On the table, the flexible soul gem construct had completed its work.
With a wave, Dave raised up the flexible soul gem construct. It was shaped like the armor. However, its form followed the runic lines of the armor; it didn’t work to cover it like the inflexible armor did. It had connection points that would allow Dave to freely move his limbs while keeping the armor linked all the time. With the first and second generation Abscondita armor, Dave had needed to use bolts and pivots in order to connect the various pieces of armor that he wore.
The flexible soul gem construct was much larger than the armor, encompassing it before shrinking down in size to match perfectly with the runic lines that ran across the body of the armor, connecting to the legs and running down the leg bracers.
Dave paid special attention to the bracers and their multiple rotating bracelets. They carried small runic lines that would allow him much greater control over his armor, only needing him to move a bracelet instead of needing to conjure and destroy runes within his armor.
On the shoulders of his armor, the flexible soul gem spread out behind the armor, like tree roots, creating an overlay for the cloak.
Dave had a tired expression on his face. His body was covered in sweat and grime and his mind was becoming fuzzy.
He made a grabbing motion. The dragon-scale cloth appeared in his hand. Dave’s soul smithing art didn’t just work with the Mithril. He was also able to break the bonds of the dragon-scale cloth. The cloth seemed to burst apart, covering everything in the room.
After some time Dave’s vision cleared as he looked upon his armor.
The cloak fluttered in the air slightly, the cloth pervaded by soul gem runic lines that extended over the shoulders and down the length of the armor to its shoes. Lines ran from the neck to the ankles and down the shoulders to the dragon-scale gloves with Mithril-reinforced knuckles.
The dragon-scale cloth lay as the base; covered by soul gem construct, components integrated with the Mithril armor and soul gem construct were completely hidden.
The flexible soul gem constructs were gray where they created runic lines but at the joints, they were wholly integrated with the dragon-scale cloth, making them one single material.
Dave pulled out the hood that Bob had given him so long ago. It flew from his hand and connected to the back of the armor. Threads of the soul gem construct weaved into the material of the hood, forming runic lines across it.
Dave looked at his armor.
With every piece, among the materials, he had added his own blood and worked it with his Willpower, wholly saturating it with his power.
Dave sat down heavily on a chair, simply staring up at the armor that was suspended in midair, soul gem construct connecting to it.
“I’ll call it Lux,” Dave said, his voice rough as he looked ready to collapse.
He looked at the armor until he fell asleep, ignoring the notifications on the side of his screen.
Chapter 18: To War’s Edge
Deia was sitting in Ice City, playing with Koi as she looked out over the city from her balcony.
Dave had been sequestered in the weapons facilities when she’d first arrived. Jung Lee had told her that he was working on a new set of armor.
Deia had left him to his work and instead spent her time with Koi and the other children of the Dracul family, her family.
Her father, who was also in Ice City, working at the refinery, was also with her.
“So you’ve been having fun here?” Deia fed Koi as her father Mal fed his son, her brother, Desmond. For Elves it wasn’t odd having a brother or sister that was hundreds of years different in age.
“It’s been so much more than I ever thought it would be,” Mal admitted, an excited gleam in his eye as he looked out over the city. “There’s so many brilliant ideas here and I’ve actually increased in strength in leaps and bounds with all that I’ve learned here. Water and his people work with the various mining projects, with the ice asteroids, to the ice planet. They’ve really turned into chemistry savants and have been working with me and the dwarven master smiths to make different compounds that might help us as well as create water and sewage systems that work for the entire city. All of the Dracul family members have been pitching in all over the place. Here they can freely reveal their dragon form and unleash their power. With their strength, we’ve been able to make things that should take years in mere weeks.” Mal let out a laugh, shaking his head in disbelief. That look of excitement only grew stronger.
Deia smiled, seeing that similar look in Dave’s eyes when he was stuck in his work or started talking about it. Seeing that passion that both of them held for their work, Deia could only smile at their clear happiness.
“How goes the training?” Mal turned to Deia. Seeing Desmond was making a mess of his food, Mal sorted that out.
“Training is nearly done.” Deia’s smile turned solemn. “In three days, we will begin our counterattack.”
“So soon?” Mal let out a deep breath as he finished cleaning Desmond up.
“Yeah. I wish we had more time, but at this point they’re as ready as they’re going to be. We’ve worked together to develop tactics and they’re used to the different ways of the flying citadels. Tomorrow we’ll raise the flying citadels and move them to the Xelur’s portal in the Densaou Ring of Fire near Egas Nation,” Deia said.
“Look after yourself.” Mal gave Deia a deep look.
“Don’t worry, Dad. I’ll be okay,” Deia said.
“It’s hard for a father to send his daughter off to war.” Mal looked much older than his outward appearance.
Deia placed her hand on his and squeezed it. “I’ve got Dave and all of Party Zero. We look after one another.”
“I know, but still…” Mal had a sad and forced smile on his face as he looked to Deia.
“I heard that you had some guests,” Deia said, changing the subject.
“Yes, humans who escaped humanity’s destruction and are hiding out somewhere. They have a stealth ship sitting out near the asteroid base, putting out observation platforms to watch over the system. There’s even talk of them establishing an outpost in the system, which might allow us to share ideas and get closer to them,” Mal said, forcing himself out of his dreary thoughts.
“Dave talked about them but I never thought that we might meet them here,” Deia said.
“It seems that everything is coming together at an alarming pace,” Mal agreed. “We’re just rolling with it. Hopefully it all turns out well, but right now we’re just riding a wave of production and innovation. We’ve got more people coming over every day and we’re even going to start reviving people from the Earth simulation in the near future. Air has been around a lot, talking to Bob. She brought a number of people with her who are to ease the players’ transition from the simulation into reality.”
“That is going to be one hell of an undertaking,” Deia said. Koi had finished eating, so Deia put her over her shoulder, to burp her.
“Yeah.” Mal nodded. “They’re going to have millions of people to deal with. Jeeves is working with them to make up an AI that can help with the transition—there’s simply too many people to deal with individually. In the meantime, we’ve got to expand Ice City and all of our facilities in order to accommodate them.”
Deia focused on dealing with Koi as they lapsed into silence.
“All that you’ve been able to do here—even I had no idea of the extent that Dave, Malsour, Bob, and Steve had pushed the boundaries,” Deia said suddenly.
“Your fiancé is an impressive man,” Mal said with approval.
Deia blushed, looking at Koi, who was now closing her eyes, a sleepy and content look on her face.
“That he is,” Deia said quietly, a proud smile on her face.
***
“Oi! You want to keep it down!” Jekoni yelled as he entered the room that Dave was in, snoring his head off.
Dave woke with a snort and looked around blearily as Hat
moved to Jekoni, who floated at the doorway into the room, looking at the armor that Dave had made with wide eyes.
“Hey,” Dave said sleepily, rubbing at the big white circles around his eyes caused by the goggles he’d worn while working. The rest of his face and clothes were covered in a layer of black soot.
“Lux,” Jekoni said, his voice almost reverent as he glided toward the armor that was still suspended in the middle of the room.
Jekoni passed Dave, looking at the armor, his face slack.
Dave groaned at the blinking notifications that were annoying him. He opened the notification panel, waking up as he went through the descending list.
Quest Completed: Dwarven Master Smith Level 9
You must craft 4 Weapons of Power, 30 weapons of SS quality, or 250 of S Quality with your Smithing Art (Currently 4/4, 0/30, 0/250)
Rewards:
Unlock Level 10 Quest
+10 to all stats
900,000 Experience
Class: Dwarven Master Smith
Status:
Level 9
Effects:
Allowed access to all Dwarven Mountains and smithies.
Allowed to take on smithing apprentices.
+90 to all stats
Access to special quests.
Quest: Dwarven Master Smith Level 10
You must craft 5 Weapons of Power , 50 weapons of SS quality, or 500 of S Quality with your Smithing Art (Currently 4/5, 0/30, 0/250)
Rewards:
Unlock Level 11 Quest
Stat Increase
Level 255
You have reached Level 262; you have 35 stat points to use.
Dave opened up his character sheet, placing twenty-five into his Willpower to recover some of that he had used on the armor, placing the remaining ten into his Intelligence stat.
Character Sheet
Name:
David Grahslagg
Gender:
Male
Level:
262
Class:
Dwarven Master Smith, Friend of the Grey God, Bleeder, Librarian, Aleph Engineer, Weapons Master, Champion Slayer, Skill Creator, Mine Manager, Master of Space and Time, Master of Gravitational Anomalies
Race:
Human/Dwarf
Alignment:
Chaotic Good
Unspent points: 0
Health:
52,060
Regen:
25.32 /s
Mana:
16,630
Regen:
62.45 /s
Stamina:
5,770
Regen:
53.15 /s
Vitality:
5206
Endurance:
1,266
Intelligence:
1,663
Willpower:
1,249
Strength:
577
Agility:
1,063
“Nice,” Dave said, a pleased smile on his face. As he looked up at the Lux armor, a prompt appeared in front of him.
Lux Armor
Forged by Dave Grahslagg, this armor that was once hidden is now revealed.
Quality: Weapon of Power
Defense: 32,514+ (Mana Barrier with enough power)
Abilities: Mana Barrier
Mana Shield
Orb control
Control hub for linked devices
Power hub for linked spells/devices
Storage devices
Mana bolt projectors
Heat exchanger
Cold exchanger
Automated Mana Siphon
Automated Soul Siphon
Automated Self-Repair
Automated Self Heal
Increased Agility and Strength (base 15%)
Grows in strength with user
Manipulation possible (Associated values liable to change due to creator’s changes and level of charge)
Teleportation ability (group and individual)
Armor Link (Users can share their power and link capabilities. If one armor is fully charged, then it will feed power to the other to charge it.)
Charge: 3,450,845/10,000,000 (Linked Armor 32,514,383/36,000,000)
Durability 51,574/51,574
Active Skill: Soul Manipulation
Level: Master Level 5
Effect: Tools you make to manipulate souls and their energy is 95% stronger. Able to use soul energy to fuel spells. 30% increase to soul energies reserves (can only be used for spells; does not act as extra Willpower points).
Cost: Dependent on creation.
Active Skill: Soul Smith
Level: Expert Level 9
Effect: 81% less soul energy necessary for crafting with soul smith.
Cost: Dependent on creation.
Active Skill: Builder
Level: Master Level 8
Effect: Speed and efficiency is doubled. Creations material cost is reduced by 40%.
Required: Tools
Active Skill: Smithing
Level: Master Level 8
Effect: 99% improved quality of smithing creation. 40% chance to imbue metal with innate skill. Able to analyze items made of stone, iron, steel, silver, malachite, gold, ebony, and Mithril, aluminum, titanium.
Dave laughed out loud, punching his hand into the air, and nearly dropped from the seat he’d passed out in. A smile split his face as he was filled with a sense of pride and joy in his work.
He was tired, hungry, and he was still regenerating the energy that he had expended on the armor. However, he couldn’t refrain from expressing his excitement. Laughing and whooping loudly, he quickly gathered Jung Lee’s attention, who had been carefully working on different projects within his workshop.
He entered the workshop that Dave had taken over to work on his project. A smile blossomed on his face at Dave’s euphoric look at the armor.
“Jung Lee!” Dave said, sensing Jung Lee at the door.
“It seems that you’ve finished your work,” Jung Lee said, happy for his friend and also astonished by the armor that was held in the air.
Jung Lee didn’t know much about armor, using only simple clothes himself. When he looked upon the armor in the air, there was a powerful aura to it. As if it looked upon the world like some all-powerful god, deeming which people it thought worthy of its time.
“Yes, I finished it last night but I fell asleep,” Dave said.
“Was snoring loud enough to wake up people at the asteroid base,” Jekoni said, finally withdrawing his gaze from the armor.
Dave scratched his head awkwardly. “Thank you for letting Hat help me. He was a great help in completing this.”
Jekoni smiled as Hat stood up straight proudly.
“While you were working on this, I made you something,” Jekoni said. From his hand, a soul gem construct appeared and moved toward Dave. It didn’t hold any light in it but looked like a glass ring with different striations on the inside.
Dave took it into his hand and examined it.
Ring
Created by Arch Mage Jekoni so Dave would stop stealing his Hat.
Quality: Magical Artifact
Abilities:
Increase user’s Intelligence, Endurance, and Willpower by 35%
Legendary ability: Overclock. The user can increase their Intelligence, Willpower, and Endurance by 55% for ten minutes; can be used once per day and will most likely lead to user collapsing from mental fatigue.
He let out a cool breath as he looked at the ring. “Jekoni, there was no need to do this.”
“You’re a man with a lot on your shoulders and you constantly give to others. I thought it was about time that someone gave something back to you.” Jekoni smiled.
“Well, thank you.” Dave took off a ring on his hand and then put on the glass one. It turned black as night but those striations turned white, making them an eye-catching piece.
Dave closed his eyes, feeling as if the world—no, the universe—was within h
is grasp.
He opened his eyes. The feeling of power that had come with wearing Jekoni’s hat came back in a portion. It wasn’t as strong of an effect as Hat had been, but with Dave’s base stats, he had entered a whole new realm of power.
“We have three days before the assault on the Xelur castles at the Densaou Ring begins,” Jung Lee said.
Dave took a deep breath and frowned slightly. He’d lost four full days to creating this armor.
“Deia has come to Ice City and the forces on the flying citadels are stocking supplies and readying themselves for the move. Tomorrow they will begin their advance toward the portal,” Jung Lee continued.
“Well then, I’d best take a shower.” Dave held out his hand. The soul gem construct around the armor released and retracted as the armor moved toward Dave. He was already connected to the armor and added it to his hot bar. The armor disappeared into his bag of holding, ready to be worn if he changed his outfit.
“See you in a bit.” Dave teleported from the weapons facility to his apartment. It was impossible to teleport into the weapons facility but Dave could use the coding to allow him to leave.
He quickly showered and cleaned up before equipping the new armor. Power surged through Dave to new levels. It was intoxicating.
Even without calling on his Mana, the runic lines he’d made inside his body glowed. His eyes glowed gray while gray vapor wafted out from his eyes and the runic lines.
As the lines appeared, he felt even more strength flood his body.
He looked up at the mirror. His face was obscured by the hood. The runic lines on his face and his gray eyes were visible. They lined up perfectly with the runic lines of his armor and hood.
His white Mithril armor plates gave off an aura of strength, the runic lines a sense of power, and the Mithril a noble aura.
Of Myths and Legends (Emerilia Book 9) Page 33