Chapter 81 Continued

Joe chuckled and kept still, keeping the cups held safely while glancing at Kilniara with a bit of worry. He felt relieved when he saw that she seemed as excited as Gwenvair, and simply vibrated in place in her seat. Joe let a small breath of relief free then turned his attention back to Gwenvair.

"I'm glad you are happy."

She simply leapt in place a few more times hugging Joe before her mother cleared her throat. She immediately froze, then walked back to her seat, all excitement gone, stiff embarrassment in its place. Kilniara, however, felt no remorse and her giggles dropped into full laughter and Gwenvair's embarrassment fell before her humor returned once again when she sat beside Kilniara and punched her on the shoulder. The laughter increased, as did the volume of punches, but Gwenvair's good mood returned and Joe allowed his own smile to grow, not wanting to embarrass Gwenvair.

After a bit, Joe moved the conversation along, "OK. Then, which one of these cups is the oxygen… the heavier atom we breathe?"

Gwenvair quickly nodded and confidently pointed to his right hand. Joe nodded, but left it in the water and pulled out the hydrogen one instead, keeping it upside down. How am I gonna show this… if we had a balloon, then I could show it floating up, but where am I going to get a balloon with… Gwenvair's gasp drew Joe's attention.

"What?"

"It … does not mix. It is staying in the cup! It doesn't fall out."

Joe blinked. Oooh… ok, easier than I thought! "You can see that?"

Gwenvair blinked at that and shrugged, "Not really see, but I can … feel the winds."

"Huh… OK, well. It is staying in the cup because it is the lightest element of all, so it will float. Watch carefully and tell us where it goes when I pour it out."

Joe began to tilt it carefully and even as he began, Gwenvair gasped, staring in awe even as her eyes drifted to the ceiling. Joe smiled after he'd tilted the cup all the way around and set it carefully on the table.

"So. Where did it go?"

"Straight to the ceiling! It flew up so quickly."

"It's incredibly light."

Gwenvair stared at it a bit before looking at Joe, "Is that why I have not seen much of this air?"

Joe smiled, nodding, "This gas, if it is released, will fly all the way up and many times escape into space… into the void between planet… planes. Only the largest of planes can hold hydrogen. So yes, that is why you have not likely seen much of this gas as most of it is," Joe pointed to the sky, "up there… way above the clouds even."

Gwenvair smiled, excited, "I can… tell."

Joe nodded then reached over and got a plate, sliding it into the water and covering the cup full of oxygen before turning it over.

"So, this particl… atom is actually heavier than air… well, uh… carbon dioxide… right… that has to be heavier… ok… Its heavier than most of the air, so, if I turn it over, it will simply sit in the cup. Please! PLEASE! Do not let any flame near it, or it will explode and shatter the Matriarch's wine glass. I would prefer not to lose her glass! If you are concerned for that, Matriarch, I can release the gas under the water and it will simply rise up from the water and mix with the air."

The Matriarch's brows actually pinched at that, concerned, but then she frowned and nodded, "For the way of my daughter, it is worth it."

Joe smiled, "Don't worry. I hope I will be able to replace this for you, if it is only the wine glass that is important to you. If it is sentimental, a family heirloom, we can transfer it… you know what, we can do that."

Joe flipped the wine glass back over, removed the plate and set it on the table before grabbing his normal cup wooden cup on the table and emptied it, drinking it quickly. He then put the cup into the water from the bottom, the water filling it immediately. Man… that's just… why is gravity… gravity is only local… to the bubble of water itself? A separate gravity field? What is…

Joe shook his head clear and returned his thoughts to what was happening here. He swished his cup a bit then swapped heights, moving the wine glass down and the wooden cup up. Turning the wooden cup upside down, he held it over the top of the wine glass then slowly turned the wine glass over, making sure that the oxygen inside streamed up into the wooden cup. He then carefully withdrew the wine cup and set it aside.

"There. We can make sure we don't do any harm to your wine cup."

She smiled, "I am grateful."

Joe smiled back with a nod and turned back to his wooden cup full of oxygen. He took the plate again, covered the cup, and then flipped the cup over carefully while lifting both out of the water as a set. Once out of the water, he slid the plate off and very carefully set the cup back down on the table. He then looked up at Gwenvair with a smile, noticing her eye's widen in shock as she stared.

"So, what is happening, Gwenvair?"

"It… it sits in the cup like water! It… But…something is… falling in, too… it streams out… like… it streams out!"

"It's heavier than the air around it… by just a tiny bit. If you shake it too much."

Joe shook it a bit, not too hard, but it still caused her to gasp as she bent her head closer, staring intently at the cup of oxygen. Joe frowned a bit and when she kept getting closer, he pressed a hand out and stopped her.

"You don't want to get too close! This can be very reactive, remember!"

She blinked and set back. The Matriarch looked up at Joe then grinned.

"May I?"

Joe cocked a head, "Uh… sure?"

She flicked a spark from her fingers at the cup of oxygen and Joe's eyes widened even as he quickly brought his hand up to his ears. The spark passed through the inside of the cup and hit the wooden interior on the other side, creating a small burnt spark which then suddenly erupted into flame. The thwump this time was much more constrained, more of a flame thrower erupting from the cup than an explosion. Joe relaxed and sat back in his seat and shook his head.

"You guys need to be much more careful with your experiments. These can … what you did could be deadly!"

Gwenvair, however, didn't notice, her eyes wide, dancing around the room as she looked at the 'winds.' Must be seeing a lot of new and different things, now. Joe smiled and looked to the Matriarch before smiling with a shrug.

"I hope that explains some things."

The Matriarch smiled, nodding her head but Gwenvair butted in, looking at Joe, "Is there no more?!"

Joe laughed, "There is so much more. This is … simple knowledge. There is so much more, but much of it is outside my grasp. It is not my expertise. This is just the basics."

"Then, more?" Gwenvair stared at him, hopeful longing on her face and Joe laughed, nodding.

"OK. Some more, but I'll need to sleep soon."

That evening, Joe found himself deep in the natural sciences with an excited Gwenvair and avid Allanar and Matriarch. Kilniara, Zilnek, and Garnedell all seemed as excited as well, although a bit more lost. Surprisingly, they seemed to have excellent questions and a better grasp of natural reactions. That surprised Joe, considering the wealth Gwenvair had, but he focused on answering the questions as best he could and left his thoughts on this for a later time. Around the table, dozens of staff listened as avidly, eye's following everything Joe was saying. It was a long but satisfying night. Joe found himself exhausted by the time he was in bed, although he was still awake enough to practice all his skills he was currently practicing to rapidly increase their skill levels. He pushed himself for quite some time, doing quite well at leveling them.

Despite that, he wasn't so exhausted that he fell asleep in the middle of it all. And so turned to his status but found nothing really new. He had no new titles, a surprise considering the fight with the giant, but let that go before looking at his status. And with that, remembered his outrageous gains. This… seems… wrong? He double checked everything to be certain and realized he was looking at his base stats, even if it seemed to be way too much. He frowned, and spent the night trying to figure out how his stats had jumped so much but ended up falling asleep in the middle of the effort.