Cutting Loose [Jennifer]
Posted Jun 26, 2018 18:43:07 GMT -7
Post by Jack Mason on Jun 26, 2018 18:43:07 GMT -7
Most of the time, Jack's main concern was cleaning up messes. But today, he was going to make one.
It was for a good cause, of course, and he'd make sure to clean up afterward. He had picked one of the larger training rooms, one without any automated machinery or other intricate parts that would be difficult to repair with his power. The plan was to use this controlled area to push his abilities to their limits and maybe see if there were some other tricks he could use in a pinch. Jack merged with the room and then got to work.
First up was practicing making spikes. Jack had a hard time growing a sharpened point out of any given surface, even when the material was something that was normally able to hold an edge just fine. His spikes generally weren't even sharp enough to break the skin except against anyone dumb enough to put their whole weight on them. But maybe that was just because he was having to rush to make the spikes quickly in the middle of battle. It was possible that a spike made with careful precision beforehand could be sharper.
For the better part of an hour, Jack grew metal spikes from one of the room's walls, one-by-one. He focused on making each one start at a very small point, then get thicker as it emerged from the wall, all while ensuring that it didn't warp or twist to the side in the slightest. Next, he emerged and tried touching each spike in turn to see how sharp it was. The first few were disappointingly dull, and Jack ended up just running his hand across the rest as he walked past. That meant that he was taken by surprise when one of the spikes was sharp enough to slice his palm right open.
The cut was seriously painful, but Jack was encouraged by the progress, even if it was apparently just a fluke. It also meant he was bleeding everywhere, but both the mess and the injury would be simple enough to fix later. Jack might have tried to replicate this feat, but he was completely sick of making spikes by this point, so he moved on to the next exercise: practicing materialization speed.
This was on the complete opposite end of the spectrum from his attempt at precise spike creation. He was just trying to put up as many metal growths as possible in as short a time as possible. Within a matter of minutes, the floor was covered in a twisted jungle of walls and pillars. The speed was slower than Jack would have liked, but he did notice that the bigger walls and pillars didn't seem to take any longer to create than the smaller ones. He wasn't sure how useful that would be, though, since beyond a certain size it just seemed to be excessive.
Next up was a new trick Jack had thought up. He merged with the ceiling, grew a small stem of metal downward, then grew a much larger lump of metal at the tip of the stem. Eventually, the lump got too big for the stem to hold, and the stem snapped, allowing the lump to fall all the way down to the floor and hit with a loud SLAM! Judging by the cracks in the floor spreading out from under the lump, anything sitting in that spot would have been thoroughly crushed.
It was a pretty nice result, but probably not of practical use, since it took so long so set up, and since the lump breaking free was disorienting to Jack in the same manner as any damage to his merged building was. He tried making a few more lumps, each one sending another SLAM resounding through the area as it landed, but eventually gave up.
This was probably the spot where Jack should have taken a break, but he had one more trick he wanted to try first. Jack had limited control over the speed at which he emerged from a building. He normally took it slow, going no faster than walking pace, but it had occurred to him that if he did it fast enough, he could use it to practically fly.
Jack merged with the floor, setting his sights on the ceiling. With a WHOOSH, he shot upwards, but gravity took over a bit more quickly than he had expected. He didn't make it to the ceiling, and with how mentally exhausted he was from his previous training, he hit the floor before he was ready to merge again.
He landed directly on his face. The impact was hard enough to send out a spray of blood and a few teeth. Jack was motionless, stunned but not quite unconscious, as appealing as it sounded to pass out right about now.
It was for a good cause, of course, and he'd make sure to clean up afterward. He had picked one of the larger training rooms, one without any automated machinery or other intricate parts that would be difficult to repair with his power. The plan was to use this controlled area to push his abilities to their limits and maybe see if there were some other tricks he could use in a pinch. Jack merged with the room and then got to work.
First up was practicing making spikes. Jack had a hard time growing a sharpened point out of any given surface, even when the material was something that was normally able to hold an edge just fine. His spikes generally weren't even sharp enough to break the skin except against anyone dumb enough to put their whole weight on them. But maybe that was just because he was having to rush to make the spikes quickly in the middle of battle. It was possible that a spike made with careful precision beforehand could be sharper.
For the better part of an hour, Jack grew metal spikes from one of the room's walls, one-by-one. He focused on making each one start at a very small point, then get thicker as it emerged from the wall, all while ensuring that it didn't warp or twist to the side in the slightest. Next, he emerged and tried touching each spike in turn to see how sharp it was. The first few were disappointingly dull, and Jack ended up just running his hand across the rest as he walked past. That meant that he was taken by surprise when one of the spikes was sharp enough to slice his palm right open.
The cut was seriously painful, but Jack was encouraged by the progress, even if it was apparently just a fluke. It also meant he was bleeding everywhere, but both the mess and the injury would be simple enough to fix later. Jack might have tried to replicate this feat, but he was completely sick of making spikes by this point, so he moved on to the next exercise: practicing materialization speed.
This was on the complete opposite end of the spectrum from his attempt at precise spike creation. He was just trying to put up as many metal growths as possible in as short a time as possible. Within a matter of minutes, the floor was covered in a twisted jungle of walls and pillars. The speed was slower than Jack would have liked, but he did notice that the bigger walls and pillars didn't seem to take any longer to create than the smaller ones. He wasn't sure how useful that would be, though, since beyond a certain size it just seemed to be excessive.
Next up was a new trick Jack had thought up. He merged with the ceiling, grew a small stem of metal downward, then grew a much larger lump of metal at the tip of the stem. Eventually, the lump got too big for the stem to hold, and the stem snapped, allowing the lump to fall all the way down to the floor and hit with a loud SLAM! Judging by the cracks in the floor spreading out from under the lump, anything sitting in that spot would have been thoroughly crushed.
It was a pretty nice result, but probably not of practical use, since it took so long so set up, and since the lump breaking free was disorienting to Jack in the same manner as any damage to his merged building was. He tried making a few more lumps, each one sending another SLAM resounding through the area as it landed, but eventually gave up.
This was probably the spot where Jack should have taken a break, but he had one more trick he wanted to try first. Jack had limited control over the speed at which he emerged from a building. He normally took it slow, going no faster than walking pace, but it had occurred to him that if he did it fast enough, he could use it to practically fly.
Jack merged with the floor, setting his sights on the ceiling. With a WHOOSH, he shot upwards, but gravity took over a bit more quickly than he had expected. He didn't make it to the ceiling, and with how mentally exhausted he was from his previous training, he hit the floor before he was ready to merge again.
He landed directly on his face. The impact was hard enough to send out a spray of blood and a few teeth. Jack was motionless, stunned but not quite unconscious, as appealing as it sounded to pass out right about now.
