....
Max stood at the edge of his new mountain home and flew up.
His crows, Raad and Mraia, were already busy. He had given Raad the task of teaching Mraia everything about survival in the lightning zone.
Raad's experience made him the perfect instructor. Max also gave him Lucy's map and tasked him with locating the somewhat safe cave where lightning strikes were less frequent. That would be Mraia's starting point.
Without wasting another moment, while midair, he started testing his new skill, Thunderous Gaze.
His first target was a distant rock formation. He set his gaze on it, eyes narrowing.
As his eyes locked onto the rock, there was no apparent change. But suddenly, in an instant, a bolt of lightning arced from the sky.
It struck the rock with terrifying force. A sharp, electric snap echoed through the air.
Max's heart raced, and a grin spread across his face.
He locked his gaze onto another point, a large cliff face with a jagged edge, the perfect spot for his next test.
This time, as he focused his attention and used the skill, he kept stacking it.
On the cliff, static charge became apparent. The feathers of a few birds resting there crackled with energy, their normally sleek forms trembling as the charged air drew them together.
Thankfully, this alerted them to fly away before an even stronger bolt of lightning descended.
This time, it struck the cliff face, breaking it in half.
Boom!
Max could almost feel the raw power of it. He had stacked the skill four times before he couldn't hold it anymore, he could go further if he forced himself but he deemed it unnecessary for the time being.
"Huh? It's surprisingly hard to stack it," he muttered.
Max tested it a few more times before deciding it was enough.
Next, he switched testing Electromagnetized Skin as he turned it on, and his skin started glowing visibly with a blue arc.
"Interesting," he remarked.
He then turned his gaze back to himself. This time, he didn't target a distant point but the ground right next to him.
A bolt of lightning tore through the sky, and Max barely flinched as it almost struck the ground beside him.
Then, he moved.
In one swift motion, Max reached out, both hands extending toward the crackling lightning bolt.
His hands were injured immediately, bleeding but surprisingly not charred. He could feel the heat of the lightning bolt, but he didn't pull back.
Instead, he clenched his fists tighter.
The lightning crackled in his grip, swirling in chaotic patterns, but it was clearly solid in his hands.
Looking at the lightning bolt in his hand, Max smirked.
"I could get addicted to this."
Despite the pain of his injured hands, he grinned, playing with it, feeling its wild energy shift with every small movement of his fingers.
But the testing couldn't last forever. With a reluctant sigh, Max finally released the lightning.
The moment he let go, it reached the ground immediately.
Max tested a bit more before stopping.
His lightning was stronger than normal lightning but much slower.
Max's mind rushed with ideas of how to best use his newfound skills. Still, he stopped thinking about it for the time being and flew back to his house. It wasn't time for that yet, he had a simulation to finish.
Back at the mountain house, Max found Mraia waiting for him.
Obviously, Raad was done explaining.
Without wasting any more time, Max started her simulation in a spot closer to the somewhat safe caves.
Practicing her skills without mirrors would be slower, but it couldn't be helped.
...
[In the first year, you found yourself in an unfamiliar place, but thanks to Raad's words, you were able to survive relatively well and practice your skill.]
[In the fourth year, you died of radiation poisoning.]
....
Max silently picked Mirror Prison and started the next simulation. Slight progress at a time until the skill was mastered.
And just like that, Mraia kept simulating until the skill reached advanced mastery after 56 years. What disappointed Max was the fact that Mraia didn't mutate after exposing herself to radiation.
Apparently, it wasn't just the radiation that helped Raad mutate but also the lightning in the area, since he had the lightning affinity.
Whenever Mraia jumped into radiation according to Max's orders, she would just die a painful death.
.....
Max scratched his chin deep in thoughts.
So far, Raad used 41 years in total and Mraia 56 years, which left Max with 3 years to simulate.
"Hmm, so let's give up on mutation. And she doesn't seem capable of achieving perfected mastery here," Max decided.
He resolved to attempt the plan he had in mind since he wouldn't be able to achieve much in just three years of simulation.
"Mraia, I need your attention for a moment."
Craw!
"You saw the map. I'm going to put you in a place with lots of worms with glass mirror heads. I need you to take one and fly toward the glowing lakes, the region nearby. I need you to attempt to seal some of the glowing water inside the mirror head before you die in the dream world."
It was somewhat complicated, so Max explained it in detail, slowly. When he was sure Mraia understood, he started the simulation.
.....
[In the first year, you found yourself in an unfamiliar land. According to your pet master's orders, you hunted a worm and flew toward the east, the direction the sun rises from. You kept flying for almost three days, slowing as the place you were told about remained out of sight. On the fourth day, you were overwhelmed by the radiation around you. It was killing you slowly, and you were helpless to stop it.
In a moment of anger, your skill Mirror Prison reached its peak, and you gained the perfected effect Aura Lock, which allows you to seal the intangible and partly tangible, such as energy radiation.
With this, you were able to deal with the radiation, but your body was beyond saving. You died after 10 days, saddened because the location you were told about was visible on the horizon.]
[You died.]
[Host, please pick a reward.]
....
"Immediately pick Mirror Prison and show me its current information," Max ordered.
.....
[Mirror Prison] :
Grade: Green
Proficiency: Perfected (Aura Lock)
Effect: Allows the permanent sealing of a creature, object, or entity, whether tangible, intangible, or somewhere in between.
Condition: Your Spirituality stat must surpass the target's combined (Vitality + Spirituality) by at least threefold.
Notes:
1- Additional factors can influence the sealing process, either enhancing or weakening it. These include the strength and quality of the mirror used, as well as the target's willingness.
2- If the required conditions are not fully met, the skill can still function, though its effectiveness will be diminished. The degree of weakening depends on the disparity between your stats and the target's.
.....
A crazed smile spread across Max's face. This was exactly the missing puzzle he needed to weaponize radiation.
Max stood up, planning to stop the simulation for now.
"Lucy, make me a forge, rocket fuel, and wood. And This time, it'll be you doing the work."
Max took out a blueprint of a mirror. It wasn't some magical equipment, just a mirror made to be as tough as possible with his current resources.
"Okay."
Lucy glanced at the blueprint and didn't think much of it. She had already seen it before.
She even helped Max research the Alloys used in it with her innate's capabilities.
And forging it was an easy job for her because of her strong telekinesis and ability to work at the atomic level.
.....
After almost an hour of preparation, Max stood before three glowing balls of hot liquid.
The largest one was an alloy he had made with Lucy's help, using Orkin metal and the radioactive metals she had brought from the wasteland.
Max just called this alloy Orkin since it had mostly the same properties and color. The only difference was it was slightly tougher and more resistant to radiation.
The middle one was silver, and the smallest one was glass from the python fang. It was over 50% glass, so Max decided to use it since it was tough enough.
....
The air around Max shimmered faintly as Lucy's telekinesis moved. With an invisible force far stronger than his own, she lifted the Orkin alloy from the forge, or the pit of fire, to be exact.
Molten streams of golden liquid floated in perfect unison.
The metal shifted and twisted mid-air, droplets merging and reforming into an intricate design Max had carefully outlined.
Lucy manipulated the glowing metal with uncanny precision. The molten Orkin alloy elongated and branched like veins, roots weaving themselves together into the beginnings of the mirror's frame. Its jagged edges curled inward, forming a powerful lattice meant to withstand immense forces.
The golden alloy cooled slowly, retaining its molten core as it took on the intricate structure Max had envisioned.
Next, the glass dissolved into the molten silver, Lucy's telekinesis spinning the liquid mid-air into a whirlpool to refine its surface.
Max observed as she spread the mixture into the golden Orkin frame.
The fusion was seamless as the Orkin roots spread like thin veins beneath the mirror's surface stopping just before penetrating through, to guarantee maximum toughness.
Max stepped back, satisfied.
Lucy released her telekinetic grip, allowing the still-hot mirror to settle gently onto the rock table.
.....
This mirror only good point was durability, but Max nodded in satisfaction as he added the special reagent to the surface. Since it worked on both silver and glass, it created a perfect mirror.
....
Next, Max tested something quickly. Even though he knew he could do it, he had to try it first because dealing with radiation wasn't a joke.
He picked up two silver cards and used one of them to seal the leftover molten orkin alloy.
As the alloy entered the card, the heat instantly disappeared.
"Simulator please scan for any heat released after I use my skill, no matter how small it's."
[Ding, affirmative please proceed.]
Looking at the orange liquid inside the card, Max placed the card in contact with the second silver card and used the skill again.
The molten metal seamlessly moved from one card to another under Max's control without releasing any heat in the process.
[Ding, no residual heat was released during the process.]
"great!".
Max smirked as he walked out of the extremely hot forging chamber into the living room, where the crows were watching some series on the laptop.
"Mraia, you're going in again. Do as I told you previously."
Craw! Craw.
Without further delay, Max started the simulation.
[In the first year, you found yourself in an unfamiliar land. According to your pet master's orders, you hunted a worm, took its head, and flew towards the east.
Using [Mirror Prison] to seal the radiation around you inside the glass head, you were able to reach the so-called deadly zone.
Beneath you, countless lakes of green glowing substance filled the horizon, and your skill couldn't keep up with the amount of radiation around.
You were dying, and fast, so without hesitation, you flew down, plunging yourself into one of the lakes. As you died, you were able to seal some of the green substance within the glass worm head.]
[You died.]
[Host, please pick a reward.]
Max took a deep breath and chose the worm head.
As the strange-shaped mirror appeared, Max instantly held the orkin mirror to it and used [Mirror Prison].
Without a hitch, both the radiation and the glowing substance were sealed inside the new mirror.
Looking at the result, Max started laughing uncontrollably.
"Hhhhh, as expected, I'm really good at making pure destruction."
But Max didn't stop there. This mirror was of top quality and could seal much more.
"Mraia, it was perfect, although you don't remember. Do it again."
And just like that, he repeated the process again, and again, and again, and again...
Max only stopped when he felt the mirror couldn't seal any more.
Looking at the exquisite mirror in his hand, Max didn't know how to feel.
This small mirror just slightly bigger than a human head, contained enough radiation to melt him instantly.
"Hmm, I can use it as a one-time weapon to f*** an entire city or something... or I can release the radiation slowly... Ah, let's leave it for the future."
Max stored the dangerous thing he had just created, shifting his attention to other matters.
The simulator had already entered cooldown, and he planned to rest for the night.