[A Week Later]
In the backyard, Zeus's sister Natalie was training with her cousin Mira, who was the same age. Mira had short brown hair, an average height, and a somewhat beautiful face. The light freckles on her cheeks were the main reason behind her overall attractiveness.
A little further away, Zeus was throwing a sharp-edged metallic disc. It flew at a high speed, striking a tree and embedding itself halfway inside it. Then, the disc magically returned, flying back toward Zeus.
Everything seemed perfect—except the disc was returning too fast, and Zeus was having trouble catching or stopping it.
...
Mira had been observing Zeus from time to time over the past hour. What truly interested her was the weapon Zeus was working on.
Mira: "I'm honestly surprised how quickly Zeus got over the shock of losing his powers... he's even started studying the creation of handmade weapons."
Natalie glanced at Zeus and responded indifferently:
Natalie: "He said he doesn't even remember his powers to feel like he lost them... how did he put it exactly? [contemplative look]... Right! He said, 'You can't lose what you never had.' That idiot always talks in riddles... it's honestly annoying sometimes."
Mira (slightly awkward): "That makes sense..."
Natalie (annoyed): "Actually, he's been totally isolated this past week, completely focused on that junk. He hasn't even gone to visit his friends from the special task force."
Mira: "Lower your voice, you fool! If he hears you calling his hard work junk, it might crush his spirit."
Natalie gave Mira a puzzled look at first—then suddenly burst into loud laughter.
Natalie (mocking): "Who! Him!?... Hey, idiot! Stop playing with that junk and go learn something useful for a change!"
Mira quickly covered Natalie's mouth and apologized to Zeus with a nod before dragging her cousin away.
As usual, Zeus ignored his sister's sarcastic comments—he had heard plenty of them over the past week.
He was much more focused on solving the issue of not being able to stop the disc.
He picked up the disc once it stopped spinning on the ground and began studying and analyzing the engraved runes.
He had applied a rune with a continuous motion property to make the disc spin indefinitely, and another with a full immediate discharge property to launch it forward explosively from his hand.
This full discharge used up about 10% of the energy storage rune to generate the explosive launch.
Zeus had also added a third kinetic energy rune with a pulsing motion to allow the disc to suddenly change directions mid-air.
A fifth rune, also of continuous motion, allowed the disc to return in a smooth circular path.
With the energy storage rune included, the disc could only handle one more motion rune before reaching its limit.
Zeus was trying to determine what kind of rune and placement would help him solve the problem of catching the disc.
If he added another full discharge motion rune directed opposite to the spin, it could stop the disc, but it would also weaken its lethality—yet it wouldn't actually stop the spin itself, which was still dangerously fast for him.
After some thought, Zeus decided to ask his sister for help—but indirectly, without revealing the actual disc.
He created a digital design of the disc on his computer, replacing the energy storage rune with power circuits and energy cores.
The design took him about an hour.
...
[An Hour and a Half Later]
Fifteen minutes ago, Zeus had started looking for his sister Lily, but couldn't find her. Natalie told him she had traveled out of town and wouldn't be back anytime soon.
As he was leaving the training room in the basement, Mira stopped him to ask what he wanted from Lily.
Mira: "Were you looking for Lily?"
Zeus: "I wanted to ask her something about an engineering design."
Mira: "Having trouble with the weapon you're working on?"
Zeus rubbed his head, a bit embarrassed.
Zeus: "Well... I'm not exactly an expert in these things."
Mira: "Can I take a look at the problem?"
At that moment, Zeus remembered that Mira was studying mechanical engineering—something Lily had told him when suggesting he pursue that field.
Zeus used a common wearable ring that functioned as a portable computer. The ring emitted a solid holographic laptop interface.
This virtual laptop could display a screen in any size the user wanted. These rings came with countless features, including voice and video communication.
However, this holographic laptop couldn't match the power of solid, non-holographic computers—especially those linked to virtual reality systems.
Zeus showed the design to Mira, and she studied it until a slight frown formed on her face.
Zeus (curious): "Is there a problem with the design?"
Mira: "Of course. This metallic disc won't be able to handle even half the energy pressure from this core and its circuits."
Zeus: "Okay, but can you ignore that and just tell me how to make the disc stop when it returns?"
Mira: "I already told you this design is impossible. The material can't withstand the pressure."
Zeus: "What if I change the material to something stronger?"
Mira: "Well, then sure—it could work."
Mira began modifying the design. She changed the disc's material and made another adjustment to the movement system.
When the program ran a visual simulation of the design, Zeus saw the disc stop perfectly upon returning—just as he wanted.
Zeus: "What modification did you make?"
Mira: "Just a small tweak to the motion circuit that causes the initial forward burst at launch. I gave it an inverse function to produce an equal but opposite burst, which stops the disc's return thrust. As for the continuous spin, I gave the responsible circuit a reverse rotation function to stop the spin with a counter-spin."
Zeus felt a little dizzy trying to process the information, but he finally understood—it was possible for a single motion rune to perform multiple functions.
This led him to the conclusion that three motion runes, each with a unique property, were enough to make the disc move in any way he wanted.
Excited, Zeus quickly left to make the modifications.
...
Natalie (grumbling): "He didn't even say thank you!"
Mira: "Don't worry—he's naturally an idiot... Now can we finish our damn training!?"
Natalie: "Nope, I'm done. I'm going to shower. I've got a date in two hours with one of my friends—we're going shopping. Wanna come?"
Mira: "Nope. I'd rather hop into the VR capsule and find some opponents to fight."
Natalie: "Girl, you're obsessed with that stuff. I doubt any guy would ever like you."
Mira: "Screw you and all men. Get out of my face!"
Natalie: "!"
Mira stormed off, and Natalie went looking for someone to beat up.