Chapter 80. Enlightening Chips
He’d done it for one chip. Now, facing the vat of bubbling oil, Rhys contemplated doing it on a hundred-fold scale, if not more, all without touching them, because if he touched the oil, he risked his entire hand. He rested his hands on the rim of the pot, relying on his Heat Resist to protect them. It was warm, hot, even but he could handle this much. Through the pot, he was in contact with the oil, and through the oil, he was in contact with the chips.
There was no time to waste. He pushed his intent into the oil and grasped the chips. Already in a state of processing, they were easy to push his intent into, but that wasn’t his goal today. No. He wanted to enlighten these chips, imbue them with a hint of his path. Gripping them with his intent was only the first step of his project.
He called forth his enlightenment associated with potato chips and summoned up his mana, filling his mana with the enlightenment, then pushing it out to the potato chips. The potato chips soaked it up, but at the same time, they drained his mana in almost an instant.
Rhys gasped, startled. His grip on the chips faded. No! If he lost his hold now, he’d run out of time to imbue the chips with enlightenment while they cooked. Before his eyes, they darkened, from soft, floppy potato slips to crunchy golden chips. He gritted his teeth. The chips were almost done. If he left them in the oil too much longer, they’d burn. “Bast, trash, now!”
“Which trash?” Bast asked, looking around at all Rhys’s piles.
“The unsorted stuff. Just throw it at me!” Rhys shouted.
Shrugging, Bast threw trash at Rhys. Rhys grabbed the trash and pulled it toward him. The momentum of the throw got the trash flying at him, and he used that to yank a solid bulk of it toward him. He pulled it into his core at speed and ignited it, shoving the mana into the chips. The blast of mana supercharged his attempted enlightenment, and the potato slices instantly filled with enlightenment.
The potato chips continued to darken. There was no time left. He couldn’t check to see if the enlightenment had set, or anything. Rhys gestured, yanking them out with Trash Manipulation. The chips flew free, trailing golden droplets of oil behind them.
“Right here,” Bast said, holding out his hands with the fabric they’d been using for drying stretched between them. The chips landed on the fluffy towel.
Rhys wiped his brow, then instantly charged in. “How are they? Did they burn?”
“Look fine to me,” Bast commented, showing him the chips.
Rhys stared at them, his eyes narrowed, scanning them closely for any defects. They were a little darker than normal, but not too bad. He reached out.