Zenith's Zig-Zag Zazzy Zealous Zesty Zinciferous Zoetically Zonked Stuff

[Guest]

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CASE FILE: Transmutation Equipment

"Canine devotion, time can't erase."
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NAME:
→ Shardstorm Alchemy
→ Extraction Alchemy
→ Drill Alchemy
→ Antivenom Alkahestry

TYPE:
→ Alchemy: Kinetic Energy
→ Alchemy: Metal
→ Alchemy: Metal
→ Alkahestry: Poisoner's Folly

LEVEL:
→ Three

FORM:
→ The transmutation circle isn't actually tattooed or carved anywhere on Zen's body for fear or accidentally charging inanimate objects and sending them flying in random directions, thus making them potentially lethal. It is, however, engraved upon a set of Xingese silver mahjong tiles that Zen keeps in a pouch, as well as a set of razor-edged playing cards (it's the backing). These cards are made of reinforced, lightweight PVC to prevent their buckling or shredding at high speeds, considering they can reach up to 100mph.
→ Zen now carries two gloves over his hands with four metal discs ridging over his fingers. These act as knuckleduster-gloves, Zen having studied (out of admiration) the illustrious Amestrian Major Armstrong, and the alchemy passed down through his family for generations. This transmutation circle is engraved on the furthest disc (so, the left for his left hand, and the right for his right). The two middle discs have hydraulic pumps beneath them.
→ And the Drill Alchemy circle is engraved on the innermost discs (left for his right hand, right for his left). Same principle.
→ The alkahestric array for Zen's antivenom injections is very complex, and as such cannot simply be drawn out with a pen (not by Zen, anyway). The array is marked onto the interior of a modernised translucent hypodermic syringe; Zen pokes the needle tip into his skin and hits the button, triggering the alkahestry and at the same time injecting a painkiller to take the edge off the rather painful alkahestric process.

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BRIEFING:
→ Shardstorm Alchemy works fairly simply. The object engraved with the transmutation circle is charged for a user-determined number of time; upon release, the object quickly collects kinetic energy by using a self-perpetuating cycle of alchemical processes to actually absorb, refine, and imbue the object over and over again - basically giving it the appearance that it's getting fast. Incredibly fast, and almost inhumanly so - considering that the object must be launched and/or moving in the first place for the alchemy to function at all. Kinetic energy is in the air around us; it's never created or destroyed, simply converted from other forms, and, thus this is where the majority of the energy required for use comes from, keeping the propulsion still somewhat understandable.

Another downside is the fact that the transmutation circle must be directly engraved into the object in question and thus this is another reason why it can't be tattooed onto Zenith's body (alongside his attitude and tendency to fall over... slapstick comedy is one thing, being eviscerated with a belt buckle is another).

The levels of kinetic energy continue to bolster themselves for as much alchemical charge is given - this doesn't make something out of nothing, as it isn't just 'increasing' the amount of kinetic energy, but altering the percentage proportions. As an object moves, it gains more speed and kinetic energy, but this speed is just converted energy, as no energy is ever lost. Processes involving energy give off a lot of waste from even simple examples, and the alchemy itself just prohibits this, basically acting like an on-the-go turbocharger, purifying the energy levels and constantly building upon them.

In order to do this, not only must Zenith know the exact formula for calculation of kinetic energy (so he knows how long to charge it for, as this is the rate at which it will convert and refine energy) he must also have a dead-eye shot (and be able to throw playing cards, a skill the man has developed over many, many a year).

→ Following suit from Shardstorm Alchemy, Extraction Alchemy is incredibly simple. Pressing the transmutation circles, engraved upon the discs, against any surface will draw out iron from ANYWHERE, break it away, and reform it around Zen's hands in a solid block. Obviously, Extraction Alchemy takes a variable amount of time depending on a number of factors.

One of these is the abundance of iron in the surface he's touching. If Zen walks up to a plastic sheet and activates the alchemy, as opposed to say, a crane, he's going to be working for a fuck of a long time to try and find iron where there ISN'T any. It's also not entirely functional on human bodies, but does make Zen feel like Magneto when he attempts it.

In order to carry out this transmutation, Zen needs to know the quotient of iron vaguely enough by looking at any given thing, and needs to be able to make choices quickly in the heat of battle - to ascertain exactly WHAT he's going to go for, and which is target for this process going to be best for his alchemy and the next stage. He also needs to be roughly aware of how long it will take him to draw out iron from a material (highly variable, dependent upon both the abundance of iron, the surface area, and how spread out the iron molecules are). Zen also needs to know how much iron he'll need for the conjoining process, which I'll go onto into the next section.

However, the Extraction alchemy works simply enough, and leads on to the next, which is a personal favourite of both Zen's and mine...

→ Drill Alchemy. Duck and fucking cover because you're going to die.

The plain enough process of this alchemy is simply finesse in reshaping of a solid block of iron. The iron is the ONLY material that Zen can manipulate, which is rather irritating: but the Extraction Alchemy was fashioned entirely for this purpose. He can contort it into any shape he really wants to, but the transmutation circle is designed to form it into one shape and one alone at the edge of the titanium-alloy discs ridged along his knuckles.

A drill. In a matter of moments after activating this alchemy, so beautiful in its simplicity, Zen will reform a block of iron into a drill. If there's not enough iron, he'll make it a thin, more brittle, and weaker drill. If there's too much - stronger drill! Simple enough. The alchemy itself simply manipulates molecular shaping and is possibly the most simplistic Zen has ever come up with.

However, Zen has also tweaked the transmutation circle so that the amount of control he has over production is mind-boggling, and so that he can create inscriptions or engravings at the flat base of the drills, which are now fastened to his hands (at the two outer discs) by a brittle, weak base iron link which can be shattered with a flick.

Zen needs to know the rough amount of time it'll take him to convert the shape (dependent upon how much iron he's using, but anywhere between five and thirty seconds) and, of course, the basic principles of chemistry when it comes to molecular arrangement, including Van der Waals forces, covalent bonding, et cetera.

→ The alkahestrical array for Zen's antivenom alkahestry is simple in that it only targets poisoned sections of his blood cells and eliminates them over a matter of seconds. The alkahestry itself is painful as it tampers with every blood cell in Zenith's body, but mixing it with fast-acting painkillers does help to take the edge off.

All the alkahestry does is the opposite of a traditional Poisoner's Folly trick, instead of locating red blood cells and adding a poison to them or distributing a poison freely in the bloodstream, it locates the poison molecules and severs them from the blood cells before destroying them.

In order to utilise this array appropriately, Zen must intricately know the functional statistics of the average human being's liver and kidneys - and only knows his - hence why the array is shady when used on other people. He must know his blood type and a fair amount of hematological knowledge and statistics otherwise the whole system falls apart and his body begins to deteriorate.

PICTURE:
→

Shardstorm Alchemy Circle:

→

Razor-Edged Playing Cards:

→

Mahjong Tiles:

→

Extraction Alchemy Circle:

→

Drill Alchemy Circle:

→

Hydraulic Knuckleduster Gloves:

→

Suppression Alkahestry Array:

→

Hypodermic Syringe:

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SPECIAL ABILITIES:

→ Zen's Casino Blaster Extraordinaire - Simply enough, utilising the kinetic energies of the Shardstorm Alchemy discipline, Zen can launch any form of throwable/launchable projectile with the transmutation circle engraved or drawn upon it to heighten to variable speeds, with reinforced and sturdier objects up to 100mph, but flimsier objects will break under pressure at lower speeds. The most common specialised objects here are Zen's mahjong tiles and razor-lined reinforced PVC cards, which he can launch in chains and rapidly to deal a serious amount of damage (the cards have the potential to be lethal, whilst the tiles are definitively less so and treated as less-lethal).

Other improvised projectiles, can have the circle carved or inked on provided that when they are both not too heavy to throw or launch from Zen's body, and if they are launched, they are not launched at an initial velocity faster than 100mph. For instance, Zen could not speed up a bullet or an arrow from a bow/crossbow, or a large block of concrete, but if he carved the array into a pebble - for as long as that would take - technically, it would work. Note that this would be somewhat pointless unless Zen already runs out of ammo, tiles, and cards, as all work in conjunction with one another.

Having also added Excavation and Drill Alchemy to his repertoire, Zen can use Shardstorm Alchemy in conjunction. Look below for specifics on how the process causes stationary metal drills to become revolving iron drillbits of death.

→ Giga Drill Breaker - The pinnacle of his three branches of alchemy, this is Zen's preferred method of attacking simply for the sheer badass factor. It works in three parts, and is astoundingly simple, yet, he likes to think, beautiful.

Zen draws ore into pure iron from anything and fastens it around the metal discs on his fingers. This appears simply to be a knuckleduster-glove. He then uses the Drill Alchemy to reshape the solid iron block into a viciously sharp and twisted drill. However, during the reshaping process, as a minor addendum, Zen also engraves the Shardstorm Alchemy circle on the drill's base.

He then yanks his arm backwards and forwards to snap the iron links and activate the tiny hydraulic pumps within the two inner disks, which push the drills off of the base; simultaneously, Zen activates the Shardstorm Alchemy circle he's just engraved onto the drills, which sends two drills spinning through the air at breakneck speeds towards his enemies (or a target range) as he grabs a pair of hopefully impossibly triangular sunglasses, dons them, and a cape, and screams 'WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM!?'

→ Antivenom Infusion - Over nearly a year spent in Xing, whilst keeping his body in good shape to attempt to halt the poison's advances further, Zen has come to terms with the fact that he cannot actually alter his DNA structure, but he has created an array which targets the actual poisoned sections of the blood cells and eliminates them all in one fell swoop. However, due to the way blood works, and the way that his kidneys are functioning, Zen must administer the serum at least once an hour. The poison has become resistant and fast-working over some time, meaning that after an hour without infusion, he will begin to feel light-headed. After three, the pain will kick in. After six hours without the infusion, Zen will begin to start falling over from near-debilitating pain, and after twelve he will be bedridden. After one day without the alkahestric infusion, Zen will become comatose, and after an additional two days (from projection as it's never quite gotten this far), he will die.

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[Reila Tsukino]

REVISE

Everything is good except your shardstorm alchemy description isn't under special abilities??

[Guest]

Well, essentially, Shardstorm Alchemy was originally to be used specialised by making a "tornado" of cards or something, but that didn't work, so I removed the special ability altogether. Do I still need one in there to reproduce how Zen utilises it in combat?

[Bronze Degan]

I would say yes, just to give us a decent ideas as to what he does with it. Nothing to hard to write up im sure.

[Guest]

Done.

[Csilla Angelis]

{APPROVED}

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