Chapter 494: Toys and Theatrics (1/2)
Ilea finally did it.
Her mana didn’t just cause heat anymore, the flow neither dissipating nor entirely eaten up.
She could see it with her magic perception, could feel it with her body as the armor shifted. The groaning sounds of steel bent to her will, animated by magic beyond her understanding.
It took long, minute changes happening as she kept the flow intact, her mana cycling through the metal as if it was just an extension to her body.
The massive thing shrunk by about ten centimeters in the next five hours, the arms and legs thinning out a tiny bit as more visible joints etched themselves into the hunk of steel.
Steel mufflers grew out of the back, just behind her shoulders. Openings through the steel allowed for sixteen ashen limbs to reach through and extend out of the armor, two additional slits appearing for her wings.
No eyes formed in the two and a half meter machine but she saw well enough with her sphere. Features sharpened as the steel slowly settled, the boring hunk taking on the crude form of heavy full plate armor.
Ilea no longer felt like she was sitting in a steel trap but a tank instead.
One she could control.
Her hand grasped the handle that had formed in front of it, the arm’s length extending by a meter beyond the ash covering her fingers.
Magic surged and steel moved.
Ilea laughed within her finally activated toy as she took her first step.
She aimed for the closest wall of the training hall and took another step. Already the movement had been easier, more steady.
[Armaments of Lilith – Ancient Living Quality]
Living? she thought while laughing. “Hello!”
The armor didn’t reply, her whole strength necessary to take each step, her mana regeneration down to a trickle at the constant expense to power the thing.
Ilea spread her wings, pushing with all she had to lift herself.
She sped up suddenly, her legs slowly dangling until she landed, her head slamming into the stone wall with a loud crash.
Her arms moved slowly, pushing against the stone she was stuck in. Black wings, small in relation to her form flapped to get her out.
Steam rose from the exhausts when she finally broke free, chunks of stone falling to the ground as she stumbled backwards, as if in slow motion.
Ilea blinked, appearing outside the armor she now watched crashing to the ground.
“Fuck!” she exclaimed and blinked back inside.
She tried Displacement instead, using it both on herself and the armor.
She appeared where she wanted to but the armor itself didn’t even budge.
“Work in progress,” she murmured. But fuck, I love you Goliath.
Ilea appeared inside the armor again and tried to roll over, using both her ashen limbs, her body and the armor itself to try and get there.
Stuck like a turtle, she gave up and instead charged her wings.
The sudden activation pushed her up and away from the ground, coming to a stop a few meters up. Oh no.
She tried turning in the air, finding the maneuver possible but slow.
Ilea came crashing down, rolling over to find herself on her stomach. Or the armor’s stomach.
After five minutes, she finally managed to stand up, slowly brushing herself off from the rocks and debris clinging to the steel.
Living…, she thought, finding her perception of the steel much more detailed than anything she had worn before. The dent she recognized wasn’t only visible thanks to her sphere.
Sentinel Reconstruction activated and she watched in amazement as the damage was repaired.
Holy shit!
She jumped up, rejoicing at the revelation and jumping up, only to find herself lifting up by five centimeters, landing with a loud noise as the weight came crashing down onto the solid ground.
Okay I need to work on this more.
Ilea slowly stepped towards the wall, pulling her arm back before she punched with all she had.
None of her skills could sadly be channeled through the thing but the fist and weight alone dug into the stone as if it was sand. Chunks and pulverized debris fell when she ripped the arm out once more.
I need a bigger hammer, she thought, summoning the thing into her armor’s hands. That worked at least.
The mana expenditure rose whenever she moved, the heavy hammer demanding additional resources in itself.
“What in the name of…,” Trian exclaimed as he joined her for their scheduled training. “You can move it!?”
Ilea turned and waved, her hammer in her armored hand.
The man laughed as he walked closer. “Tell me you can use your skills.”
“Not everything,” Ilea replied, realizing a moment later that her voice didn’t reach him at all.
She blinked on top of the thing instead, watching it power down without a supply of mana.
‘ding’ ‘You have activated the Armaments of Trials bestowed to you – One Core skill point awarded’
Hah!
“Not all skills… I can heal it Trian!” she said, tapping the steel with her knuckles. The noise was dull.
“How heavy is that thing anyway?” he asked, trying to move one of the arms, failing comically.
“I don’t think you can move it without mana. I don’t think I could bend it while being inside. Not with strength alone,” she said and jumped off.
“My ash can get through the back but my armor only covers my body,” she said.
“You could just layer it with ash and keep that up, wouldn’t that work?” he asked.
“Kind of. Not as powerful as my actual skill though and the concentration would require me to give up a few arms. Not really a good trade off I think, with how limited my attacks are,” she said and appeared back inside.
“What about your fire spell?” Trian asked.
His voice sounded subdued now too. She just hadn’t noticed beforehand.
She motioned him to get back and activated Heart of Cinder, the spell somehow absorbed by the armor. Hmm.
Ilea found the mana cost reduced for a little while after but with her reserves, it didn’t really matter.
Instead of just using the spell, she instead sent it through her ashen limbs, the beam of energy slamming into the nearby ground without trouble.
“Nice!” Trian said and clapped.
Ilea had to try.
She charged her wings while her ashen limbs moved in front of her, joined by more ash that quickly formed a drill. The thing started rotating when she sped forward.
“Are you alright!?” Trian shouted from outside the hole.
Ilea hit her head again, unable to rip out her arms or legs. “I’m fine,” she said. “Just stuck.”
Instead of trying any longer, she simply stored the armor.
Or she tried.
The mana and heat still cycling through the machine flowed out through the exhausts, a part of it back to Ilea herself. When the last of it was gone, the steel cooled down slowly and suddenly vanished.
“Hmm,” she exclaimed and blinked out of the rather sizable tunnel she had managed to dig.
“I don’t want to stand against that,” Trian murmured as he turned to look at her.
Ilea summoned it again and blinked inside. Her mana flowed into it without trouble, as did the heat of Heart of Cinder. Still, it took quite some time for the armor to be charged up, ready to be controlled.
I bet it can get even better… I’ll have to use this whenever possible, she thought and powered it down again.
“Don’t worry about it, that thing is slow as fuck,” Ilea said.
“More durable than you?” he asked.
She huffed. “It took a dent from falling down. More from that stunt before,” she said and pointed to the tunnel. “But it’s heavy… and I can repair it with healing. Not sure against what it would be more useful than my normal style of fighting but it’s fucking cool nonetheless,” she said and giggled. Intimidation purposes perhaps? Probably just for fun right now.
Was he inspired by Terok? she wondered with a grin. I did learn a lot about my perception abilities from that training… is that the reward? Or is there more still to come. Damn smith.
The gates to the training hall opened, Aki joining them with his new body.
“I felt a disturbance… what? Was that a spell of yours?” his voice traveled easily, the spear in his hand held casually.