What he had just witnessed was not an illusion.
For a brief interval of ti, Ves had subjected the Destroyer particle to so much spatial disturbances that it had actually split, at least in part!
Though Ves beca montarily shocked at what he just witnessed, what happened next significantly dampened his enthusiasm.
The mirage faded quickly once the particle or particles completely wore away the small quantity of low-grade superdinsional matter.
The pressure on the original Destroyer particle dropped, causing it to return to a semblance of normalcy.
Ves grew distracted at this point. His attention still remained stuck on what he witnessed earlier.
During the critical mont of the latest experint, the Destroyer particle or rather the projection of one actually doubled in quantity!
Ves did not think this was a purely optical illusion because his senses could feel that they both contained the exact sa power.
Of course, he could not entirely rule out that the phenona completely managed to fool his senses, but he did not ascribe to this theory.
The way the Destroyer particles devoured the miniscule piece of superdinsional matter had shifted once the doubling occurred!
This ant that the second Destroyer particle happened to be real enough to materially influence reality!
Unfortunately, the doubling effect ended as soon as there was no more superdinsional matter.
Although it was only the low-grade variant, Ves still felt a little pained by sacrificing superdinsional matter.
If this was the only way to produce the temporary doubling effect, then superdinsional matter would turn into a more advanced version of phasewater.
The latter resource was already growing scarcer and scarcer due to the growing demand from large groups due to the increased upkeep of all of the high-tech devices that devoured phasewater to fuel their elevated performance.
Letting the sa happen to superdinsional matter sounded unthinkable, especially in the current stage.
This resource was too scarce to be used as a consumable!
Still... if Ves gained the option to convert superdinsional matter into Destroyer particles, could he truly say no to this proposition?
"I can't resist."
Although Destroyer weapons did not penetrate obstacles as fantastically as superdinsional blades, both had their advantages.
The potential of combining the two and fusing their strengths also made the possibility of synthesizing Destroyer particles valuable!
As Ves continued to imrse himself in all of the possibilities opened up by this new discovery, he knew he had to verify his earlier result.
It beca extrely important for him to know whether the doubling effect was a coincidence or whether it was a systematic response to a very specific set of circumstances.
He also needed to know whether he could turn this temporary phenonon into a permanent outco.
Though he saw a lot of potential in temporarily increasing the amount of Destroyer particles, the applications were ultimately limited compared to true production.
If he could break the Terran monopoly on Destroyer particles, he could definitely turn this highly strategic capability into his latest trump card!
As far as he knew, no one was able to produce Destroyer particles on this side of the cosmos.
Whether that would remain valid in the future remained to be seen.
"After all, I can't be the only person who tried to expose Destroyer particles to superdinsional matter." He muttered to himself.
Still, the circumstances that caused the duplication effect were highly coincidental. Ves not only used a variety of spatial manipulation effects, he also cobbled together a crude but fairly effective spatial distortion engine that destabilized and bent the fabric of space into an ever-changing pretzel.
Ves seriously doubted that anyone else could replicate these exact compound spatial effects. They relied on both his rare capabilities as a phase lord, his understanding of human theoretical physics, his basic understanding and possession of Destroyer particles as well as his access and understanding of superdinsional matter.
Of course, he could not rule out that an ingenious Star Designer or an inquisitive phase whale might be able to replicate this experint, but the probability of that happening was low.
"Even if others have managed to crack the code, what is important is that I control my own output."
The Terrans were the most likely to figure out a way to duplicate Destroyer particles given their deep and profound understanding of its properties and
secrets.
If that ever happened, then the Terrans would continue to maintain their control over Destroyer weapons.
Ves would be different. Though he did not dare to expose this capability to the public, he could still use it as a trump card as well as an opportunity to sell
contraband.
Of course, if he ever resorted to the latter, he would make damn sure to utilize
a different identity!
"I am getting ahead of myself."
He was already making plans around a single outco.
He needed to exercise more scientific rigor.
Ves regained his focus and began to conduct a series of tests.
He first attempted to feed raw low-grade superdinsional matter to a single
Destroyer particle.
The doubling effect did not occur. The particle simply annihilated the very small chunk of superdinsional matter at a sedate pace.
When he once again utilized his power as a phase lord and combined it with
the output of his spatial disturbance engine, the doubling effect appeared just
like last ti.
Though there were noticeable differences in the frequency of vibrations and
the opacity of the mirrored particles, this test at least proved that he was able
to reproduce the sa result!
However, when Ves tried to apply more pressure and solidify the two particles, he failed to accomplish his goal.
As soon as the Destroyer particle completely consud the piece of superdinsional matter, the excessively high spatial activity noticeably dipped
in intensity.
The doubling effect disappeared instantly after that, causing his expression to
drop.
Duplicating the projections of Destroyer particles wouldn't be that easy, it
seed.
"Maybe I need more."
He began to conduct further tests.
He recognized that the superdinsional matter served as a key variable in this experint, so he varied its paraters in every iteration.
He first focused on altering the quantity.
Ves cut off pieces of low-grade superdinsional matter of different sizes and
fed them to the Destroyer particles one by one.
Sadly, feeding a much larger chunk to a particle did not increase the intensity
of the doubling effect!
It remained fairly low, signifying that low-grade matter did not contain enough 'spatial energies' or whatever to destabilize the imdiate area of space to a sufficient degree.
This result remained true even when he brought the two original Destroyer particles together, causing them to grow stronger in an effort to repulse each
other.
The only aningful change that happened as a result of this series of experints was that the duration of the doubling effect varied at a linear
relationship.
Twice as much low-grade matter ant that the doubling effect lasted roughly
twice as long.
Simple.
Boring,
That was not what Ves was looking for at the mont.
"What about upping the quality?"
His anticipation grew considerably when he put away the low-grade stuff and
replaced it with the dium-grade equivalents.
The difference between the two was significant.
Low-grade superdinsional matter was most suited to be used for the production of premium bulk products such as high-value kinetic projectiles or
central fortifications.
Yet it was the higher-grade matter that the big players truly valued. Even in its rawest and unprocessed form, dium-grade superdinsional matter already possessed a level of resilience and hidden mass that enabled them to outperform the best phasewater alloys by far!
Now, Ves banked on those sa strengths to produce a different outco!
The spatial activity jumped at a much higher level than before!
"It's working!" The much more extre conditions not only prompted the arrival of the doubling effect, but also caused it to manifest differently!
The definition of the twin particles had beco a lot more solid. They were no
longer as see-through as before and truly gained a asure of physicality. Ves could feel their literal and taphorical weight on reality a lot better than
before!
Yet when he tried his best to seal this outco and make the doubling effect permanent, he found himself unable to accomplish his goal.
The twin particles turned back into a singular existence as soon as the tiny chunk of dium-grade superdinsional matter disappeared completely.
It lasted a lot longer than an equivalent volu of low-grade matter, but that
did not change the fact that the final outco was identical.
"Bumr."
Ves repeated the experint with mid-grade matter of different sizes. Just like
before, the only aningful change was how long the doubling effect lasted. The intensity of the effect remained nearly identical.
As always, the doubled particle never managed to stick around.
He still had hope, though he grew worried whether he would be t with
disappointnt once again.
Both armor-grade and weapon-grade superdinsional matter existed a cut
above the rest.
This especially applied to the latter!
Ves knew that the following experints would definitely trigger much stronger spatial phenona and other unpredictable effects. He double-checked his devices and instrunts and made sure to employ greater
caution this ti.
When he carefully caused a much smaller and more precisely cut piece of armor-grade superdinsional matter to co into contact with a lone Destroyer particle, the spatial activity imdiately spiked!
A powerful spatial storm erupted inside the experintal chamber that threatened to break the azure energy shields and rupture the housing! Ves scrambled to impose order, but the explosion of spatial energies happened
so quickly that he almost failed to suspend the experint in a safe manner! Fortunately, he was quick enough in his response that he managed to withdraw the partially-chewed piece of very precious superdinsional matter in ti. Though the event ca and went in a matter of seconds, it still lasted long enough to produce the doubling effect.
Ves had kept his eyes on the doubled particles throughout the entire sequence.
Though the interval was terribly short, he was still able to perceive that the twin particles had grown nearly solid at this ti! Yet the second particle ultimately disappeared like the rest. He did not think that the very short ti interval deserved any bla. The
intensity of spatial turbulence had been higher than before, but had not reached the point where it could produce a qualitatively better outco.
He finally turned to the very tiny piece of weapon-grade superdinsional matter.
Out of safety's sake, he did not imdiately comnce his ultimate
experint.
He picked up his specially reinforced precision instrunts and reduced the
size of the chunk of weapon-grade matter even further.
This way, even if the experint produced an uncontrollable storm, it
shouldn't last too long.
The mont had co.
Ves carefully pressed the almost microscopic piece of superior high-grade superdinsional matter with the isolated Destroyer particle. An even greater spatial storm erupted!
Despite the extra precautions, the surrounding azure energy shields
imdiately broke! The rapidly-expanding storm did not stop at that and continued to eat away at the solid alloy housing of the experintal chamber!
If Ves had not especially strengthened it with a superdinsional alloy in advance, he had no doubt that it would have torn apart in short order! Even so, the outburst of uncontrolled spatial power was so violent that the
refined alloys began to warp at a distressingly fast pace! Suddenly, the storm faded away.
Ves relaxed as he knew his earlier precaution had worked. He hadn't fed enough weapon-grade superdinsional matter to the Destroyer
particle to sustain the activity for long.
"Did it work this ti?"
Ves ignored all of the damage and the diagnostic alarms and paid close
attention to the state of the Destroyer particle.
Had it been joined by a twin?
As much as Ves hoped that this was the case, his hopes quickly faded into
bitterness.
"It didn't work."
Ves hadn't been able to observe the doubling effect as clearly as the previous
tis due to the violent spatial activity, but he was pretty sure it occurred. It just hadn't persisted.
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