A Grandfather's Affection

"Yo old man"

A voice came from outside the courtyard where an older dwarf was seated upon his chair, reclining as he circled his aura around his energy channels before sending them to his origin. He of course held a bottle of rum from which sipped from time to time, one that was specially brewed to aid ascendants in their growths.

Kalder sighed as he roused himself from his deep meditation and set his rum aside, the one cone who was making such a racket on the outside was none other than his grandson, a favourite of his who had just returned to the clan, Valdor.

"you little twerp, how many times have I told you to keep it down? You can't always cause a racket every time you come here"

He scolded the moment the young halfling walked into the courtyard but a loving expression was on his face all through his speech. Valdor smiled sheepishly and bowed to the elder dwarf before rushing to his side and taking out a bunch of blueprints from his special bracelet.

"I'm sorry old man, but I finally did it, I couldn't help it but rush over and show you the designs."

Valdor spoke as he spread the blueprints all around him, arranging them in the right order. Kalder watched on with a glint in his eye as the youth did that, snapping his fingers, sending to leftover wine to his storage artifact and picking up his walking stick, he used the end of the stick to pin down one sheet that was flying in the air and briefly read through its content.

He didn't have to wait long though as Valdor quickly finished organizing the sheets and stood up in confusion, looking around for a missing piece, Kalder chuckled before wrapping the sheet in his aura and sending it floating towards the empty spot in amongst the sheets laid out before him

"Now then Valdor, do tell me what it was that got you so excited."

Valdor was jolted out of the state of admiration of admiration he was in after he witnessed the old man's actions, such a feat was impossible for the current him, but he looked forward to when he was going to be able to do the same.

"Alright gramps, look over here"

Valdor cleared his throat before directing his attention to the blueprints, it was something he had spent months on after studying some of the texts of the elders of the clan. Texts that were left in the clan library for the future generation to use and improve on.

"I went rummaging through some of the autonomous weapon designs left in the library, and I modified it to create this, a mixture between a suit of armour and an autonomous weapon, one could either wear it as protection or use it as a golem that would fight on without outer interference."

Kalder watch as his grandson spoke at length with pride in his eyes, Valdor spoke on at length about the capabilities of his creation and how it was going to be built, sparing nothing from its interior to the exterior. The discussion took a turn from Valdor displaying his work to the old man pinpointing the flaws in his technique, materials and the overall design. Just like any other time Valdor brought out on of his radical inventions, the old man would do this, learning about the capabilities of the youth and educating him on the next step to take, all while no forgetting to show him his flaws and teach him more.

Hours passed on that state as the old man too out a pen and started scribbling over the sheets, helping the youth fix up the design, Valdor watched on in admiration, helping where he could, asking questions where he didn't understand and making suggestions in areas it felt would be efficient. They started their discussion at noon but didn't end it until later in the evening just after the sun had set.

Kalder laughed heartily at his grandson's designs and sat him down for his closing remarks

"So, you see Valdor, while this design while beautifully made and could be made in theory, if you were to put it into practice, you would fail. At the current level that you're at, the best you could do is control the suit of armor remotely, you can't make it take actions by itself."

The old man chuckled as he saw the disappointment in the youth's eyes and raised his huge arms to rub the hair on Valdor's hair. This loving action however didn't stop the flow of words that continually broke the halfling's heart

"And even if you were able to control it remotely, you would be bedridden no matter how good you are, unless you were able to train yourself to move two different bodies simultaneously, performing dexterous and strenuous tasks without any flaws, which isn't worth the effort. However, …"

Kalder stopped as he lifted his hand off Valdor's hair and looked him deep in the eye

"Good job"

That ended their conversation and Valdor left, however that wasn't the end to the blueprints. Valdor's designs really were incredible, even to the point where the old man started his research on it independently, calling the halfling every now and then to improve his knowledge, Valdor also took the advice of the old man seriously and started training himself to operate to bodies at the same time, using the treasures and equipment present in the clan that emphasized on mental and spiritual control.

This continued until Valdor received the news of his village's annihilation and started making drastic moves. Kalder couldn't just watch by as his grandson walked into constant danger, but he also couldn't join him in his travels or his path, it was nether his wish nor his role, so the only way he could help him was to empower him. After thinking about it for a long time, the old man pulled out the updated designs for the suit of armour and went into seclusion to build it.

The armour was based on 3 main parts, the outer layer solid layer, one that served as the exoskeleton, the support and the main defense, the inner flexible layer, a secondary defense system, one that absorbs any shock the outer layer fails to protect and also serves as the link between the armour and whoever wore it, and final the operating nerve system, the most complicated part. It was to serve as the controlling system to guide smooth and efficient movement and integration when someone wore the armour, and it was to serve as the control tower for receiving information and turning the flexible layer into the driving force for the now autonomous weapon.

Kalder knew of the efforts Valdor made to be able to control foreign entities while moving his own body simultaneously so he wasn't worried the youth wouldn't be able to use it. However, he was worried he wouldn't be able to build it in time and to the exact specifications.

Calling in a lot of favours, the old man used the highest grades of resources to build the weapon, scrapping some of the original designs for new and crazier but more effective options. The weapon he was making was unreasonable in terms of production cost and effort but he was willing to pay the prize to protect his grandson. He had lost his eldest child, he didn't want to lose this one to.

Months passed and he was finally done, a weapon that kings would kill for if they were aware of its existence, a quality that not even high leveled ascendants could ignore, it was easily his greatest creation. He packed it up and waited for his grandson's arrival, a grandfather's affection had created the greatest protection.