The shuttle sadly had no windows so i was forced to just sit and listen to the engine hum. Wondering when magic would actually play a part of what they said i'd be doing, as focus was mainly on hand to hand combat and classwork in basic sciences and tactics this far. Though i'm not sure i'm all that good at that yet either as a woman half my size kept beating me up once every few weeks. Study this far had a heavy slant towards combat and even though it was never expressly stated that i'd be fighting, i was far from stupid despite being a farmer's son. But for magic the risks might be worth it, and this far it looked like the training was heavily aimed at teaching me to survive rather than be a disposable troop in a battle. Even if most of the crew avoided me i overhead details about the battleship being routed to Azure, probably only to pick me up. The fact it did showed they considered me important instead of just another grunt as thousands were shifted just to move me around.
Banton a name that did not give any info on what kind of world it was. Yet i'd probably be calling it home for a while unless i get bundled on another ship for a few more months of travel. The shuttle finally landed, with the door opening i got my first glance outside. The sky was cloudy and the main color of everything was either bright white of prefab buildings or brown dirt, dry and cracked. There was no grass, just some weird stocky plants in the distance that looked like overgrown mushrooms overall making for a very bleak view. And massive amount of people in full military gear milling about. To greet me there were four troops in full power armor with their helmets blacked out leaving them as faceless menacing entities.
“We will escort you to your quarters. This way” We headed off for a long walk between buildings. After a while we arrived at one of the bigger blocky white buildings. At the door was more guards in power armor, the building had a wider empty area around it with automated turrets dotted all over it unlike all the smaller buildings in the area. The guards at the gate talked for a moment, even that was only noticeable due to how they moved as their voice was completely muted by the armor. Heading through the door on the other side there were pure white walls and floor with rows of unmarked doors. I was lead through corridor after corridor all once again unmarked. It must be that my implant is useless here, or i might need to be granted access. After a short trip inside we made it to a room filled with lab equipment, fancy looking sensors and half built systems all over the tables. Inside was a young looking man who was completely oblivious to our presence while working on something on one of the terminals fully surrounded by the glow of holograms.
“We have brought the subject.” came the voice from one of the guards surrounding me.
“A finally, Mister Evan have a seat.” came the very enthusiastic sounding voice from the man “Im Gray. I'm so glad you're finally here.” while leading me towards the chair in the middle of the room he spared the guards enough attention to wave at them to go away. And considering how he just walked off half dragging me after him they did not register to him as intimidating or even all that interesting. “Need to get some scans for baseline.” when i opened my mouth to ask some questions in order to figure out what exactly he was about to do. “Dont worry just some harmless scans today, we can't get to the interesting parts for a few more days. Unless you have figured out how to access your magic without outside assistance?” finally seated at the not all that comfortable chair there was not much choice besides waiting out whatever he is doing. Able to get a closer look now that he was running scanner after scanner over me doing the familiar glance around at things he could see and i could not. He looked shockingly plain, a little shorter than me with gray hair that was short but surprisingly messy, gray eyes filled with a unnerving amount of focus. The white lab coat he had on had occasional small burn marks and the pockets were filled with tools. Making for a surprisingly chaotic looking image.
“Good i have the baseline, the military wants their testing tomorrow. And we can see about unlocking your magic the day after it. We are done for today. Thank you for your time.” He once more reeled off everything with no pause making me wonder if he felt that talking was a waste of time that he needs to get over as soon as possible. He just walked off to do something on the holoterminal he was at earlier. Leaving me standing in the middle of the room feeling very lost. But that got solved by the guard near the door waving me over. “Don't worry about the doctor, he is not really a people person but he is very good at what he does. Just head through the door your honor guard is still standing outside.” the guard sounded highly amused by my interactions with the scientist, and probably quite happy not to be his target himself.
Waking next morning in the room i had been lead to i found another set of guards at the door. Having a full set of guards at the door waiting for me, made me feel like either there was a threat towards me or i was the threat, and with magic i might be a threat to people in power armor soon. Especially considering that by the doctors words i'd have magic in just one more day from now and the thought of it made me feel giddy. For today though i was lead to a room with cameras visible in each corner. Had a whole pile of sensors attached to me, and was asked question after question ranging from the mundane like “Have you ever been in a romantic relationship.” or “Have you ever lied.” to outright bizarre “Have you ever thought about drinking human blood.” or “Do you feel more moody or aggressive at certain parts of the month”. The questions went on all day with only a few breaks for food and toilet in between.
In the evening i had trouble falling asleep wondering how it would work and even how having magic would really be like. In the morning i was woken by a person in full power armor, and having a menacing figure like that leaning over me definitely did not make me squeal like a little girl or frantically crawl backwards, really i did not... After a moment to get my heartrate back under control and to get dressed we were off towards the lab. Me and my escort of menacing figures in full power armor. Intimidation factor was considerably increased by the fact i had seen the face of none of them.
Arriving at the lab the scientist was there looking as excited as a kid in a candy shop. Standing next to a solid metal box. “Good your here. The Solidified Porphyron arrived earlier today. And we can finally get on to doing SCIENCE and MAGIC” doctor Gray`s enthusiasm would probably have been a bit infectious if it was not for the surprisingly large amount of armed people in power armor arranged around the room. “Get the crystal out, it wont do us any good in there.” i got more and more nervous as i watched the soldiers put in codes on several different locations then grabbing four poles and using them to lift the crystal out of the box. The crystal itself would have looked like a unremarkable bluish piece of glass if it was not for the fact it was faintly glowing. “Are you sure that's safe?” Doctor Gray looked thoughtful for a moment before responding. “This far in 829 confirmed cases of humans touching it we had four cases of mage, one werewolf and two vampires. The rest were completely unaffected. So if you end up being unlucky and shedding your humanity on contact, try to be smarter than the vampire gal with your last act being stupid and picking a fight with people in power armor carrying big guns.” It really did not make me feel assured as he kept waving towards the crystal with a cheerful smile on his face. Nothing risked nothing gained i guess, with that in mind i made my way over to the crystal watching as all the guards pointed all guns my way. Taking one last deep breath to steel myself, i reached over and put my hand on it.
Everything felt so hot, i could feel the crystal, feel many small threads in there pulling on me. No not me, something inside of me. I could see it, a giant glowing orb of something powerful and it was slowly drawing a stream out of it, twisting it all around and feeding it back into me. Opening my eyes, not even remembering closing them everything seemed normal, except i could still feel the thread of something going from me to the crystal. Following it back and forth trying to memorize the feeling. It felt otherworldly flowing back and forth to the crystal then looping back. It was a whole other world holding the orb of power that was mine, it was inside of me yet kind of through me somewhere else. Carefully taking my hand off the crystal. The unreal sensation of the pool of power faded slightly but i could with just a thought reach out to it again.
Gray had me explain in as much detail as i could how it felt. As he ran another scanner over me. Occasionally he complained about scanners showing me as being normal. But i did not feel normal, the power in me i could feel it constantly now. I felt whole, like something i didn't even know i was missing was returned to me. “Hmm the scanners are being useless. All of the other subjects had one skill they could do almost instinctively. Try and figure out if you feel any kinda inclination into how to use your magic.”
“How did you instantly know it worked?” i did not think they could feel the sun hiding inside me now. “Kid, your eyes keep glowing on and off constantly.” eyes glowing? Should that not interfere with my vision?. After a moment i forced myself to stop thinking about the glow. Did anything feel natural. Reaching inside i slowly pulled at the power, feeling it flow into me and running through channels inside me. It felt like a liquid splashing everywhere, parts of it just evaporating into nothingness. I felt like there were even smaller channels all around the bigger ones inside me and i could make them do something, but when i was about to try and guide it to spread into those tiny lines it felt dangerous. Like it was what i was supposed to do, but at the same time maybe i was not ready for that. But flow into something, a piece of metal on the desk, it felt like a good target for whatever i could do, grabbing the piece of metal i could feel a network of channels inside it, tight and restrictive but still there. Pouring the power into it i tried to guide it towards the channels i felt were there. Instead it filled not just the right channels but pooled all over the gaps between the channels. To my mind the piece of metal was now glowing with a thick spider web of power going through it. “I put power into this plate i'm not quite sure what its doing. But i think it's supposed to make it better.” a few quick blinks and already doctor Gray was striding across the room. “Bring it here and hold it inside the machine. Do you need to keep contact with it?” few moments thinking about it felt like i could let go of it and keep the power there but it felt somehow wrong. “It feels somehow wrong to let go of it while i'm powering it” the machine clamped onto the piece of metal, with me holding a corner i could feel the machinery inside try to cut into the plate and the power in there was getting used up in tiny droplets to continue doing what it was doing. “Amazing the material is just a piece of steel yet at the moment cutters are already at double the rated pressure for steel.” a few moments of waiting and feeling the power in the steel plate i felt the plate get damaged as the pathways altered and the power inside shifted, still being a thick web of power but somehow feeling incomplete or even wrong. It felt wrong to let it get damaged, so a bit more power got routed in increasing the pressure in it. Pain lanced through my head as the plate suddenly shattered into many tiny pieces. I felt exhausted as if i had just ran for ages, out of breath. The orb of power in me, more than half of it contents were gone. I had not even noticed, the power i was using to make it stronger, to reinforce it flowing back and forth, but when the plate shattered everything in it just vanished.
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“You suddenly got out of breath when the plate shattered, explain as much as you can figure out, Hmm the plate of steel is not just in chunks its damaged to the point i can break the pieces apart with my bare hands.” Gray kept glancing at me waiting for me to explain what i can figure out while looking over the pieces of the steel plate, and having the machine do something with the pieces still inside it. “All the power i poured into the plate it still felt like it was still a part of me i could just pull it back, but when it shattered it just vanished. And now i feel like i have gone another round with Olivia.” Gray just went around me glancing at scanners and muttering to himself. I just focused on trying to get my breathing under control.
The rest of the day was interspaced with rest and careful tests. I still felt like i was wasting most of the power as it just filled things despite my best attempts at controlling it, it flowed and splashed inside the items as i was given random things from within the lab. Some of them were like the steel plate, feeling restrictive but the power still flowed within. Some i had to properly focus to get any power in. Each material and item got put partially inside a big testing machine that tried to cut and damage it while measuring everything. Surprisingly a random silver spoon that i was handed felt so much smoother than anything else, it felt open with power flowing smoothly and effortlessly inside it with very little wasted. As i was getting sleepier and sleepier Gray finally allowed me to go and sleep. Even if it seemed that he had no intention of doing the same, and that he has some ideas to discuss the next day.
To my surprise i found myself awake early in the morning. Based on the clock on the terminal i had only slept four hours. Yet i felt fully rested, my core of power was full and it felt just as amazing as yesterday. Still having several hours to go i filled the time flowing power carefully through everything in the room getting bit by bit better at getting it to flow the way i wanted, rather than semi randomly splashing around. It was faintly amusing that my power felt more like liquid than anything else, yet it felt so very soothing to have it flow out then pull it back losing only tiny amounts of it each time. Finally came the time to go back to the crazy scientist. My scary escort squad was still outside the door waiting for me.
“Good good, your here. The results are quite surprising, the raw durability of the materials you enhanced went up anywhere from twice to over fifty times its norm. With any alloys with iron in them being near the bottom, and the one item with silver being at the top. Now lets try how it affects more complex items or what happens if you are separated from what your enhancing” the tests that followed were surprising in its results, even complex things could be enhanced to be more. But it got more and more difficult to make the power go right when going from material to material as multiple different materials were involved. Some of the more complex things i could not help but shatter, as flow that was right for one material was far too large to fit through the cracks in the other components and the pressure shattered them. Yet slowly i felt myself getting better at it and carefully threading it through everything. It was disorienting to let go of anything i enhanced. It felt like cutting off a limb, any power in it staying but apparently at only about half effectiveness for improvement and any power in it i could no longer claim even if i touched it again, and regardless of the power in it, it slowly dissipated over the course of less than half a hour in the case of silver and in less than a minute in the case of steel. The tests should have felt tedious but it felt so fascinating to control how the power flowed, even if having it deplete tired me at a very quick pace. Gray was left muttering something about the amount of components and needing more silver while pointing me towards some modified exercise equipment set up in the corner telling me to try and avoid having any power flowing on the first attempt and then allowing some on the second set. It felt very uncomfortable pulling all the power flowing back and forth through me back into the core making me feel empty. Doing the exercises first time around was not too bad. Second time around while feeling complete once again it felt loads easier as i went through them not even feeling the strain. “Quite remarkable, standardisation will be a issue with all of you being so different in effect.” Gray sounded like he considered it less off a annoyance and more like a challenge. “How are others different?” i could not help but ask as i knew there were a few others.
“You are nearly twice as strong with any power flowing through you.The girl showed no improvements of any kind besides reaction speed when it came to basic abilities. But she gained a fascinating amount of resistance to higher temperatures. It seems that each of you has a instinctive theme your magic is built around. And yours seems to be making things stronger, or even just better in a way that screws physics.” he was right, for me making things stronger felt natural. The basic materials i enhanced were far stronger than they were supposed to be. The machines i enhanced worked better and faster sometimes to the defiance of physics as i knew it. Empowering an old silicon processor should not have made it run several times faster. Changing any of its electrical properties should have made it unstable and unusable instead somehow i made it work faster.
The next day the theme of the tests in the lab was changed, the room had a huge metal plate in the middle of the room and frames around it shielded with guns and several weapons pointing at it. I was made to enhance it as much as i could and then release separating it and sacrificing the connection i had to it. Enhancing guns did not seem to do much, bullets were faster and more solid, but the giant silver plate stayed untouched until i could feel the power in it run out. Though the bullets i enhanced by sacrificing small bits of power tended to bounce and i was very happy for the safety barrier. “Interesting so enhanced and disconnected items have no effect on each other besides both being more durable.” The few silver bullets i was given fared a little bit better both being equally enhanced they made tiny dents. Feeling frustrated at my lack of progress at damaging it i punched the plate after having recharged it once again. And to my shock the plate developed several cracks. Trying again, at the doctors insistence with a knife i could feel the power inside the knife actively get used up to push aside and interfere with the power in the plate. The normal steel knife casually cut into the silver plate as if it was made out of butter. Doctor Gray muttered something about needing someone doing active reinforcement to test against. To my surprise after some time where i was just left waiting he arrived back with a young woman in tow. “Evan this is Samantha, we need to test your power interactions.” Samantha was a redhead with her hair tight in a ponytail, brown eyes that seemed restless. With her only reaching up to my chest i felt that she should be protected not mixed up with training for combat and magic. “Doc so what do you want me to do this time. I already told you that while the making things better part kinda works, it feels awkward and you rushing me here to reinforce some shit is a waste of my time i'd be so much better off practicing throwing fire at something than this shit.” Seems like she is the gal who got fire resistance instead of strength from magic. After some arguing with the doc she got over and put her hand on the silver plate. Almost a minute later it suddenly lit up with red lines crawling all over it, despite her making the plate stronger it still radiated heat. With a quick prompt from the doc i took the knife and tried to cut the plate. Attempt one failed but i felt her power in it, felt it resist and scarily a desire to burn me. On the second attempt i focused power in the knife with intention of cutting magic feeling the power shift to accommodate. And i cut straight through the plate and based on the grimace on Samantha's face it hurt as much as it did for me when something i was enhancing got damaged. She quickly let go of the plate but the lines of fire in it remained, it still radiated heat. After a quick explanation to the doc about how it felt to cut the plate, later our roles were reversed and i enhanced the plate and she tried to cut it. I had to try and push the remains of her power in the plate out, with hers destroying itself to try and burn mine when they came in contact. While mine felt like water filling the cracks and making it better, hers felt like fire had rushed in and burned away weaknesses in the metal. I could feel her attempts at cutting the plate with a knife. I could feel it trying to disrupt my hold and to weaken the plate but it took near no effort to cancel it out. Letting go of the plate it still took her ten minutes till the power in it was low enough for her to cut into it. Something that frustrated her to no end. “Ok now that we did this shit your way, We are doing it my way. Get back to supporting this metal plate!” i barely managed to get the plate reinforced again before she unleashed fire from her hands at the plate. I could feel it trying to eat away at the magic inside the plate. The fire was bright red, far more red than any real fire i have ever seen. But i could feel her expending far more power to try and burn it than i did supporting it. With a prompt from the doctor i let go of the plate feeling the ache of a chunk of power being cut off from me once more. At Least as i got better at not wasting power filling the parts that did not need it there was less lost and it hurt less. It took her several minutes before her flame suddenly went through the plate, with a big chunk of the plate melting.
After a quick description of how to create flames, i tried. The first few attempts just suddenly compressed the air in front of me blasting me back a bit and sending things in front of me flying with a surprising amount of force. Focusing on fire, on burning i eventually managed to make flames. The effect was so weak i could not even damage the silver plate, and it was so very draining just a few minutes of flame burning through half my supply of power. A flame that felt useless, it ignited paper and after a few minutes wood at most. It felt unnatural and overall very unpleasant to twist my power to behave like that. “So you can replicate each others powers but its very inefficient and apparently uncomfortable considering the grimaces from both of you.” Was the intrigued opinion from Gray
Next few weeks were lots of different tests seeing how my power interacts with different materials,and apparently it worked a lot better if there was any silver in the alloy and it worked far worse the more iron there was. Doctor Gray kept mumbling from time to time about melee combat being unavoidable, and what alloy to create. “Tomorrow you get a few days free from testing in the lab, we have a few experts coming in to try and figure out what would be the most efficient melee weapon for you to use. As annoyingly even bad reinforcement is near impossible to counter at range, with your speciality making melee combat all the more effective.”
Slowly ever so carefully i was making headway in enhancing myself past what passive effect magic offered. Carefully mapping out the pathways in my body sending ever so thin threads into each one figuring out what to do and what to avoid. As i had no desire to see myself shatter like things do when i put too much into too fragile channels yet i wanted to be better to be more. I wasted some time practicing in front of the mirror to try and take the glowing eyes effect away. But apparently it was not to be, any power draw at all even the passive flow back and forth was enough to make them glow faintly, with it being easy to miss at low levels but unmissable with more power used. At least my glow was a cool blue color rather than bright red like Samanthas.