211 Progress (2/2)
His brain worked fast and soon found out the reason why he stumbled. It was due to the fact that his center of gravity changed as soon as he held the hammer. While he was able to stand perfectly still under the waterfall, it was because he slowly got used to it while holding nothing heavy.
The Archaic Thousand Arms Hammer might feel light to him right now, but it doesn't change the fact that it still has an incredible weight. Just by merely holding it requires him to shift his position which then caused him to lose his balance.
Eyes shining with fighting spirit, he tightened the grip around his hammer and performed a probing swing.
*Boom* *Crash* *Splash*
”Holy shit! What happened there?” Raven asked in a dumbfounded manner as he found himself shooting backwards, crashing onto a rock formation before sliding down to the waters. The hammer he was holding flew off somewhere.
He went ashore and lifted his hand up, the hammer flew back on his hand while he's mind pondered about what happened.
”I didn't even finish the swing and I was already shot backwards.” He looked at his trembling hands and grimaced, ”I see, so my arms were shocked by the pressure.”
He could feel his legs shaking as well and figured that he did something wrong.
Raven sat down in a meditative state and recounted the experiences of the old wielders of his hammer. He observed them carefully and concentrated not on the techniques that they demonstrated but on the way they wielded the hammer.
He remunerated on their actions before opening his eyes with a strange glow in them. He chuckled dryly and said: ”How can I forget about a simple thing?”
”Calves. The answer is in the Calves. I'm so stupid!” Raven mocked as he hurriedly gripped the hammer and took a heavy stomp forward. His calves pulsed, then an overbearing force flowed through his body and reached his arms. Borrowing that momentum, he grunted and performed a wide swing.
*Boom!*
The air exploded and a plate-sized projectile came out from his swing. The wind whistled as it flew and it hit the rock formation on the stream, causing it to exploded into larger chunks of rocks that eventually scattered around.
Raven's eyes brightened up, he then said: ”That was good! But I can do better!”
Following that, he re-familiarized himself on wielding the hammer. Causing multiple ear-deafening explosions around him.
Projectiles flew all around, landing on different places which only caused destruction. Raven could hardly care about that since as he was regaining familiarity with his hammer, he could see that the size each projectile become bigger and stronger.
He was so absorbed into his training that he failed to notice a few things. First is the fact that as he wielded the hammer, it was actually getting heavier by each passing moment. Previously, it weighed 3-4 tons tops, but now it climbed up to 8-9 tons in his hands. Second is that, the hammer head was getting bigger thus making each projectile wider and stronger. Previously, it was only ten inches in diameter but it slowly reached twenty inches.
He only noticed this once he stopped, and it really took him by surprise.
”Ah, yes. I also forgot that you grow stronger as I do. My bad.” He chuckled dryly, ”But you really have an awful timing you know? Aren't you aware that I'm in the middle of a trial? I'm starting to think that you're making things harder for me.”
Now that the hammer became bigger and heavier, the difficulty of wielding it under that heavy waterfall just became even more challenging. Nevertheless, Raven didn't shy away from this, in fact he was happy. Conquering a tall challenge will only squeeze out his potential even further, and this is exactly what he wanted. Opportunities to get stronger.
He ate a light meal and rested for a bit. After which, he held the hammer and went hopping towards the waterfall once again.
Raven decided to take things one step at a time. His goal for now is to be able to stand beneath the waterfall with the hammer on hand and perform his first full powered swing.