Wearing Power Armor to a Magic School (64/?) WiP 1 (Patreon)

Hey everyone! Here is the Work in Progress for Chapter 64 I hope you guys enjoy! :D I have an exam tomorrow so I hope you guys enjoy this work in progress while I'm back to studying now! :D

I snapped my fingers.

And the whole world came to an instant pause.

The sights, the sounds, the endless stream of drones and the chaotic crowds of people all frozen unnaturally in place.

There were multiple ways things could proceed from this point forward.

An inordinate number of trajectories by which this exercise… no, this presentation could be taken.

But with Ilunor having already reached the Information Dissemination Overflow threshold, those trajectories all but coalesced into one singular direction.

As the flowchart of potentialities all but filtered into a thoroughfare that was by every sense of the word - a wildcard.

A box on the flowchart that reads simply as - SUBJECT DEPENDANT.

Which meant Ilunor was now going to dictate where we went from here.

As mission commander, I could’ve easily overruled that flowchart, simply gone down a path forged by my own intent.

However, the flowcharts existed for a reason. And if Ilunor’s functional state of denial was of any indication, there existed a distressing degree of accuracy by which these predictive analytics operated on.

The eggheads and technocrats at home created and designed these guides, manuals, and flowcharts for a reason after all.

And it was to mitigate risk, whilst maximizing success potentials for very specific, very narrow sets of variables.

So whilst it wasn’t capable of predicting wildcards like the library, the dean, Mal’tory, or any of the magical shenanigans thus far. It was instances such as these where it could shine.

I’d been operating more or less outside of its scope of application thus far, or rather parallel to its recommendations, so I might as well give it this one. Given how I’d reached a dangerous functional impasse with the Vunerian.

I looked down at the Vunerian now, as he stared up at me expectantly, and with a gaze that was a stonethrow’s away from complete and utter detachment from reality.

I had to play this carefully.

“Alright Ilunor, where would you like to start?” I spoke thoughtfully, mustering every polite diplomatically inclined fiber within me from simply yanking him right up and into an ultratall’s terrace. “Point to anything you’d like, or bring up anything we’ve seen so far, and I’ll be more than happy to break things down for you.”

The deluxe kobold didn’t look as if he’d registered those words at first. His expressions ironically became as unflinching as Thacea’s, except instead of stoicism or a regal aloofness, his was a constant hundred yard stare that focused on nothing but the air directly in front of it.

“The city.” He announced bluntly, and with a monotone hoarseness that matched the vacant expression in his eyes. “I want to see how it all began. Show me the city as it wasn’t, as it was, up until where it supposedly is.” Yet despite that monotone, and despite being on the cusp of completely and utterly shattering, he still managed to find it within him to phrase his request in this sing-song vague and cryptic noble-speak.

Which was frankly… a good sign.

It meant he wasn’t a lost cause yet.

Something that the EVI agreed with after a little wordless back and forth, and a bit of number crunching.

The fact he was still snippy, ironically, meant that he was still in there.

Albeit shaken, and teetering on the edge.

“Okay.” I replied after allowing his words to sink in for a bit, speaking through a satisfied grin underneath the helmet.

The Vunerian had a whole world to point and choose from, and he picked perhaps the best topic for the situation.

A topic that was one I’d been hoping he would pick to begin with.

“EVI, are you ready with that TeamForgeLabsNow timelapse?”

“If you are referring to the Accelerated Overview of the NYC Old Quarter’s Development in Greater Acela, I have the simulation parsed and ready, Cadet Booker.”

“Awesome.” I replied succinctly. “Now put Captain Li on the tally board. He deserves an honorary mention for this as a New Quarter Yorker.”

If the EVI was actually sapient, I bet its reactions would be nothing short of a sigh and a head tilt right now. For now it simply brought up our tally board, adding Captain Li into a new third column, and swiftly adding a tally soon after. Though, strangely, it simultaneously added one tally mark in its own column, prompting me to perk up but silently accept that it was simply learning by example.

“I’m assuming that one’s for your predictions on Ilunor coming to fruition?”

“Correct, Cadet Booker.”

“Gotcha. That’s fair.” I nodded internally. “You deserve that one.”

“Affirmative.”

“Now then, let’s put on a show. On my mark.”

“Affirmative.”

Switching the audio feed back to the external speakers, I quickly addressed the distressed Vunerian, and the rest of the gang too.

“Hold onto your hats, guys.” I spoke with nothing short of excitement.

The gang reacted to this with varying degrees of nods. Which meant the EVI was once again on point in translating that little timeless English expression.

I snapped my fingers once again for dramatic flair, a wordless cue for the EVI to begin.

The world slowly began receding, like an artistic interpretation of a distant memory fading into the background. As the lights, the sounds, and the nonexistent smells started fading away, sucked into a central finite point in space until nothing at all remained.

A few seconds passed as we were momentarily suspended in a vacuum.

Then, we were immediately and unceremoniously thrust back into the world, albeit from an elevated position up and above the city.

Except the city was no longer there. Instead, replaced by trees and foliage.

As what we saw in front of us was the iconic tri-way vantage point, a perspective that offered views of most of the five boroughs of New York, with the East and Hudson Rivers merging into the Upper Bay, and then out and through the Lower Bay, before meeting the Atlantic Ocean. Manhattan was the focal point of this viewing angle, as it always was in these sorts of programs showing off NYC.