Wearing Power Armor to a Magic School (58/?) WiP 1 (Patreon)

Hey everyone! Here is the Work in Progress for Chapter 58 I hope you guys enjoy! :D

You know that feeling you get when you walk out of the last exam of the school year? That weird light-chested feeling you get when you’re hit with the cool gust of autumn air and then realize… you’re done?

Where a flick of your eyeballs towards the once-seemingly never ending ‘to-do’ list courtesy of your AR-lenses revealed the completely foreign sight of an empty calendar in your weekly planner’s HUD?

Where you instinctively reach for your phone, unrolling it, only to reveal that your friend groups, chatrooms, servers, and forums once filled to the brim with a neverending flood of anxiety-ridden exam-related questions have suddenly and abruptly gone dark?

Well, that’s where I stood as I was finally escorted out of the faculty tower, and back into the Academy castle proper.

I couldn’t feel the cool autumn air, of course.

I also didn’t have an infosphere or extranet connection to check any servers, not that it would even matter here anyways.

But what I did have was my trusty mil-spec to-do list, and the seemingly infinitely collapsible and expandable lists of objectives to accomplish.

And what they revealed… was nothing short of euphoria-inducing.

Emptiness.

An empty, vacant vacuum for an entire day.

No crazy errands to run, no unexpected missions to accomplish, nothing but a big old nothing.

I couldn’t help but to audibly laugh inside of my suit, starting with a dry chuckle, then soon evolving into something just under a cry-laugh as I realized that it was all over.

All of it… from the null to the bomb to Mal’tory and to Ilunor’s trial… all of it was over.

And while the big objectives were still much apparent later down the to-do list, and while there was an objective at the very far end of the calendar, that being the ECS shard of impart dragon hunt, that was still a ways away.

Because today?

Today was finally a free day.

And I couldn’t help but to just… slump, activating the suit’s active rigidity systems, and just standing there in a quiet part of the castle for a good few minutes.

I felt so light.

I felt so weightless.

I was free.

And now, it was time to enjoy that freedom while it lasted.

Before classes started up tomorrow.

=====

Dragon’s Heart Tower, Level 23, Residence 30. Local Time: 1200 Hours.

Emma

I arrived back at the dorms with a skip in my step. Or rather, as much of a skip as was possible inside my suit.

The room had never looked so inviting, what with the afternoon sun lighting it up in a bright yellow warmth that would’ve been perfect for Bim Bim to laze around in if she was here.

It was insane just how much your internal mindset could change how you perceive the outside world. Because right now, I was seeing the place in an absolutely different light. Gone were the anxieties related to setting up the tent and hoping everything worked, and gone was the constant stresses of dealing with the subterfuge-related crap the discount kobold was up to. Now, I could finally enjoy the room without really much of anything coming in the way of it.

What’s more, I finally had something to look forward to.

Actually talking to the friends and newfound allies I’d made under pressure, forged in the fires of adventure.

But now that there was finally a lull in the adventure, I could finally just… talk, without the time crunch of a bomb or a show trial looming over my head. It was time to just talk for conversation’s sake, to begin the mundanities of college life, alongside the added bonus of potential inter-realm diplomacy.

The latter was definitely how I’d be framing it when I got to writing the weekly report I’d been putting off, at the very least.

“Note to self: classify any and all casual banter between me and the rest of the gang as quote: spontaneous interpersonal dialogue with the intent of furthering macropolitical transdimensional diplomacy via informal context-dependant topical discussions; fostering an environment of good-will and trust in line with SIOP recommendations.” I spoke with a faux-’official’ tone of voice, more or less channeling my inner Dr. Rosling, and imitating the way the sociology department’s scientists spoke to one another whenever they were going full academo-speak.

A full year of constant exposure to them was enough to imbue my brain with that manner of speech.

Which made me wonder… would a full year at the Academy do the same to me when it came to fancy noble-speak?

That line of thought was quickly, and thankfully, interrupted by the clack clack clack of the familiar sounds of bare talons against the wood and stone floors of the room. This was followed by the thump thump thumps of Thalmin’s battle-grade boots, and the surprisingly silent appearance of Ilunor, as I began to notice that he had a strange and almost uncanny ability to walk without generating any distinct audible footsteps.

All three soon found themselves facing me down in the living room. All three standing with varying levels of nervousness hidden underneath their own unique ways of social masking. Thacea with her resting regal-face, Thalmin with a more friendly expression of excitement and candor, and Ilunor… by looking eternally miffed. It was as if eternally stuck with an expression of mild inconvenience, forever upset about a mild inconvenience.

“So, how’d it go?” Thalmin was the first to break the silence, his two, almond-shaped, amber-yellow eyes giving off major friendly vibes despite the excitable open grin that placed his predator-grade teeth on full display.

“Wellllll…” I began cryptically, exaggerating my syllables, pausing for effect, all with the intent of teasing the group more than anything.

“Out with it, newrealmer.” Ilunor interrupted abruptly. “Have you or have you not succeeded in growing the man’s ire, all at my expense?”

The small thing was still very much clearly on edge given the Dean’s very-real threat at beginning the investigation earlier that morning, with it even being announced at breakfast.

“I-”

THUMP THUMP THUMP

A series of three, distinct, rocky knocks rattled the room. As my conversation once more found itself derailed by an outside force.