"I'm not sure my English is good enough for me to read an academic paper. But when I was first learning I used to make my way through books with a Russian-English dictionary on hand, so maybe I'll pick it up." It's unlikely. Ilya's education before this place was awful. Normally he would know this and embrace this as a defeat before the attempt, but Topher is just so optimistic. Something about his demeanor makes Ilya want to try the impossible. Maybe it's because Topher actually has confidence in him. Ilya doesn't get that a lot.

At the words 'telekinetic punching bag', Ilya flashes to the one time he lost control, the bruises the poor man he threw into the wall had, the dislocated shoulder, and winces. He couldn't do that to Topher when the other guy has been so nice to him despite being so much further up the food chain here. "I can push and throw heavy things. It's light stuff that's hard. I don't need a 'punching bag'. And I don't want to hurt anyone here."

His issue is excessive force. Move nearly six hundred pounds in one shot? Done. Pick up a book with his mind without accidentally chucking it across the room? No luck yet.

"But, um. Thanks. For offering."