Chapter 38: Preparation and Fun

It was now Wednesday. I had plenty of fun yesterday watching some movies and fishing with Mella, but now it was another moment of–‘Ceella has to do something else!’. 

Aka, today was the day I had my planned meeting with Henry. 

There were some large sheds in the southwest sector that were available for rent, and I was about to rent one before the meeting with Lila happened, which made me decide I should be extra secretive. And instead, I chose a forest further southwest.

I sat on a large rock in the forest with a large box carrying all my goods to the side. 

I really wished I had a storage skill sometimes.

I heard some movement in the bushes, so I said, “Nice to meet you, Henry.”

A man appeared in front of me like a magic trick, with a large grin on his face he spoke in a familiar voice, “Howdy, nice to me ya as well.” He looked around, “A calming and quiet spot.”

“Yeah, stuff happened so I just want to be completely away from people when doing deals,” I replied. 

He kept his large grin on, but he was definitely thinking about what I said. 

He then pulled out a large table, “Well let’s get moving on.” He placed a suitcase-sized box on the table, “Here is your armour.”

“Thanks, may I try it on?”

“Of course.”

I opened the case and immediately tried it on. 

It was split into three major parts, the pants, the helmet and the upper armour. The upper bodysuit opened down the middle like a jacket and would lock into place when worn and mana had charged through it. All the pieces actually locked together and could be unlocked by the will of the user. 

Two solid black boots, lower body armour and upper body armour made of a tight layer, a thicker layer of protective material, and a third layer of hard thick shaped plates with little spaces between them to not interrupt movement. The helmet was a simple combination of black material and a one-way glass cover from the mouth to the forehead. 

I flexed the suit's powers and let mana flow throughout the suit. There were no physical changes but I could feel an increase in my physical powers.

Yep, these are pretty good. The effect wasn’t as crazy as I was told, but I think that was because I already had a really high base physical strength.

“The suit has four levels of power, at each level the suit’s endurance and physical output will increase. First point is the base level and after it’s supplied with mana for about an hour, a level 100+ individual won’t need to worry about topping up the supply as their mana regeneration should be faster than the drain. This particular suit itself can go up to a level called fourth point, of course, this does increase the mana drain.”

And here is the reason why even the military prefers Mage Vocations, more mana means for power.

Mana weapons and armour on average were just more effective than choosing an Enhancer Vocation.

Two individuals of the same level wearing the same armour, the Mage would be physically stronger as they could pump more mana into the suit. While the Enhancer would have a higher base, it wasn’t enough to compensate.

Henry continued, “Mana stored within the suit can last up to 400 hours in standard settings, amplifying the effect will of course shorten that duration and by going over the third point it will be drastically drained.”

I poured a larger chunk of mana into the suit, using 5% of my total to reach the fourth point and plates started to glow a pale blue.“Do you have options above fourth point?”

“No, that has always been a more experimental feature and it is usually left reserved for mechs,” Henry answered while looking impressed at the spectacle. 

“Besides mana, can you input energy into it?” I figured it would be useful if it could be used with Starlight, Sun or Fire. It was possible to do that with weapons, so I hoped the same could be said about the armour.

“Not exclusively.” Henry answered, “Third point and above you can, but it requires a mix which requires an additional attachment to properly control. Which I can sell to you for–”

I interrupted Henry by pouring fire energy into the suit, the plates shifted from the pale blue to crimson red.

“–...Never mind.”

“You spoke about additions,” I asked, “What ones do you recommend?”

“Anti-appraisal, Mana crystal absorption, larger mana storage.” He pulled a small box, an arm attachment and a large tank meant to be placed on the back of the suit. 

Mana crystal absorption wasn’t a very effective endeavour for recovering mana and doing it through a machine was less so, but it was hard for people to do it naturally in the first place. A large mana storage could be useful, but it could only be used for the suit's own functions and the weapons connected to it. However, it was very large and didn’t possess the defensive bonuses as the rest of the suit.

Espr, it was you who made my Soul Page hard to read that one time when I was hunting and I got stood up by people asking for information right? There were many reasons why an appraisal skill wouldn’t be effective, but I had a feeling–that was amplified after Espr’s recent behaviour–that it helped me back then. Can you do that again?

(“ Not for free ”)

Cost?

(“ One Level per mission, pretty generous if I do say so myself ”)

I didn’t reply, a level was an annoying amount. I took a quick peek at my Soul Page.

Name: Ceella Stella (Celestira Luxpoir) | Race: [Human?]

Level 301 | Awakened

Mana: 100% Starlight: 100%

Vocation: [Stargazer]

Skills:

- Blazing Solar (VI | IV)

- Starlight (V)

- Gazing Upon The Stars

- Disruptive Starlight

- Star Mapping

- Sleepless Nights

- Fortified Stomach

- Quiet Step

Bonded

- Primal Guardian Lord [Lv 141]

- Unleashed Awakening

It hadn’t changed much but [Primal Guardian Lord] was already nearing the halfway mark of my current level. I decided to keep thinking about that decision for a short while longer.

I asked Henry, “Do you have any protection devices–”

“Plenty! For your skill level, I recommend–”

“For civilians.”

“Oh, I apologise for interrupting.” Henry looked through his inventory again. “I… don’t have much. How many people do you want to support?”

“At least 2~3.” I wanted something for Mella, Tyell, and Tella, but looking at his reaction I was a little worried he wouldn’t have anything available. One big downside for some powerful mana-tools was their mana cost, which was why they were mostly used by trained individuals.

“Ehhh… well I do have something.” Henry pulled a few devices from his inventory. 

A pendent, a pair of gloves with a small blue crystal flat on the back, two wristbands and a small circular shield with a handle.

“These are all what a common civilian could handle within my collection. Sorry I don’t have much, I’m usually a high-end dealer.”

I examined the items while Henry gave me a description of their uses.

The shield and wristbands were a no go. The latter was too large to just carry around everywhere and the wristbands were old and low quality. I had a feeling these were something Henry made early in his career and had just left in his inventory. 

On the other hand, “I think I will take these three.” I pointed at the gloves and the pedant.

The gloves were a pretty powerful defensive tool, they could store a large amount of mana for their shielding effect, which could activate automatically when a certain amount of mana or energy was about to collide with the user. Each glove could be used individually, so I could give one to Tyell and Mella. The pendant had a slight healing effect, which while not as useful, could be used on others or oneself and I thought it would be best to give that one to Mum. 

“Okay I’ll add that to the payment.”

While thinking about the options for appraisal projection and debating about Espr conditions, I asked.

Espr how effective are predictions from divining Vocations?

(“ Awful, why do you ask? ”)

Well, I learned from Lila that Dominous Hood has of [Diviners] and [Prophets]. Going for such a large quantity means they can cross-reference predictions for a better result. 

(“ For all the reasons the public knows and all the ones they don’t, trying to predict the future is a stupid endeavour ”)

Harsh.

(“ Look, I’m all for humanity's desire to use things they have no proper understanding of, it’s quite funny, and they are very good at it, but prophecies are stupid. The even number of words or sentence conditions don’t  matter, they will still mostly be inaccurate, not to mention all the other negative effects a Diviner or Prophet will experience. And the irony of it all, they aren’t even Vocations that are future-proofed ”)

Huh? I thought. Having no idea how a Vocation can’t be future proofed.

Espoiramissa stayed silent for a moment.

(“ You’ll understand later, but if you really want to know more just ask a Diviner about some of the problems they experience divining. ”)

With that worry I guess over? I continued with my window shopping.

“Henry, do you have anything more special? For the additions, I don’t think I need the basics.”

(“ Does that mean you accept the deal? ”)

Yes, so make sure nothing about me is visible.

It was less about the money and more that I thought Espr would be able to do a better job at stopping appraisal skills. 

“Why yes I do.” Henry pulled another load of funky addons. But when he did, I had another strange feeling, it was the same one I had when Espr helped Mella.

Espr are you doing something?

(“ Examining the items ”)

I tried questioning Espr further but it wouldn’t elaborate, but because it didn’t comment on anything, I assumed that it meant nothing was a danger. Most of this new set of equipment didn’t seem appealing either, however, there were two items that caught my eye.

A rechargeable cannon that would be mounted on the right arm. It wasn’t anything special but it had ten shots that could be charged beforehand, it was also connected to the suit and it was able to use the energy flowing through the suit to power up its shots. Additionally, it could fire a sticky mana line, which wasn’t really useful for combat, but I figured could have utility elsewhere.

There was also a set of five highly dangerous bombs with a connected glove. They were stored within the glove but after a large amount of mana was poured into one it would become activated and could be dropped from the glove. They were the most expensive item on the table.

I chose to buy those two items and finished my shopping trip, “I think that’s enough. Thank you for everything Henry.”

He replied, “Pleasure doing business, please take out your payment of choice.  

I pulled up my case of RMC (Ruby Mana Crystal), “This should be enough.”

Henry examined the crate with his skill, “You did your research,” Henry said happily, “You’re just slightly above.”

We completed our transaction and we individually packed up our things. I stored everything in the travelling box–basically a large suitcase–I brought while Henry returned everything else back to his storage.

Henry said his goodbyes and quickly disappeared in a blur. I just stood there happy with how that went, but one thing was clear in my mind.

Well… I’m now broke.

----------------------------------------

I headed home to visit my family again. To be honest, it was getting a little tiring doing all these things without telling my family. Once again I thought about just letting them know what I needed to do. But they had enough to worry about with Mella’s condition.

“Ceella!” Mella grabbed onto my arm after she sped down the street on her wheelchair.

“You ain’t escaping anymore.” She declared. It seemed she had waited for me to come back again.

“Yeah… I’m not,” I replied.

“Wait, you aren’t?” Mella asked, weirded out by my answer.

“Not until the weekend anyway.”

“You will still be here for the festival?” 

“Yes, I should be.” If everything goes well, all I needed to do was destroy Dominous Hood’s base and get back after causing some chaos. If I could, I would’ve liked to be back on Sunday but I was prepared to only get back on Monday. 

Mella didn’t trust me at all, “We will see.” And we made our way back into our hotel room. 

“Ceella’s finally back.” Said Mother.

“It would’ve happened eventually,” Said Tyell.

…thanks guys…

“Thanks for the warm welcome.” I replied, “I’m just going to dump this in my room–” I pointed at the black box carrying all my gear–“And I’ll be right back.” Which I did. Once again, not having a storage skill was definitely annoying at times.

I return back to the living room with three items, “Mother, Tyell, Mella, I got a present for each of you.”

“It’s just a glove?” Tyell muttered. 

“Mum gets a pedant while we each get one glove?” Mella asked, jealous.

“Well I appreciate it dearly.” Mother picked up the pendant and examined the gold shine that was reflected.

I sighed, “It’s not that simple.” I began to explain the effects of all these devices. All three were appreciative of their gifts but Tyell and Mella were a little hesitant 

(“ They are very special gifts, it would be best if they wore them. You don’t know what could go wrong this weekend ”)

“Sorry if they look a little, umm, weird? But if you both wear one then you two match. It’s just for your own safety. I don’t want to see any of you hurt again.”

“Okay.” Said Mella. 

I smiled, and patted her on the head, “Thank you.”

“Now excuse me, I need to finish sorting what I bought. No touching...” I glared at Tyell and Mella who had started to follow, “No touching they are dangerous.” They weren’t, but I didn’t want them touching the items.

I left my family alone to return to my room.

However, Tyell ran up behind me and closed the door of my room, “Ceella we need to talk.”

“Tyell, I think you can glean my opinion on the matter,” I replied, not wanting to speak, I knew what he wanted to talk about.

Tyell looked down, “Wasn’t it me not telling you about what I was involved in that got us into trouble last time?”

(“ He’s got you there ”)

Espoiramissa laughed.

“…Fine.” I relented, “But wait until tomorrow, I have someone…  that you should meet. It is easier if I explain things with them around.”

Tyell smiled, “Thank you.” He turned around and left my room. 

Sigh, why can't this all be easy.