be inside the body without leaving it, in its turn, the second component could use the missing properties provided by pure force.

After five minutes of manipulation, a film inconspicuous for the inexperienced eye appeared on the skin surface. It took lesser mortals long months to master the ether. Kyon came up with it from scratch, which hardly anyone else could do without devoting all their life to it.

The young man began to test his barrier for strength. The results were not long in coming. A half-smile played on her lips. He found out that the barrier of ether is so unique that it has almost no weak points, its only flaw is impact resistance. It is equally durable all the way round. However, if it's. .h.i.t at a fixed point, it will shatter because the particles which it's made of move almost at the speed of light. Therefore, it doesn't matter what to use for attack a hammer or a needle, it will take the same effort to break the barrier. It's the ideal barrier, a kind of durable s.h.i.+eld from a sudden attack. Its disadvantage is that it is relatively weak. A hammer can shatter it like gla.s.s, but a throwing needle, on the contrary, will break as if thrown against a brick wall, even if it's launched in the back.

If the pure force partially absorbs the attack, the barrier of the ether blocks it completely.

There were three things slightly ruining it for Kyon. First, it takes a lot of energy to maintain the barrier, that is, it pays to create it only at the moment of taking the blow. Secondly, the barrier can't to block residual attacks such as heat / cold / darkness / light and others that don't have a clear physical form. Thirdly, for some reason, the barrier can't cover the entire body, only a small part, in fact, it goes selectively.

{Perhaps when I have the advanced category of ether, I'll be able to seal off the entire body with the barrier? Well, the future will tell.}

Among many ideas of Kyon was to create a laser, antimatter, plasma fire, mastering telekinesis, protection from electricity.

First thing, he tried to create was a laser. He connected two fingers, released the energy with given beam parameters, but nothing happened. The laser dissipated like a flashlight, releasing a barely visible ionic glow. He failed to keep it focused.

The young man spent another 20 minutes until he was bored with the idea. He clearly lacked a higher category of ether. Simply put, there was no variable he could edit to focus the laser ray. He was disappointed. And it would be so great to try out his new option and flash the light on someone's eyes and dazzle them.

The guy moved on to the next idea - antimatter. Just a minute later, he realized how absurd and unattainable his plan was. As a result, he smiled bitterly.

A little earlier, he'd found out that he couldn't create antiprotons and positrons, and, sadly for him, it was a waste of time, for the time being.

While working on the next idea, plasma fire, we managed to achieve a little success. That kind of fire is much hotter than usual, and there's a lot of thermal energy concentrated inside as it never leaves its borders. In nature, only the rarest ball lightning has the properties of plasma fire.

Kyon was well aware of the theory and principle of ball lightning. There is a beam of ionized gas, which, due to the powerful magnetic field created by the processes inside, holds a spherical shape, emitting a glow. Only, no gas inside is needed, because the element of ether is quite capable of creating its own magnetic field. And it shouldn't be overlooked that a drop of pure force is still necessary. Moreover, the gas can give the field more than just ball shape. Plasma fire will swirl like clouds.

His attempts had been successful: an hour pa.s.sed, and Kyon was already holding a warm, glowing plasma ball in his hands. It resembled a little fairy-tale light. However, the young man did not rejoice at his success because the magnetic field was too weak. He could not keep a large amount of energy inside the plasma fire: it dissipated in the air or even burst.

Kyon clenched his teeth and continued with the experiments, but an hour later he sighed sadly and decided to toy with the idea another time when he'd got the advanced category of the element.

He practiced telekinesis next but gave in within a minute. Again, the magnetic field was so weak that he failed move a small piece of iron, let alone the matter with which the magnetic fields interact millions of times worse. He ruthlessly killed the bad idea of ​​finding a combat component in telekinesis.

What was left? Protection against electricity. He knew the theory, he had formulas in his head, the principle was also clear, it was time to act. That should do it.

It goes like this: an intangible barrier is applied under the skin, no charged particles can pa.s.s through it. Kyon already knew that he would not be able to cover his entire body with such a barrier, only a certain part, which was enough for starters. He couldn't wait to see Junos' reaction when she finds out her charge of electricity didn't work on him.

The guy quickly understood that he would succeed in creating protection against electricity, but it would take him more than five minutes, more likely an hour. He wanted to get away from all that for a while, maybe visit Marina, make himself at home in his new little room on the ground floor. He hadn't had a soft pillow under his head for a long time.

Kyon left the training area.

It was getting dark. Kyon entered the mansion as a servant tenant, his past of a slave swindler was far behind. Inside there were three girls; all the other servants had gone home, the working day was over. With a sure step, he went upstairs and knocked on the door of Marina's room. A plain, mousy but slender and charming fair-haired girl opened the door, saw who came to her and exclaimed with joy:

«Kyon, you're alive! How did you do that?! What happened?!»

«It's a long story…» - he answered, slowly walking into the room and closing the door behind him.

The young man told her with sincere sympathy everything from beginning to end, embellis.h.i.+ng his story here and there. He had long realized that she was the girl he could trust. She was the kindest person he'd ever known, one in a million. Kyon did not see the point of hiding from her what he had done with Juno, because she was his accomplice and deserved to know the truth.

«That's impossible… Y-you have enslaved my friend! It's is m... Mm-m…»

Kyon quickly covered her mouth with his hand:

«Hush, silly! They will hear us!»

The girl only nodded in response.

The guy could not hold back his excitement and hugged her tight:

«My G.o.d, Marina, you have no idea how grateful I am to you! If it were not for you, I'd have already gone to the next world and even more than once. I owe you one… A huge one... You are the kindest girl in the whole world! I hope you know that?»

The blonde was embarra.s.sed, her cheeks flushed:

«Come on, it's nothing… I am sure anyone in my place would do that. You've been through so much…»

Kyon smiled, hugging her even tighter. At some point, it was getting awkward one, he let her go.

«So… My friend is… Your slave?» – She asked with concern.

Kyon nodded.

«But… You… You kept your promise, didn't you?» – Her voice trembled with emotion.

«I promised that I would not kill or cripple her.»

Marina let out a sigh of relief but then tightened up again. «Alright... wait... Your promise doesn't mean you didn't hurt her? And... You didn't...»

Kyon gently laid his hand on her shoulder.

«Marina, I hate Juno and deflowering her was never the plan. As for the pain... I must confess, I made her suffer a bit. But you saw with your own eyes what she did to me! The arrogant girl was lucky I was holding back. I didn't maim her, after all.»

She looked with fear straight in his eyes and put her hand over her mouth. «You… You have beaten my friend…»

The young man turned away, not wanting to look into her pure eyes. What a strange feeling... A pang of guilt, perhaps? But he's kept his promise... Then why was his heart so heavy?

«Kyon... Look at me.» – Marina asked quietly.

The guy looked at the blonde, felt the soft touch of her hand on his own cheek.

The girl's voice sounded amazingly tender and soft:

«Kyon, I beg you, do not hurt Juno for no reason. She is very close to me. I know and understand how strained your relations.h.i.+p is. I have not seen her yet, but I am sure that she is really demoralized now... I can't even imagine her pain…» - Marina bit her lip when she decided that she was going to spend the night with her friend.

The guy really wanted to roll his eyes after those words, but he did not do it out of respect for Marina. {I doubt that the little devil treats her with the same warmth... Lucky her to have a friend like this.} It was obvious that Juno just kept her on a leash like a useless doll that resembled mother... A biased but certainly truthful idea.

«Alright, Marina. I'll do my best not to hurt her for no reason.» - Sincerely replied Ken, smiling.

Marina blushed like a juicy peach gleaming in the sun and removed her hand from Kyon's cheek. How embarra.s.sing, she did not notice that she was touching him.

The guy was sitting on the bed, lost in thought. According to his principles, he owed her. Moreover, it was obvious that the plain blonde didn't care for worldly possessions. She was not like Martha from the mine, who'd he had paid back merely by raising her social position. Those reflections led him to a legitimate question.

«Marina, tell me what you really want to do with your life?»

The question took the girl by surprise: she did not expect to hear something like that at all. After a short pause, Marina furtively looked into his pitch-black eyes and answered timidly:

«I've always wanted to have children from the man I love.»

{That's what I thought…}

Kyon sighed meaningfully and embraced the girl by her thin waist. He looked languidly into her purest innocent eyes and gently touched with his lips tender like rose petals Marina's. She moaned softly in surprise but then tried to push the guy a little away from herself. Soon, all her attempts at resistance ceased, and she closed her eyes overwhelmed in sensual emotions...

Kyon adhered to a simple relations.h.i.+p strategy: if you want a girl to be yours, then act immediately and straightforwardly. To h.e.l.l with dating and other unnecessary romance. All you need to catch a thin thread of mood and pull it to your side. Girls love them a.s.sertive and confident.

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The guy didn't feel any tide of emotions when kissing Marina. He didn't feel any attraction he usually had for the fair s.e.x: she was his good friend but no girlfriend. How could he fail to make her dream come true? Slowly, gently, he ran his hands over her slender back to the hips... He opened his eyes a little, froze in amazement, and pulled away.

«Marina, why are you crying?»

Her eyes were wet with tears looked at him. «I don't know... There's a terrible pain burning in my soul, and I don't understand why...»

Kyon realized what was happening in Marina's soul at once. She just couldn't give up everything she'd had with Flitz. No end of her stories, anxieties and emotions, all that turned into tears. Perhaps she felt she was betraying him. Anyway, the guy decided to put off the question of his duty until the girl herself was ready.

Kyon resolutely squeezed her gentle and warm hands. «Marina, do not cry, your dream will surely come true. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday it will happen, and that day you will become the happiest woman in the world.»

When she heard that she shone again like a gentle summer sun. The blonde wiped away the tears that were still running down her cheeks. She calmed down a little and whispered to him: «Thank you, Kyon…»

It was time to change the subject.

«Tell me more about Flits.»

Heart-to-heart talk went on until midnight. When they were saying goodbye, the girl smacked Kyon on the cheek and, in appreciation of his promise, gave him a snow-white handkerchief.

Going downstairs, he saw a picture of contrasts: a beautiful fair-haired maid radiating warmth and light was heading for the shower room, and charming Dinah was walking next to her, spreading the chill of winter winds.

The latter gave the boy a scornful glance as if pouring icy cold water on him, then silently went into the shower room, giving her sister a sign with her hand.