"Admiriate? I think you mean Adamantium.", Marth slurred his words towards Tsubasa-sensei as he remained curled up.

"Marth! Snap out of it!", Tsubasa-sensei gripped Marth's shoulders and propped him up before dealing him a swift slap to the cheek.

"Ow! Why does every girl hit me?", Marth complained as he came to. His vision of Cumulous riding fading out to a partly cloudy green sky. On the ground was a mixture of gravel and a blue ore mixed into rock outcroppings.

"What just happened? Where are we?", Marth was still confused.

Tsubasa-sensei let go of Marth's shoulders as he regained composure.

"We transitioned to this plane of existence from the administration building. Technically, we are still there.", Tsubasa-sensei explained.

"Technically?", Marth was still confused, and Tsubasa stood up and crossed her arms.

"Yes, technically this plane of existence is physically located within the administration building. As we move around on this plane, we are also moving around on our native plane. We can't see or interact with anything there, and likewise nobody there can see or interact with us, but we are indeed there."

Marth's head began to hurt, althought it might have been from being kicked and slapped around too much in the past 24 hours.

"So we're equivalent to being there, but we're also here. Could I move ten meters here, shift back to there, and I'd have moved ten meters there?", Marth could get technical too. Placing a hand on his knee, he rose to stand with sensei.

"Normally, yes. But this plane's units of measurement are smaller than what you're used to. Ten meters here is roughly ten millimeters there.", Tsubasa-sensei was getting Marth up to speed in front of a large conveyor belt meant for loading dump trucks with earth.

"Then that means you could make the inside of the administration building as large as you wanted!", Marth said excitedly.

"Or as small. But that's the point, the Adminstration building can be whatever we want it to be, just on a different plane."

"Where is this plane? The green sky doesn't look like Earth's.", Marth questioned among the wheelbarrows and shovels.

"As I said, we are in the administration building on earth. We didn't go to another place in space such as you can do by translating your body on an X, Y, or Z axis. We didn't move on the time axis either. This plane is a creation by one of the five pillars. A new universe within the multiverse, containing an Earth-like planet and solar system."

Marth shuddered as he tried to understand how a human could create an entire universe from scratch. One of the pillars made this planet? The first pillar seemed like the most plausible candidate.

"It couldn't be... Did Kaito-sensei create this planet?", Marth didn't want to believe that Kaito-potato was a god.

"No, It wasn't Kaito. This universe was created centuries ago by ancient Espers. No pillar today could do this, the knowledge to do so has been lost."

Marth was relieved to hear that the gardener brat wasn't a god after all. With a clearer mind, Marth looked around to see tools, machinery, and earthy colored rock. Down in the quarry of a strip mine, the only other thing to look at was the green sky.

"A surface mine for Esper enhancing minerals. What's up with the sky?" Marth wondered.

"This planet's sun is a red dwarf. It's giving off less blue light than Earth's sun, so the sky appears green. The atmosphere here is much like Earth's."

"This is an interesting place, I'd love to explore it." Marth got excited, but Sensei wasn't having it.

"Not today you won't.", Tsubasa-sensei's all too familiar stern look returned as she tossed Marth a pickaxe. "The school needs fifteen barrels of raw Admirite."

"Fifteen barrels?!" There was nobody else around to share the work, Marth gripped the pick with a confounded look on his face.

"It's the blue rock. pick at it and gather the little pieces."

Marth wondered if this was a joke, but then again, this was Tsubasa-sensei, too tight-assed to joke.

"You can't be serious.", Marth asserted.

"Do your best!", She said as she walked off, disappearing as she shifted planes.

Marth was left alone with the rocks on the desolate planet,

A couple hours had passed and Marth had filled a quarter of a wheelbarrow with the blue ore. Swinging the pickaxe so hard had begun to make his hands raw.

"I'm going to get blisters if I keep this up.", Marth was concerned as he held the pickaxe with one hand like a walking stick, while looking at his other.

His hands weren't the only thing fatigued. Marth's skin was starting to feel the burn under the red star.

Marth set down the pick and looked around the quarry. Nearing a rock wall where the mining came to a stop, Marth found a small open shack made from corrugated sheet metal. Inside were enough supplies for dozens of workers. Hard hats, thick gloves, a first aid kit, and water.

In the shade of the shack, Marth wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead. Next he didn't hesitate to don a pair of gloves and a hat.

"Ahh, this will be much better", he said relieved.

Marth took a few gulps of water before heading back out, clapping his hands together and adjusting the gloves between his fingers.

Back at the rock where Marth had been mining, Marth looked at the small pile of ore he had dug up so far.

"An eighth of a barrow per hour, and I need how many loads?" Marth did the math, realizing that this job would take days at his current pace.

"Could this be another test?", Marth wondered as he thought of a better way. An Esper should be able to mine this using only their mind.

Marth eyed the pickaxe on the ground. A simple tool, with a wooden handle and a steel head. Using Matter Synthesis, Marth should be able to create such a basic instrument. Marth closed his eyes, expecting to envision his lonely self in the astral realm. Instead, Marth saw a burst of glowing blue light fluctuating in his mind's eye. The light pulsed over and over, several times a second and Marth became dizzy as he tried to see the Astral realm.

"This must be the Admirite.", Marth hypothesized, opening his eyes and looking down at the rock. Indeed it's effects had made him halleucinate as he arrived here, and the effects could be felt now as Marth tried to create a stable projection.

"This stuff is supposed to amplify Esper abilities, but all I'm feeling is interference!", Marth tried again, closing his eyes. The blue pulsing waves of light were too strong to ignore.

"It's no use.", Marth resigned his efforts, plopping down to sit on the ground. "I can't work against this material."

Marth considered going back to the old fashioned way, although finishing with that method today would be impossible. The Admirite's waves were crashing against Marth's consciousness like the sea against the shore.

"Admirite, I don't admire you. You're only getting in my way", Marth jokingly thought.

"Waves. Admiration. Back home, energy from ocean waves are harnessed by boyant floats attached to generators via large pistons. The generators produce electricity from the ocean's movement!", Something seemed to click in Marth's mind. He stood up and faced the mine with a determined look.

"The ocean of Admirite is too strong to swim against. Instead, I'm going to ride those waves!", Marth closed his eyes, embracing the blue pulses instead of trying to filter them out.

"If I can feel their rhythm, I can ride them out.", Marth didn't try to picture himself in the Astral realm right away, Instead, he just let the feeling of blue be as it were. The feeling of Admirate came over him. His whole body felt cool, like he had just stepped through a portal to a mountaintop with clean, fresh air. A pushing feeling came over him, not like a person would push, but like a wind would blow a leaf. His mind felt like it was being gently blown from his body by a slumbering giant's exhales.

Marth felt like his mind was about to leave his body. What would happen if the two separated? Would Marth's body stop breathing and suffocate?

"No. My body can breathe on it's own. I have to stay calm."

The waves of Admirite seemed to intensify as Marth struggled to stay in control. Control, that's what Tsubasa sensie said Marth needed to do when they got here, but right now, Marth felt he needed to do the opposite.

"Admire the Admirite.", Marth calmed himself once more and he relaxed, feeling wave after wave of the cool blue light wash over him. He thought of a warm smile and just let himself have an experience with the pulsing light.

Time seemed to stand still as a wave of blue hit Marth in his state of tranquility. Although blue like he had never seen it before, he could see the Astral realm with himself in it. He moved around, looking at himself from an out of body position.

"Are my arms that skinny?" Maybe I should do this the old fashioned way after all!" Marth smiled and continued moving around himself. His self was standing with his arms pushed out at his sides, forming a T shape. His legs were slightly spread apart. He was seeing himself from only his consciousness which had left his body and created the feeling that time had stopped. This feeling wasn't abnormal for Astral projections, but the Admirite seemed to make the effect more pronounced.

Marth felt like another thing was different about this projection.

"The Admirite, perhaps?", Marth looked around at what was usually black, but this time a light blue. A feeling of comfort was present in the blue, but here there seemed to be something more.