“Master, leave Pochi to Tama and me,” Liza said, seeing me about to call a halt to the testing.
She was using a bladeless Holy Sword to practice with, so I took Liza at her word.
“How far’d we get?”
“We’re done with the guard gear tests. I appreciate the charm of them, but I’d rather have exoarmor that boosts forbidden spells or the like.”
“Mm, one-shot kills.”
“So, uh, a power boost from external magic?”
“Yeah, that could be good.”
I scribbled down some notes.
“I’d like different staves for forbidden spells and long-range barrages.”
“Is the emerald branch one lacking?”
“I want it a bit longer.”
“Mm, Mana Vortex.”
“When you cast a forbidden spell, the magic swirls, and to avoid backlash from it, you need to place the focus away from yourself.”
Aha, that made sense.
“Got it. A long staff would be heavy and unwieldy, so I’ll think of something.”
“A system like the floating shields?”
“I feel like that would just up the backlash.”
“Ah…you’ve gotta take that into account with length, yeah.”
“Tripod.”
Mia put three sticks together, and then posed with her staff on top.
“Simple is best?”
“Yeah, even one leg might be enough to support it, so make both and we’ll see what’s easier.”
I had a lot of crystal branches from the World Tree I’d collected during the jellyfish incident, so I could easily make something a mile long if I wanted. But that was excessive; three to five yards was probably the upper limit.
“Also…anything that would help with mana recovery. I’d also love to collect the excess mana lost when casting advanced or forbidden attack spells.”
“Excess?”
“Yeah, like the white devil.”
To help me grasp the concept, Arisa referenced an anime—since this was magic-related, probably the Administration Bureau, not the Federation.
I assumed she meant absorbing the excess mana for use on her next attack.
“I get what you want to do, but is there that much excess?”
“Wanna try?”
She pointed at the sky.
I had plenty of magic, so I tried firing Inferno upward.
I watched closely with “Magic Vision.”
“—Yeah, there’s a pretty sizable swirl.”
I did a Mana Transfer to Arisa so I’d have space in my MP bar, then reached for that swirling magic.
Seemed doable.
It was pretty instinctive, but I tried gathering the magic the way I absorb it from items, and it worked.
“Damn, really?”
“Unfair.”
They both looked pretty dumbfounded.
If you can absorb from items, why wouldn’t you be able to absorb high-density magic from the air?
“Well, I’ve got the principle down, so now I’ve just gotta make something that can automate it.”
“Please.”
“Mm, anticipate.”
I’d just have to run through a list of parts from monsters that absorb magic.
Might be good not just for the mages but for Nana’s “Magical Slash” weapons. Cut through a spell, then absorb all that magic—pretty nifty.
“Pochi would like a katana for ‘Quick Draw,’ sir!”
“Pochi, luxury is the enemy.”
“Even though you’ve got lots of spears, sir?”
Pochi had Liza dead to rights, so she coughed awkwardly. “Separate strokes,” she said, feebly.
“It’s fine, Liza. The katana I gave you on Blacksmoke Island not doing the trick?”
When she’d been training with the samurai general, I’d given her a short katana, the size of a wakizashi—because her previous katana had been too long to use with “Quick Draw” techniques.
“I want an amazing katana that can be combat prune, sir!”
“…Prune?”
“Combat proven?” Arisa suggested.
“Yes! That, sir!” Pochi nodded sagely. “I wanted to say that, sir!”
“What kind of katana are you thinking of?”
“One that can slice through anything and grow longer when I fight big foes, sir!”
So like the Holy and Magic Swords I’d made specifically for Pochi.
That was easy enough. The shape of the weapons was different, so I’d have to make adjustments, but I could get it done by end of day.
I checked with Tama, and she asked for ninja blades on the same level as her main dual daggers.
“Master, I believe that is all the evaluations, I report.”
“There’s one more—possibly the main one.”
I took out dismantled gold and silver armor and a new inner lining.
“With only one lining—it works for both sets?”
“Yeah. Nana, help test it.”
“Yes, Master.”
She started stripping, so I quickly turned my back.
“It’s a jumpsuit now? A leotard running from ankles to the throat—kinda futuristic.”
Nana finished putting it on, so I turned back.
It sure showed off her curves—kinda sexy.
“But the fabric’s rather thick for a leotard.”
“Well, it is an armor liner.”
There was a bunch of stuff built into it—life-sustaining circuits, magic circles to keep them comfortable, et cetera. As time-consuming as the silver armor, and far more expensive.
“This golden armor comes apart differently—looks weaker to impacts.”
“I’ve taken care of that weakness.”
Applying the connective tech from the Bandage orichalcum we’d found in the ruins should eliminate weaknesses in the joints.
Even if it didn’t, it was only a 10 percent reduction, which the new liners could compensate for, but I didn’t want to sacrifice the safety of my comrades by any percent.
“How is it different from the current model?” Arisa asked.
I flashed a grin.
“Nana, hold your hands out to the sides, and say, ‘Golden armor, release!’”
“You didn’t!”
“Yes, Master. Golden armor, release.”
Arisa swung toward it with a gasp, while Nana’s golden armor automatically dismantled, stowing itself away in the subspace built into the liner.
Cool, stage one success.
Steadying my racing pulls, I told her the next command.
“Next, hold your arms out to the sides again, and say, ‘Golden armor, equip!’”
“Yes, Master. Golden armor, equip.”
The armor popped out of the liner, floating through the air and putting itself on Nana.
I had her hold her arms out so they wouldn’t get in the way of the armor’s process. It was easier to program with a standardized pose. If I put marks on the liner itself, I could maybe improve that.
“Master, that’s the best thing ever.”
“Do go on, Arisa.”
We exchanged high fives and checked with Nana.
“Anything feel wrong or uncomfortable?”
“Everything is in order, I report.”
This equip/release system made use of the research results the professors at the Echigoya Company had achieved. The goal was to let them swap between armor sets or shorten the time to don the armor in emergencies.
I planned to send this data back to them in the hopes of improving it further.
“Any way to transform while striking a pose?” Arisa asked, a bit too eager.
“We can change the default pose, but it doesn’t work while you’re moving. And it does require enough space for the pieces to go on.”
Once I fully grasped the principles of the Bandage orichalcum, maybe we could equip it on the run, or eliminate the liner in favor of bracelets or belts. That would require further research, so it was probably a year off at best.
I had Nana test swapping to the silver armor, and all checks went smoothly.
The sets we’d used today were mock armor without the remaining magic circuits installed, so I planned to do a few more improvements before getting Arisa and Mia to help me add those circuits.
✦ ✦ ✦
