Rocky defense (Invention)

Lab work wasn't as tedious as it once been thanks to the promotion. But there was more paperwork than before. He was happy to not have to drop everything for gopher work every few minutes. Still he had to admit he missed the interesting experiments. In the research department he was helping to test and repair various devices. He had a newfound respect for the phones they employed. The work to build them and the time consumed to replace parts or fix burned circuits was staggering. In the lab Arawn learned now things worked and the best part they were always open to ideas. Problem was they had way too many ideas. As before he noted that alot of the inventions were silly in premise if not a complete waste of time. And yet again he found half finished projects. Projects that got abandoned either due to lack of interest or motivation. Worse yet were those inventions that were dropped simply because something more interesting had shown up.

This day Arawn had clean up duty. Unlike the his past times as a lab helper everyone took turns in this position. So by far people tried not to make too much a mess since when their day for clean up came they might find a even larger mess waiting for them. But sometimes messes just happened, there was no mistaking it. Arawn was hard a work trying to scrape some strange purple substance from the counter top. The jelly like substance bubbled like boiling water and gave off the smell of sour milk. As he poked it with his metal scoop it wiggled and shifted. He was too afraid to even ask what it supposed to be. He looked at it's creator who held a jar filled with more of the purple goo, his hand held the lid down tightly. Some of the ooze was climbing the side of the jar while it was upright..
"Sorry it got out." The man was of average height, but had a very long thin nose and two large buck teeth which made him look like a rat. "I couldn't find a sealed jar, but this will have to do. I'm going to take this down to containment while you get that one." Arawn chuckled nerviously.
"How do I capture it?" He asked. It wouldn't come free from the table when his poked, but it could move freely.
"Well I have more than enough of it in here, you can just destroy that one." he snorted, he wasn't being snooty, he just snorted alot.
"Okay." Arawn sighed "How do I destroy it?"
"That I'm not really sure, I kind of just stumbled upon it today. Not sure what it is or what it does." Arawn sighed again. He had to admit it was interesting, but slightly vexing at the same time. He rather not have some unknown substance loose in the lab, but even worse was not sure how to dispose of it.

Arawn checked his cart. It had several cleaning tools for such situations, but he was unsure what would work. First he tried an absorbent powder; the substance absorbed it and started to smell like molded cheese. But the absorbent seemed to solidify the creature it now looked like a crusty caterpillar. It started move about the table rapidly. Arawn groaned, he had just made things worse. Just as he thought it, the creature made a leap off the table onto the computer desk. Arawn was quick to follow it, he now held his scooper again and a plastic baggy. The creature landed on some papers and then jumped again, leaving a brownish stain on the sheet. And so it continued to hop about while Arawn tried to catch it with his scoop and bag. He was failing miserably when suddenly the creature hit the ground and as he charged forward. It was too late to for him to change directions, his foot crushed the creature and he slipped, spun, and fell backwards into a bookshelf. The shelf toppled over and a shower of items fell down upon him. From beneath the pile of junk he groaned now in pain. Something had hit his head when it fell, but it didn't feel like he was bleeding. He tried to move his arm to feel his head. After a short examination he didn't feel any blood.
"That's good." he sighed. "Now to get out of here." Moving his arms again he grabbed at the wooden shelf resting on him. He tried to push it off. For some reason it felt really heavy. He tried again, grunting with the effort and still there was no progress. If anything it felt even heavier. It was possible he just needed better leverage. He tried to move his legs, but the top of the shelf was pinning them down. As he tried to dig himself out, he felt weaker and weaker. He was starting to panic, and pushed at the shelf desperately. Finally giving up he screamed for help, not sure how long it would take someone to hear him, Arawn paced himself. Shout, count to 85, then shout again. It took 8 cycles before the long nosed researcher came back. With his help the shelf was shifted and Arawn pulled himself free. Although he thanked the man he felt part of it was his fault.

Now from from the pile Arawn noted the mess on his shoe. He sighed as he sat down to scrape the mess off his shoe and the floor. As he scraped the researcher started to pick up the items off the floor. Some of it had gotten on his pant leg as well, he tried his best to clean it from the fabric.
"Well that explains it." the researcher said behind him.
"What explains what?" Arawn asked not turning around, he didn't want to miss some of the material. He put a large clump into the plastic baggy.
"Why you couldn't free yourself the shelf." Arawn blushed, it was embarrassing enough to be trapped under a shelf. The shouting for help hadn't helped things any either. The worst part was being saved by some that looked out of shape like the researcher. But he remembered feeling very weak under the shelf, not really certain why. He felt fine now. After he was freed he had helped the researcher set the shelf back upright with relative ease.
"So what happened?" Arawn turned around to see the researcher holding what looked to be a small square tile in his hand. "What is that?" The man snorted, Arawn was sure that one was on purpose.
"Catch." he said as he threw the square tile, and Arawn reached out and caught the bad throw. As soon as the tile hit his hand felt odd. It was similar to the feeling he had felt just a moment ago when buried.
"What is this?" he asked again, this time expecting an answer. He examined the tile more closely. It was one inch square and barely 1/8 of an inch thick. It looked like simple rock, but the feeling he felt when he touched it made him think otherwise.
"Sekkiseki stone." He snorted.
"Okay, what is sekkiseki, why did it stop me from lifting that shelf?"
The man opened his mouth then closed it. "I'm sorry, I forgot you've not been here that long."
"Well yes I just joined the lab recently, so I might have missed some things."
The man shook his head "No, not the lab, what I meant was Soul Society." He bent over scooped something off the floor into his hands. He walked over to where Arawn sat and dropped more of the stone tiles into Arawn's hand. rawn felt his arm get weak. He dropped the tiles onto the table, his eyes wide.
"Sekkiseki is a material that negates reiryoku." Arawn had trouble hiding his surprise. He reached forward and touched the pile of stone tiles on the table. The man continued "You've seen the wall that surrounds Seireitei right?" Arawn nodded as he picked up a single tile an examined it again. "This is what the walls are made of. It can repel any outside energies that would try to reach the city."
Arawn was amazed, this was the first time hearing of this wondrous stone. It was abit frightening to know such a small thing had weakened him so much. By his count there were nearly fifty or more of them on the table now.

"So why is this stuff in the lab?" Arawn finally asked twirling the small stone in his hand.
"We had tried to make a light armor using sekkiseki stone, these tiles were to be woven into the shinigami uniforms. But it's effect is as you've seen it weakens the shinigami significantly when in such close proximity. The stone also was to heavy and made movements awkward as well. The project was abandoned." A simple idea that hadn't panned out. "The tiles were probably left on the shelf and you knocked them down just now."
"What about a shield?" the young shinigami asked.
"Same problem; it would be in close proximity and weaken the user. "
Arawn's eyes lit up "Can I have these?"
The researcher snorted "Sure, not much else we can do with them. " Arawn grinned and took another plastic bag from the cart and tossed the tiles inside. He had found something interesting to work with.

Arawn took his pile of tiles and headed to the kido range. There weren't many people so he got his pick of the spot. He choose and area with circular targets. He glued a one of the small stone tiles to the center of the target and took his position at the firing line. As he released his reiatsu he took aim.
"Hado #4: Byakurai!" from his out stretched hand a blast of white light exploded. The beam hit the target dead on. Seconds later the light faded. He ran forward to examine the target. Sure enough the target was pitch black; burned to cinders by the white lightning. Still in the center of the target the small tile was in one piece. It was just as charred as the rest of the target if not slightly less dark. Arawn pulled the tile off the target, the area beneath the tile was in better condition. There were small burns along the edges where the tile had been. That aside it was almost untouched by the attack. As he examined the burned tile it crumbled into dust in his hands. He could only theorize that even though the stone could absorb/repel reiryoku it had it's limits. But it also showed him that a single tile wouldn't be enough to stop such an attack. Honestly he suspected as much. If one tile was enough the project wouldn't have been canceled. There was the draining effect of it touching the user. How could he employ a weapon he couldn't touch? There was a way, but first he had to figure how many tiles he needed to accomplish his goal. He looked at the pile of stones. He took some in hand, his body's strength ebbed slightly. There was more work to do. He took a new target and set the tiles in a line then another, until he had made a square with a hollow center. Arawn stepped back to the firing line and shot the target again. The results mirrored the first test. The tiles were blacked and charred like the rest of the target, but this time the damage was less. The area in the center of the square was damaged but not as much at the corner of the square. The closer the squares, the better the protection.

Hours later

The results of the simple; the more tiles the better. Not something he didn’t expect. Now the more interesting part; a way to carry his shield. The initial project was a body armor. He had to think of something more portable. His first idea was bracers, but that much contact would leave him totally weak. Another idea was to line the inner parts of his uniform, but again the constant touching of the stone would ebb his strength too much. The trick was to make it portable, but restrict contact. There was one more option, but it would require help. He would need to somehow meltdown the sekkiseki. Finding such a person was easier than expected. The lab had some people the specialized in construction, and there were plenty of mechanical experts. But processing the stone would take weeks to perform.

Two weeks later

The melting and molding was finally complete. The long box was delivered to his room. With child like glee he tore into the box and examined the contents. Sitting on a simple stand was a black polished scabbard. He marveled at the craftsmanship. The had melted the stone and cast it into the shape as instructed. Gently he touched it; he felt his energy drain. The outer layer of the scabbard was the composed completely of sekkiseki, except where the sword was inserted. Around the top it was actually metal and textured like a grip. The scabbard had become a true club, but now it was also able to utilize it like a shield. It would reduce his power, but if the need arose he could cast it aside. On the inside of the sheath there was a switch that would make the stone casing release to reveal only the metal. The button could only be released when the sword was drawn so to prevent accidental releases.

Invention: Sekkiseki sleeve
A stone outer layer to his sword sheath. The stone has properties that repels reiryoku at a distance with a small field. And drains reiryoku when touched directly. The sheath rests against Arawn’s back reducing his strength slightly. When he wields the weapon like a club effect is more pronounced preventing him from casting kido and dual casting. While it can repel some attacks the threshold is low since the quantity of stone is low. The stone shatters with constant strain of use physically. He can detach the stone layer and use the metal sheath as normal.

I'm fine with the -5 Fighting skill, but that means anyone I touch will temporarily suffer the same penalty. If that's acceptable, I'm okay with it.

I cant see anything wrong with a -5 on impact, i mean you suffer the same penalty so the effect is kinda negated. If i followed it correctly.

Approval i give thee.