The explanation of Tanisha's armor took far longer than she had anticipated. The changes were extensive and thoroughly impressive… but most of it went over her head. As it turned out, aether technology or aethertech, as Laxy called it, was vastly more complex than she'd imagined.
It was totally different from her understanding of magic studies and she had never heard of most of the terms Laxy spoke of so by the time they'd gone over the first subsystem, whatever that meant, Tanisha had all but abandoned any attempt to understand the finer details. Instead, she shifted her focus to what mattered most: what the armor could actually do.
According to Laxy, the suit now qualified as what humans of her time had called power armor. It ran on aether, enhancing Tanisha's physical capabilities beyond what her Chain Breaker's Mantle could do on its own. More intriguingly, an unintended but highly beneficial feature was its seamless integration with her mental projection magic. As a System User, that level of synchronization was nothing short of ideal. The armor wasn't just equipment anymore, it felt like an extension of her body, as intrinsic as her arms or legs.
The benefits were immediate and measurable. Her system interface reflected a visible increase in her statistics the moment she donned the suit, and a fourth page had been added to her menu entirely dedicated to the armor's functions.
It filtered contaminants from the air. It enhanced her aetheric casting. It auto-deployed when danger was detected. It featured an integrated map system, active climate control, enemy identification, and smart targeting capabilities to aid in long distance spells.When Laxy had said she would need to train with it, she hadn't been exaggerating. Mastering the armor was going to take time.
Aetheric Armor
First Activation
The Aetheric Armor is uniquely attuned to your magical signature and cannot be operated by anyone else. While channeling magic, the armor consumes 5 Aether per minute to sustain primary systems and basic functionality. [Note: Attribute Enhancements are non-stacking].
Attribute Enhancements (Primary Systems)
Constitution: +10
Strength: +5
Dexterity: +5
Stamina: +5
Second Activation Levels
By increasing the channeling rate to 10 Aether per minute, the secondary systems are activated, granting enhanced physical and regenerative attributes as follows:
Attribute Enhancements (Secondary Systems):
Vitality: +5
Restoration: +5
Constitution: +25
Strength: +15
Dexterity: +7
Stamina: +15
Third Activation
Channeling 20 Aether per minute activates the tertiary systems, unlocking advanced features such as:
Full-area scanning,
Enemy detection,
and Aetheric resonance tracking.
This tier also replaces the previous bonuses with significantly increased attribute enhancements:
Attribute Enhancements (Tertiary Systems):
Vitality: +7
Restoration: +7
Constitution: +35
Strength: +22
Dexterity: +12
Stamina: +22
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With the additions to her stats alone the armor was worth mastering. She would have to be careful with her magic consumption. While her pool of seiðr was high, it wasn't endless and running out of magic mid battle was a death sentence. Chain Breaker's Mantle wasn't too draining but, when paired with the various spells she needed to cast and maintain during battle, managing her mana was becoming more important.
While Tanisha was deep in thought the conversation shifted back to the enemies they should be expecting in the upper levels. The S-01 through S-05 were the most likely as the more powerful and varied types were sealed in the lower sections and the city below.
"You all already encountered the S-01: Silhouette and the S-04: Shard. You all have also encountered anti-personnel drone units. Those are the ones that have gun turrets instead of magical weapons. They were made to stop magicless beings and will likely not be much of a challenge for your group." Laxy finished her explanation.
The room was silent for a moment before Aurelius spoke up.
"The S-01 through 04 seem like they would be simple to handle but the S-05 Shiver we may have some trouble with."
"Can you explain that one again?" Tanisha asked.
"Yes, but please keep in mind that I can only provide basic information on any of the units as your security clearance levels are too low. The S-05: Shiver attacks by emitting an aura of magical blades while specializing in disorienting speed-based strikes. The unit itself is humanoid with a light weight composite chassis. The unit is capable of both long range and close combat."
"Well we won't know unless we actually try." Fuyumi said.
"Is there a training room?" Tanisha asked. "We don't have a lot of time and I need to get used to this armor. How about we spar?"
"That's a good idea." Fuyumi said.
"And seeing how we fight each other can help us tighten our group dynamics." Aurelius said.
"There is a reinforced ballistics training area that would suit your needs. It is not in R&D Department. Follow the lime greenline to weapons testing."
***
The door to the ballistics training area was noticeably more reinforced than others in the facility. Aurelius stepped forward, placing his hand on the console to open it. The moment the blast door slid aside, a barrage of gunfire erupted.
Without hesitation, the trio rushed inside. The only enemies were anti-personnel robots, bulky machines on slow-moving tracks, their arm slots replaced entirely by heavy guns. But they were no match for the speed and coordination of the three.
Between Tanisha's Arcane Shift, Fuyumi's Blink, and Aurelius's lightning-fast speed, not a single bullet found its mark before the robots were reduced to scrap. The only real danger came when Tanisha and Aurelius targeted the same robot, nearly colliding in the process.
Aurelius saw the swing just in time and ducked, sliding on his knees under the arc of Tanisha's bardiche and slashing the robot's tracks in a fluid motion. Tanisha adjusted mid-swing, shifting her weight to redirect the blow. Her blade crashed into the robot's head instead of Aurelius.
"That's why we need to train," Aurelius said, catching his breath as he stood.
The robot's head hit the floor with a dull clank. Tanisha followed up with a second strike, cleaving into the core hidden in its chest.
"Agreed. Are you okay? I tried to go high after I saw you move." Tanisha said.
"I'm fine. We just need to tighten our strategy," Aurelius replied, glancing at the severed head. "Last thing we need is to hit each other."
"That was eight of them," Fuyumi said, scanning the room. "Let's make sure none of the invisible ones are lurking."
"Right," Tanisha said.
She lifted her bardiche and whispered a hydromancy spell. Water spread across the floor of the hallway ahead. The team watched closely for any distortions. For a moment, nothing. Then the water crawled up the walls, followed by multiple ripples and the sharp screech of metal.
"Form up. We've got company!" Aurelius called. "Tanisha, stay back and maintain the spell. We need to see them. Fuyumi, take the right. You're the strongest. I'll cover the left."
The group followed his orders Tanisha ran back behind Aurelius focused on channeling the hydromancy. The silhouettes again seemed to recognize they were no longer cloaked and abandoned camouflage. They fell from the ceiling like rain and rushed forward. Tanisha wanted to do more in the fight both times they encountered these gole—androids, she had been relegated to the spotter. This time they didn't have Bjorn to also deal damage.
The problem was she couldn't do much while channeling that much water and controlling it all at once. Casting another spell would possibly destabilize the current one and that wasn't an option. She wouldn't endanger her team just so she could fight a little more.
Aurelius was a blur of motion, as usual, the trail of his chaos magic the only indication of where he was and that was more streak than person. The clashing of his crystal blade against the androids left each one he encountered cut cleanly through. The few times he was parried on his first attack a second or third just as fast found it's mark.
Fuyumi on the other hand was an unstoppable flurry of weapons and grace. Though the damage she caused was far from what most would consider beautiful. She weaved between strikes every attack countered perfectly as if it were a choreographed performance and she wrote the script. Her weapon changed each time she needed something new. Seamlessly transitioning between sword, spear, tonfa to insure she had the advantage in any engagement.
For the first time since their journey together, Tanisha felt small… no that's not the right word. She felt inadequate. In wendigo culture the power of a familiar is considered personal power. Tanisha and Bjorn together were a powerful force. However, now she was alone and she could see the weakness in her own abilities especially in the face of two people so extraordinary in their own abilities.
The last of the silhouettes fell to Fuyumi's blade and the room fell quiet as they waited for more to suddenly show up. They never did. So, they continued their trek. There was a single open door at the end of the hall which led to the ballistics training room. Although "room" was an understatement as to the sheer size of it.
"I am pretty sure this is the place." Fuyumi said.
The vaulted chamber stretches for hundreds of meters in all directions, its sheer scale defying belief, a cavernous space capable of hosting multiple battalions, armored divisions, and arcane weaponry, all firing simultaneously without risk to the world above.
Strangely there seemed to be machines with wheels and tracks lined up. As well as the largest version of the guns Tanisha had ever seen. It wasn't the purpose of their visit so they would disregard the strange assortment of what they assumed were weapons and wagons of some kind.
"Welcome to the Ballistics Training Room," Doxy's voice intoned, crisp monotone. "As there is no record of you receiving the mandatory briefing for this space, please remain where you are until an instructor arrives. Contacting site ballistics instructors… error. No instructors detected within this facility. Compiling basic Ballistics Room data packets and safety briefs now."
A yellow holographic barrier shimmered into existence, stretching across the corridor. Tanisha reached out, but her hand passed through it. Scrolling text— DO NOT CROSS and PLEASE WAIT—glowed along its edge, halting the group in their tracks.
"Do you all know what Doxy is talking about?" Aurelius asked.
"Not a clue." Tanisha shrugged.
"Nope." Fuyumi said. "Hey, have you all wondered why this place is so strange but human cities don't have things like this. I mean, even just the golems are extremely dangerous. If humans had this level of technology before, why don't they have it now?"
Tanisha shrugged, "I've never seen a human city before. Don't dwarves have golems too. I know they said these golems are called androids but are they so different?"
"Yeah, they are very different. And humans definitely don't have anything this advanced." Aurelius said.
"Doxy said the humans were kicked out by the Site Administrator, maybe they couldn't take much with them." Tanisha offered.
"We couldn't get in until Tanisha opened the door." Aurelius said. "That required aether, right? It means only an aether arcanist could open the door to get in. Most of the stuff in here needs aether too. I haven't heard of anyone being able to use aether before aside from the Human Divines."
"It is considered a holy power. Being here I can see why." Fuyumi said.
"So what are you getting at?" Tanisha asked.
Aurelius cleared his throat. "If humans needed access to aether to use this stuff and they had no aether arcanists then maybe they just lost access to this as well. Then the Emerald Empire happened and they were known for destroying records of other divines especially the human ones and the knowledge of this place was likely lost."
"The Emerald Empire?" Tanisha questioned.
"Yeah, you know the emerald elves that took over most of the world?" Aurelius said, but he was met with a blank face from Tanisha as she motioned for him to continue. "It was a world spanning empire, how do you not know? When the empire fell they became goblins."
"Goblins are Emerald Elves?" Tanisha asked, shocked.
Aurelius turned to her, "Yes-no… kind of, look—"
"Welcome to the Ballistic Training Facility this is a mandatory briefing before access to the facilities systems are accessible." Doxy interrupted. "This facility has been colloquially known as The Thunder Vault. Please remain within the designated walkway as I guide you through the capabilities and safety protocols of the largest subterranean ballistics range in the known world.
"This facility spans approximately 900 meters end-to-end, with a vaulted ceiling peaking at 150 meters. Every square inch of this chamber is encased in magically-reinforced blacksteel and rune-etched bedrock which is rated to explosive forces up to Class 7 artillery and volatile aetheric discharge or Class 2 creation warhead detonation."
A light shone on one of the levitating platforms in the distance.
Doxy continued, "Our mid-air combat platforms use levitation glyphs to simulate three-dimensional engagements. Whether training for urban vertical assaults, anti-aircraft targeting, or magically-aided evasive maneuvers, these platforms adapt to real-time environmental presets."
The light changed to another location, this one closer to the odd wagons and large guns.
"To your left, you'll see the retractable railbed for vehicular live fire. Tanks and mobile artillery can engage in mobile assault drills while the Vault dynamically adjusts terrain resistance and magnetic dampeners to simulate battlefield variance. Please walk forward to the sign-in station and place your hand on the console. Read all information before signing as this Site is not responsible for any injury or accidental death."
The group walked up to the glowing console and a wall of text appeared on it. Tanisha wanted to read it but it wasn't in Valish. She sighed and placed her hand on the console. Apparently she was the last one to do so as Aurelius and Fuyumi were already waiting for her.
"Did you guys read it?" She asked.
"Nope, couldn't but we are just here to train on our own so it should be fine." Aurelius said.
"The first match will be you and Tanisha." Fuyumi said. "I will give you pointers where I can. Tanisha, use your dagger's you need to increase your resonance with them for your Walking Armory. Aside from that no spells or techniques, this is just to see where your combat skills are without magic first."
"Right." Tanisha said.
"Aurelius, blunt side of your sword." Fuyumi said.
"Of course." Aurelius agreed.