BXBX NOVEL Chapter 226: Ignoring the square cube law
Chapter 226: Ignoring the square cube law
"Ok…?so we have the purple sky thing, and you said that was worth 20%?" asked Kat
Minor nodded with a slight grimace "That's just a best guess. It probably isn't super integral to the scene but because it's just so ever present and takes up so much 'space' so to speak, then I think it will make a difference
"Plus, because it's just a slight change of shade it won't be impossible for me despite the fact it is so large a change in other ways" said Minor
Kat nodded "Well, what other things can we do… we don't exactly have a tonne to work with I don't think"
Minor nodded but didn't say anything.
*Well, let's just go over everything that we have. First is the strange red filter but we have our plans for that. Then we have the mountains in the background. I feel like they are more like a border for the scene then a part of it, but maybe attacking them a bunch would work well? Or maybe it will hardly work because they aren't properly part of the scene*
*Then of course there is the storm clouds in the sky. I could perhaps fly up and try and do something with them. Maybe disperse them or something? I'm not sure how much I can affect them, but I think with Minor's help I should be able to move them a bit.*
*Then of course there is the two separate armies and the spawning spot I can't quite seem to spot. I wonder if I can do anything better by trying to find that… but it does seem to curve a bit if I look too far in one direction, and I'd guess I won't find it.*
*So that just leaves interacting with the army itself, but we established that would be involving us. I do wonder if my fire would make them disappear a bit more permanently but… I doubt it for some reason. Maybe it's because they just keep spawning?*
*So even though they disappear after being broken, maybe they are not the same? That would make a lot of sense. I mean, in the rain and blizzards the water just appeared didn't it, so it isn't as though I need to figure out a proper system for these things.*
Kat watched as the nearest mannequin was shattered in front of her sending splinters flying. One landed by her side before sinking into the dirt slowly afterward. *Huh, thought it only sunk because they got trampled, but I guess they sink after a bit of time anyway.*
Kat stared at the spot the wood had disappeared from, as her brain turned, and an idea started to form. "Hey Minor, could you perhaps enlarge one of the broken pieces of mannequin? We could use it to block of a large section of the army, just have it fall down between them.?I'm not sure if it would be safe to grab a piece, but if it is perhaps you could do something with it"
"Um, yeah, should be no problem" said Minor uncertainly
Kat felt her eye itch slightly "Why do you say with such hesitation?" asked Kat
"It's nothing" said Minor
Kat stared down at Minor "Please tell me Minor. I don't know why now of all times you'd try to hide something like this. It seems so small compared to everything else"
Minor grit her teeth "Look… it's just… I can do it… probably, but I'm not sure I could do anything else. So no purple skies or even breaking the scene and moving us along, and that part is very important, because I truly have no idea how to completely shatter this one so I'll need to make use of my power for it"
Kat nodded "Well, hmmm" *That does throw a bit of a wrench in things… Minor has been rather skilled so far, and I just hadn't consider that she might not quite be up to the task. What about… doing it halfway maybe? Or perhaps resting it somewhere instead?*
"Ok, I have two solutions I think" said Kat "The first is to make increase the size, but not all the way. Then you can increase it in two or three lots, however many it takes, so that you aren't quite so strained
"The second idea would be for us to set it up as large as possible, as well as making it really light. Then we can rest it on top of the mountains and move it later, or perhaps if you can make it light enough I can carry it, but I'm not sure how well I can do that, or if I can be holding it when you start the size increase"
Minor bit the end of her tail "Hrngh… that, seems like it does have potential I suppose. I'm not quite sure if it will be just as hard to increase it in one go or multiple… my power is a little vague in the dream round… but I think I might be able to do it.
"As for making it lighter… I think that would be a bit too much for me. Increasing the size of things is rather easy because I can abuse the malleability of dreams… making things heavy is a bit harder, because we have a surprisingly accurate sense of how much things should weigh
"So… hmmm, I could perhaps make it hollow instead? I mean we can't see inside, so you'd not know the difference… the problem is I'm not sure if that would make it lighter if I don't also change it in that way… At the very least we could give increasing the size in stages ago
"I just worry about the final stretch. If we make it to close the required size how are we supposed to lift it? The army is quite large, and I'm not sure you are strong enough to lift something even half as long as the army is wide" said Minor
*That is a good point. I don't think I've ever really had the chance to test my absolute limit… though I might just have to make do. I mean what else can we do? Wood is rather solid after all… wait. It doesn't have to be. In fact it's quite porous.*
"Hey Minor, when you scale up something like wood, what happens to the little holes in it between everything? Some wood is a shockingly large amount air" said Kat
Minor pauses "I… I didn't know that actually. Are you sure?"
Kat nodded "Yeah, why do you think a solid plank of dead wood can absorb water if it doesn't have any space to hold said water in it"
Minor nodded "Yes, that makes sense, and that is why we apply vanish to wooden things yes… Ok, I think I see where you are going with this Kat. When I make the log bigger I should try and make the holes grow larger alongside it"
Kat nodded "Yup, then we just have to worry about the square cubed law" said Kat
"The what?" asked Minor.
Kat whipped her tail end around, careful not to do so near Minor. *Should I answer that? Dream logic seems to really work in this place, and perhaps not knowing about the square cube law will prevent it from being a problem*
*I mean, if Minor just assumes things should work, why would making a log larger make it suddenly collapse? On the face of it that makes more logical sense then the truth if you are just giving it a casual glance. *
*Sort of like how a kilogram of steel and a kilogram of feathers both weight a kilogram. So if I just pretend that the square cube law doesn't exist maybe it just won't. Or at the very least, if Major and Minor don't know, it won't matter.*
"I think… after a bit of consideration it's best you don't know it. I believe some of our dream logic tricks will work better if you don't know" said Kat
Minor gave her a strange look, she couldn't quite place "I trust you can't… I don't think it is a bit of a strange thing, but if you truly think it best I won't ask… though could you tell me once we've freed Major?"
Kat nodded "I'll try to remember"
"Ok good. So we have, the sky, the blockage… and is there anything else? I worry that still won't quite be enough to break the scene. I think the blockage will do a lot of good, maybe 30-40% all by itself, but we need, something close to 70? Just to be safe with how much effort I'll need to expend" said Mino