Wearing Power Armor to a Magic School (133/?) WiP 1

Author’s Note: Hey everyone! Here is the Work in Progress for Chapter 133 I hope you guys enjoy! :D

The canvas cloth was ripped off with a theatrical flourish—

FWOOOSH!

—and a bombastic announcement. 

“BEHOLD!” Sorecar announced with a clangy resonant glee, both of his hands gesturing excitedly at a motorcycle frame that floated proudly, confidently, and most of all — radiantly — above an alabaster pillar.

It looked… unreal — like something out of a VR sim. A legendary end-game item bobbing up and down in mid air, rotating slowly, ominously, as if it was ready to be inexplicably added to my inventory just by walking into it. 

I half expected a little item unlocked chime to ring at any moment.

Dah-na-na-NAAAAAHH!

…

Which it did.

It took me a second to really come back down from the sheer shock factor that came with Sorecar’s bombastic showmanship, as the mana radiation signatures now peaked to a variable baseline of at least 300 percent at any given moment.

The source of this localized mana radiation burst was painfully obvious. 

But I found it difficult to be offended, let alone mad at Sorecar for his handiwork. 

This… was quite literally the legacy of the V4c after all — destined to be modded and upgraded in ways that its original Martian manufacturers could’ve never imagined.

What appeared before me was simply the next stage in its evolution. As the motorcycle now transcended not just its original spec-sheets or manufacturer guidelines, but conventional physics itself. 

It was literally glowing and bleeding mana for crying out loud…

But I knew that was only the tip of the iceberg when it came to Sorecar’s modifications, at least, as far as I could see.

The first thing to really hit me was what I could only describe as its racing stripes — long horizontal lines that started large and bold before tapering off sharply into sharp triangular points at the very end of the bodywork where the radiators would go. 

These stripes, while shocking at first… slowly grew on me. Consisting of pure UN-white, set against the more modern and conventional GUN deep-blue. However, what really made it pop — and what was most certainly not UN-reg — was its bold and gutsy red outlines; what were essentially thin, quarter-inch thick lines of ruby red paint that ran around the very outer ‘edges’ of the frame. 

This gave the whole thing a more… racing-kit sorta vibe, adding to an aura that was far removed from the neutral and inoffensive blues and whites of its original color scheme.

Though to be fair… it did—

“The color palate matches your armor, Emma.” Thalmin commented, breaking the silence as Sorecar let out an excited squeal of joy.

“I’m so glad you noticed, Prince Havenbrock!” He exclaimed with a triumphant jump.

“It really does…” I finally chimed in, my eyes quickly honing in on the next major modification — what could only be described as a metallic-wax seal set atop of a thick piece of parchment beneath it. 

Or more accurately… the approximately twenty or so medieval-esque seals complete with parchments and inscriptions that now adorned every flat surface of the bodywork. 

The EVI quickly went into overdrive trying to translate each one, while my own mind raced trying to just process the number of pages that’d take up my localized modification itemized list report.

However, that wasn’t even the end of it. Or rather, that wasn’t at all the most impressive part of the heavily modified frame

Indeed, you’d be remiss if I didn’t address the single most Nexian thing about this. 

The—

“AH! I see you’ve noticed the fruits of my artistically-inclined side!” Sorecar beamed out, his armor once again rattling from the inside out, as he placed himself behind me, before excitedly pointing at the object of my newfound fixation.

The GUN emblem.

Or rather, the most overly-detailed, heavily-aggrandized, medieval-fantasy rendition of the GUN emblem.

It was… by all measures, one of the most glorious takes I’ve seen of it yet.

Because while the original GUN flag had already veered dangerously away from the ‘ideal’ vexillological standards… Sorecar’s take on it outright spat, stomped, and then kicked those rules right out of the local cluster.

The Earth-Luna combo that sat at the heart of the emblem had been replaced by a raised, embossed, hyper-colorful artistic rendition of Earth’s surface — colored in by someone who had never once seen Earth or had any frame of reference for it. And while Earth turned out surprisingly well — consisting of vibrant greens, deep yellows, and a smattering of reds, browns, and even splotches of purple here and there — Luna had taken a complete 180 on its typical depictions.

Whereas the grand and influential moon was always depicted as this stark, no-nonsense, all-business white and grey in most conventional media… Sorecar had simply gone wild with his interpretation of this small yet influential celestial body.

Because for all intents and purposes… he’d simply depicted it as this bright, glowing, sun. 

A sun with undulating colors that acted almost like a headlamp for the motorcycle itself. 

… despite there already being a hole where the headlights would later go into.

It was… absolutely insane.

In all the best ways possible.

Moreover, I was utterly fascinated by the man’s interpretations of the emblem just by visual sight of it alone, with no context, no references, or anything.

The cultural exchange potential, and the sheer artistic weight behind this quite seriously shook me.

Which was why when Sorecar started elbowing me insistently, egging me on for a response, I had but one thing to say.

“This is beautiful.” I spoke in no uncertain terms, complete with an air of breathlessness and genuine shock.

“Y-you really think so?” Sorecar responded nervously, having only watched me silently analyze every square inch of the frame for what was probably a solid ten minutes now.

“Yeah! Honestly, this… this really goes above and beyond.” I offered, though my tone of voice very clearly gave away the ‘but’ that was soon to follow. 

“Though I assume you wish to know exactly what liberties I’ve taken, correct?” Sorecar offered, prompting me to reply with a single nod.

“Yup. So… the emblem I get. In fact, it’s honestly the part I most enjoy out of all of this.” I turned to Sorecar proper, making sure to make ‘eye contact’ with the professor… as much as that was possible, given the obvious limitations. “Your artistic skills are objectively impressive, Sorecar.” 

This preamble caused the professor to rattle in place, slow at first, before ramping up in speed, eventually ending up in a series of rapid-fire tip-toe stomps. “I am flattered, Emma! Thank you! I will be honest, the emblem ended up taking me as much time as the enchantments themselves!” 

“Er, on that note! Maybe we should jump through that particular rabbit hole.” I offered, garnering a nod from Sorecar as he excitedly ushered us closer towards the floating frame.

“So… let’s start off with the elephant in the room here.” I paused, before pointing bluntly towards one of the wax-paper seals. “What are those?”

“Yeah, what are those?” Thalmin chimed in too, clearly hinting at the fact that this wasn’t your typical run of the mill enchantment.