44: Knowledge has no limits.

"Are you having enough fun?" Azula asked Shisui, who had approached her and the rest of the group.

"How can you not know? I've been looking forward to fighting like this for a long time, without having the edge of death on my neck, just letting go," Shisui replied with a broad smile on his face.

The Sage radiated a deep joy from the depths of his being that was contagious to those who saw or heard him. This subtle spiritual influence was the ability of anyone with enough spirituality in them.

This is why the Avatars were followed by the masses, or why a ruler with knowledge and spiritual development could gain the respect or esteem of their people.

Aang, disguised as Kuzon, noticed this in Shisui, causing a smile to appear on the young Avatar's face. As Shisui's acquaintance, he was also pleased to see that his friend was doing well.

Noticing his gaze, Shisui turned his head to look at Aang and gave him a subtle nod. Then, Shisui's attention was drawn to the conversation Petra was having with Lao Ge.

"Stop bothering me, girl! I have enough work raising this unruly chick; I don't want any more disciples!" the old man complained, pointing at Toph, who was proudly puffing her chest.

"At least give me the introduction to Metal bending! I need it. If nothing else, I can pay you," Petra said, ignoring Toph and focusing her attention on the old man.

"What would you do if you learned Metal bending? Weapons? I don't want my teachings to be used to create objects of war." Lao Ge's words sounded rather harsh, making the members of the Fire Nation uncomfortable.

Yes, it was inevitable to think about the war potential of Metal bending; a direct manipulation of metals would certainly shorten the research and creation of various weapons likely to be used in a war.

A war that, though kept in 'low capacity,' was still active since peace had not been signed. Not only that, but the initiators of the war were them, the Fire Nation, and Lao Ge was a person belonging to an enemy nation, or at least someone neutral due to his association with Toph Beifong, with emphasis on his last name.

"I have no warlike intentions, only academic ones. The knowledge of metal-bending will greatly accelerate my research and projects." To demonstrate this, Petra looked at Shisui.

"Shall I show you the plans?" she asked, her words attracting the attention of the people around her.

Many were still immersed in the martial arts power that Shisui, Zuko, and Lao Ge had shown, so there were still people around, although the number was much better than before.

"Are you sure? I, for one, have no problems," Shisui replied, shaking his shoulders.

Petra's eyes sparkled with excitement at that moment, then she pulled out the debris of earth and rock that Lao Ge had used in his encounter with Shisui.

Then, in front of everyone, she created a huge rock wall, and as if she were writing in clay, she began to 'draw' on it various objects with descriptions next to them, detailing various parameters and their purpose.

Petra didn't care much about sharing information. If anyone could understand what she was doing at that moment, she would surely win their friendship, so she casually drew all the parts of what appeared to be a complex machine.

"Shisui and I have been designing a machine that, when used, can make many things easier for us humans, but since we were in the middle of the conflict in Ba Sing Se, my attention was drawn to the battles and other ancillary research.

But we have the blueprint of the prototype memorized. I can replicate it with my method, and so can Shisui. It is a machine that will not only perform mathematical operations but also solve problems and store, read, edit, and create information.

It is a thinking machine, but without life or intelligence, although who knows, in the future, according to Shisui, things might be different," Petra explained to the crowd, and even Hakoda, a pirate, understood how important something like this would be in the future.

Something like this would be too useful for any large group! Hakoda looked at the blueprint on the stone wall with fascination. Although he was not a scholar, he was a good leader, so he felt a deep appreciation for what was in front of him.

"How could a machine think or become life in the future?" asked Katara, somewhat confused by Petra's words.

"It's complicated to say, but in simple terms, over time, this piece of technology can advance to the point where it can even learn on its own and have a dialogue with you." Shisui didn't want to explain to the others why he said what he did, but he had a reason for saying it.

Perhaps the concept of AI is too advanced for this world that is just transitioning from Steampunk to Dieselpunk, but considering the strange phenomenon of spiritualization that Shisui noticed, perhaps a computer of the future is something 'alive' in a sense.

"I still remember that strange story Shisui told us about how a metal doll that can move by itself travels to the past to kill a child because it will lead people in the future to fight other evil dolls.

Can that happen? You just have to make those machines smaller, put them inside the doll, and if that thing can learn..." Ty Lee slowly lowered her voice, only because Shisui and Petra were staring at her viciously.

"That was a very exaggerated story and was told for entertainment. Anyway, our main idea is to preserve information and facilitate data processing to produce more information," Shisui explained the purpose of his machine in a short but effective way.

The version of the Difference Engine that belongs to this world. Lao Ge studied the drawings and explanations intently, absorbed in them, while Toph felt bored because she couldn't 'see' what was going on, so she felt lost.

"How boring. I can't read this information anyway; how about we fight?" Toph approached Shisui, wanting to be distracted differently.

Shisui just put his hand on Toph's head very skillfully before tousling her hair, and although Toph tried to catch Shisui's hand, the height difference just made the scene funny.

"Sorry, little Toph, but I'm exhausted. But I have a way for you to read. Are you interested?" asked Shisui, and his words made Toph stop.

Toph's head was tilted to the side, one of her ears focused on the Sage, as if she wanted to hear something more in his words, his truthfulness. When she noticed that Shisui didn't seem to lie to her, that even his heart was beating normally, a strange expression appeared on Toph's face.

"Why do I have to read? Others can read for me; it's always been that way," Toph said. Although she tried to keep her tone neutral, there was a certain tremor in her words.

"I don't have to lie to you. Wouldn't it be comfortable to read for yourself?" asked Shisui, and Toph remained silent. Everyone could see that the young woman was trembling slightly.

"How would you do that?" Sokka, feeling a certain affinity for Toph and wanting to help her, asked the question for her.

"It's easy; I would just have to use your fingers. it would be like this..." Shisui then began to describe the concept of what he knew about Braille, a language that allows blind people to read.

Of course, he didn't call it that, but the essence of the language was explained by Shisui, which made Toph's ears flap constantly because she didn't want to miss this information because it was very important to her.

Toph wouldn't deny that the idea of a language she could touch and thus read was quite appealing to her. Even though she was able to overcome her disability, she still had a certain complex about it.

Even though she obviously couldn't see, she could hear the pitying tone everyone took when they talked to her, how they avoided mentioning sight-related topics, and even, through the seismic sense, she could feel certain mood swings when she used her 'eyes' to point at others.

Therefore, she made a great effort to listen to Shisui, and although she usually hated academic explanations, associating them with certain annoying experiences with her parents in the past, she did her best on this occasion.

...

So on one side was Lao Ge, going over the last details of the blueprint, and on the other side was Toph, receiving the first teachings of this way of reading under the dedicated guidance of Shisui, who used ice for tactile examples.

"He loves to teach," Ty Lee said quietly to Mai, who nodded when she heard her.

"He does that no matter how little time he has known someone," Mai said with some nostalgia.

She remembered the first day she met Shisui and noticed that she preferred not to speak or make any noise, as if she was mute. He insisted on teaching her sign language so that she could easily integrate into the group.

Not only that, he asked everyone around her to learn it, personally teaching Azula, Zuko, and Ty Lee; even if he had to suffer the natural restlessness of children, Shisui strove to have everyone at least understand Mai's gestures, effectively integrating her into the group.

In time, Mai began to speak a sentence or two, and since she had received Avatar Roku's advice that day, her parents stopped insisting that she be so silent and let her be free. 

Then, many of her psychological problems could be solved over time without letting them build up. For her, Shisui's love of teaching was the best thing that could have happened in her childhood.

"ShiShi says that knowledge should be shared without hindrance, that there are no barriers, countries or elements for that," Azula said, watching as Toph did little jumps because she could read out loud the 'Hello World!' written by Shisui.

"Would he even teach his fighting techniques to others?" asked Sokka with some skepticism.

"If you ask him, he might even design a technique for you or find flaws in the techniques you show him, all to help you do it better. He did that a lot with some Ba Sing Se soldiers," Zuko said with a smile of amusement at seeing Sokka's strange expression.

"Son, remember that he even agreed to teach your sister how to control ink to create art," Hakoda reminded his son, causing him to nod.

"For example, he helped me improve this." Ty Lee showed her open palm, where a certain amount of chi had accumulated, taking on a spherical shape.

'Then I can ask Shisui for advice in the future,' Sokka thought, watching the ball in Ty Lee's hands spin constantly, even provoked by gusts of wind.

"I think I can assemble it!" Lao Ge's cry attracted attention.

The old man stared at Petra; this time, there was no hint of rejection like before, only admiration. He saw the potential of this machine and had the urge to build one, but he needed permission.

"Can I do it?" Lao Ge asked Petra, who nodded.

"Please, for anything, Shisui and I are here to give you clearer details," Petra replied, making Lao Ge smile.

"Thank you, young lady. It seems that the only surprise of this trip is not only Sage Shisui," Lao Ge said excitedly before she looked at Toph for a moment and then at the ground.

After taking several deep breaths to regulate his emotions, Lao Ge began direct metal-bending, mining not only the nearby metal but also from deep within the frozen ground.

He wanted to do his best for a non-war project! At this point, he felt a little younger mentally, remembering the days when he had carved large statues out of mountains out of sheer artistic desire.

Now, he desired to assemble something that could change the lives of many people in the future. Streams of dark air floated around him, motes of metal that separated into the type of metal they were.

Then, they liquefied and blended, and soon, they were transformed into different pieces with different shapes. Under the guidance of Metal bending, Lao Ge carefully assembled the first Different Engine in the world.

-----------

AN: I'm still sick and can't stop cough, help, for that reason I updated later. Drink some water. I will upload tomorrow.