Chapter 123: Nature of a Weapon.

My injuries, weren’t bad. I could still use my arm, and really, the damage was more or less superficial. My uniform though, I could feel it was nearing its limit. Diana’s attacks had real oomph behind them, thanks to her weapon. Being near so many hits had done some serious damage.

Without my uniform, I’d likely have serious internal damage to contend with. And that would be the least of my issues. For the first time, it feels like I got a proper understanding of what my uniform could hold up too.

The bone golem was far too strong, the fact that my uniform took as many hits as it did was already a miracle. Éclair was even more terrifying, she could easily break through with a singular strike, if she so wished. Nyx was weaker, but her magic cut right through my defenses, making it hard to gauge.

I never sparred with Talia. Nor anyone else in my power range. Here, all of us were part of the same batch. We all visited the first event together. We should have somewhat similar strengths.

Lance was potentially strong, but his magic was energy intensive. He probably had some sort of spatial awareness paired with it. The dour girl was potentially dangerous, but she needed time to set up, and she lacked oomph. Something a uniform or weapon could easily resolve.

Raksha was dangerous, but my own magic made it difficult for her. My ice made it harder for her to heal, and I could tell it was taking its toll. She’d probably be good for another hit or two, but the amount of blood she had was significantly reduced, that and she couldn’t get more from me.

As for Diana? She wasn’t in her best condition. Her shield of wind did a good job taking or redirecting blows. A direct, powerful hit, could punch through, but it was like punching a rubber ball. The real issue was her weapon. It was clearly meant to punch through defensives, and that explosive element to it was something else.

It didn’t help that her use of magic was, exquisite. Clearly, she’d trained and a lot.

Now, could I win? Maybe… a single good hit would shatter my uniform, a couple near misses would do that as well. As for my gun, my next round was a piercing round. It might be enough to punch through her shield, but she could just slap it aside or redirect it. Well, if she has the spare energy to do so…

Really, the chances were near 50/50. And I think Diana recognized that. Raksha, even if she didn’t, sensed Diana’s shift in posture. The pair were ready for another bout, and what would be the final clash.

We tensed, prepared to move… knees bent…

“STOP!” A voice broke over the town center. “Haven’t you done enough? If you keep going someone is going to die!”

The speaker, surprisingly enough, was Serenity. She came out, looking infuriated. Diana had the presence of mind to look embarrassed. Raksha just sighed and plopped down on the ground, as for me.

“I suppose this would be a good place to stop.” I didn’t argue.

“Good…” Serenity said and gave me a long look. “You look bad, but…”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” At my words, I could see a few people were confused, but that confusion gave way to surprise as my wounds melted away along with my uniform. Quickly enough, I was once again standing before everyone in my day-to-day attire.

The aches, the pains were still there. Not just that, but there was a kind of void, and emptiness I could feel from my now dormant uniform. Like a part of me was numb or asleep. Which didn’t feel great, but at least I wasn’t like the others.

Serenity took some time healing people. Lance had a broken neck, the dour girl had fractures in her skull, likely brain damage too, but that wasn’t much of an issue for Serenity. Raksha healed herself up, and Diana had a broken toe, along with cracked ribs, and a broken nose.

As Serenity worked, the gathered crowd split up, and with a non-verbal consensus we all went our own ways. Before long, I was back in the inn sitting across from a freshly healed Diana.

“I’m still surprised you managed.” Diana said after we had settled in.

“How so?” I asked.

“I just… didn’t think you had it in you honestly. Tabitha struggled with it, but she said something along the lines of what you did.”

“I’m guessing she’s hesitant to see who she really is?”

“About. It’s not a pleasant realization, she said. Not everyone that unlocks their uniform naturally has a positive experience.”

“Really? I didn’t know that.”

“Yeah, it’s not well known, but using a gold coin can help you around the issue. But a lot of people can’t handle seeing themselves for well, who they are.”

“Which is why the mascots suggest using a coin.”

“From what I’ve heard.”

“Is it better or worse to use coins instead of naturally unlocking either your uniform or weapon?” I went ahead and asked.

“Tabitha says there is a difference between the two, but it’s not a huge one. Naturally awakenings give you a better sense for your equipment. For the uniform, it makes it easier to achieve evolutions easier, for a weapon, it means upgrading it is easier.”

“That sounds important, why even use coins to unlock your uniform or weapon?” I asked, though, considering I used a coin for my own weapon, I already had an idea as to why.

“Bonding with a weapon isn’t easy. You have to find something with sentimental value, something that has been with you for some time. Something that feels like another limb, or a close friend. Even then, The initial awakening fixes a lot of issues with the base weapon, but to continue upgrading it, you have to find appropriate materials to feed it and push it forward. Though, admittedly, even if you do use a gold coin, you can eventually form the same kind of bond with your current weapon, it’s just not very common.”

“And I suppose if I bonded with my rifle, let’s say, I could upgrade it manually as well? And if so, how would I do that?”

She shrugs. “Tabitha said the weapon will tell you. The process is apparently fairly easy if you find the right materials, you just need to literally feed them to your weapon. It’s just, sometimes they’re not easy to find. She did mention that the best place to look for material to upgrade weapons was Tartarus. Also, occasionally event shops can sell appropriate materials, and the higher floors of the shop in the Celestial Fleece hold more common materials for upgrading weapons.”

“I imagine they’re not cheap?”

“Hardly, it’s almost cheaper to get a gold coin, from what I’ve been told.”

“And the uniform?”

“Upgrading a uniform is a whole other thing. It’s more of a natural process, but Tabitha explained that it can be likened to a psychotic break.”

“How does she know so much, I mean, she only had her spear, didn’t she?”

“Yeah, she does. Tabitha wants to naturally awaken her uniform, she’s been with the home for well over a year now. From what I understand, she’s been sticking around to train the newcomers.”

“Like you?” I asked.

“Like me.” She replied.

“I’ve noticed how good your magic control is. Especially that shield.”

She smiled at that. “Yeah, she really drilled it into me. Gave me exercises and everything. I was surprised by how hard you hit though. I noticed you using Tabitha’s lesson.”

“It was a fairly basic lesson to be honest, but it does help. To be fair, without my uniform I doubt I’d be punching through that membrane of yours.”

“You know, I was really surprised when you actually hurt me. I was told by some of the girls that a uniform was a big deal, but I never realized it was that big of a deal.”

“I know, right?” I replied back, “It’s hard to gauge until you fight someone with one. It’s like all your hits keep stopping short, or it just keeps being deflected or absorbed.”

“I know! I mean, the fact that you even took my attack was surprising enough!”

“Yeah, you did get me good. Another good hit like that and you would have broken through.”

“I figured I was close, but I didn’t think it’d be that close.”

“Well, even with my uniform gone, you looked pretty wiped. I honestly thought your chances were about 50/50.”

“Mm, I was thinking about the same. Though, that depends on whether or not Raksha could do anything.”

“I’m not sure. Most of her abilities seem focused on larger groups of weaker enemies, and my magic directly countered hers.”

“I noticed that, and I could tell she wasn’t happy with that.”

“She was probably happy just to fight.” I countered.

She laughs. “I could see that!”

We take a long moment sharing insights from the fight. How we moved, how we could have done better. Minor things here and there that would make big differences when applied in a fight.

“Your frost cloud, you could probably mimic how I use my wind on it, it’d probably save you energy.” She offered.

“The way you move has a lot of wasted energy.” I followed up with. “I noticed you don’t flow very well from hit to hit.”

She blushes. “Yeah… Tabitha was harping on me for that. It’s hard to keep the pressure on when I have small jets of wind propelling me around.”

“Consider ice skating.” I supplied. “It can teach you balance and momentum, might even help.”

She hummed and we continued. Bits and pieces here and there, idle observations.

“I can’t imagine how the fight would go with your familiars.”

“I’d imagine the soldiers would all die.” I said honestly.

“But if they got a volley off…”

“That could have made a difference for sure, as for my knights, I’m not sure how effective they’d be.”

“The big guy looks like he could take a hit or two.”

“He could probably take a few hits, though, the other two would struggle.”

“If they blocked.”

“The shield and arm would be gone.” I answered back.

“Huh… well, I actually had a request. And it involves your soldiers.”

“And that would be?”

“Earlier I mentioned how I wanted to touch base with you, well, that’s part of why. We’re limited in who we can send out. Especially since we haven’t found anything within a few days travel from here. There have been questions on how we could resolve that issue and well, I noticed your soldiers idling about.”

“Yeah, I didn’t want to take the gatling gun with me.”

“I figured. I can’t imagine that weapon doing well on a long trek, especially not with it being carried like that… Anyway, I was wondering if you could make more.”

“More? Ice soldiers won’t cut it.” I answered honestly. “Even if I bolstered them, the heat isn’t doing them any favors. Without a silver nearby they’re liable to start melting.”

Which really, just proved how much of a waste they were. They’d work, at least until summer arrived. Until then, I’d need to research and figure out an alternative. Maybe Éclair has an idea or two. Which made it more infuriating that advancing the mannequins directly reduced their effectiveness by so much.

“Couldn’t you make stone soldiers? Like you did during the second event?” Diana asked.

“I probably could, but do you really think we need them?”

“Having disposable soldiers to keep watch would free more of us to do other activities. You have seen that we have Raksha and Ruth on gate duty, right?”

“I did… I do suppose it would make a difference, but, it will take me time, and I’ll need material to work with.” I said.

“Which is why I already requested Terra make you stone blocks. Lance managed to make a number of sculpting tools too. He said he might even be able to provide metal weapons and armor if you need it.”

“Weapons are a no go. They’re liable to wear down with the constant exposure to magic. As for armor, metal armor might not be for the best for the same reason.”

“What about rock armor or something like that?”

“You think he’d be able to make something like that?” I asked back.

She shrugs. “I could ask.”

Now I had to think, would it work? Normally I crafted the soldiers with the armor as part of their body, but… wasn’t that essentially part of them then? Would putting armor on them after the fact make a difference?

I was curious…

“We can give it a try…” I voice cautiously. “I’m not sure how effective it would be though.”

“Good enough, I had Terra put the blocks in the town storehouse. The tools are with Lance, just talk with him.” Diana made to stand.

“Is that it?” I asked, somewhat confused.

“For now, yes. There are other concerns, but most of them were dispelled when I realized you had a uniform. If anything, just having you in town while you work is a huge load off my shoulders.”

“Well, I’m glad to be of help. And good luck.”

“Thanks, I’ll need it. And hopefully your work goes well.”

“It should, if anything, it’ll be relaxing.”

“I’m glad, now, I do have other things to attend to, see you at dinner?”

“See you at dinner.” I reply back.

And with that, she left. I didn’t take long to get up and leave. Partially, I was curious where Liche was, as I hadn’t seen her. Nor had I seen Joan since the incident. I wasn’t going to press not when I was still processing what had happened.

A quick visit to the smithy had me face to face with Lance. He looked frustrated, but quickly enough we were discussing our abilities. He seemed all too happy to discuss the ins and outs of it all. Confirming that yes, he had a kind of dimensional awareness going on. Which helped with his job.

When we got to the specifics of everything, he did have one complaint. “That final shot was dirty as hell.” He practically spat out the final word. “I mean, I had the choice of getting shot in the back or punched in the face.”

“Well, you took the punch.” I said back.

“Yeah, wish I hadn’t. The bullet didn’t nearly have as much punch as I thought it would.”

“It’s made to bounce, its initial power isn’t great but with each rebound it gets stronger and faster.”

“Figures.” He says with a sigh.

“Can you only do one thing at a time?” I asked motioning towards him.

“You think warping space is easy? Hell, that final warp took a ton out of me as it was a rush job, you do know that, right? Part of the reason I passed out was because I had to empty the tank!”

“Could have taken it, it wasn’t aiming for anything vital.”

He gave me a look and clicked his tongue. “I ain’t no masochist like you. Just watching you fight gives me chills… No pun intended.” He says, noticing my look. “Guess it comes with the territory though, being ice magic and all.”

“To an extent, and honestly, I haven’t been giving it my all in my training. Life’s been… hectic. If it’s not one thing, it’s another.” I say and he nods, agreeing with me.

“Did you participate in the blood moon?” I follow up with.

“Hell no, and glad I didn’t. Had a friend that did, didn’t come back. Shit got real, especially when that bomb went off over the city.”

“You saw that?”

“No, but I heard about it. There was also a lot of chatter around the shop regarding damage in the neighborhoods that transferred over despite the veil or whatever.”

“That is concerning…”

“Yeah… people said that if I stayed low nothing would go wrong, but… I don’t know, it’s weird to think that I could just die one day if a really powerful attack hit my area.”

“I never really considered that…”

“No? Well, not many do. A lot of others were pretty okay with just, ya know, existing. After that bomb, it reminded everyone that our safety really isn’t guaranteed.”

“I imagine that means you’ve been focusing on training more, so, have they?”

“Eh, I have been but fighting you was a real kick to the teeth. I’m sure I’ll set aside more time to train, even if I don’t have the time…” He pauses, runs his hand through his hair. “As for the others? They complain, they say they’ll do it, but I can tell, they don’t have any interest in doing it.”

“Sounds normal enough… But, are they rabbits or?”

“It’s a mix really. We have supervisors that are dogs, the majority are rabbits. Most of them seem content with just, you know, existing. It’s not easy throwing yourself into fights constantly, and a lot of newer rabbits do so without much thought, which is why we have such a high casualty rate. After a while, they kind of mellow out from what’ve seen.”

“I could imagine what caused that… The constant hurdles, throwing themselves up against the impossible, without a clear goal, it’s not easy.”

“Especially when a majority of rabbits don’t ever get a weapon or uniform. Even if it is possible to get them the natural way from what I hear.”

“I’d imagine that where you work there are quite a few people that have weapons.” I say.

“They do, mostly tools of some sort. As for uniforms, fat chance. None of them ever delve into the depths, and none of them would even dare to take a chance to hunt for a coin after dark.”

“And you?” I ask. “What do you think?”

“I don’t know… My magic doesn’t make it easy. I could probably be dangerous, but redirecting attacks is the best I can do for now.”

“Couldn’t you displace people? Like you did with the spear?”

“Too costly. I imagine, eventually, I might be able to directly open schisms in space and behead people or take their limbs off, but against one of us? Yeah, not likely. Especially with a uniform in the mix.”

“Well, maybe you can get somewhere with your crafting skills?”

He snorts. “Doubtful. Not unless you had something in mind?”

“Not like I have a gold coin lying around, but Diana mentioned you had tools for me, among other things.”

“Haven’t seen her yet, but she did send a message. I’ll get the whole weapon and armor thing sorted out, you just do your thing. As for your tools, I’m sure they’ll do fine.”

He quickly showed them off and honestly, they were better than what I had.

“They look good.”

“They better be.” He says gruffly.

Out of curiosity, I showed him my Soul Stone and asked his opinion on it.

“Looks like shit. The clarity is bad, the lines are etched right, but yeah, the material is bad.”

“Figured…”

“How much did you pay for it?”

I told him, he winced. “Ouch, yeah, they screwed you over with this. Likely realized they were too, which is why they took so long. Most of the companies will screw you over if you’re not a preferred client. That they even gave you something workable is a miracle.”

“Well, could I come to your workshop for items?”

“Maybe… For something like this, you might be better off shopping at a curio shop or something.”

“Curio shop?”

“You know, a curiosities shop. The strange item store? You can find all kinds of odd knick-knacks and items there. You’ll probably be able to find something there. Especially since those shops are all run by magical kooks.”

“Kook?”

“Yeah, they’re not proper mages, but they have a modicum of magic. They can do rituals and such, light divination and what not. Not reliable, but they do know their stuff. They also won’t charge you an arm and a leg since they know the true worth of the coins we get.”

“I was told the coins are valuable.”

“Exceedingly, normally, minting a coin takes a lot of time and energy. Which means, the secret societies and mage groups keep a tight grip on distribution. Where else did you spend coins, if I may ask?”

I told him about the flower shop and the price.

“Huh… not a bad price for goods like that. If you had gone to a pharmacist, yeah, that would have cost you a pretty penny. They’d have gouged the hell out of you like those crafters did.”

“Well, I’ll have to keep that in mind, but do you think I could get your companies number? Maybe I could order from you sometime?”

“I could give it to you, but we’re having a material shortage.”

“I was told as much, but just having the number would be a big deal.”

“No problem then, I’ll make sure to give it to ya when the event ends, sound good?” He extends a hand.

“Sounds good.” We shook hands.