Some people arrive later and repeat some questions. And some Henry decides to announce that they will perform some tests and if people want to celebrate they should start planning for the celebration. Even if Tobir can do planets they might not get around to testing that today. But Tobir's crystal is already a huge boon just as it is.

"Why wait? Everyone who came from the crystal has been to other planets right? You could try opening a portal to one of them."

"And a failure mode of that is your portal not having enough reach to get to the other planet but having enough reach to opening to vacuum," Henry Tutor explains patiently.

"His portals can block stuff. He could just block the air."

"True, but then we make sure he can open a portal that already blocks air from passing through."

"Oh, right," he agrees, abashed. 

"So should we start with testing that aspect, then?" He suggests. "Blocking things from going through, and whether I can open a portal already blocking?"

"Yes, please." Henry Tutor says. "Let's reach my testing area he-"

Portal to the lab!

"Gabe! I mean, Kenta!" Sigh.

Okay, they can go through that portal. The testing area is a large empty room, not quite featureless, but made out of strong reinforced concrete walls and with small windows.

"Okay, let's start with a portal that blocks things."

"What kinds of things?" He lifts his arm taps the crystal, "It let me block solids, back in the cave, that's how I got it to stop me from going through. I could start with 'everything'?" 

A distortion starts to form in front of him, which then widens into a pitch black hole in the air.

"...Of course, it's not letting light in, either," Tobir realizes. 

Henry Tutor chuckles. "That's good. It should block dangerous radiation."

"Also it might mean that you can use it as a shield? If it can resist forces greater than the ones from hanging around here. Anyway, try filter light and then air?"

"Oh yeah!" He grins at Heri, "Already found a non-obvious use, nice. And sure, I'll try that now..." 

After a few moments of focusing, the blackness in the portal abruptly vanishes, replaced by a view of the waterfalls on the island they'd been living on. Shortly after this, the sound of the falls starts coming through as well, along with the earthy green scent of the forested isle. 

"Okay, so I can get 'just light' and 'just light and gases'. Hopefully I can get more specific than that, let in only the visible spectrum, and only breathable atmosphere..."

"Mhmmm. How arbitrary to you think you can get? Could you have a portal that filters traits you couldn't perceive? Someone that lied. Someone committing a crime. A mythical critter as opposed a non-critter human."

"Hmm..." He tries, but... "I don't think I can do that? Yet, anyway. Those are all way too specific. I can maybe do something like..."

He focuses for a long moment, and then the low mist from the falls starts spreading into the room.

"I think it should keep out animals, now? But everything else can get through." 

"Animals including people animals?" He tests throwing pieces of organic matter through. Freshly cut wood, dead wood, a chicken drumstick, dead bone.

They all go through.

"Living animals including people, yeah. I think 'just people' is still too specific, though..." 

"I see. Do you mind if we do some stress testing? Primarily your reaction time involving creating or opening portals."

"Shouldn't we help by creating portals or something?"

"Ken, it's usually easier for the person that made the empowered crystal."

"Yeah, we can do tests on how easy it is for other people to use after we've tested what I can do with it. So, let's do that," he nods towards Henry.

After some testing, they find that it takes him about ten seconds to create a portal, about five to change what can go through it, and only a moment's thought to destroy one of his own. The distance between the two sides of the portal doesn't seem to matter when it comes to the length of time it takes to make it, or at least it doesn't at the distances they're working with. On that note, he can't seem to make a portal that goes much farther away than the waterfalls island, which is quite the distance on the intraplanetary scale, but nothing when it comes to the distance between stars. However, they expect a larger crystal will be able to go farther. 

He can close a portal to categories like 'organic matter', 'liquids', 'solids', 'light', and such, but can't get much more specific than 'living creatures'. It seems like something he'll be able to learn to do more with after enough time working on it, though. 

The extended portal creation wears on him, leaving him with the start of a headache. He massages his temples while Henry records the results, face pinched, and makes a quiet whining noise, "Focus headaches are the worst," he mutters. 

"I think that's enough for today?" Heri asks Henry Tutor.

"Yes, it's enough. Go rest for a bit until the party."

"Yeah, that sounds good," Tobir agrees. He blinks hard, and then smiles at Henry, spirits still high despite the strain, "I'll be back tomorrow to work on it some more, right?"