Weapons of Mass Destruction

There’s no way a true man wouldn’t get excited at the idea of a suit of fantasy mana/energy driven power armor. We’ve even seen it before: in the Valorplate we encountered back on the 4th floor, the living suit of armor that took over the body of a dead Champion and used his damaged heart to power itself for hundreds of years.

Even now, I’m working on plans to create my own when I get back to Earth. Something capable of resisting Champions and the like. Not because I want it as a means to bolster my own power, but because it would be fun.

And I will totally name it Regalia.

Yes, I will shamelessly steal the name of my old skill to name the item, I don’t care how much sense it makes. Or I will use Valorplate. That name was also fancy.

But that’s still far off in the future, for now, I’ve got my eyes set on Exoria.

Tess doesn’t have much more info, unfortunately, just that the Champion wore Exoria into battle and the enemy waited until he was occupied to attack the base when they managed to kill the technicians responsible for helping him take care of the armor. Apparently, the remaining technicians are either too busy or lazy and therefore find themselves in need of more assistance.

Not gonna lie, I would prefer being a Technician over serving as an assistant. Sure, I don’t know the difference, but one certainly sounds more important while affording more access. Not to mention that I have my own theories regarding why the hell that Champion would need so many people to take care of his armor.

So, we've decided to stay here for the next few days and keep close to the outpost while focusing on training. I’m also using this time to study the natives. Strangely enough, the inhabitants of this world are lumorans, a race that was rare even in Beyond.

Lumorans are humanoid, and their skin is black. Most of them have golden eyes. They have crystalline features embedded in their skin that look like half-transparent crystals.

I haven’t interacted with any of them yet, but from what I’ve observed, it’s clear they take pride in their crystalline features. Contrary to expectations these crystals don’t tend to protrude; rather, they lay flush against the skin, resembling a thick layer of paint despite their crystalline composition.

They might continue deep under the skin, but it’s hard to tell. I have a very strong suspicion that they can serve as mana batteries, allowing them to store small amounts of mana, increasing in capacity the stronger the lumoran becomes.

It’s like a half-baked trait or some bizarre form of body modification, but if I’m completely honest, it does fit a certain kind of aesthetic. In fact, the lumorans even seem to favor clothing that highlights these crystalline features.

“Nat.”

I refocus my attention on Sophie and the proto-type Logic Core between us. We made it a few days ago. It’s a far cry from anything as high-quality as the one connected to Fracture, but it’s good enough to practice with before I start messing with that evil sword.

“Yes?” I ask her. “I can still work on the practice core even with something else on my mind.”

“I know, but I’m just curious. How many parts do you have your mind split into right now?”

“Huh. Six.”

“You do realize how crazy that is, right?”

"I don't. It's normal."

Her shoulders drop and she shakes her head. “Of course you don’t. So what are they doing?”

“The first is managing my Mana Cycling. That one is probably the ‘oldest’, given that it has to be working at all times,” I say with a hint of amusement at the thought, “the second one is speaking with you now, while doing most of the thinking, and dealing with people or helping the others fight when necessary. The third is working on the core. The fourth is running a constant scan of our surroundings, mana, kinetic, and heat. The fifth is working on arrays, building their structures in my mind, and keeping them there so I can activate them if needed. The sixth is handling my restrictive training emblem.” ṛ𝘢ℕǑ𝖇Εṩ

“Can you make more?”

“I could probably manage a few more if I needed to, but each one would be weaker. Even though I can split my mind a lot, the problem is that my ‘mental power’ has to be divided as well, decreasing my efficiency. I can work around it a bit and strain my mind; my passives are amazing for that, but there are still limits.”

"Totally normal group 4 behavior," Dennis calls out from somewhere in the corner, sprawled on the ground and unable to move thanks to the Burden Enhancement Inscriptions I created for him.

“We can split ours into two parts, maybe have five if we were to combine our minds,” Aaron adds, also lying nearby.

Huh. They shouldn’t even be able to talk. Is it time to raise the difficulty? They’re getting good so they clearly think they can show off.

While I think about that, Sophie asks them, “Is there anything else you want to brag about?”

"Remember when that vyssari Champion we met called me cute?" Aaron remarks.

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“She called me cute, not you,” Dennis corrects him.

"We have the same face, you idiot, so her compliment applies just as much to me. It’s simple logic."

I gesture at Sophie to get her attention and ignore the twins, having grown accustomed to filtering out their bickering.

"Do that thing you did to the core again, but twist the structure like this," I say, shaping a bit of mana in the air to demonstrate the structure I’m describing.

“Nat, the practice core is simple and working. You should learn how it works instead of trying to modify it at such an early stage.”

“Just do it.”

With an annoyed huff, she grabs it from the table and makes the modification. She was the one who made it, so it’s filled with her mana, which should make it easier for her to make the necessary changes. As she applies them, the entire structure of the core breaks. A resonating pulse cascades through it until, piece by piece, it disappears.

Sophie grins and gives me a look that clearly says, "I told you so."

“You did it wrong.”

“What?!”

"You applied the structure I showed you incorrectly and failed to adapt quickly enough after it started to destabilize."

"What am I, some Easy difficulty attendee?! I did exactly what you asked for. That structure is terrible. It redirected the mana flow, disconnected a key structure from the loop, and increased pressure on a nearby connection node."

“In translation, you applied it wrong.”

“How the fuck do you translate it that way?” She raises her voice, annoyance clear in her tone.

Maya, sitting in a chair next to the twins, so that she can kick them every so often, calls out, “Tess, they’re fighting over mana stuff again.”

"Has Nat already started calling Sophie’s abilities worse than a noble lady’s pets?" Tess calls out from another room.

“Not yet, but it looks like he’s about to.”

With a groan, Sophie leans back in her chair and starts working on the mana stone, creating another simple practice logic core. Knowing from previous experience, it will take her a few hours.

“One day you will tell me what the fuck that thing about noble ladies’ pets actually means,” she mumbles as she gets back to work.@@novelbin@@

Today should be the day Champion Feroy passes by our outpost, so everyone’s ready, all our stuff is packed so that we can either run or join him. Hopefully, Tess’s conversation with that technician goes well.

As I observe the outpost, I think about how well the others are cooperating. There are barely any fights between mercenary groups, much less clashes with the natives.

This world is at war, and the Absolute here takes it seriously, his forces severely punish anyone who does anything that could cause problems on our side. Any kind of infighting is punished severely, and the other groups were informed even before coming here.

Even demons, though rare here, seem to keep it together and favor going to the more dangerous fronts.

There are so many fun rumors: an Absolute Candidate Demon someone spotted on the 1st front; a crazy thylarin Champion fighting on this planet for free; a nameless human man who’s been in the war since day one, thus earning the nickname "The Immortal" for surviving countless battles; and the lumoran Champion Owain, a disciple of the lumoran Absolute, single-handedly hunting enemy Champions.

It’s the kind of rumors that people share to raise morale, whispering in quiet admiration, revered like legends. The kind of things that make you feel a touch of excitement, a hint of adventure combined with curiosity, and a healthy dose of fear somewhere far in the back of your mind.

We haven’t seen the invaders yet, we haven’t clashed with the monsters either, so all these things may as well be a simple romanticization, like tales of adventure before reality steps in to slap us in the face. No matter what we go through, it always starts this way.

It’s with these thoughts that I wait in our house near the wooden wall. It’s easy to spot the moment the Champion’s people enter the city. The atmosphere changes in an instant, and they deploy multiple scans even before entering, detecting any and all powerful signatures, counting people, searching for monsters, checking the number of active arrays and barriers, and more besides.

The speed and thoroughness on display are incredibly impressive. And it’s on that note that just three lumorans enter the city, each one bearing far more crystalline features than any other lumoran I’ve seen since we found ourselves in this outpost, each one has three question marks over their heads. Leaving them somewhere between levels 322 and 449, as I can only see the exact level of people up to 20 levels above me.

One of them seems to take the lead and makes way for the building in the center, with another lumoran following him as a bodyguard as the other one splits off to keep watch while they walk through the city.

They all wear simple clothes, but each one of them has a mark made on the inside of their left forearm. The mark itself seems to be made of a material not unlike their more normal crystalline features, forming a simple circle of white and pale blue surrounding an obvious thumb imprint.

Tess waits outside the house the two lumorans entered, patiently waiting with Lily at her side. She waits for the leader of the outpost to finish his business with the Champion’s technician, as they exchange information and requisitions for materials.

She gets called in soon enough and enters the building. The rest of the group on the other hand snaps to full attention in an instant, but no signal comes.

Just a minute later, Tess sends through the link: (Can you come here? You can teleport.)

I do as I’m told and move through the [Ley Line] connected to Tess. Inside I find her, Lily, and four lumorans, two of whom are newcomers and two who help form the leadership of this outpost. The one I take to be the technician looks at me, and for a moment his eyes pass through the air, tracing the path of the invisible [Ley Line] connecting me to Tess.

He then looks at the Fracture on my waist. “You made that?”

From his tone, it’s obvious he knows the answer.

“Yes, though I had some help,” I confirm.

“Good, we will be taking them. Take care of the necessary documents and share the information with HQ.”

“Understood,” the lumoran leader of the camp nods and bows. “Should I note the destination as the sixth front?”

“No, we’ve had a change of plans, we will be heading to the second front. We’re leaving in 5 minutes, so make your preparations, and we will have a contract ready for you.” He waves me and the others off, causing us to stumble out of the house.

Oh boy.