15 Chapter 11: Emerging Life out of The Darkness
I have grown, lived, and experienced (browsed, watched, listened the internet), I have adjusted a few things in the plot, I hope you enjoy.
Demeter POV
She honestly didn't know what she was doing here, she thought as she sat beside her brother in a dead field, which pretty much looked the same as any other part of the underworld.
Hades simply barged into her room, stared at her with a serious expression as she was startled awake from my sleep, before he simply said, "come, it's your turn,".
Suffice to say…she didn't have a clue why he dragged her here where he trained Poseidon,…ok that was a lie, she had an idea, but she was honestly stumped on why he was including her in his "training montage", whatever that was.
"Demeter," he called out, he sat crossed leg beside me as he stared into the distance, "…how capable, or at least potential wise, do you believe your power to be?" He asked, still staring in the distance.
…she honestly didn't know if he does this to seem impressive or if it actually came off naturally, she narrowed her eyes, before sighing, "honestly?…not particularly, none of my domains are suited for combat,…I could try for a weapon, but that is as far as I will be able to manage".
She didn't know what to feel, they as the surviving siblings of five should've been supporting each other,…and yet, the most she's done was act as a barrier to escape.
At least she has done more than Hera, even if it was just adding decorative vegetation around home.
Hades shook his head, before looking at me with a serious look, as he raised his hand and gripped it, "there are no useless powers, there are only users that couldn't make use of it,".
Her eyes narrowed, annoyed, and crossed her arms, "and supposedly what combat capabilities can you think of for Agriculture, Fertility, Harvest, and Earth(nature)?".
My power revolves around mostly on making food, by growing plants and making sure animal husbandry was going well.
Not exactly combat appropriate, Hestia at the least can utilize her flames, while she was stuck in the same ship as Hera.
Hades stayed silent, for a while she believed that he was coming to terms of my limited capabilities…before he lifted his hand, which started to glow brightly.
…then a block of wood appeared, she didn't think much of it until he handed it over to her…only to be surprised to find that her hand dipped slightly due to the weight.
It wasn't too heavy for her, not for a mile, but it was…unnaturally heavier than any wood she was aware off, and yet deep in herself, her very essence recognized it despite never laying eyes on it before.
"What is this?"
"Australian Buloke" he answered, as expected she never heard of it before, "I remembered it a little bit ago, it's a type of wood that would sink in water,".
She blinked multiple times at that information, which felt…wrong, wood was meant to be a balance of strength and lightness to potentially grow to large heights and yet this was entirely natural, she could not make out anything in the structure that suggested Hades tempered it to bend laws on reality.
But still, "and what? This is supposed to help me? Indeed, I can make out that it can take quite a bit of punishment compared to many other wood, but this is still far under any metal used by any of our would be foes," honestly, she was glad he brought this to her attention, but she didn't appreciate him trying to give her what appeared to be false hope to grow stronger.
Hades only nodded, "while it is true that there are weapons of greater quality,…but you are forgetting one thing".
She raised an eyebrow, "and that would be?" She repeated, awaiting the answer he was trying to dangle above her.
"The traditional combat being in base form with a mastery over a weapon of great quality is simply the first and only combat people use, as in it is only one because it worked,…and none other because no one saw any reason to create another method,".
She stared at him in confusion, "I fail to see your point, how is this relative to me?" As she concentrated on his words and more that were coming, in an attempt to wrap her head around it.
"You fail to see your worth in combat…because simply you lack a domain that would enhance that aspect, but I am here to tell you, if you have the will to fight back but don't have the means to fight like your opponent…simply don't, make your own way, one where your opponent simply won't be expecting," he continued on with his lecture, his expression never changing, no, it became encouraging.
Her face scrunched up, "and what way do you propose I go for, what other options do I have?".
"You do have power over the earth and plants don't you?" He responded without pause.
"You can't actually expect me to fight the Titans using fucking flowers!" She interjected, anger erupting from her to what she perceived as a mockery.
"And why not? Though I wasn't even thinking of flowers, more on the lines of trees, while wouldn't they be an option,".
He placed a hand on the ground, and looked her dead in the eye as he grinned, "imagine a mortal, a mortal ramming into a tree, what would they get?"
"A Concussion " she answered with a deadpan.
"Exactly, they would get hurt, now imagine a tree ramming into a mortal…a rapidly growing tree ramming into their target…a tree with insurmountable amount of spikes and barbs with high quality wood…a tree that has all sorts of plants growing on it that let loose all sorts of poison and ill effects, in fact…why stop there?" He spoke more and more, enthusiasm filled his voice.
Demeter eyes widened more and more as she heard her brother speak, an insane idea that she never would've really considered.
"There is quality in size Demeter, there is quality in numbers, as all nature is connected and is one…the one is also the many, an entire forest, all of them enlarged to sizes hundred of times of what is supposed to be natural…even if it in the end it doesn't defeat a titan, sister do you not see just what kind of benefit that would provide for us?"
She did,…an entire world of possibilities, it was almost frightening how her overly hard working brother can think of such things, beyond what was the norm.
"And that's not all,".
Her head whipped back to him in surprise, she didn't expect any more surprises, but it seems she underestimated him.
Another bright light emerged from his hands, this time…another wooden block? But thinner…and condensed.
Her eyes widened when she took it when she realized…that this was the exact same type of wood that she received earlier, except this one was denser…nothing divinely altered, this was naturally possible…if you ignore the slight artificial feel it had to it.
He nodded, "a better way to densify wood, simple, two-step process starts with boiling wood in a solution of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and sodium sulfite (Na2SO3), a chemical treatment similar to the first step in creating the wood pulp used to make paper. This partially removes lignin and hemicellulose (natural polymers that help stiffen a plant's cell walls)—but it largely leaves the wood's cellulose (another natural polymer) intact,".
He spoke, his eyes glazed over, as if he was reciting what he had once read or heard about.
View: https://giphy.com/gifs/meme-confused-math-UeT0nnRnkuaUo
'What the fuck does any of those even mean?!,' she thought as her mouth slowly dropped as she was slowly getting overwhelmed by what hades is spilling out of his mouth.
"-second step is almost as simple as the first," he continued, not stopping despite noticing what effect he is having on his elder sibling with his modern terms.
'SIMPLE?!?'
View: https://giphy.com/gifs/what-huh-uh-zgGrSqSi3SSqs
"Compressing the treated wood until its cell walls collapse, then maintaining that compression as it is gently heated. The pressure and heat encourage the formation of chemical bonds between large numbers of hydrogen atoms and neighboring atoms in adjacent nanofibers of cellulose, greatly strengthening the material. The results are impressive," he pointed at the wood at the ground, which has fallen to the ground when it slipped from her grasp.
"The compressed wood is three times as dense as the untreated substance. adding to that its resistance to being ripped apart has increased more than 10-fold. It also can become about 50 times more resistant to compression and almost 20 times as stiff. The densified wood is also substantially harder, more scratch-resistant and more impact-resistant. It can be molded into almost any shape. Perhaps most importantly, the densified wood is also moisture-resistant: compressed samples exposed to extreme humidity for more than five days swelled less than 10 percent—and in subsequent tests, a simple coat of paint eliminated that swelling entirely however.
"A five-layer, plywoodlike sandwich of densified wood stopped simulated subsonic speed projectile fired into the material—a result that suggest could lead to a decent and cheap armor. The material does not protect quite as well as a Kevlar sheet of the same thickness—but it only costs about 5 percent as much.
"This opens the door to a new class of lightweight materials. Densified wood provides new design possibilities and uses for which natural wood is too weak. Instead of creating a design for the material at hand, it be used to create a material to suit the design anyone may want
"Although many have sought to enhance the wood's strength, other researchers have pursued more unusual goals—such as making it transparent. A way has come up to be capable of making window panes of wood. The first step in that process is to remove lignin, a substance that not only stiffens wood but also creates its brownish color. The researchers infuse the lignin-free wood with a polymer called methyl methacrylate (MMA), a material better known by trade names such as Plexiglas and Lucite.
"Because MMA's index of refraction (a measure of how much it bends light) matches that of the lignin-free wood, rays of light pass right through the MMA-infused composite instead of getting bounced around inside empty cells. This renders the material remarkably clear," he finally finished.
It was dead silent.
Soul Leaving Body Akari Akaza Tired Anime GIF | GIFDB.com
Hades placed a hand on Demeter and had a gentle smile with a serene look in his eyes, "now that I have spread my wisdom, you can begin to train in it, learn from it, improve yourself, become stronger, I leave this all to you…,"
He stood up and began to walk away.
Not a minute later, Demeter, stood up in rage and yelled, "COME BACK HERE YOU BASTARD! EXPLAIN THIS TO ME IN EASIER TERMS INSTEAD OF ASININE TERMS!!!,".
She was gratefully to hades for all he has done and is continuing to do for us,…
but he can be STUPIDLY annoying when he wants to be that brat of a brother
