A C-rank's Talent Gravity user can push four times his weight and pull three times their weight. Pulling was harder than pushing.
That was for a trainee, but as one trained hard, that might increase. However, what mattered was the control one had over their ability.
The stone that became home to Elias was well within his capacity to move around despite its density and weight, but doing that would be counterintuitive.
This heavy lifting push and pull couldn't be practiced by him, so he went for the next page.
The lesson had changed; push and pull was external Gravity Force application, now internal gravity application.
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[Brief Introduction To Internal Gravity Force]
Every object is affected by the world's gravity. Grimhammer and Worldbender are akin to miniature worlds with control capacity.
Internal Gravity came about from potential talent; some trained decades learning to develop, master, and use it at will.
Grimhammer is a Noble Skill that purposely relies on Internal Gravity Control, and to effectively have standard control, you have to develop an Internal Gravity Core.
This is not an actual core but rather a comprehensive realized weight of your gravity pulled toward the center.
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Elias re-read the six pages talking about Internal Gravity Core.
He placed the book down with a sigh; it had been hours now. He was thirsty, hungry, and tired.
The six pages of Internal Gravity Core were all description and no sketch, saying that the journey was different for everyone.
Elias wouldn't have problems with this one; he had used it before to cut his hand off. But that wasn't what made this one easy for him; it was the fact he was a Black Hole.
Internal Gravity was all about taking control of the weight his whole body and organs exerted inside and outside him and manipulating it.
Like carrying his own weight by himself. Like expunging his body from the effect of the world's gravity.
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes; his ash-colored perception spread out. That Calamity Beast was still there, and it made Elias wonder why.
Surely, a calamity beast can destroy this stone, but what was stopping it? Well, that was obvious: it was the book. It was imbued with Noble Skill that worked with Elias as an energy source.
He pulled back his perception and focused on himself.
From the depths of him, a hum came which shook the stone. Elias was oblivious, or he would have had a heart attack.
He was long focused on the allure of his body, colored with shades of ash: his skin with vibrant ash color, his nails were pale ash, his hair was whitish ash, his muscles were streaked with pale ash and red.
His blood flowing in his veins was dark ash; each organ had its shade, but his heart was pale, even glowing ash color.
Rippling power pulsed from every organ out and inward. With a thought of Internal Gravity Core, all ripples unified.
Elias snapped awake with a start.
"I saw it. It is Majestic," Elias exclaimed. He had glimpsed his Talent. "Wait!" He looked down; he was not on the ground.
Weightless and against world gravity, the feeling was strange, and it was slipping off him as if that dream was fading away and he was running after it.
That state went away after a few seconds, and he was back on the floor. World gravity appeared heavy on him and also soothing. Like a child that escaped his mother's embrace, happy, but as he came back, he was glad he did. It was safer.
But then cold came; his heart rate rose. A thin sheen of ice was coating the whole stone. Elias recognized there must have been a ripple that went out during his internal perception.
Ideas came one after the other in his mind; one was to crawl beneath earth and escape. His trip to his inside and glimpsing his talent had taught him one or two about internal gravity application.
Elias could dig himself to safety like a humanoid mole. No, better than a mole.
But also, he could use the book to keep the intimidation going to deter this Calamity Beast.
Just to check, he reached toward the ground and felt it; his perception touched it for some time, and he made a rough estimate in relation to energy reserves he had.
'That will be harder!'
The main reason was he needed to be deeper into earth to make sure there was no disturbance on the surface, or the beast might follow him and if it had relevant ability to shatter earth, then Elias might be done for.
Being deep required more energy to keep the earth from burying him alive with its weight.
The second option was—Elias's eyes were on the book. He could go to the next pages, but he closed it, and a pulse came out and hardened the stone he was in.
This was the force that hid him, and when he opened the book, it split, coating the book and each page and also coating the stone, making the one on the stone weaker. Perhaps that was why the beast felt Elias's vibration.
Elias's eyes widened as he checked the book again.
Rank 4 Calamity Beast Hide. That was the material used to make it. Elias was no longer worried on the beast outside because the thing in his hand would have turned him to mist in an instant.
The force on the book had to split and recoat the pages to make sure the aura pressure from did not affect him.
The sheen of ice stopped spreading, the cause had felt something off from what was inside.
'The book protects me. The aura of the book is the deterrent. Not to mention the stone design was intentional to appear dangerous with all its sharp spikes!'
Elias was calm again, but this intimidation was not enough. Calamity Beasts are intelligent bastards; some are bold enough to test the waters.
Sitting in cross-legged position, the book on his lap, his eyes closed, and then Gravity Perception spread around the stone alone, and he tried something: to lift the stone whole.
It shook, but it didn't budge.
'I need a skill!'
Without guidance, it would take time to figure out how to do something. Each skill was made after dedicated focus and was priceless in a family.
Warmth came back to the stone; the ice sheen thawed away.
'It thought the stone is a living thing!'
Elias spread his perception and got apprehensive; the creature was still present and looking.