‘But it’s not like the quake created the magma,’ said Hector. ‘It just bridged two pools together, right? Or streams... or whatever.’
‘Yep. Which means there’s almost certainly even more magma down here somewhere. And depending on how much there actually is, the shift in heat pressure from that earthquake might one day lead to brand new volcanic activity. Which wouldn’t be very good for us.’
‘No kidding.’
‘So you’re thinking that just adding layers to the tubs wouldn’t fix the real problem.’
‘Pretty much, yeah...’
‘How do you intend to dig down here, then? Brute force? Even with enhanced strength, that’ll take you a while.’
‘Well... I don’t see any other options...’
‘Alright, then let me have a look around for the best point of entry.’
‘Okay.’
Hector exited the bathhouse, having to go all the way through the Tower of Day’s ground floor and out into the greater cavern area before finally finding a lungful of genuinely cooler air.
He decided to practice with his metal while he waited. He hadn’t been training with his metal as much as he would’ve liked. Or at least, he hadn’t been experimenting with it as much. He’d of course been getting plenty of practical experience in his almost daily patrols around Gray Rock, and while that was certainly helpful for honing his existing skills, it didn’t help much with developing new ones. He knew that he needed to set aside some time soon and really see what else he was capable of now. For the moment, however, these brief periods of downtime would have to suffice.
He extended his arm out fully and concentrated. There was only one thing he wanted, and he envisioned it in his head.
The metal ball materialized in an instant, just in front of his open palm. But rather than falling straight to the ground, it popped outward first, as if it had been gently tossed. He annihilated it before it touched the ground.
It wasn’t much velocity, of course, but it was a start. And he was sure he could do more, still, if he could only get a better feel for it in his mind. It was just such a newly applied concept that he was having difficulty wrapping his head around it.
A dark serial novel. Set in a modern fantasy world called Eleg. Mature language. Updates every night at midnight PST by ~400 words.
Missing word:
ReplyDelete"It was just such a newly applied concept that [he] was having difficulty wrapping his head around it."
I'm now imagining him using his abilities to jack-hammer his way down by creating/annihilating stone wedges shooting down.
ReplyDeleteGot it, thanks Ankou.
ReplyDeleteHeh, that sounds pretty difficult.
ReplyDeleteA GINORMOUS METAL SPIKE THEN A GINORMOUS BALL OR SQUARE SHAPE TO FALL AND HIT IT, LET GRAVITY DO THE WORK.
ReplyDeleteMY CAPS IS BROKEN!
That is something that is actually done on some construction sites, its how they pile drive stakes into the ground to be used as supports.
ReplyDeletePulled out the USB keyboard. Does hector get his Iron? analyzed soon.
ReplyDeleteHe could just connect it to the undercrust tunnel. It's another layer of defense for passage through it and it would also sadly piss people off that magma is flowing towards them.
ReplyDeleteMaybe i am over thinking this a bit, but if hector tunnels down to the magma flow he will release it into the lake under the castle. That will pollute the air with toxic gasses and make the water undrinkable. They would have to evacuate for months, maybe even years if the lava keeps flowing.
ReplyDeleteGiven how far down that tunnel goes, it would not be magma by the time it reached the bottom, it would be solid rock.
ReplyDeleteI'm also interested in this. It's about time we found out.
ReplyDeleteAlso, what would happen if Hector used his metal as a heat sink for the magma and he then destroyed the metal? Would the heat be destroyed as well, or would it remain?
On that note, when a servant creates a material with more or less heat than the surrounding environment, and thus increased/decreased the temperature of the area, would destroying their material restore the temperature to normal?
I ask this because if the heat is absorbed or destroyed permanently, YOU'VE JUST BROKEN THE LAW OF THE CONSERVATION OF MASS. Even more than it currently has been, but this has far greater ramifications.
Although, you could use this as part of how the powers work. You might say that in order for them to add properties such as an initial velocity, increased heat, etc, they must first absorb that energy. For example, in order to make his metal molten when he first creates it, he must have absorbed that much heat by destroying his metal that had absorbed as much heat already. You could use this to explain why he is having such difficulty giving his metal forward momentum upon creation. He's only absorbed energy from when he has destroyed his metal after his enemies have done something to it, such as blast it with lightning (just creating it, allowing it to fall and then destroying it would not work, as the energy would be the same since he created it with gravitational potential energy). This would add a great use to the magma. He could use it as a heat sink with his metal, destroy it, and repeat, thereby storing energy he can use later. GEOTHERMAL ENERGY FTW.
Even if it did make it, I doubt it would affect them much. They're probably used to lava, or at least resistant to it.
ReplyDelete(Found my account email :D)
All caught up. WEEEE!
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the party! :D
ReplyDeleteD: I'm going to have nightmares when I go to sleep.
Can't help but think that this place is sounding more and more like a game of Dwarf Fortress and Hector's just playing in adventure mode or whatever that mode was called.
ReplyDelete"Down here is where the dwarves dug too deep and found adamantium. And if I pull this switch, it releases the - oh god the lava, it burns!!!"
I completely forgot Garovel's explanation of how to launch materialized objects. Too lazy to go back and reread...
ReplyDeletemetal, kid underground, digging...
ReplyDeleteall we need now is Kamina