Magic and mana are what define power in this universe. High enough concentrations of mana could allow you to deflect bullets with your hands if you so desired. Even so, why do so without gloves?

Which is why I’m so interested in the idea of armour. That, and my mana isn’t nearly to the point where I can shrug off bullets, fireballs, or even punches. I’m still weak, and I’m hoping this armour can be a crutch in the same way that my pistol is.

Yet, what lies on the ground before me, so carefully laid out in parts, is nothing as I’d expected. Which is quite something to say considering I ordered this product half convinced that I’d be getting something akin to an armoured bra.

Heavy metal plates, each at least an inch and a half thick, are bound with countless straps to the supple black leather suit. The metal is polished to a shine but still retains the mottled colour of old rust. An alien metal, I hope. I’m not particularly keen to get Tetanus from my own armour.

Multiple thick plates of rust are bound together by countless leather straps to form a knee-length skirt. The thick leather straps seem much too little, but I suppose when magic is involved physics aren’t as easy to understand.

There are similarly large metal plates on each shoulder, sharpened to a point at the top about a handsbreadth taller than my shoulders. The shoulder plates extend down to just a little shy of where my elbow would be, and the forearms of the suit are made of nothing more than thin leather like most of the rest of the suit.

A thick breastplate covers noticeably more than a bra would, so… there’s that, I guess. Even laid out on the ground I can see that it’s low enough that it doesn’t fully cover my chest, which in my mind already makes it a failure to its namesake. The black leather of the suit still covers all of me under the neck, so it’ll still be the least revealing of the clothes that I have.

Through my mana sight, I can make out the wide, glowing enchantments attaching the metal plates to the leather straps and armour. The flow between them is rather thick with mana, but it’s still not quite as mana dense as I am at the moment.

Yet for all of this, the strangest part of the ‘armour’ is the black veil placed at the top, which I suppose is meant to be worn in place of a helmet. It’s covered in a network of enchantments, that connect to the rest of the suit, but I still can’t figure out how it’s supposed to protect me.

“What… is this?” I ask Sele, the man largely responsible for this… strange suit of armour. The metal plating is thick enough to compare to tank armour, but the leather is thin enough that it can’t even be called armour.

“It’s a shame is what it is.” Sele says. “The cloth armour beneath was supposed to better accentuate your physical beauty, instead… Instead, it’s just this.”

“What were you wanting, lace?” I ask.

“You see it too! Instead of leather it was meant to be made from the same cloth as the veil.” He says, “See Ria, it wasn’t a stupid idea. This, this is hideous!”

It actually starts making a little more sense in a twisted way when I imagine that the leather was meant to be something more along the lines of lingerie. From a theoretical perspective I could even appreciate the strange sexiness of such a thing, but… what happened to my armour?

“How… what if I get hit in the leather armour? Or the head? What’s the point of such thick metal plates if the attack lands somewhere else?”

“Oh, that.” Sele says happily, “That was something I designed with Ria and Wally. Don’t think of the metal plates as armour so much as mana batteries.”

“The enchantment on the leather is designed to draw on the mana flow from the mana batteries to fuel the magical enchantments. All we had time for was to emulate reactive mana skin over the top of the leather and the veil, but with enough mana backing it, it should be able to resist considerable damage.”

“Huh,” I glance over the strange armour again. The thin black leather would cover from my neck to my toes, and if it activates reactive mana skin upon getting struck it could actually be rather effective.

“Why metal plates?” Nel asks, “Wouldn’t leather or bone work just as well without being as heavy?”

“It’s part of our mana battery experiments.” Ria says, “Unfortunately, some aspects of the experiment have already failed, so you are right. If we’d been successful, the metal plates might have been able to imitate a larger space within them, allowing for easy storage of lower density mana. There’s a few advantages to such a mana storage, but it seems we failed there.

“We’re also still working on making the mana batteries connect to the wearer, so that it functions little differently from your own mana, but… well we’re hoping for your help with that.” She says, “I hope you’ll be able to try a few things with it, and maybe give us some feedback we can work with.”

“I still don’t understand how you’ve gotten everything done in this short of a time.” I ask, tying to wrap my head around everything my crafters have been doing this whole time.

“We’re still exploring possibilities. Please don’t overestimate our progress.” She says, her singing voice finding a new cadence, this time much more proud, “This is still very much a prototype, but depending on the results of this test, we’ll look into further developments.”

“Well, even prototype armour is better than street clothes.” I say, “That is, if I can even wear it. Isn’t this going to be a little heavy? And unbalanced?”

“You should be able to use it if you focus your mana form into musculature,” Ria says, “If not, then I suppose we’ll have to take that into consideration for the next build.”

“This is the only armour you’ve been able to make?” I ask, anticipating as much already.

“Yes,” Sele says, “This isn’t even finished yet, especially not with that leather. No after you’ve tested it you should bring it back for us to continue our work on it. Also, get us someone who can work with cloth.”

“If you hadn’t just been handing me endless gifts, I’d call you demanding.” I say with a sigh, “I’ll see about it. Nel what do you think of the clothes store upstairs? She seems to have some free time.”

“I’ll leave it to you.” She replies, “Though in case it doesn’t work out, I’ll ask around about others that we might recruit. Of course, all of this has to be dealt with after we’re finished with our mission.”

“That’s true,” I say, circling the armour. “So, can I take it out for our hunt?”

“I hate to see my work out there unfinished…” Sele grumbles again.

“We need feedback to develop it further.” Ria says, “Please do put it to use, but be careful with it. I wouldn’t suggest that you intentionally try to get yourself hurt to test it.”

“I wouldn’t even if you told me to.” I say, “Also, do you two need anything? I’m really glad that you’ve been making things like this for me, but to be honest it’s not as if I’ve done anything to deserve it yet.”

“You’ve given us a place to work and resources to work with.” Ria says, “That’s more than enough. Also, it’s not as if we’re getting nothing from this. Much of what I’m working on with this armour can be translated into my personal projects, so I’m satisfied with things how they are.”

“You allow me to work on my craft freely,” Sele says, “So long as you don’t change your mind about that, we’ll be fine. Though, I still do want you to lend me your reinforcement magics later, when things are less busy.”

“I still haven’t had a chance to train it properly, but I’ll see what I can do when I have the chance.” I say, “Nel, make sure I don’t forget, please.”

“Of course.” Nel replies with a smile, as she notes something down on her Chip.

“Now, how do I put this on?” I ask, looking over the complicated mess of straps and buckles that become apparent the moment I peer under the metal plates. To hold up chunks of metal as large as what I see here, there’s some pretty serious harnessing on the inside of the armour.

“It’s easy, you’ve just got to put this on first, then this here. Buckle this, then this strap over this one.” He leads me through the process as the others watch on just as closely.

After the explanation, he and Ria retreated to a side room to offer me a little privacy, apparently I can’t wear clothes underneath. I’m not entirely concerned about Ria seeing me changing, but that lizard is too hotblooded for my liking.

“Ah, Nel…” I turn to her the moment the lizardman is gone.

“Yes, I was paying attention. I’ll help you dress.” she says, quickly urging me to strip. She remembers perfectly the long process just described while I try just to keep my arms out of the way. Eshya has to assist in lifting the mana batteries into place, so that Nel can work on the straps and buckles. It takes only a few minutes until I’m comfortably armoured up.

The first thing that I notice is, of course, the overbearing weight of the armour. It’s well beyond the point of inconvenience, and I can only stand with both Eshya and Nel helping to haul me to my feet. Even following Ria’s advice and pushing mana into my muscles and bones to their very limits, I still can’t stand steady.

That aside plates are positioned in surprisingly well-balanced places around my body, and the heavy pauldrons don’t pull at my shoulder too violently. My joints are uninhibited, and I can still move my arms around freely for the most part, though the weight certainly makes it challenging.

“I’m not sure this is going to work.” I say, leaning against the wall and catching my breath. Even stumbling while wearing this is enough to wear me out.

The mana density isn’t even nearly as high as it could be either.

Ria and Sele return and look over me curiously.

“It’s too heavy?” Ria asks, “Hmm, I suppose it mightn’t be usable, but at least could you try doing something for me? I’d like you to press your mana into the metal plates, could you try doing that?”

“Ah, sure.” I say, moaning under the burden of the heavy armour, “How is it that my shiny new set of armour turned out to be nothing more than a piece of equipment to be tested?”

The plating of the amour has been designed such that the inside of the metal plates are pressed flush against my skin so it’s not much trouble to push my mana into them. It’s likely been forged like this just for this purpose now that I think about it.

“You know, maybe it’s for the best that this doesn’t quite work.” I say, slowly pushing little bits of mana into the metal. “Strength should be a thing earned for myself, not something gained by getting gifted powerful tools all the time.”

Of course, even I know I’m saying this just to try and make myself feel better about the failure.

“How does it feel now?” Asks Ria. “With your mana inside the mana batteries how does the armour feel?”

I shift around, slowly moving through the same stretches that I went through before.

“The same.” I grunt, leaning exhausted back against the wall again.

“Then… is it possible for you to fully exchange the mana in the armour with yours?” She asks, “It’s been designed to try and make it easier to draw mana from the metal, though the mana will still cause conversion stress. As I understand that’s not an issue for you?”

“Sure, sure. What’s the goal with this?” I ask, pulling the mana out of the armour and replacing it with the mana that’s already been made mine. Ria watches closely, likely observing with her proper mana senses, the sort that I can’t afford right now as I try to force my strength to develop faster.

“Have you noticed that no matter how concentrated mana is within your own body it doesn’t cause stress on the rest of you?” She asks, “For instance when you compress your mana into your mind, shouldn’t it cause mana friction with your skull, and neck?

“It’s difficult to fully explain why it is that this happens, the erratic splitposition of mana is… I don’t fully comprehend myself, and I’ve been trying to study it. It’s fundamental to enchantments, and I’ve also found some interesting ways to incorporate it into my music. I may not fully understand the physics behind it, I do however use this effect quite often.

“There is such a thing as equipment that is able to be treated as part of a person’s body. Usually the creation of such things is quite tedious, but your ability to rapidly convert mana and the fact that most of your mana can be considered as non-essential changes things.”

“You’re hoping that I can make the armour act as if it’s part of my own body?” I ask, still pushing my mana into the armour, thankfully there’s only a little loss in the rotation of mana between me and the armour plating.

“Precisely,” She sings, her excited voice coming out in a clear tune as she watches the progress.

There’s still plenty of mana inside the armour plating, but I’m already rotating it as fast as is comfortable. Now it’s no longer just Ria staring at the me, as everyone turns to look at the armour, apparently intrigued by her explanation of what it’s meant to become.

Personally, I can’t see any of what’s going on inside, thanks to how I’m currently stretching my limited mana form.

“Is it succeeding?” Nel asks.

“Perhaps, we can’t be sure until the full rotation has been completed.” Ria sings, but it’s clear that she has some excitement at the idea.

“I think that’s all of it.” I say, feeling no foreign mana in the armour plating, or the leather connected to it via enchantments.

“Try moving around again.” She suggests.

With a tired sigh, I give it another try.

Starting with slow stretches, I gradually work myself harder as I feel more able than I was a second ago. It’s not as if the weight has suddenly disappeared, but rather, it’s like it’s stopped working against me.

I move onto a slow jog, while still recovering from my previous exercises, and find that although a little awkward I am able to manage it. In fact, it’s only a little more difficult than running around normally, and most of that is from the change in my centre of mass.

The weight of the armour is still unchanged, and I can feel my feet hitting the ground harder. The biggest difference however is in momentum. It takes a little bit more effort to start moving, and much more effort to stop.

“What is this magic?” I ask taking the offered glass of water from Vii. “How am I so light?”

Ria starts singing something in short sharp words as she struggles to find a way to explain it.

“Most perceived weight comes from mana density, right?” She asks, “If you were to lift a stone that has barely any mana it would almost feel too easy to move, but do the same with an incredibly mana dense stone and you’ll struggle to lift it, even if they share the same mass.

“Your body is now much more mana dense than it was, yet it is no more difficult to move, no?” She says, “This is a method of extending that to something else. In this case your armour. It should only feel equal to lifting the armour as if it held no mana in it.”

“Huh, does that mean that when I eventually head back to Earth I’ll be able to bench press a fire truck?” I ask, smiling at the very thought of it.

“I… don’t really know enough about Earth to say.” Ria says, her attention focused instead on my armour, “Could you further test this armour for us, or is it still too burdensome for combat?”

“Oh, you’re not getting this off of me.” I say, stepping back and clutching at my breastplate. I may have had my doubts earlier but there’s no rules against cheating your way to power. So I’m going to take this armour and my pistol and blast through anything that dares stand in my way.

“We’ll need it back after you’re done with it.” She says with an amused tune.

“Don’t worry, I know a few tricks that could get it off.” Eshya says, running a hand along the leather on my back. Her touch feels strangely close considering what the armour is supposed to be capable of blocking.

“It doesn’t block touch?” I ask.

“No, there’s a force limiter on it. The reactive shielding will only activate after a certain force threshold is overcome.” She explains.

I nod to her response while looking through my menus to see if there’s anything else I missed. One particular number catches my eye, and I almost choke seeing it so low.

“Ah, my mana’s taken a hit.” I say, sharing the changed figures, which are down to half of what it was before.

“That’s expected.” Ria says though her interest is still peaked, “I’m guessing you’re looking at your mana density rather than the absolute value?”

“I guess?” I say, nodding slowly.

“If the armour is being treated as part of your body, then there’s more mass to fill out, and thus theoretically less density. Though, if your mana has dipped this noticeably, then it’s possible that the mana batteries are functioning as originally intended. I’d thought that test had failed…

“Did something about making it a part of you change the composition somehow?” She ponders thoughtfully, she stiffens a moment before sighing and heading over towards the door into the deeper ruins.

“What is it?”

“Someone has come back.” She replies, stepping over to the door and opening it with her key.

“I come with gifts, and bug guts, which can be a gift if you really want them.” Leai says, stumbling through the door dragging the split remains of some beast that’s been terribly beaten and dismembered.

“I’ll take that.” I say, rushing over and shoving my hands into the still warm corpse. I draw the mana out of the flesh as fast as I’m able to consume it, ignoring the blood and viscera that I’m rubbing my hands all over.

“Woah! Well, so long as you like it.” Leai says, hopping excitedly as she shows off the rest of her haul. “I got the things. The slippery silver. Can you swap out my support device now?!”

“Nel, get the knockout potion.” I say, looking over the silvery globs worriedly, “And Leai, where did you get them?”

“Oh, they’re all over. Students come down here to die a whole bunch and the things that eat them usually aren’t able to digest the silver, so here they are.”

“Well, so long as you didn’t just run around killing people for them, I guess.” I say, feeling the mana slowly soaking in, “Yeah that hits the spot.”

“Is this her kink?” Leai says, glancing over at me, “I mean it’s not a deal breaker, but…”

“She’s ours,” Eshya says, her eyes shining as she looks over at me, “Without us accepting it, intimacy is off limits.”

“Oh?” Leai’s eyes sparkle that much brighter, “That sounds like so much fun!”

I try to pretend I don’t hear a thing as I continue to fondle the cooling guts of the massive bug she brought back to us.

“When do we get to cutting out our collars?” Leai asks excitedly.

“What’s all this about removing collars?” Ria asks.

“Nel can you go fetch Wally? It’s probably best to get all the crafters reequipped while we’re doing this.” I say, letting out a tired sigh, as I stare down into the greenish, mana-dense sludge.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Skills & Stats

~Mana Form:

Current mana density: 402 units

~Mana distribution:

Catagory Current Max. Skin 0% 28% Muscle 13% 13% Mind 0% 65% Cardiovascular 0% 11% Misc. 0% 10% Efficiency 13% 79%

~Favourited Skills:

-Chip Shredder

-Multi-mind

-Tag

-Mana surge movement

-Mana surge punch

-Reactive mana skin

-Infused delayed Casting

-Fire burst punch