The spatial portal showed no sign of deformation, and Ray only felt a brief sting of pain—nothing serious.

The force was too weak.

He accelerated the stone once more and dropped it.

Another shock, another twinge. Still not enough force.

Fine—he'd accelerate it twice, three times. Eventually, he'd find the right threshold.

Sure enough, after accelerating the stone nine times, the strike finally caused the spatial portal to deform.

It was a tiny deformation, but the damage to Ray was manage