10 Chapter 4.1

About four months before my birthday, I found out that the Jedi have a Great Holocron. I knew what a holocron was from my past life, but I didn't know the details, so I was very surprised to learn that it contains ALL the knowledge of the Jedi Order, if not everything, then at least the majority of the Order's existence. There were two problems for me. Firstly, I was too young. As Laire said, even Padawans are only allowed access to the Great Holocron with an escort, and there was no guarantee that I would be allowed in at all. And secondly, each holocron has a Keeper, also known as a Guardian, a digitized personality of the person who created the holocron. However, there were some unclear things about the Keeper of the Great Holocron - apparently, its Keeper is not the one who created it, but rather a certain... a certain mind that has absorbed the personalities of several Jedi. The problem is that the Keeper only provides information that it deems safe for the user. It believes that you must be ready for knowledge, and the degree of your readiness is determined by the Keeper.

When I finished listening to our curator's story, I realized that it was another task that I had to accomplish soon. Not to gain knowledge, that's not what I was expecting, but to understand which direction to work in. So that when I could finally communicate properly with the Keeper... well, I won't be able to deceive him, but it's worth a try. After all, I'm a transmigrator, aren't I? Where's my grand piano, by the way?

Through rational thinking, I understood that there was no point in deceiving anyone. I'm not a schemer who can get what I need with just a few words, without anyone understanding anything. Therefore, to avoid any misunderstandings, I simply approached our Twi'lek.

At that moment, we were walking to our History lesson after breakfast, and our conversation could be heard by the whole group.

"Teacher Lairi."

"What happened, Rein?" She turned to me.

"Um, nothing, everything's fine. I just wanted to ask you for something."

"And what is it?"

"Take us to the Great Holocron."

"What?"

"The Holocron. The Great one. Take us there."

"Who do you mean by 'us'?"

"Well, all of us," I waved my hand towards our group. "As an excursion. We really want to see the Holocron."

"But there's nothing to see there," she answered, slightly surprised. "It's just a golden dodecahedron." And, apparently thinking that I wouldn't understand, she explained, "A twelve-sided figure."

"It may be ordinary for you, but it's interesting for us. Isn't it interesting?" I turned to the children.

"I received quick nods of the head and many verbal confirmations.

"I'll see what I can do," I nodded quickly, receiving multiple confirmations.

"We could also introduce you to the Guardian."

"Rein..."

"I really want to. Don't you?" And once again, the children agreed with me.

"You know," the twi'lek glanced at the creatures, "for some reason, I feel like they don't really want to, as much as they show."

"It's just your imagination."

"Rein..."

"I really want this. And I don't see any reason to forbid this excursion."

"Oh, young man. Well, I'll see what I can do, but I warn you, it doesn't depend on me."

"Well, at least something."

If there are no developments within a week, I will have to meet with Jocasta Nu, the chief archivist. I had planned to start this when I had more free time, maybe in a year or two. But for now, I needed to focus on hand-to-hand combat—I had been neglecting it lately. And after Order 66, it will be dangerous to wield a lightsaber. That night, I had to train with others. A lively young girl came into our room and stayed until lights-out. If she tried not to interrupt my meditation, albeit not always successfully, I couldn't read in peace. I had to teach this group of kids telekinesis. And what was strange was that if the locals associated telekinesis with lifting weights, I associated it with walking on a tightrope. For example, when Ahsoka raised an object, she strained so much that she had to be restrained. But I didn't use any strength - whether it was picking up a coin or a bed, it was all the same to me, but as the weight increased, the telekinesis was disrupted. Like lifting a heavy weight on a thin thread - if you pull too hard, everything starts over. But in theory, Yoda was right, and weight didn't matter. The main thing was to get used to it. And in general, in this skill, it seems that perception is more important than strength. How you look at the problem is how you solve it. I wonder how Yoda looks at it?

All these thoughts, as well as training the children, inspired me to go to the Strength Training Hall instead of the fencing hall. I had been there before, but somehow it always ended up with me training there. But today I wanted to experiment. Unfortunately, Ahsoka showed up, and not just her, but also the other inhabitants of our room.

"Hey, horned one, don't you have anything better to do? Maybe the guys don't want to go with you?"

"I am not horned, you are hairy! And I don't care what the kids want. They need to train to become good Jedi, not sleep."

"I'm not a psychologist, and my verbal skills aren't that great. It's hard for me to express in words what I feel right now, but if you only knew how much I wanted to turn to the dark side after Ahsoka's words."

"Did you ask them what they want? You know what, girl, coercion of any kind is not the Jedi way. Persuasion, yes, but not coercion. - And unable to resist, I added: - That's the way of the dark side."

"Oh. I didn't mean to", - the little Togruta squeaked, widening her eyes. - "Really. Boys", - she turned to them, - "I won't make you if you don't want to."

Ha! The girl is really something. But now, even if the boys wanted to go, they won't leave. Pride won't allow it. And most importantly, I'm sure she didn't do it on purpose. Ahsoka is actually a very kind girl, although she doesn't seem like it at first impression.

"It's all right, Ahsoka, - Jiro said. - We really do need to train."

"Yes, - Palatt nodded. - But we don't know how."

Well, damn it, you might as well have thrown her throat to the wolves.

"Ha! So, I'll help you! If anything's unclear, just ask me. And I'll tell you what to do when I'm not around. And now, let's go train!"

No plans, just enthusiasm.

"Where to exactly?" - Rama asked after we stood in silence for a whole minute.

"Umm..." - the Togruta looked at me.

"What?" Lead the way.

"Will you come with us?" - she asked me in return.

"No, of course not. What am I doing with you, kids?"

"Hey, you're a child too!" - they pointed at me with their finger.

"Am I? You prove it."

"P-prove it?" - Oh my god. Apparently, being a child really affects the psyche in some way. I'm talking about myself, if anyone didn't understand. It's just not very adult-like to argue with a child, especially over such a silly reason. What can a six-year-old girl really do against me? - You're younger than me! I'm older!

"I am physically younger... ah, never mind. Anyway, go where you planned to go." They stand there, looking like rabbits caught in headlights. "What are you looking at? Go."

"Rein..."

Ugh.

"Okay, okay. Let's go."

In the Strength Training room, I needed a section with blocks of different weights. It was basically a large platform with cubic stone blocks scattered chaotically around it. And there were not only large stones, but also a bunch of small ones, from about a hundred grams and up. But I was interested in the big ones at the moment. But I'll deal with the kids later.

"Come here, everyone," I called them to the edge of the platform. "Sit down." Reaching out through the Force to the nearest stones weighing about a kilogram, I pulled six of them to myself and placed them right in front of the children.

"Until you can hold them up in the air for at least a minute, don't bother me."

"But, Rey," Jiro said, "they're too heavy. We won't be able to lift them. Except for Rama."

"That's why it's called training. Go for it."

"I can lift this one!" Ahsoka said proudly.

"Oh, really?" I snorted, and then I threw her stone back and pulled another one twice as heavy. "How about this one?"

"That's not fair," she pouted.

"It's not me, it's life. Why are you upset? You came here to train, so train," I replied to the girl. And looking at Rama's levitating stone, I took control of it and threw a kilogram cube towards my friends. After that, just like with Ahsoka, I levitated a heavier stone to him. It seems that he didn't even notice. "Whoever can hold the stone in the air for a minute... no, two minutes, I'll treat them to pastries."

"Do you have pastries?" A female member of the group exclaimed.

"I have acquaintances," I replied. "Who can get pastries."

"Can you introduce us?"

"No."

"Oh, come on, Rein..."

"It's not up to me. He's a technician who works on the second floor. You won't be allowed up there, and he doesn't come down here. Got it?"

"Got it," they murmured in response. And, it seems, they were a little offended.

"Well then, get to work. Why sit around doing nothing?"

Well, it's time for me too. Walking into the center of the clearing, I found a relatively empty spot free of rocks and sat cross-legged on the sand. Let's begin.

In the Force, inanimate objects weren't felt at all. Or rather, they were only felt once you touched them with the Force. The part of the Force that you controlled. You could also spread out something like a Force net, which would allow you to navigate with your eyes closed. Or if you were blind, for example. And if the net was large enough, it could be used for reconnaissance. However, another Force-sensitive would be able to detect such reconnaissance. But most importantly, I came to this conclusion on my own, only later finding confirmation in the Jedi Archives. It turns out that some unique individuals could spread such "nets" over hundreds of kilometers. But as I said, it's not effective against other Force-sensitives. It's too crude, if you will.

I don't need hundreds of kilometers, I only need my thirty meters. That's enough to control the closest space. And this is without using my... um... "sight" or "gaze"... I don't know how to put it. It turns out that the "mist" that I perceive as the Force, no one else sees it. The same Archives say that it's a very rare gift. Very rare. Enough for me to keep quiet about it. God forbid, Palpatine finds out. Touch wood, knock on wood. So, what did I start this conversation for? For a Jedi, it's very important to keep your eyes open. Lifeless objects aren't visible in the Force, keeping a "net" constantly active is too stressful, the density of the net has to be very high, and in battle, your opponent can even "tear" it. That's why it's necessary to maintain visual contact with the target. It's much easier to just turn your head than to search for things with the Force. Unless you want to show off. Because of all this, as you may have guessed, it's quite difficult to work with something you can't see. For example, with the insides of droids. Or a human. Anything is possible, of course, but Force control must be very high.

And in a calm environment, especially during meditation when your control is heightened, you can even act with your eyes closed. It's even easier if you've already scoped out your goals. Set a marker, so to speak. So I was meditating, heh. My task was to lift as many heavy stones as possible. You could lift one very heavy one, but I'll work on that later. Right now, my task was to understand how I perceive telekinesis. For the gifted, it's lifting weight, but what about for me?

After half an hour, I realized that this task wasn't quite up my alley. The only one hundred percent certain information was that the larger the object of influence, the less control I had. And, mind you, it was the size, not the weight. The same situation with the number of smaller objects. The more there were, the... well, you get it. It remained to be seen whether this control could be trained, or if it was some sort of block on the consciousness. Although no, it could be trained, that's been tested, but to what extent? Does control affect anything besides telekinesis? And is quantity linked to volume? I'll have to ask Dzik to make me some little balls. They could be metallic or stone. Wait, I'm being stupid, I have sand under my butt, why not use that?

Scooping up a handful of sand, I brought it up to my eyes, raising each grain of sand up into the air. At first it was difficult - I just couldn't keep track of the barely visible objects. And when there were too many of them, I lost the ability to keep track of that quantity. My eyes just couldn't focus. That's when I meditated again, thankfully having dealt with a similar situation before. It became easier. That's when I realized my limit - forty-three grains of sand. For now, I hope. The forty-fourth either didn't lift or fell out of the ones already in the air. I should note that I could lift forty-seven of the smallest cubes, which were abundant on the platform.

"I did it!" I heard Ahsoka shout. When I looked over, all I saw was a stone at her feet.

Ha, looks like she's got a long way to go before she can levitate the stone for two minutes. At this rate, I'll definitely have to order from Dex soon. Women will go to great lengths for sweets, won't they? And I'm sure guys wouldn't turn down a slice of pie either. Glancing at the wall clock, I noted that I still had an hour for self-improvement. I looked at the children, then at the sand in my hand, back to the children. Maybe I should lower my expectations. Development should be gradual. If the stone was perfect for Ahsoka, it would be better to shrink it for the boys, except for Rama, of course. Anyway, I'll spend this hour on the kids. I just hope they won't be a burden on my shoulders.

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