Wearing Power Armor to a Magic School (108/?) WiP 1

Hey everyone! Here is the Work in Progress for Chapter 108 I hope you guys enjoy! :D

“Nothing?!” The wolf and vunerian pair parroted. 

“Yup! You heard me right — nothing!” I acknowledged through a cheeky grin, a fact that translated reasonably well through my speakers. “It’s your time to shine after all!” 

“You spit in the face of what little remains of the pride and dignity of this peer group, earthrealmer.” Ilunor rebutted, his sooty breaths quickly escalating to small bouts of flame-broiled anger.

“I understand the noble intent behind restraint and stoicism, Emma. However I cannot see how your plan to do nothing will address the core issue we face. It’d be tantamount to simply abstaining at this point, which is what we better do if your plan is simply to remain on the sidelines whilst we demonstrate our abilities.” Thalmin quickly added, before quickly shifting gears to a more concerned tone of voice. “If this is about making a point to sacrifice your image of strength for our sake, then I must make it clear to you that I will not accept an exchange of face.” 

However, before I could respond to both of the pair’s concerns, it was the silent and contemplative Thacea who managed to immediately decipher my cryptic intent, as she turned towards me with a raised brow. 

“By ‘doing nothing’, you are alluding to the passive abilities of your armor, aren’t you, Emma?” The princess deduced.

“Precisely, princess.” I grinned widely, and with a soft cackle that almost immediately brought Thalmin over to my side.

“Your suit’s mana resistance… is, in the eyes of the rules, a form of magic in and of itself.” The lupinor spoke with a wide toothy grin, his tune completely shifting upon that realization.

“I’d hardly consider mana resistance as a display of magical prowess.” Ilunor huffed out, before going quiet, his eyes widening at a certain revelation. “Unless…”

“It’s paired with equally impressive displays of magic.” Thalmin offered, as the pair locked eyes right at that moment of clarity. 

“The higher the forms of magic that are resisted or nullified, the more points the mage behind said resistance will earn.” Ilunor concluded, more or less giving credence to what was at first a far-fetched, half-baked idea born out of me reaching. 

“Sooooo, I’m guessing this checks out then?” I asked, prompting the Vunerian to go deep into thought, his brows furrowing in a seriousness that I didn’t often see from him. 

“Make no mistake, Cadet Emma Booker, this… will serve as the bare minimum towards participation. Though given the previous option of being disqualified or gaining practically no points whatsoever… this will have to do.” 

“Hey, if I’m able to push you guys over the barrier to entry, to at least contribute something towards participation points — then that’s a win in my book.” I acknowledged with an optimistic smile, a fact that the Vunerian seemed to be both annoyed by yet begrudgingly accepting of. 

“Be that as it may be, we are still woefully behind in preparations for the House Choosing Ceremony.” Thacea countered. “Given our prior intent to abstain, we lack the choreography and the plans towards what other peer groups would have undoubtedly already—”

ALERT: LOCALIZED SURGE OF MANA-RADIATION DETECTED, 200% ABOVE BACKGROUND RADIATION LEVELS

THWACK!

A literal folder brimming full of loose papers slammed against the coffee table in front of us, the Vunerian proudly displaying his signature cocksure grin, as if waiting for this precise moment. 

“Correction, my dear princess. We are, for all intents and purposes, more than adequately prepared for this very eventuality.” The smugness on the Vunerian’s face could only be challenged by sheer pride and self-satisfaction underlying every syllable of his voice. 

“So… you’ve been planning for this all along?” I asked, cocking my head in abject confusion.

“Yes. Have you not been following, earthrealmer? LIfe is a game of theater, and what greater theater is there than these calls to public performance? Of course I’d have been thoroughly prepared for this very eventuality!”

“You literally just said you gave up because of me.” I countered bluntly, causing the Vunerian’s features to waver somewhat. 

“Well I—, you see—”

“Ilunor… have you just been choreographing and composing for a show that you never intended to join?” Thalmin doubled down, cocking his head in the process as he began rummaging through the folder, revealing pieces of what I could only describe as storyboards, all of which prominently featured a certain Vunerian taking the lead, with a familiar-looking avinor and lupinor present by his side.

I didn’t know where to start.

Especially as Thalmin began flipping through page after page of genuinely well-sketched out storyboards. 

Though the further he flipped through them, the more intricate they seemed to become… at least when it came to Ilunor.

This was because the roughly drawn avinor and lupinor eventually stopped appearing on the sketches entirely, replaced instead by vague stick-figure looking silhouettes, with seemingly all artistic effort drained and redirected towards the star of the show — Ilunor. 

The disparity between Ilunor and the rest of the drawn figures was striking, with the Vunerian’s features greatly exaggerated, and his feats of magic drawn to such a degree that left whatever stick figures were in the background to become mere specks on the page. 

Moreover, he even went into the effort of coloring and animating a few of these pieces, though both the color and animation was entirely reserved for himself and his feats of magic. 

These explorations into the Vunerian’s artistic endeavors were eventually cut short by the noble in question grabbing the pages right out of the lupinor’s hands — his face puffing with incredulity. 

“I will have you know that there was a period of time, prior to the loss of all hope, where I had assumed the earthrealmer was in fact not truly manaless. It was within that short span of time that I had taken it upon myself to begin planning for the house choosing ceremony.” The Vunerian clarified, though this explanation brought up more questions than it did answers.

“But there’s gotta be at least two hundred or so pages there, Ilunor. How the heck did you have the time, in between running errands for Mal’tory, to actually sketch all of this out?”