Mage Tank

Chapter 242: Batant IP Theft

[The rifle’s spell is curious. It is designed to maximize mana efficiency and penetration with the trade-off of doing very little actual damage.]

Vaulty stepped forward, the hulking golem’s legs clanking against the ground.

“The spell is called Break,” said the golem. “It bypasses most defenses and deals a small amount of Spatial damage. It is designed for use in swarm-style tactics. A large group of weaker individuals can destroy a significantly more powerful target, so long as they attack together.” He paused for a second. “It is also highly effective at destroying mundane objects.”

[Relatively useless for a single Delver, but an interesting concept for more traditional warfare.]

“Especially if anyone can fire the rifles,” I said. “A platoon of mundane soldiers could be an actual threat with these things. Couldn’t a mana chip be used to recharge the rifles? Lots of Hiwardian tech works that way.”

[Yes. It would simply add cost and complexity.]

“The Zng created charging stations for this purpose.”

“What’s the capacity? How many shots on a full charge?”

[Fifty.]

Aside from that, these rifles didn’t have magazines. Their capacity was a hard limit until more mana got dumped into them from somewhere. Not something a normal soldier could do.

So, Earth guns had the advantage of being reloadable and relatively cheap. On the other hand, no Earth firearm would have a chance of hurting a Delver like me.

I didn’t have a spare Glock laying around for testing, but if I was sleeping naked in my bed, getting shot by a non-magical crossbow might not even wake me up. A nine millimeter round probably wouldn’t do much better. Once my armor and buffs were on, I was at least five times harder to hurt, and that was without blocking.

Each shot from one of these Zng rifles had been pinging me for ten damage through my rather robust defenses. That wasn’t much compared to my total health pool, but it was enough to kill a regular person outright.

A Delver with 10 Fortitude had 155 health. That would make them untouchable to normal soldiers without access to mana-woven weapons, but with these rifles, a mundane squad could take that Delver down if each of them landed a couple of shots.

“How much would it cost to replicate one of these?” I asked.

[If we can reverse engineer the design, I expect the mana-weaves would require four ruby chips. Five if you want to add the charging option. The materials would be a negligible cost unless you wish to make enhancements.]

Nuralie walked over and tapped the rifle. “I can replicate the mechanics.” She looked up at me. “You can make the internal wand portions.”

“I’d need someone who knows the spell.”

A pair of barrels appeared from Vaulty’s shoulder guards. “I am well-versed in the skill.”

I nodded and thought it over. One of these guns would still be worth as much money as a normal soldier made in twenty years. The tech wasn’t about to become some kind of great equalizer, but it was good to know stuff like this was possible.

And we had enough ruby chips to make more than a thousand of them.

If we felt like it.

“Could the artificial mana matrix concept be extended to more powerful spells?” I asked.

[The artificial matrix can only accommodate minor magical workings and has been designed with this specific spell in mind. We could likely produce something similar for other weak effects, but not for any spell requiring more than two or three points of mana.] Grotto waved his arms strangely for a moment. I think he was trying to undulate them like tentacles.[If you imbued the weapon with a soul, a more advanced spell could certainly be applied.]

“Interesting,” I said. “But not important for the use-case I was imagining, I don’t think.” I rubbed my beard. “How does one imbue a weapon with a soul?”

[The Pinnacle Soul Essences you received from slaying Hysteria can be used to impart a soul onto nearly anything. Ensouling a weapon would be simple enough.]

“Wait, would it have intelligence?”

[It would, although it would be rudimentary without some accompanying mental constructs.]

{Oh!} Thone piped in. {I can make those!}

[Yes, Throne is more than capable. I believe we could create a fiercely intelligent weapon now that I am considering it.]

Xim cleared her throat. She’d moved to a lounge chair in the corner and was–as appropriate–lounging with abandon. She’d been thumbing through a thick tome that made my eyes itch when I looked at the cover, and she lowered the book to look at our pair of Delve Cores.

“Talking swords are never happy about being stuck inside a sword,” she said. “Nor are they sane, generally. Souls need the capacity to express free will, and being a thing made for someone else to use isn’t a great fit for that.”

“Ethics in the production of sentient weaponry,” I said. “An unexpected lesson, but your point is well-taken.” Xim nodded and returned to her book. “All right, enough about the rifles. Tell me about the armor.”

Grotto floated to one rack of the tall, lanky suits of armor. They were of a similar style to the rifle, made of a dark matte material. However, they were compositionally distinct.

[This armor is primarily composed of three materials. The first is a–] Grotto hesitated and turned to eye me up and down. [How technical would you like me to be?]

“Dumb it right down for me.”

Grotto gave me a grumpy scowl. I was really missing that octo face right about now. He could somehow scowl much more impressively as a feathered flying octopus.

[There is a base suit made of heat-resistant synthetic polymers that have exceptional elasticity. This portion mitigates blunt force and protects against fire and extreme cold. It also allows the armor to accommodate a range of body sizes, although that variance is primarily limited to height due to the armor’s other components. None of you would fit. Etja might, but alterations would need to be made for her arms. You and Varrin are too wide. Nuralie is too short. Xim is both.]

“Hey!” said Xim. She shimmied deeper into her lounger and waved at herself. “I can’t help these curves.” The woman didn’t have a spot of fat, outside of all the right places.

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Grotto ignored her and continued.

[Next there is a composite fabric made of carbon fiber filaments, bane silk, and prismatite. The fabric has a high tensile strength and it is difficult to cut. Bane silk is an electrical insulator. The prismatite grants Mystical resistance.

[Throughout the fabric are ceramic plates–matrix composites–which also include carbon fibers and prismatite. These mitigate kinetic force, primarily by shattering and dispersing the impact. Combined with the armor’s shape, it should be resilient to piercing attacks from both projectiles and melee weapons. This shattering of the plates will temporarily compromise the armor, but the equipment has a mana reservoir that operates a self-repair function. It is significantly faster than both the natural self-repair of verdantum and also the standard self-repair weaves that are in use.]

[Finally, there is a hard outer casing centered around the head, neck, and chest. I believe this is intended as additional protection against kinetic forces with a particular focus on mitigating blast waves. All of these materials have also been treated with a protective coating that is resilient against corrosive substances. Overall, the armor utilizes sophisticated technological processes to provide defense against all common damage sources from the Physical school of magic, while integrating a limited amount of mana-containing materials.]

“Wow,” I said. “Seems like there’s a lot going on there.” I was also glad I’d asked for the simplified explanation.

“It is the most complex piece of engineering I have ever seen,” said Nuralie.

“Why limit the magical materials?” asked Xim. “Can non-Delvers use the armor like the wand thingies?”

[No. Only Delvers and other magical beings. Prismatite will have deleterious effects if worn by a mundane entity for long periods.] He gave a floaty shrug.[The Zng were a high-technology civilization, so while these materials are far beyond anything an extant civilization can create, they may have been much easier for the Zng to produce en masse than mana-woven items.]

[Beyond that, this armor is light enough to fall under the Light Armor skill, with the only requirement being an adequately advanced mana matrix. A Level 1 Delver could wear this, and it would be significantly more powerful than anything else available via current armor-crafting techniques.]

We all stared at the disassembled armor. “How can we use it?” I asked.

[I can likely guide Nuralie in modifying and tailoring the fit. Her Machinist skill will assist her in understanding how to manipulate the technological elements without compromising them.]

“And I can use Tailoring to add weaves,” said the loson. She was already taking one suit of armor down and laying it onto a large work table. She picked up the helmet and squinted at its interior.

[Yes, it is more or less a blank canvas in that regard.]

“What’s the timeline on that?” I asked.

Nuralie looked over at me and blinked, going still with an incredulous pause. “You would like me to provide you with an estimate for how long it will take me to modify and enchant a technological wonder from an extinct civilization?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

“I will aim to have something viable within a week,” she said, then got back to work.

“Okay, that’s… really fast. Don’t forget to sleep.”

“No,” she replied.

I left her alone after that. Instead, I focused on what Grotto had said about prismatite and its effect on mundane people.

“Is prismatite dangerous because of its mana concentration?” I asked the Delve Core. I knew that high mana concentrations were a hazard, but we’d only ever talked about it in regard to an environment that had a lot of mana in it. Grotto was making it seem like there was more to it.

[Correct, but so long as it is not used in materials having direct physical contact for extended periods, it is harmless. The same goes for most exotic materials, with rare exceptions such as the abbandium Nuralie is fond of using.]

“Right,” I said, disregarding the abbandium rabbit hole. “Delvers advance by continually increasing the mana concentration in their bodies.”

[Somewhat correct.]

“Then is it dangerous for regular people to hang around Delvers?” I asked. “Are our bodies some sort of walking radioactive hazard?” Nuralie frowned when I said “radioactive”, but she ignored the allure of a new word and focused on the armor.

[‘Regular’ people have a significantly higher risk of death when Delvers are present, but not for the reasons you are contemplating. A Delver’s mana is well-contained, and mana toxicity does not cause permanent damage unless it is severe. Skill use will raise the ambient mana levels, but in that case the greater likelihood of death comes from being in proximity to the intended consequences of the skills rather than their incidental ones.]

“Like an explosion?”

[Yes.]

“I can still give a normal person a hug, though, right? If I go to a tavern, I’m not slowly killing everyone inside.”

Grotto did the weird wavy-arm thing again. [Not at present. There are some dangers due to mere proximity at a certain threshold. Beyond Level 60, Delvers begin to impact their immediate surroundings in more… profound ways. However, it is not a concern until phase three.]

I didn’t like the sound of that.

“What’s the deal with Level 60?” asked Xim. “Should we be worried?”

[In phase three, the celestial sphere will gain a stronger foothold in the physical realm, and Delvers of a certain caliber will naturally be drawn to it. They will be like bubbles, trying to rise to the surface of the ocean. The world around them will seek to prevent this rise. Such resistance creates a strain on our reality.]

“What’s that look like?” I asked. “The ‘strain’, that is.”

Grotto watched Nuralie’s work for a time before answering. [This is a strange conversation for me,] he thought to us. I was a little surprised by the sudden moment of introspection from the Delve Core. [I have never described these things to Delvers. The taboo of sharing such secrets is difficult to overcome.]

Grotto reached out and took an armored plate from Nuralie’s hands. He showed her an interlocking joint, and with a careful application of pressure it popped open. Nuralie nodded and he handed the pieces back to her.

[The time between the second phase and the third is usually measured in centuries. Had I been permitted to speak on this to any other generation, I would have told them that any concern they had for reaching a semi-ascended state is irrelevant. Those who see the activation of the second phase rarely survive to the third. They either fall to violence or the frailty of old age. A rare few have acquired biological immortality and survived until that time, but the fraction is so small as to approach zero.]

He worked to disassemble the armor further as he spoke, placing each piece onto the large worktable in carefully organized sections as Nuralie closely watched. [The time between generations has shortened. The avatars have awakened sooner. Delvers have advanced more rapidly. There is some variance, but the overall trend is upwards. Your generation marks an even steeper climb. As such, I find myself musing over whether we will even see a decade pass between phases two and three.]

He crossed his arms and turned to me. It was an impressive pose with the way he hovered.

[A Delver’s pre-ascent influence can manifest in many ways, depending on the Delver in question.] He glanced around the room. [Nuralie might cause light to flee from any room she enters, for example. Etja might slowly absorb all mana from her surroundings. Varrin will… make everything very sharp, perhaps.] He waved a hand dismissively. [It is nothing immediately harmful, but will present a dangerous environment to mundane individuals. Again, it is nothing to worry about at present.]

I rubbed my beard and thought that over. It wasn’t like I had close friends who weren’t Delvers. Most of the Xor’Drel tribe hadn’t undergone Creation, but they might fall under the “magical beings” category and be safe either way. Still, the idea of having to segregate myself from normal society irked me. I didn’t really want to be limited to a city full of super people. What form would that even take? Would we live atop a mountain like gods above mortals?

I sighed and mentally moved on. Grotto was right. It wasn’t a time-sensitive issue.

“All right,” I said. “We’ll give Nuralie a week to get herself some armor made.”

“It would be better for Xim,” said Nuralie. “And Etja. I do not actually have the Light Armor skill.”

I frowned and silently reviewed the skills I knew she had. Somehow, I’d assumed she had Light Armor, but I now realized she’d never told me that she did. I raised a finger into the air. “Excuse me, what?”

“It has not been very important for my build,” she said. “I will pick it up in my twelfth intrinsic slot once we unlock it.”

Not having an armor skill seemed like a major oversight to me, but there wasn’t much to be done about it. She’d grab it when she could, so there wasn’t a point in discussing it further.

“All right,” I said again. “Nuralie makes some armor, Etja will act as therapist for Joma during that time, and I’ll buy a smithy while I think about the Dread Star questions. Xim, Varrin, do what you will. After a week, we’ll go see some maybe dragons.”

“Aye, captain,” said Xim with a little salute. Varrin gave a silent nod and kept oiling his sword. It was a different sword, I noticed. He’d gone through five since I’d entered.

And with that, we got back to work.