27: First Step Completed!

The swinging steel rod made Murray wince, but it came to a forceful stop inches away from his chest, stuck in the air as if an invisible shield was blocking the way forward, which technically was true. Mir dragged the rod away and let Murin copy his test with a little more force.

Bang!

Her wooden stick shattered into two upon crashing against the Spatial Pocket protecting Murray's heart.

"So it can withstand semi-lethal force with no problem. The ceiling of the semi-lethal category in the SDS scale is 10 points. The information online said the highest limit of your spatial pocket's defense is 14 points, falling into the initial stage of the lethal category. I think it's safe to say that unless someone shoots at you up close with a revolver, your heart is safe from all harm."

Mir's observations were noted down in a pad, Murin working tirelessly to ensure that a comprehensive data set could be formed to help Murray master his mutation.

"What would happen if a force exceeding 14 points collided with it?" Murray asked. "Look up the answer in my terminal. You know where to look better than me."

Murin peeked from behind as Mir entered the Church's database and sought out the research papers on the spatial pocket mutation.

"So here it says that the outcome of such a collision depends on a lot of factors. If it's a bullet made of high quality material, given enough momentum, it can actually force its way through your pocket, but without accessing the space inside. Sort of like how a bullet would move through jelly. As for weapons or attacks that fall into stronger categories, such as explosives with an SDS score above 30, you're dead either way. Doesn't matter how your spatial pocket reacts to the explosion. And nobody with that ability has ever chosen to be the lab rat to delve deeper into the experiment."

"Makes sense, and I'm not gonna break the tradition either. So let's leave the defense testing at that and move onto the second part of the exploration." Murray looked at Mir and Murin warily, tired of getting hit by accident.

"There's one last aspect of the barrier we haven't tested," Mir said as his eyes rapidly went through the research article. "This spatial pocket is an active ability, meaning it can shift between existing and not existing under your mental commands. And there's a small advantage you can earn through nuanced mental commands. It is to be able to generate the spatial pocket around specific parts of your body."

"Oh yeah, I recall reading about that," Murray said thoughtfully. "It will take time, though. I can barely summon the pocket as it is."

Mir met Murray's meaningful gaze, flipping the red diary in the air casually. Without Murin noticing, the two brothers had a silent exchange of ideas.

"Now, off to the second usage of your mutation– using it as a storage... The database says grade-1 mutations provide you with a storage of one cubic feet on average. Take this scale and shove it up yours to take the measurements."

Murin began to cackle again, and Mir received a glowering look from Murray. "You're not helping her curb those teenage tendencies, Mir," he said helplessly. Mir silently handed him a wooden scale, face dead serious.

Murray snatched it from him and began to focus on the test. Murin stopped laughing immediately, eager to see what the storage characteristic of the ability looked like. Murray's scale disappeared into empty air inch by inch under their widened eyes. It was as if he was a magician who had an elaborate set-up placed on his chest, and the scale was being hidden using an illusion-based trick.

"The walls of the cavity aren't too hard," Murray commented. "Probably can hold delicate materials like glass. As for the depth..."

The 50 centimeter scale had barely sunk by half. Murray moved it around the spatial cavity carefully and measured all three dimensions. "25 centimeters, 31 centimeters, and 35 centimetres, and no sharp corners. Seems like a deformed bubble, actually. So those three measurements put the pocket at..."

"A tiny margin above one cubic feet," Mir said, performing the calculation on the data terminal.

"Above average! Nice!" Murray threw his fist in the air as if he had accomplished something significant. Mir and Murin exchanged a covert look and suppressed their laughter for good.

"Now, let's try fitting things into it," Mir said. First they tried to fill it with heavy pebbles. It took a while, but the outcome was positive.

"It can carry the weight without burdening me at all. And even if I move, it doesn't affect the materials stored inside." Murray concluded after testing.

"Try deactivating your ability and see what happens," Mir suggested. Murray followed it with a mental command, and–

Thump!

"Fuuuuck!"

The entire pile of pebbles suddenly materialized in the air and then crashed down on his feet. If their size was a bit bigger, Murray's toes would have been crushed for certain. Mir and Murin were forced to massage his feet for the next ten minutes while he cursed everyone, including himself for stupidity.

"Alright, so this means that the moment you stop trying to keep your spatial pocket active, everything in it will spill over to the real world. Then you shouldn't carry too many things in your pocket, especially small and delicate objects. Stuff like this diary are more suitable to be stored there," Mir said as he threw the red diary to Murray.

This was actually the goal both brothers had been set on since the beginning of their cooperation. To be able to hide the red diary inside the spatial pocket would be the simplest and safest method of eliminating the chances of it being stolen by those cult members. Despite the feeling of safety they had experienced under the protection of Sunbreaker's Church and the frequently patrolling enforcers, Mir and Murray had not relaxed at all. Step by step, they wanted to make sure that no opportunity was left for those cultists to successfully snatch the diary away.

The first step for this goal was naturally to find a safe hiding spot for the diary. With that being accomplished, they could move on to the second step– arming themselves with the ability to fight back when cornered!