Chapter 206 Kingly Armor

"So I think a super powered mode is total shavist," said Joseph to Joe, who stood next to him again.

"Agreed. Full power from the beginning. Who's gonna stop the fight to allow it to gather power or transform?"

"Human shaped, but I'd like to attach some weapon hard points."

"What would we do with normal weapons? Oh, you mean pre-enchanted spells that just need mana directed into them for activating."

"Well, that's obvious. Backpack of detachable floating weapon pods?"

"Nah, let's go with the shoulder and forearm mounts."

"Agreed and no boob-missiles. We really would have to kill ourselves."

"Yeah. And the cod piece isn't detachable."

They both shuddered at the thought. An old memory flashed by and was quickly buried.

"We don't need a spare blaster that badly."

"How about 2 hearts?"

"One normal and one dead mana so it can cycle with us?"

"Exactly. We still haven't made any enchanted items that use dead mana."

Stella appeared with a platter of BBQ pork wings, and they both stopped working to drool over the tasty treat. After eating one piece, Joe disappeared, so they didn't eat too many between the two of them. Joseph licked his fingers clean then hurried over to a table with a grin.

"Here it is Stella! The staff handle is made of polished NIKMESH femur, attached firmly to an adamantine blade I enchanted the shavist out of before dipping it into a vat of molten orihalcum and sharpening the edge to an atomically fine edge."

"Very nice. So the idea of plating or dipping the orihalcum worked?"

"Well, I can do it at least. It overcomes the difficulty of enchanting the orihalcum itself, but the technique is almost as hard. I saved my old staff too, as a backup. The only other thing I can think of that might be in the same category, material wise, would be a branch from the world tree. You know, for not understanding magic, you seem to get most of what I talk about when it comes to sharp pokey things."

"I don't understand magic, Joseph. I greatly understand weapons."

"Fair enough. So, your outfit is over here. I shaved Shaiso's scale down in 1 milimeter layers, then cut them into smaller plates. I used an overlapping pattern on them four layers deep. Anymore and I think it might start to affect your movement, so I kept it thin. Then I used a backing of NIKMESH hide. I did everything I could to it, in order to make it softer. It still chafes a bit so I delved into TECHNOLOGY to ask a favor on the manufacturing process for mono-crystalline energy cloth. I've seen it in a past life but had no idea how to make it. He said building a tech level 10 fusion reactor equivalent in a tech level 3+ realm, was good enough. Apparently the + is from Duke Brogo's work."

"Joseph you're straying off topic," said Stella, examining the armor carefully.

"Sorry. Anyway, a sheet of energy cloth should protect from most cutting, piercing, slashing, and energy beam attacks, but it is porous, so acids will still get through it to your skin."

Stella rubbed a piece between her fingers and nodded appreciatively.

"Ooh. It's really soft."

"Yeah, that's why I chose it. I was worried the NIKMESH hide would chafe against your skin, especially if you got sweaty."

"I don't sweat, but wait, so I don't need to wear clothes under the armor?"

"The layer of energy cloth would technically be considered an attached set of clothes, Stella."

"Hmmm. Make me a set of normal clothes out of it too, then."

"Ok, but it pretty much only comes in black."

"Perfect. So what's your armor?"

"Over here." Joseph moved over to the other side of the mech, pulling off the sheet he had put over it.

"Wow. Everyone is going to see you, that's for sure."

"As the king, I need to be visible and inspire everyone. The cloak creates darkness on the side facing me, meaning I will always have a shadow."

"I like that part." Stella tapped on the breastplate. "It's not flexible at all."

"No. Fortunately I don't breathe, so I don't have to worry about my chest expanding. I used large sections of the other dragon scales to make plates that fit together perfectly."

"How perfectly?"

"I had to teleport the pieces together, because they interlock and can't be disassembled. I literally have to use TELEPORT OBJECT to put it on."

"Is this the same energy cloth lining?"

"Yeah. There was a backing of NIKMESH hide here that I used for me too. The accents and outer plating are orihalcum. The cape is more NIKMESH hide, with slivers of rib bones in it to strengthen it before another layer of thicker dragon scales was applied to the outside. The rest of the scales I used on the mech."

"So that's why the robot is looking more like a dragon."

"Partly. Partly it's my preference."

"So you really didn't need to add the wings and tail to the robot?"

"It's a mech, Stella. We ride inside and pilot it. You don't do that with a robot."

"Fine, mech."

"The tails and wings are a grey area really. I can't say I didn't need to add the wings and tail, at least not in the way you're thinking probably."

"That armor looks pretty heavy."

"It is but you prize mobility. I teleport, so the restriction is less important."

"You should have a helmet. Your head is the most important thing to protect. You could probably just use healing to regrow any body parts that got blown off, except that."

"It does have a helmet."

"Where?" she asked crossing her arms.

"Here," he said, pulling it from behind the counter. It was a full face helmet made of white orihalcum that shined silver with a pale blue tinge.

"What is that made of?" she asked in awe, moving forward for a closer look.

"I told you I had a use for the powdered god bone. If you consider bone powder to be a type of soil, then I used EARTH TO METAL to transform it into a greyish kind of metal. Then further forging and tempering, and the addition of more bone powder before we quenched it in some of the blood, produced this. It's the only piece unfortunately. My crown was dipped in some of it, and the rest was a thin plate that goes over your heart."

"My heart, not my head?" Stella looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"It's where I put the soul bond tattoo."

"Yeah and you said nothing could break it."

"Nothing should be able to. But considering I did it while we were outside of time, I don't know what side effects may happen. I've been thinking about it ever since Saisho mentioned the rune master may have made the system, even though he was erased from time. I'm certain the curse from the fey wasn't strong enough to tie our souls together for over 4000 of my lifetimes. It could have been our soul bond."

"But you did that in this life after all those others."

"Yeah, but when I did it, we weren't in a timeline, any timeline, so I don't know."

Stella got very quiet. "Do you regret it?"

"What!? Of course not! I love you. And the potential for happiness in this life with you, is more than the sorrow in all those shavist ones that came before."

Stella grabbed him in a powerful hug. "I love you so much, Joseph! Sometimes it scares me. I've always been worried you would blame me for those terrible lives you had and that I rejected you when I was Sylva."

Joseph hugged her back. He let his love for her flow through their link. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to say, but fortunately that seemed to be enough.