Wearing Power Armor to a Magic School (96/?) WiP 1

Hey everyone! Here is the Work in Progress for Chapter 96 I hope you guys enjoy! :D

The Vunerian met my gaze with a wide-eyed disbelief, prompting me to cut to the chase, and to sharpen the needle poised to burst his Nexian-grade ego-bubble.

“It would seem as if we both went through a similar paradigm-shift event, Ilunor. A point in which this shiny yellow metal just finally stopped holding its own value; where it no longer held its own… weight in gold.” I reiterated, announcing those words loud and clear for the Vunerian, hoping that the EVI was able to translate that bad attempt at humor to something at least discernable in High-Nexian. “Gold as it currently stands, has lost its historical value. It’s no longer the rare be-all and end-all metal. It has, using your own words — lost its luster.” 

Thalmin had finally returned with Thacea just as I’d finished making that bold statement, the prince seemingly adamant on making this entire exchange one which all parties were privy to. 

Ilunor didn’t pay them mind however, as his gaze was locked onto me, his features contorting into one of genuine disbelief, before finding itself back in a signature look of incredulous scrutiny. 

“You’re bluffing.” He retorted. “There is no means for an adjacent realm, for any realm other than the Nexus, to have both discovered and matured the art of pinnacle-transmutation.” 

I raised a brow at this, cocking my head to overcome my emoting handicap. “Pinnacle-transmutation?” 

“The alchemical art of transmuting one form of inexpensive and readily-available matter, into an otherwise rare form of matter, using mana and other mana-based materials as a catalyst.” The blue thing helpfully clarified.

This prompted me to feign a moment of thought, bringing up my fingers up to my chin. 

“You know what Ilunor, you’re right!” I nodded, eliciting a smarmy grin from the deluxe kobold. “We don’t have magical transmutation, at least not in the way that you think, let alone your whole lead-into-gold style magical alchemy.” I quickly expanded, garnering more self-satisfied looks from the Vunerian; as he reached that point of peak smugness. “But we didn’t really need it.” I clarified, pulling the rug right from underneath the Vunerian. “Moreover, it didn’t stop us from achieving the same state of precious metal devaluation that you went through.”

“Oh dear Majesty, not this again…” He responded emphatically, before diving back into the thick of the conversation. “There exists only two means of acquiring gold.” The Vunerian snarled out. “One — through brute force, by mining into the earth itself and laboriously collecting this beautiful, shiny, irresistible metal.” He almost went into a sort of trance for a moment there, but managed to pull back before continuing unabated. “Two — by transmutation. The latter is what has caused gold to become so readily abundant, so… unexpectedly worthless. And since you admit to lacking the latter… are you expecting me to believe that you have achieved our current state of abundance through the former?” 

“Yes.” I replied immediately, and a matter of factly. “That’s exactly what I’m expecting you to believe, because that’s exactly what happened. Through good old fashioned sheer brute force… or more specifically, by expanding our operations to scales and extents never before seen — we turned gold from an object of indescribable value, to a chunk of pretty yellow metal.” I took a moment to let that sink in, as my mind went to ponder a second, more technical talking point.

I mean, we technically have ‘transmutation’, or at least, a sci-tech equivalent of it… but it’s just woefully impractical and more of a gimmick compared to efficiency harvesting space-rocks and dwarf planetoids.

I decided it was probably best to skip that talking point for now, at least, until a foundation could be built to discuss that can of worms. 

A few seconds of silence punctuated my first point, as it was clear Ilunor was taking the time to actively consider it.

“And I’m assuming you’re going to claim to have brute-forced the accumulation of metals, both precious and utilitarian, from the surface of your world; to the point of complete exhaustion?” The Vunerian shot back in an almost rhetorical way through a desperate chuckle. Though that series of dismissive laughs was barely able to hide the fear which underpinned it. A fear which was blatantly obvious from the furrowing of his brow ridges, and the narrowing of his slitted pupils. 

A fear that this line of questioning would lead to an answer he simply didn’t want to hear. 

A fear which was reflected even in the eyes of both Thacea and Thalmin.

A fear… that would come to pass with a single-worded answer.

“Yes.” I answered simply. 

Color once more drained from the Vunerian’s face, as he seemed to almost lose his footing atop of his nest of gold.

It was at that point that he broke his gaze, his expressions shifting from tentative disbelief, to frustration, before landing back on what I was beginning to call his resting Nexus-face — a look of superiority that resulted from either active denial, or a root error in fundamental systemic incongruency.

“Alright then.” He retorted, sarcasm oozing through each and every syllable. “Let’s suppose this is all well and true. Where is your gold? Where is your silver? If you truly have broken the shackles of earthly scarcity, then surely you must have more!” He continued, as he maneuvered himself with several high-pitched yips and yaps, through the gold, and back onto solid ground. Eventually, he managed to find the gold he’d plinked in my general direction, holding it high above his head. “I am willing to entertain your ridiculous claims, so in lieu of any long-winded displays, show me just how much your people have given you as instruments of trade and barter for this journey. Because this—” He paused, waving the gold coin around. “—is a pittance for any self-respecting newrealmer hoping to forge relations.”

I took a moment to quickly grab the cylindrical precious-materials dispenser (PMD), holding the hefty oversized candy dispenser in my hands for a moment, before lobbing it over towards the Vunerian.

The deluxe kobold managed to hold on to the object like a pro, as he examined the rather simple device, eyeing it from every possible angle.

It didn’t take him long to figure out how it worked, as those greedy little grabby-hands found their way towards the bottom ‘slot’, pinching it sideways, resulting in a satisfying — CHA-CHING! — reminiscent of ultra-vintage cash registers; something the engineers back at the IAS claimed wasn’t intentional. 

Though I had my own reservations on that.

A single silver coin, exactly an ounce in weight, was gently ejected from the unassuming cylindrical device.

On it, was the Greater United Nations’ seal sans its signature fourteen stars, flanked by raised lettering which read ‘Greater United Nations - Peace and Prosperity for All’. Flipping the coin to the other side, the Vunerian would find the missing fourteen stars, which was then flanked by a series of smaller raised lettering which read ‘Minted Under Special Order 32-7. FOR EXCLUSIVE USE IN DIPLOMATIC MISSIONS’.