Wearing Power Armor to a Magic School (125/?) WiP 1

Author’s Note 1: Hey everyone! Here is the Work in Progress for Chapter 125 I hope you guys enjoy! :D Also I really hope I'm doing Sorecar justice here in his first POV! ^^;

Author’s Note 2: I’ve also attached the PDF and EPUB versions of the WiP, since Patreon is still working on a solution for the recent bug!

The Transgracian Academy for the Magical Arts. Armorer’s Workshop. Local Time: 1955 Hours.

Sorecar

In the theatre that is life, mages take center stage. They are the protagonists, antagonists, supporting cast, and orchestra combined. 

But for every actor, there exists a set designer. A writer, painter, sculptor, and artist, who must toil and work towards the same ends, but through a vastly different approach, utilizing substantially divergent mentalities.

Because while a mage performs, an artificer creates. Forging the tools by which civilization stands, setting the stage for the mage’s performance.

It was this distinction that gave me increasingly ponderous dives upon being presented with the earthrealmer’s conveyance.

An… artifice by any other name, save for the discordantly vital operative word…

Manaless.

It was a manaless artifice.

A… construct, as per Emma Booker’s words.

Or at least, that’s how she phrases it in High Nexian.

Animated Manaless Construct, Non-Magical Moving Article, Magic-less Powered Conveyance… my manaless armored friend had a whole litany of flowery descriptors to describe this anomalous thing, each more puzzling than the next.

But none as puzzling as the projection that stood before me.

And while a mage may simply disregard the — manaless — descriptor, choosing to simply accept this construct as it was… an artificer simply couldn’t walk away from such a bold and outrageous claim.

For it was equivalent to approaching a master healer, presenting them with a living, breathing, and intelligent manaless being.

Which was to say, it was akin to the presentation of the impossible, as it stood in defiance of all conventional wisdom.

It doesn’t take a seasoned wainwright to understand the fundamental principles of construct animatics — the complex interplay of moving physical parts and their associated forces required to master the physical movement of a construct within the confines of the physical world. 

Any artificer can tell you that in the process of creating a simple horseless buggy from scratch, one would run into a litany of issues, ranging from the limitations of a given material, the convergent and divergent forces at play when an object is in motion, and the various systems that need to work seamlessly in order for a wheeled conveyance to stay in motion.

These limitations, imposed by the natural world, did have their manaless solutions.

However, those solutions were rudimentary, limiting, and most crucial of all — basic.

This was why artificing as a field came into existence.

A combination of early enchanters and tinkerers, the field of artificing was founded to overcome these obstacles.

Our forefathers studied our limitations, embraced the physical world in all of its tedium, in order to forge solutions in the hearth and forges of enchanted fires.

This was the reason why Emma Booker’s construct was as bold as a claim as it was impossible.

It was a far different beast than her armor or even her exceptional weapon.

For those were simple constructs, easy enough for a manaless forger to create, with the sole caveat of time and experience being exchanged for the final product.

No, what my manaless friend was suggesting today wasn’t another suit of armor or enchanted parchment… it was an animated construct, capable of surviving the rigors of the outside world, capable of autonomous movement, using entirely unenchanted, unattuned, non-magical parts.

This was a discordant claim I simply could not wrap my nonexistent head around.

…

And I was loving every second of it.

I felt closer to my artificing forefathers than I ever knew was possible.

The rush of the unknown, the thrill of being faced with an unassailable cliff face, and a burning desire to bring all of it into the known.

This… was a challenge.

And Sorecar Latil Almont Pliska never backs down from challenges.

Though by that same logic, Sorecar Latil Almont Pliska needed to balance his enthusiasm for the practical considerations of the present.

For despite the unquenchable thirst for knowledge and discovery, there existed a barrier even I wouldn’t cross.

That barrier, being the safety and well being of my one and only newest friend.

I had to play it safe.

I had to respect whatever boundaries she wished to maintain in the secrecy of her manaless constructs.

But thankfully… I had the inclinations of a past shrouded in miasma, but the instincts of millenia toying with expectant decorum to keep her claims safe and shrouded from prying eyes.

“So let old Sorecar regain his bearings here—” I began, as I once more poked a single gloved appendage through this manaless projection. “—this conveyance not only lacks any mana-imbued, enchanted, or artificed components, but likewise doesn’t tap into the manastreams for any of its processes?” 

“Yeah! That’s correct.” The earthrealmer replied jovially.

“And as a result, you’re still somehow capable of generating physical motion, animating this conveyance… without the assistance or power of mana?” 

“That’s correct. Erm, I’m sorry for being so vague here, Sorecar. I think we both know that—”

“No no! There’s no need to apologize! Discretion is the best defense against malicious intent,  and I know, I know, this does sound bad when phrased in such extremes, but I do believe that it is best to exaggerate, than to suffer the consequences of understated mildness.” I tried my best to reinforce and reassure the earthrealmer… though I was just as much attempting to justify myself from diving any further than was safe.

Regardless… the conveyance’s fundamentals proved… perplexing.

Though I could only assume that the answer might lie somewhere between the runes and the written script as the old adage goes.

“Still, if I may be so bold, may I guess as to the potential source of this manaless power?” I offered under a sly breath, placing both of my elbows on the table in front of me, my vision squarely focused now on the artifice beneath the projection. 

The earthrealmer, clearly noticing this, crossed her arms in dramatic fashion; eliciting a giddiness deep inside me as I recognized that motion as an attempt to overcome the limitations only kindred spirits trapped in armor would understand.

“Yes, Sorecar.” 

“It’s the same method by which your projection artifice is powered, isn’t it?” I replied the instant the earthrealmer responded.