Strength Test
This thought of strength excited Tommy greatly. I mean he was a fairly strong guy for his size as is but this? This would mean he could lift things like cranes in his world. He couldn't wait to try it out.
Quickly standing up and surveying the thick wooded area just outside of the clearing he was in, he spotted what he was looking for. A very large, very thick tree was sitting on the edge of the thicket to his left. The tree was considerably large, vastly out sizing the Redwoods of his world. This tree had to be at least 700 feet tall and at least 20 feet in diameter. It was quite literally out of his world.
Thinking he should use a large tree, due to the massive influx of his strength he would need something strong to contend with, he happily walked over to the base of the tree which was around half a mile away. The short walk was around 5 minutes as he got closer to the tree the impending size really fell upon him. Standing next to it he felt like an ant. Being so close to this massive plant had him rethinking his idea to try and punch it down. It had to be impossible to harm such a giant.
The bark of the tree had immaculate patterns. The bark seemed to swirl and raise in a chaotic mess that perfectly fit together. It reminded Tommy of a painting he really admired called "Starry Night" by Van Gogh. He reached his hand out to feel the bark, and it strangely felt like solid rock instead of wood. The bark was much smoother than he would have thought it to be by appearance, like polished marble. It really was remarkable.
As he admired the size and beauty of the tree he could hear rustling above him. When he looked up he saw the small lion-squirrel again, running across the branches to a hole in the trunk. That's when he decided not to try his strength on the tree. He would feel bad if he damaged it, and if he didn't he would probably break his hand based on the size and feel of the trunk.
He just started to walk around the tree, and sitting perfectly on a small hill completely overshadowed by this massive tree, was a large boulder halfway submerged into the hill. This was perfect for him. A way for him to test his strength and not hurt anyone. This boulder was much different than the dark orange color of the rock that stabbed him in the ass. This boulder looked like a regular rock from earth.
He ran to the boulder, as this was the first semblance of "normal" since he had gotten here. He placed his palm against the stone, and it was just a regular rock. He could feel the grit and granules of stone all over the surface. It was a large boulder couldn't have weighed less than 100,000 pounds.
"Perfect." Tommy spoke his first words since coming to this new place.
He reached both hands out trying to find a place to grab the stone, wanting to lift it out of the hill. He figured if he could do this it had to be at least 150,000 lbs of pressure. He got a decent grip on this hulking stone and started to lift. Next thing he knew the boulder that seemed to be so grand a moment ago was lifted promptly out of the ground with no struggle at all. In fact it was quite easy. He estimated he had to have at least the strength to lift something 500,000 lbs.
He set the rock down a promptly punched it.
BOOM! The sound rang out as his fist smashed into the rock.
"ARRRRRGGGG!" He screamed in pain.
The rock disintegrated upon his punch but his hand hurt tremendously. It would seem that only his muscles were changes by the gene and nothing else.His skin seemed to be affected a little bit though as he didn't have any cuts on his hand but his bones were throbbing in pain. He could still get hurt. To make matters worse he didn't even know if he was considered strong in this world.
Wait. This giant rock only hurt my hands on the inside. There isn't any damage on the outside, not even even redness.
What was with that small orange rock?