"What did you do?" Niwla shouted. Don't tell him that all of their work had literally gone up in smoke.

  "It wasn't my fault," Alwin said, using his mouth instead of facial expressions.

  Niwla was about to ream into him when a Mental Hand raised itself, using an open palm to tell him to stop.

  "The CPU's capabilities were successfully uploaded into the brain, but there was another issue. Upon starting up, it began to spit out smoke. The brain died almost immediately. My conclusion is that the brain wasn't able to handle the computational load and overheated."

  "That is definitely a problem," Niwla said. "Any ideas on how to fix this?"

  "I have one," Alwin said, as he shuffled back and forth, causing his folds to jiggle.

  "Go on."

  "We just cool the brain down."

  "Even I know that.” Niwla shook his head. "What we need is the how. Winal, do you think you can come up with some sort of cooling mechanism for the brain? Something simple enough for Alwin here to recreate it using Mana?"

  "I can try," the Mental Hands signed for Winal.

  "Why go through all that trouble?" Alwin said. "We can just use Ice."

  "Ice? That's..." Niwla paused to think. Maybe he had just overcomplicated things. "That's actually a great idea. Thank you, Alwin."

  "You're welcome." Alwin winked before heading off toward the giant freezer where Ice Mana was being manufactured.

  Moments later, he returned with a huge slab of Ice Mana that had just recently been frozen.

  "Winal, if you could do the honors," Alwin said, gesturing at the block of Ice Mana by pumping his eyes up and down.

  All of the Mental Hands under Winal's control gave a thumbs up. A couple of pairs detached from the throne and disappeared behind it. They reappeared moments later with multiple tools in Mental Hand: Ice Saws, Ice Picks, Ice Chisels, and more. It was everything they needed to sculpt their latest masterpiece.

  The Mental Hands began to carve away at the chunk of Ice Mana. Frozen flakes of Mana rained down like glittering snow as they sawed, picked, and chiseled the massive cube down to size. Bit by bit, the raw block took shape, until it was reduced to a perfectly spherical orb of Ice.

  However, that wasn't the end of their little arts and crafts session. The Mental Hands then proceeded to saw the top part of the Icy Sphere off. Next, they hollowed out the inside while at the same time smoothing everything down with a couple of Mental Sandpapers. Finally, their task was complete. They had created an Ice Blast, only to mutilate it so that its shell could house the prototype for the new scouting skill.

  Now that they were done, Alwin's very own Mental Hands got their brushes and palettes out. In no time at all, they had successfully painted a giant, unblinking eye onto the sphere—complete with iris, pupil, and all.

  After performing their successful vision-restoring surgery, the Mental Hands then reached into the remains of the broken scouting agent, still smoking. From within, they extracted the charred and blackened brain made out of Mana Clay. It sizzled as they dunked it into the Mana Pool. A couple of vigorous scrubs later, it looked brand new.

  Next, they began their second operation.

  With all of the dexterity and finesse of a drunk surgeon on negative hours of sleep, the Mental Hands slotted the brain into the icy scouting agent. They made sure to hit every curve, groove, and ridge as they placed it inside the hollowed-out blast.

  Lastly, they sealed the severed top of the orb with a mosaic of Ice Mana Flakes that had been sculpted or shaved off. The seam vanished, and it was as if they had never even lopped off a piece of the frozen eyeball in the first place.

  "Sir, Winal. It is ready!" Alwin proudly declared once again.

  Winal nodded and gestured toward the CPU.

  Everyone's focus was now on the CPU, but with recent developments that shifted processing to the scouting agent, the Core Processing Unit had been reduced to just a unit, not just any unit, but an absolute unit. A chunky black box whose only purpose was to display what the scouting agent saw.

  The screen flickered to life, and once again it showed Niwla, Alwin, and Winal along with his Throne of Hands. It displayed the scouting agent analyzing the scene in front of it, mapping out the vast expanse of the Mana Pool as well as the mini-factory in the background. Once done with its survey, it began to move on its own. The icy orb rolled as it continued to map out its surroundings.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Suddenly, a pair of Winal-operated Mental Hands waltzed into frame.

  Silent alarm bells rang out on the display, red flashes blinking across the screen as the scouting agent immediately sought to avoid detection. It rolled backwards, while scanning through the areas it had previously mapped out, searching for a suitable hiding spot. Within seconds, the scouting agent rolled its way to the safety of the Throne of Hands and waited till the coast was clear before continuing its reconnaissance.

  "Okay, that looks good," Niwla said.

  "Looks good?" Alwin said. "It looks great! It smells great too. Mostly because it's not burning up. I am a genius. You're welcome."

  Ignoring Alwin, Niwla continued to speak. "I'm assuming the social aspect has been implemented already, Winal?"

  The Mental Hands gave a thumbs up.

  "Alright, but before we begin further testing, I need you to make a few minor adjustments to the scouting skills logic."

  Niwla then began to relay his ideas about an extra storage compartment for the scouting agent, as well as how they could help to share Mana charges with each other to extend their time in the real world. And before he knew it, he admitted that he hadn't found a way to extend the communication range of the skills, even throwing a couple of snide remarks in Alwin's way about how he was working with such limited knowledge, it was a miracle they even managed to get this far. In the end, he mentioned how the plan was to miniaturize them and to send out a boatload of them for maximum coverage.

  All of Winal's Mental Hands gave a thumbs up to Niwla's request, while Alwin's mind had been shattered again with the amount of information that had just been dumped into that squishy brain of his. Drool rather than words leaked out of his mouth.

  "I hope you can help sort out the Mana sharing aspect of the agent. I'll try to come up with something for the last remaining aspects of the skill," Niwla said.

  A pair of Mental Hands began to sign for Winal. "Don't worry, we'll work something out. I do have some ideas, but I'm going to need him." All of the Mental Hands pointed at slack-jawed Alwin.

  "Sure. Some peace and quiet would be nice."

  Niwla watched as a pair of Mental Hands grabbed Alwin. They squeezed him like a stress ball, dragging him off, while Winal followed close behind. Alwin, who was still stuck in processing mode, couldn’t even find the brainpower to scream.

  Once again, Niwla tried to think of ways to implement the final aspects of the scouting agent. It was really taking a long time, and it was starting to become frustrating. However, he couldn't come up with anything.

  Eventually, Winal returned with Alwin in tow—or what was left of him. The poor slime had been wrung dry as if the life had been sucked out of him. But that wasn't what caught Niwla’s attention. It was what the other Mental Hands were carrying. In their hands were blue balls. Not huge ones, but ones the size of marbles. And not just a single one. They held multiple tiny blue balls.

  "Is that what I think it is?" Niwla asked, almost in disbelief.

  "Yes, it is. Now we just need your final input." The Mental Hands signed for Winal.

  With that, all of the tiny icy marbles tumbled to the floor, along with Alwin, who landed like a half-deflated ball. Apart from the slime, all the small blue balls began to move on their own, spreading out the further they travelled.

  Niwla's eyes shot to the chunky display unit that Winal had brought back, too. There was a blank map that was slowly being filled up the further the marbles moved.

  "Incredible..." Niwla gasped.

  However, that wasn't the end of it.

  A warning popped up that some of the scouting agents were low on Mana. Niwla watched a smaller subsidiary of marbles fan out toward those low on power. They shared their Mana on contact before making their way back to Niwla for a recharge. Of course, since they were all inside the Core, their Mana levels were always full—that must've been a simulation Winal set up to show off the feature.

  The Mental Hands then started to sign for Winal. "I added extra storage capabilities by simply filling the hollowed-out space with liquid Mana. This extra liquid also helps to protect the 'brain' while keeping it cool at the same time."

  "Amazing. Did you manage to do anything about the connectivity range?" Niwla asked.

  "Yes. Using Alwin, I created an antenna that should extend the range of each individual scout. But, because it was Alwin, he decided that the best place to put that antenna was right behind the iris. So, there is now a tiny slit right behind the eye, where the antenna juts out a small bit. It shouldn't have an impact on vision."

  "You managed to get Alwin to do all that?" Niwla asked, amazed.

  "He had to do it whether he liked it or not."

  That explained why Alwin looked as dead as a doornail. Winal must've put him through the wringer.

  "Once all of that was done, I decided to shrink them all down. I hope the current size is acceptable."

  "It is. It's more than acceptable. Winal, you're amazing!"

  "Me too," Alwin muttered faintly.

  "Yes, you too," Niwla said. "But, never mind that. We need to start production ASAP."

  "Already on it." The Mental Hands pointed to something behind Winal.

  Niwla saw DIY Freezers and conveyor belts being assembled, as well as a painting station for the eyeballs.

  "It should be up and running soon."

  And soon had arrived very soon.

  Alwin had mostly recovered, the color returning to his cheeks as he sat in front of the chunky unit of a display, watching the beautiful lights and all of the different views.

  Niwla and Winal were discussing matters regarding the scouts and their deployment. It was the first time they were launching the skill outside of the Core. They had to be prepared for anything that might happen.

  "Are you ready?" Niwla asked.

  The Mental Hands gave a thumbs up.

  Multiple marble-sized scouting agents had already been loaded up into the cannons that resided at the edge of the Core. On Winal's count, they were fired.

  Once they passed through the Core boundary, Niwla felt a tingle in his throat. That was a good sign. He moved his consciousness out from the Core back to the real world, but something was amiss.

  The multiple scouting agents had successfully materialized on the straw bedding inside his cage. They were small enough to roll through the thick bars and escape from the metal confines. Niwla even checked in with Winal to see if everything was working. And everything was working. The small room they were in was being mapped out and updated in real-time.

  If everything was alright, then how come he wasn't forced to shout out the skill name? It's not like he could Silent Cast it yet.

  Then, a message popped up.

  New Spell or Skill detected.

  Presence is requested at the Registry of Intellectual Skills and Spells (RISS)

  Beginning teleportation of astral body.