He arrived at a wide, cavernous opening—the resort's underground forge, a hidden marvel designed by dwarven engineers and Arcane Smiths alike. It pulsed with magic-infused heat, where raw mana flowed like molten silver through crystalline channels along the floor and ceiling. Sparks flew from a dozen different workstations where a few students and staff tinkered quietly, absorbed in their craft.
Kirie approached an unclaimed forge, rolling up the sleeves of his sweater and letting the jewelry, remnants of his nanotech armor, begin unraveling, piece by piece, onto the worktable. Tiny flecks of stardust shimmered as the armor responded to the mana-rich environment, forming patterns as if it, too, anticipated evolution.
"From how Enigma fights…" Kirie muttered under his breath, his voice barely rising above the forge's rhythmic clang. His nimble fingers danced across the workbench, sketching designs in the air with faint arcs of light, already reshaping his armor's potential.
"I need to make magic repurposement faster…" His lilac-cyan eyes scanned the cavernous chamber, seeking high-precision tools amid the chaos of creation. Other craftsmen toiled around him—hammers sparking against anvils, arcane glyphs pulsing on steel—their efforts fueling the ceaseless gears of Empyrea Solis, a subterranean heartbeat driving the paradise above.
"Maybe not now," he conceded, refocusing with a sharp exhale. "I'll tackle the rivet patterns for nanobot formations and magical flow instead." He raised his bracer, its surface gleaming under the forge's molten glow, and summoned a glowing HUD with a flick of his wrist.
Holographic panels shimmered into view, dense with data. Kirie navigated swiftly, diving into the database of nanobot configurations—lines of code and schematics mapping their protocols, each a blueprint for his armor's lifeblood.
"I need the armor to anticipate evolution…" His voice grew firm, the core of his ambition laid bare. Pseudo-independence was the goal—a suit not just reactive but proactive. The AI, dubbed NEOs, already functioned as a second brain, mitigating damage in real-time, but it lagged behind true foresight.
Kirie envisioned a warning system: a supercomputer running split-second simulations, assessing threats, and proposing actions before danger struck. Such a leap wouldn't come from the forge's tools alone—it demanded innovation beyond the immediate.
"Not here, then…" Kirie murmured, reining in his sprawling thoughts. His gaze locked onto the nanobot formation patterns glowing on the HUD, their intricate designs pulsing like a living organism.
Quadrilateral and circular arrays formed defensive bulwarks, distributing magical flow to withstand blows, while triangular and helical modes sharpened into offensive edges, enabling rapid strikes with fluid deployment. Each configuration balanced speed and resilience, ensuring the nanobots held firm under crushing pressure while channeling arcane energy seamlessly.
"It repurposed elemental energy in seconds, too," he noted, recalling Enigma's fluid attacks. "I need to crack that for future builds…" Even if the solution eluded him now, NEOs would adapt eventually, learning alongside him. Yet Kirie drew no joy from deferring to the suit's growth.
NEOs was the pilot, executing his commands with precision, but he was the brain—its creator, tasked with unraveling the how and why of every upgrade. The suit ran smoother because of NEOs, but it was Kirie's ingenuity that pushed its limits, forging a partnership where man and machine evolved as one.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't Elsie's techie student." A bold, tomboyish voice—laced with a thick, rolling accent—cut through the forge's din, jolting Kirie upright from his workbench. He spun around, heart skipping as his eyes met a towering, muscular woman striding toward him.
Her eyes glowed with an intense luminescence, arcane energy pulsing within them, wired to her body by intricate neural tech—a marvel of medical engineering that fused magic and machinery seamlessly.
She loomed large, her presence dominating the smoky air. A worn leather apron hung from her broad shoulders, its pockets bristling with tools—hammers, chisels, and glowing probes clinking softly at her hips.
Her bare arms rippled with muscle, veins threading beneath taut skin, a testament to the relentless blood of a master blacksmith coursing through her. Platinum hair, wild and dusted with forge ash, framed a youthful face that split into a knowing grin, sharp and confident, as if she'd already sized him up.
"H-Hello…" Kirie stammered, a flush creeping up his neck as if caught meddling in forbidden craft. He dipped into a cautious bow, his damp polo shifting against his compact frame.
Her aura pressed against him—heavy, commanding, a blend of Panthera's fierce intensity and Kelly's sheer bulk, but amplified to an overwhelming scale. She might even eclipse Kelly's height, her shadow swallowing the workbench's glow as she stood, unyielding, a giant forged in fire and steel.
"Is this the armor that got you through Astrum Valoria?" The towering blacksmith's voice carried a gruff curiosity as she knelt beside Kirie's workbench, her glowing eyes narrowing to inspect the suit's sleek form.
Its intricate plating gleamed under the forge's molten light, but her scrutinizing gaze felt like a blade, slicing through its craftsmanship with unspoken critique. Her leather apron creaked faintly as she leaned closer, the tools at her hips clinking in rhythm with the distant hammers.
"Y-Yes, ma'am…" Kirie stammered, his voice a nervous thread. "I-I trained it to morph into armor and respond to damage using video footage and extensive testing…" His explanation spilled out, simple but earnest, as her thick, tree-trunk arms reached forward.
Calloused fingers traced the suit's polished exterior, probing its seams with a precision that made his pulse quicken, as if she were unraveling his every effort.
"Did pretty well," she said, her tone loose, almost offhand. "I saw the footage—you've got ideas." The words landed lightly, but to Kirie, they were a spark of validation, kindled by someone whose muscled frame and ash-dusted platinum hair screamed mastery of the craft. A radiant smile broke across his face, his lilac-cyan eyes shimmering with quiet pride, the weight of her acknowledgment lifting his shoulders.
"Relax, pretty boy. Your suit's still slow." Her grin sharpened as she plopped a massive hand atop his head, ruffling his hair with a calloused grip that scraped like sandpaper. It felt as if she'd stripped away every speck of dandruff in one motion—and could crush his skull with a twitch if she chose. "Enigma landed the first hit. Nearly ended you." The blunt truth stung, tempered only by the teasing lilt in her accented voice.
"Y-Yeah, I just want to figure out how to reroute magic into the suit better so it's faster overall…" Kirie muttered, looking at the magic channels across his HUD. These patterns were built on sweat and hard work, learning from his mother's blueprints, tutorials, and a mentor.
Months of refinement into a working model. Even, it wasn't perfect. All of the testing and precision control, the algorithms, it all boiled down to surviving ten minutes in live combat.
His achievement turned into a blueprint for improvement. With a sigh, he'd started adding more lines across the data patterns to store more energy, then made spiked tips to divert energy faster.
Every stroke was purposeful. A flick of the fingertip made the energy output a percent better, a percent faster. He'll have to update the entire thing afterward, but one practiced, experienced stroke at a time felt like a step towards making his late mother's dreams come true.
Kirie Isogai-Neo-Tunia didn't notice he'd slipped into a trance until a bead of sweat splashed onto the upgrade table, snapping him back. Air rushed into his lungs, a sharp gasp breaking the spell. Minutes had blurred into seconds, time folding under the weight of his focus.
His hands trembled—not from fatigue but from the primal stress of creation—primordial mana sparking around his fingers like glowing embers, faint wisps of lilac and orange dancing in the forge's heat.
"Here goes nothing…" He sucked in a breath, heart hammering against his ribs. The new rivets and divots etched into his suit's circuitry should, in theory, streamline mana—diverting, converting, storing, processing, and outputting it faster. By how much? That was the gamble.
"NEOS," he said, voice taut, "I'm inputting mana after the new circuitry. We're testing conversion, absorption, and implementation. What's our fastest time?"
"Thirty seconds, Young Master," NEOS replied, its calm, metallic voice resonating from the armor's core. "On standby and ready." Kirie steadied himself, channeling primordial mana into the suit.
The once-dormant circuitry flared to life, a red-orange glow threading through the channels, chased by a lilac afterglow that pulsed like a heartbeat. "Circuitry allows fifty percent greater mana absorption," NEOS reported. "Converting to suit power, recalibrating nanobot formations."
The suit responded, its form shimmering as it melted into jewelry—rings, bracers, a pendant—at a noticeably swifter pace than before. Kirie's eyes widened, captivated by the trailing arcs of light, their fluid dance both mesmerizing and tactically promising. Diversion tactics flickered in his mind, a spark of strategy amid the awe.
NEOS chimed in: "Summary: Conversion to various materials twenty-five percent faster than prior tests. Suggestion: Replace nanobot mana channels' pipe layout with a bored design, akin to gun rifling. It directs mana faster, like bullets, reducing nanobot strain via seamless integration. Implementing."
Kirie glanced at the towering blacksmith, his face a tangle of awe and unease. She caught his gaze, her glowing eyes softening, and gave his back a firm pat, her calloused hand steadying him.
Her smile—warm, wordless—urged him to focus, to guide his creation across tonight's finish line. He nodded, resolve hardening, and turned back to the suit.
"Implementation complete," NEOS announced. "Mana to stored energy for movement, storage, adaptation, and combat: twenty-three seconds. Stellar improvement, Young Master. Bored mana tunnels will expedite future forms by seven seconds. Shall I recalibrate?"
Seven seconds shaved off—Kirie's heart soared. He launched meters into the air, a jubilant leap fueled by relief, exhaustion melting into triumph.
"Yes!" he gasped, frantically confirming NEOS's suggestion, his voice echoing off the forge's stone walls.
"I look forward to this techsuit, Kirie. Good work." The blacksmith's voice grounded him, her heavy hand ruffling his hair with a force that tousled every strand. Kirie beamed back, his radiant smile mirroring hers, a hearty nod sealing their exchange.
She turned to leave, waving over her shoulder, her muscular back a broad silhouette under the leather apron. Its edges strained slightly, hinting at the curve of her form beneath—a fleeting, forbidden glimpse that stirred a shy flush in Kirie's cheeks.
Calming himself down in vain, he'd look at NEOS from the table with a proud smile on his face. "Return to jewelry, NEOS," he said, steadying his voice. "We've got more tests tomorrow."