Wearing Power Armor to a Magic School (29/?) WiP 1 (Patreon)

Hey everyone! Here's the Work in Progress for Chapter 29 I hope you guys enjoy! :D

The rest of my tour around the manufactorium was just one big test of my ability to keep my personal desires at bay with my adherence to my professional duty. We’d walked, ducked, weaved, and meandered our way through much of the line, and throughout it all, I wanted nothing more than to describe in vivid detail all of Earth’s industrial accomplishments to Sorecar.

But that would’ve been way too much, and much too early.

And whilst I knew and appreciated that the guy had gone through the effort of skirting around a few rules to show me around his prized factory, the fact remained that he was still part of the faculty.

What’s more, there was still the fact that he was somehow bound to the place in one way or another.

There would be time for us to build up our trust, and more hoops and bounds to go through to see just how far I could really entrust him with knowledge on Earth and its industries. Until then, I’d have to maintain some level of discretion. At least, as far as it went with regards to anything explicitly outside of the scope of the weapons inspection.

“And phew! That just about wraps it up! I apologize for the steps Emma Booker, I can’t imagine how much of a physical workout that must be to get up all of these flights of stairs. I mean, I sincerely cannot imagine it, as my memories of a time when I still had lungs to gasp and wheeze with are quite vague and rather fuzzy.” Sorecar spoke without even a hint of exhaustion as we crested the top of the spiral staircase and back into the workshop proper.

“It’s alright, Sorecar. My cardio game is still on point.” I managed out with a few huffed breaths. The suit did help a fair bit, but given the fact that we were close to entering the early hours of the morning, the exhaustion really was really starting to get to me.

I began instinctively leaning into and against the insides of the suit again. Using certain nooks and ergonomically placed notches to reposition myself, giving me the sensation of tossing and turning in a particularly tight, rigid sleepsack.

To an outside observer, the armor would remain at its ‘default’ position, standing perfectly still, with both arms rigidly by its side.

Inside, however, I was using this rigidity to my advantage as I began slouching inside of the suit. It was a ‘trick’ that had started out in the early days of power armor, before making its way into unofficial field manuals, then finally becoming entirely official when the requisitions department caught on and requested that all future models be made with these design features in mind; features which allowed for in-armor positional reorientation.

“Your fitness regimen certainly is something to be admired.”

So that’s what the EVI translated ‘cardio game’ into. Thanks EVI. I quickly thought to myself with a mental chuckle.

“I mean, I’ve seen my fair share of staff and students alike struggling to get past two flights of stairs, and here you are, standing as still as a statue even after the whole ordeal!” The armorer boomed out, before shifting his helmet’s ‘gaze’ towards the collection of pouches that lined my waist, and the holster that kept the star of tonight’s show safe and tucked away. “Seeing that I’ve taken up so much of the time that you could’ve used to rest and recuperate, I believe it’s only fair that we get this formality out of the way as quickly as possible.” The man offered with a friendly tune to his voice.

I let out a deep breath of relief, as we finally reached the original purpose of my visit here in the first place.

It was supposed to be a quick in and out mission.

Yet it somehow evolved into a hearts and minds operation, before evolving further an info-gathering side mission that I was going to have a joy writing up when I got the rest of my tent and the dreaded field computer set up.

“You have my back when it comes to the bulk of the observation notes, don’t you, EVI?” I spoke inside my helmet, practically pleading now as I realized the sheer magnitude of the report that was about to dominate my life.

“I am unable to provide a definitive answer due to the nature of the question’s open-ended parameters, Cadet Booker.”

“And that’s why they don’t call you a virtual assistant.” I mumbled under my breath.

My attention quickly turned back to Sorecar, as I shifted from my in-armor positional reorientation mode and back into workmode. “Of course.” I answered with an affirmative nod. “So, is there a specific way you’d like me to start or a certain set of parameters you’d like to touch on when it comes to this?” I purposefully asked, because whilst Thalmin had given me the brief rundown of what he’d experienced with Sorecar, I wanted to know what the man’s current expectations were.

All of this was to determine just how much and how far I was going to go about discussing the ‘ceremonial weapon’.

“Well, there’s not much to it to be quite frank. All I really need to hear is a general description of the weapon, its name, its maker if you know of them. I know some nobles simply own legendary weapons without so much as glancing at the people responsible for them.” The man huffed out, before moving on just as quickly upon realizing he’d inadvertently sprung up another tangent. “What kind of weapon it is, what it’s supposed to do, and…” He began trailing off, before shrugging. “Your weapon is mana-less correct?”

“That is correct.” I nodded once for effect.

“Then I don’t really see much else we can discuss. Normally I’d ask for the inner mechanisms behind how a weapon functions, however given the fact that your weapon is of a mana-less variety, everything should be quite straightforward. There really shouldn’t be much more than what can be discerned with the naked eye.” Sorecar spoke with a certain level of impartiality. Not so much talking down at the idea of a mana-less weapon, but not quite excited for it either. Which I could easily tell, given how this came just hot off the heels of the rollercoaster ride of excitement that he had when displaying his own lineup of toys. “Though to be fair, Emma Booker, even when I do ask for a detailed explanation of the inner mechanisms behind a particularly interesting enchanted weapon, most students just end up unable to answer anyways. Most are here to learn after all, so I don’t really hold it against them.”