‘Agh... I fucking suck.’
‘Aw, don’t feel too bad,’ said Garovel. ‘You’ll do better next time.’
‘The worst part is... now, she probably thinks that I’m grossed out by her or something...’
‘Eh, you don’t know that. Maybe she just thinks you’re a spastic weirdo.’
‘...Great. Thanks for that.’
‘No problem.’
Hector just wallowed in his self-loathing as he joined the group of people waiting for the elevators.
‘Why do you have a crush on her, anyway? Do you even know the reason?’
‘Uh...’
‘I’ll take that as a no.’
‘No, well, I mean... I know why.’
‘Then tell me.’
‘Ergh... because... I mean, because she’s fucking awesome.’
‘She is?’
‘Yes! She’s like--she’s like everything I’m not. Really smart and strong and focused.’
‘You’re all of those things, too, Hector.’
‘No, I’m not--’
‘I think you literally just named your three best characteristics. When you don’t know the answer, you generally ask intelligent questions; you’ve proven yourself in battle multiple times, as far as I’m concerned; and you meditate like a fucking Jesbolese monk. Smart, strong, focused.’
‘I... that’s not--’
‘So essentially, you’re telling me that you like her because she reminds you of yourself.’
‘What the--?! No! I just--! I just don’t know how to--!’
‘Whatever, narcissist.’
‘Fucking--! You... agh...’
‘Maybe you just have an eye patch fetish.’
‘...Is that a real thing?’
‘Oh, I’m sure it is. I have immeasurable faith in humanity’s capacity for perversion.’
At length, they finally arrived at the R&D lab again. The guards let them through without a fuss this time.
Haqq and Sazandara were both right there near the doorway. The reaper noticed them first. ‘Hello again,’ she said.
‘Good morning,’ said Garovel. ‘Did you get a chance to perform the analysis?’
“Yes, I did!” said Haqq. “The results were absolutely fascinating! It seems your servant is able to materialize an ultra-rare quad-element compound of titanium, iridium, carbon, and plutonium! I’m not sure why I couldn’t tell right away yesterday!”
Confused, Hector just kind of blinked dully. He didn’t know what to say, but judging by the reaper’s flat expression, Garovel apparently did.
‘You’re lying.’
“Of course I am lying. Just as I told you before, it is only iron. The embodiment of mediocrity and tedium. Why did you make me waste my time analyzing it? I was hoping that you had brought me something that was at least vaguely interesting, but no. Your servant is about as special as a sunny day in Kuros.” He eyed Hector. “And probably just as useful.”
A dark serial novel. Set in a modern fantasy world called Eleg. Mature language. Updates every night at midnight PST by ~400 words.
Will have an extra page for you in an hour or so.
ReplyDeleteWow. Haqq's a bit of a dick.
ReplyDeleteAww I thought it was going to be something special... not just iron lol, you made it seem like it was going to be special... o and Haqq is a total bag of dicks
ReplyDeleteIRON seriously iron.
ReplyDeleteI'm happy because he does not have an advantage and everyhting will be based on skill and hardwork BUT iron.
What the hell Haqq!?!?
ReplyDeleteSpewing blasts of molten metal absolutely everywhere! Regulating impurities to create perfect steel! Being able to create unobtrusive mechanisms that don't break down at room temperatures, can conduct electricity, are malleable, ductile, yet fairly rigid! Doesn't produce energy when nuclear fusion or fission is used on it! Not deadly to use with a servant incapable of providing regeneration!
ReplyDeleteI kind of want to know what ability makes Haqq so snobby, anyway. Integration seems likely, considering his field.
Did you put in the question mark just to have that one stupid joke?
ReplyDeleteActually, I believe that a reader prompted him to put in the question mark.
ReplyDeleteHeh. I love how Garovel can redirect Hector's self-loathing in a steady stream at himself, all the while boosting the guy's ego.
ReplyDeleteNot sure what joke you're talking about. So, no.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the reminder about that question mark. I'd nearly forgotten that I put it there.
I don't think it's iron. Haqq half-assed the test I'm betting and I'm guessing there were trace amounts of a second material in it. I'm betting that in the coming chapters one of the other servants will notice that it can't be just iron and have him undergo a more thorough test.
ReplyDeleteHe did do a mass spectography, if I remember right. Those catch pretty much everything.
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying iron is a bad ability to have because it isn't in my opinion it's the not the ability it's the person using it who decides how powerful it becomes and hector will become powerful I have no doubt and it will all be down to the amount of effort and time he puts into developing it.
ReplyDeleteIt's just the build up was huge, huge.
However a major part of me is happy that it is just iron because I have no doubt those who have extremely powerful abilities from the beginning become extremely conceited relying on their overwhelming ability of course most likely being killed early on.
Hector however is doing exactly what i would do in his situation which is to experiment with his ability as much possible and get to know every facet of it.
He has used his initiative to research both physics and engineering increasing the versatility and power of his ability all through his own efforts.
He is the greatest MC ever, he needs no OP ability and if people under estimate him because of his ability so much the better.
Haqq maybe an ass but I don't think he would half ass something. Imagine how embarrassed he would be if someone found a mistake he made especially given how perfect he thinks himself.
ReplyDeleteAnd Iron is extremely ferromagnetic--supposedly the strongest type of magnetism. Theoretically, the molten iron in the earth's core is what creates earth's magnetic fields. So Iron has some interesting applications and i have no doubt Monsieur Frost will introduce at least one we or others hadn't concieved in a suitably creative fashion. Perhaps with much creative license and a lot of nervous tension on Hector's part.
ReplyDeleteA spinning circle of liquid iron would be a good experiment i wonder what would happen.
ReplyDeleteThe iron at the center is not liquid the pressure keeps it in a solid state. it is however surrounded by a river of liquid iron, not sure if the solid iron is needed in conjunction with the liquid iron to create a magnetic field though.
ReplyDeleteThe earth's geodynamo is powered partly by the solid inner core growing, as it forms crystals and forces non-iron elements outward, and is actually generated by convection currents in the liquid outer core that are organized by Coriolis force. So the Earth's magnetic field requires both solid and liquid iron, but a similar system powered by Hector's vector control probably wouldn't.
ReplyDeletewonder if it's possible to continuously add movement by materializing new iron both liquid and solid state but with kinetic energy.
ReplyDeleteI wish i could do that in real life just to see what happens.
It might be useful as a way to generate energy or as a bomb.
I love this series the potential is limitless on hectors skill limited only by your imagination.
i feel like carbon in any type of power would be overpowered, anything from materialization to transfiguration. its just that carbon is so versatile. its the most conductive element in certain forms and an amazing insulator in others. not to mention it can form anything from diamond to nanotubes. there are too many possibilities, although even if it gives you an inherent advantage, at the end of the day, its the servant not the power that usually matters. however, carbon would still be pretty awesome
ReplyDeleteGood summary. You know, what he makes can't be pure iron. Just like pure gold, pure iron is softer than aluminum. It's the impurities in it that makes it hard. We've seen over and over that Hector's iron is hard. Thus it has a number of impurities in it, possibly a true ultra-rare quad-element compound (although not of the elements listed). There's probably a lot of phosphorus, since Hector's iron seems to be resistant to rust. Wouldn't that be interesting if Hector could refine out those impurities. An thin-iron easter-egg ball of phosphorus would make an excellent grenade.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing that the impurities come from the air where hes making his iron hence the lack of a GIANT BLAST WAVE that would appear from a ton and a half of iron suddenly popping into the sky
ReplyDeleteThey probably just come naturally. Garovel mentioned materializing ultra-pure materials as though it was an advanced technique, so the ground state probably comes with a few impurities commonly associated with whatever it is.
ReplyDeleteBefore you start talking about how he might use those impurities, though, bear in mind that Garovel didn't say anything about a way to make your material less pure.
Hello world, meet Haaq the Asshole. Also: I sense some sort of development on Hector's abilities after Garovel's pep-talk and his stating that iron is far more useful than Haaq could concieve
ReplyDeleteThat part about the super rare element made me crack up
ReplyDeletethe thing about that amazing alloy that Hector never actually made. You can tell it didn't actually have uranium in it because materializing the Karkash-crusher asteroid from the fight where Stoker died didn't make it explode from critical mass.
ReplyDeleteMr Frost... You're a fucking troll!!!
ReplyDeleteI was like "what?? Quadruple materialisation while the legendary materialisation users only got 2???" ... But it turned out to be one big joke...
"I have immeasurable faith in humanity's capacity for perversion"
ReplyDeleteDAMN STRAIGHT. *cough* *cough* I mean, this statement obviously has no correlation to me *cough*