Eminence In Technomancy c3

With the reactor finished, turning excess dirt into alchemist clay and then turning that into carbon titanium wasn't difficult; I could have done it before. But I never spent extra mana just in case I needed to fortify walls or the ceiling.

In other words, I am always cautious about how much I waste my energy.

But since the reactor is keeping the underground complex stable, I didn't need to hold back with transmutations.

Once I finished the foundations of the armours, I proceeded to mould the pieces into shapes: the gauntlets, the chest pieces, the back, and the neck. All the parts were like legos.

Then, I switched to creating the chain mail. With some experience in mass production, I just made a massive roll of it and then just carved out the much I needed.

It's not that difficult since one can just alter the magic circle and create stuff in a specific manner.

But then the tedious stuff, runes, and the most dreadful part.

Programming. Yes, I need to do all that from the ground up.

However, for now, I only need some basic HUD support.

“See this? This rune here sends a wave of mana out, tags everything, then sends it back to the HUD.”

I showed Alpha the helmet and specific runes on it. The helmet was a classic Iron Man ‘Skull’ face. For now, it will have to do.

“It's like these two runes are connected. One sends a pulse, and the other one shows what that pulse picked up.

This feature works like night vision, magic vision all at once.”

After showing the helmet, I gave it to her to test it out.

The blonde placed it on her head and looked around.

“...Interesting. This ability is achieved with just a couple of runes?”

“Custom runemancy, yes. Eventually, one develops a specific language which interacts with magic. The issue for now is that it is more complex and challenging to do as magic in this world is more volatile than in my original one.

For more complex magic work, I will need to rerun experiments.”

She nodded at my explanation before taking off the helmet.

“Next, I want you to practise with gauntlets and have a feel for it.”

“Yes.”

~~~

The girl put on the gauntlets and inspected them up close. She could see the smooth surface donned with runes. As she checked the armoured palm, she could see a circle inside of it.

It is meticulous, incredibly so; she saw him tinkering with needle-like pencils carving these.

What he was doing was no longer ‘Alchemy’. She saw an artefact creation, a lost art, even in their world.

As she tried to comprehend his full potential, she lifted her hand and channelled her mana; the runes glowed on the gauntlets and released a blast of pure white energy.

The blast erased the mannequin cleanly. The explosion was so intense that Alpha needed to take several steps back.

“Not bad! The recoil is an issue. We can reroute the kinetic energy for extra power for the next blast.” He said that while stroking his chin.

“...”

“Try again.” He pointed at the other mannequin.

Alpha followed his command.

And shot another mannequin.

Another mannequin turned into dust.

“Those dummies are based on human durability. As you can see, you are already deadly. Your mana reserves are higher than usual; the most likely side effect of being reduced to that thing.” Marcus speculated after witnessing this.

“Good, then I will use the very same power they gave to me against them!” Alpha said that while lowering the gauntlet.

“I understand your eagerness, but never rush into things. Take your time, enjoy it, because it won't last long.” The Alchemist said that while gazing at the destroyed mannequin.

“...Did you take revenge against something?” She asked curiously, but she realised she had no right to privy his past!

“Y-You don't need to tell me! If it's important!”

“It's fine. And I did take revenge, several times, waging war against fellow mages and against the world itself.”

Her eyes widened for a second before trying to process that.

“How did it end?”

“I took what humanity valued the most and left it to the stars.” He said that indifferently before pulling another Mannequin for her.

“...And that is?”

“Progress. But, I guess karma finds its way, as I also lost mine.” He said that with a self-mocking tone.

“A lesson learned here, Alpha, be ready; if you take something from someone, then be prepared to lose something similar.

I took technology from humanity, and in turn, I lost all of my 300 years of progress. Just be aware that actions have consequences.”

She thoughtfully nodded at his ‘lesson’.

“Then I think the time for the church is coming, isn't it?” She almost grinned while saying that.

“...Hmm, I suppose it does.” Marcus slightly smirked. He just hoped his little blonde elf wouldn't learn this lesson in the wrong way.

~~~

The pair proceeded to dress up in their new suits. Marcus named them ‘Mark I’. His reason for not calling this Mark II is because this was a new life and a new beginning.

There is no point naming it Mark II when Mark I doesn't exist in this plane of existence.

It is the right thing to do as he is restarting his technomancy. This time, he will make it better, more durable, and longer lasting! He will make sure that even Supernova can't end his creations! That's his bar this time around!

As he was thinking about that, he put the chain main on. The runes reacted to his body and appropriately attached to his body, then boots, which responded to the chain main and sealed in properly.

The thigh protectors, which came with a cover for the knees, then the chest piece, which is the primary protection for the vital areas; the chest piece has some experimental stuff, which Marcus used when he created it.

He was working on a new model before he died; this armour emits specific frequencies to interact with gravity. In other words, another layer of protection. The method is quite simple: metal needs to emit frequencies of gravity. Sounds simple, but for such a thing to employ, he needs High Technomancy infrastructure.

Wasn't there something similar used in Marvel? Was it Vibranium or something like that? The principle is similar-ish. The thing is, something like magic or a bullet won't be able to touch the armour unless a specific amount of mass is employed.

The armour would have a natural field of gravity. But for now, he needs to develop or, more precisely, re-develop the lost technomancy.

After the chest piece, it was the shoulder guards and armour around the biceps area; Marcus created special runes for kinetic absorption after using the central palm cannons.

Since the pair were relatively small, their bodies had not developed, so kinetic absorption to negate recoil was necessary.

After that, it was the gauntlets and, lastly, the helmet.

“My Lord, I love how the helmet deals with my long hair,” Alpha commented as she looked at herself in the mirror. The helmet has tucked her hair inside of it.

“Power of runes. It comes in handy in such situations.” Marcus said that as he felt at home while hearing such armour, he inspected his hands and mana flow. For now, they need to rely on their reserves before they can employ liquid batteries for prolonged usage.

“Yes! Very convenient!”

After inspecting herself in the mirror, the pair left the hideout.

The sun has just set down, and the darkness has settled in.

The pair proceeded to fly. For Marcus, it was normal to fly, but Alpha was struggling.

“Relax, don't push it, let it carry you; think of this like swimming.” The Alchemist watched her over as the girl floated from side to side very awkwardly.

A few minutes later, she had the basic idea down. Once she could fly, they proceeded to visit the closest church.

“Good, let’s begin.”

~~~

As it was dark, the pair easily sneaked into one of the churches.

From preliminary scans of the build, it only had a single individual inside of it.

So the pair quickly entered the back office.

What they are looking for is anything suspicious.

As Alpha was digging through the drawers, Marcus was looking around the room. This trip was the first time he was in a proper civilisation of this world. So, he is getting a feel for it.

“There is nothing strange in this place.” The blonde elf said with an annoyed voice.

“I was don't think they would keep such things openly. That is a stupid thing to do.”

As he said that, he looked around, touching walls and sending pulses of mana into them.

“Hmm…”

He walked around some more before walking over to the bookshelf. After inspecting a couple of books, he pulled one out.

*TREMBLE*

The whole bookshelf trembled as a doorway opened.

“Secret tunnel. Now let's go.”

“Right!”

The blonde regained some hope as they walked underground for several minutes.

What they discovered was a cavern with a triangle symbol.

“That's a…”

Marcus was slightly surprised as it was a triangle similar to the Illuminati symbol. Only red and more demonic.

“That's a symbol similar to a Demonic cult.” The Alchemist comments as he looks at a ‘banner.’ Why would you have a banner if you are a secret society member? That's just stupid.

“Diabolos?”

“Possibility. I can see some papers on that table; it looks like an ‘office’.”

The blonde nodded and walked over to inspect.

For a while, she started to read while Marcus looked around some more. He found some primitive-looking needles and cages with dried-up blood.

‘One thing for sure is that the church of this world is a cover for something much more sinister.’

After inspecting the cages, he walked back to Alpha.

“What did you find?”

“These are some sort of logs for transportation of blood of people. It talks about ‘cells’. I assume they are talking about specific cells like the ones I have. They also discussed a girl named ‘Claire Kagenou’ having these cells.

The ‘cult’ as they call themselves, the ‘Cult of Diablos’, are interested in her as she has shown great talent.”

Alpha explained with deep loathing in her voice. It appears she has found the dirt she was looking for.

‘Claire Kagenou, so people with talent most likely have the cells? So ordinary people can't be that powerful? Or is it that volatile dormant mana has that growth spur? Is this how they locate people with those cells?’

Marcus pondered on this.

“There is something about shipments as well. I assume they are talking about other people with ‘Demonic Possession’.” As Alpha finished that, she placed the papers back.

“Yes, since we are in a backwater place, they only mentioned the shipments.” Marcus speculated as he was thinking of looking for bigger fish.

“Not quite. We are not far from elven-controlled lands. From where I came from. Elves have a lot of people with ‘Demonic Possession’.

We are in a good position.”

Marcus, who had no idea about the geography, nodded at her.

“Good, in that case, we will prepare ourselves to ambush them. The less they get these possessed people, the better for us.” As he said that, he remembered the primitive methods they used to do things to those people. As a fellow researcher and inventor, it makes him have a bad taste in his mouth.

“Yes! I won't disappoint you, my Lord!”

After finding the clue they needed, Alpha’s morale went to 110%. She is ready to fight and deal with this cult. Her revenge will be sweet. The blonde will never forget what they did to her.

And for Marcus, he found what he wanted to see. He found test subjects for his inventions and creations.

He has ‘moral high ground’ to utilise weapons of mass destruction on people who research and harvest demonic substances.

Just how much does one need to be desperate for immortality? He achieved this many years ago, but these people, from the looks of it, have been playing with the same toys for countless years.