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“Has anyone told you about how armor and Armor Skills work?” The female human taking her measurements asked. She was one of the armorers working for the school. “And has anyone told you how items work for competitive purposes?” She also wasn’t someone Seraphiel was familiar with.
“They have not, no, on all accounts.” She replied. It hadn’t been one of the topics handled by the schooling before Mahora. She assumed the topic would come up in the future, but no one had gone into it yet. The armorer seemed to be a bit older, outwardly looking past middle-aged. It might also explain why she was working at the school since the Tree at the core of the Academy stopped aging.
“Figures. Not many teachers think about such things, and especially those coming from the other universes have very different ideas about armor, assumedly because it works differently there. Not entirely differently, but at least some.” The woman tapped her lip in thought as she seemed to consider some options. “Anyway, the most important thing to know is that any armor you wear, recognized as such by the System, gets affected by your Vitality. Would be kind of bloody pointless to have a high Vitality stat if your armor didn’t benefit, right?”
“Right.” She wasn’t sure if she agreed but decided to go along with things.
“You’d end up naked after every fight otherwise. So, the armor has a certain amount of Vitality of its own and confers it to you, while you confer a portion of your own Vitality to your armor. This exchange is improved by both your Armor Skill, as well as the quality of the armor. Any supportive Skills may also apply. The net effect is that it is much harder to hurt you while wearing armor. However, you need to keep in mind that the armor’s Vitality almost always ends up lower than yours, and there’s a certain threshold above which the armor will start taking damage, even if you aren’t injured. And as the armor deteriorates, so do the protective qualities.” The armorer explained patiently. “This can be mitigated with quality armor and the aforementioned Armor Skills.”
“You’ve stated Armor Skills plural several times.” Seraphia pointed out.
“Correct. There are several types of Armor Skills, and they only confer advantages when wearing the corresponding type of armor. The bonuses you get from the Skill can be things other than just improved Vitality and protection. The Armor Skills are generally classified by the heaviness of the armor, though there are some exceptions. Generally, the heavier the armor, the more focused the bonuses are on protection. Lighter armor usually provides bonuses to other things to compensate, such as stealth or mana regeneration.” The armorer seemed to reach a conclusion and started pulling out materials, before putting them away again.
“You mentioned exceptions?” She prodded.
“Yes. Well, certain armor types are highly specialized, especially if there’s technology involved, and thus the Skills need to be as well. For instance, there’s this armor type called Ghost Suit that’s specialized in stealth, and the Skill for the armor emphasizes that.” The armorer suddenly looked at her in thought, as if considering if she should say something.
“Just tell me. I’d rather operate on complete information.” She pushed.
“Well, you’re a bit young for this information as we usually wait until later, but then you’d probably find out during the competition anyway, so why wait? You know how many of the things in this universe, and the System, seem to be for the entertainment of the gods? Or at least we assume so. Well, that same applies to Armor Skills. That or the System has a perverted side to it. There’s a certain group of Armor Skills that are generally recognized as much better than others. In fact, they’re clearly overpowered in comparison.” The armorer grimaced a bit.
“No…” Seraphiel had a bad feeling about this. “So, bikini armor…”
“Yep. It's an honest-to-goodness evolved Skill. And it's not the only one of its kind. With some of the Skills, the more revealing the armor, the more powerful the Skill and the effects. At least it applies to men as well, so you’ll likely see plenty of bare chests and loincloths.” The armorer grunted a bit. “However, like I said, you’re too young for that. Besides, we have to abide by the competition rules. I just wanted you to be aware, in case you come across examples during the competition.”
“That’s just…ok, alright, moving on.” She was a little disappointed that a cliché like that came true, but only due to the cliché part of it. She didn’t mind the idea of revealing armor in theory. She’d never been a shy person after all. “You mentioned competition rules.”
“So, to keep things even, you can’t wear some super enchanted armor to skew the competition into an arms race. In the competition for newcomers, all the equipment used needs to be made by other newcomers. The academy keeps a stock of such armor made by previous newcomers that got rather far while still counting as newcomers, but in future years you’ll need to get your equipment made by other students currently studying. That means the general track students.” The armorer finally finished taking measurements and went through a door to a storage area, before returning a couple minutes later holding a bundle.
The armor had a matte-black bodysuit under armor that covered her from neck to toe. The under armor looked to be of material similar to leather, but more flexible, and had almost what looked like tiny scales on it. The armor itself came in several pieces, all made of gold-coloured metal. The chest piece was made up of several segmented pieces of metal that attached to the under armor. The chest area had been shaped to accommodate the female form, and the plates covered her relatively well, coming over her hips, before leaving gaps around her legs for improved mobility, before her golden leg plates and metal greaves finished the rest of her legs. On her shoulders, she had overlapping pieces of metal that left her armpits open, once again for mobility, and her gauntlets came all the way to her elbows.
All in all, it wasn't too bad as far as armor went. The plates had some rather obvious gaps to them, but as the armorer had explained, in this universe that was less relevant, as the armor was worn mostly for the System provided benefit, and not for actual coverage. Yes, hitting the gaps decreased the effectiveness of the armor, but it didn't bypass it. In fact, she could literally be wearing a bikini that counted as armor and get hit on an unarmoured spot and still benefit from armor if she had the corresponding Skill. The main benefit came from the Skill adding the armor's Vitality to her own, not from the durability of the metal. It was weird, and kind of silly, but it wasn't the first time she ran into some weirdness. Her current armor was relatively demure all things considered.
As she used the Gift of Knowledge to identify it, the results were expected.
[Reliable Medium Armor: This armor was made by a student smith, and it’s well made for its level. It’s reliable and gets the job done, but only barely as it’s still the work of an apprentice.]
“So how do I get a Skill for it?” She asked.
Instead of answering, the armorer took a small hammer from the wall and lightly hit her on the shoulder. Both of them stood still, expecting her to get the announcement, that for some reason didn't come. "Umm. Are you sure?" Seraphiel asked with a frown.
"Usually works. Should I hit you again?" The armorer asked with a matching frown. Without waiting she hit Seraphiel again, a little harder this time.
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“Uh, Luci?” Seraphiel asked the empty air when nothing happened.
[Fine, fine. Be boring. You’ve gained the new Skill: Boring armor! My sister is a dull girl and can't have any fun, so she gets a boring Skill, which we both know she'll replace as soon as the competition is over anyway. The Skill improves the effectiveness of your armor, but only slightly, and will only last until the end of the year. Passive Skill. Would you like to be a boring girl and accept the Skill? Y/N]
“A-ha. The System is getting sassy with me.” Seraphiel chuckled while accepting the Skill, as she still had empty Passive Skill slots. “It actually named the Skill Boring Armor.”
“Oh, you got one of those. Sometimes the System can get a bit opinionated. Though this might be the first that I’ve seen of the System only grudgingly giving someone a Skill. These kinds of things are why we think the System itself might be a bit on the pervy side and not just the gods. Anyway, you should be good to go on the armor front. What sort of weapons do you want?” She asked while hiding a small smile.
"I could use a decent shield, but if the weapons are the same quality, then I'm probably better off making my own," Seraphiel stated, while forming a spear using her [Hard-light creation] Skill. That way she could be flexible with weapons and the Skill actually created better weapons than the armor. Maintaining a full armor was rather exhausting though, and any technique that could disable other Skill would leave her unarmoured if she went down that path. Fighting without a weapon wasn’t really an issue for her though.
The armorer noted the same issue. “Could leave you with no weapon.” She pointed out.
“I can manage without if necessary. And if I run into someone who can completely nullify all my techniques, then I have bigger issues than the lack of weapons.” She shrugged.
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The academy's competitive team was gathered into the arena used for official duels. Seraphiel noted that she was the only first-level student, meaning other newbie representatives had not been picked yet. The other levels were decently represented, although naturally those at the ends of each category, so 6th and 10th level, were the most weighted. That said, the difference between a level 5 and a level 6 student wasn’t that large, so talent and Classes were more important. Both magic and general track students were also present, so she could see other uniform colours as well.
“Welcome everyone.” Chachamaru greeted everyone. She wasn’t the only instructor present, as teachers from all three tracks were in attendance. “Most of you are already familiar with them, but let me introduce Instructors Tatsumiya Mana, Chao Lingshen, and Miyazaki Nodoka. Mana is in charge of the Knights, Nodoka of the mages, and Chao of the general track. Nodoka and Chao are also in charge of scouting the competition. The principal is in overall charge of the team of course, but she is mostly busy with other duties, so I have the pleasure of handling most of the team’s business.”
“I thought we were not having any competitions for a time?” One of the oldest students present asked while raising his hand to draw attention.
"That was the original plan, but plans change," Chachamaru replied simply.
“Can we ask why? I don’t mind. It’s just a bit sudden and affects our training schedule.” The same student asked. Clearly the team fostered a spirit of open discussion.
“You can thank Seraphia here for that.” Chachamaru pointed at her, which naturally drew everyone’s attention to her. “We have a good reason to believe she’s going to smash any even remotely equal level competition, and the principal wants to take advantage.”
“Hmm, interesting.” The male student stated, and Seraphiel could sense he tried to identify her and failed. “Very interesting. So, what do we have first?”
“We challenged our sister academies for a quick tournament to kick things off. Simple tournament-style competition to ease everyone in. Nothing too complicated like gauntlets or other weird challenges. Just old-fashioned fights. There might be some team events though. I think one of the academies suggested a survival challenge.” Chachamaru explained.
“A survival challenge?” Seraphiel asked Raziel, who happened to be one of the representatives, specifically of the third-level students. He wasn’t the only one, but it seemed third-level students were not common.
"Basically, you're thrown into an arena array of sorts and progressively more difficult challenges are thrown at you until you fall." Her brother explained in a whisper. "Those tend to be rather interesting. Some Classes are better for duelling, while these kinds of challenges give others the chance to shine."
Chachamaru drew everyone’s attention to her again. “We’re going to have to intensify your training a bit to make sure everyone’s up for it.” She looked towards Seraphiel. “That goes doubly for you since you’re new to this.”
“Bring it on.” She retorted confidently.
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Raziel was both frustrated and proud of his sister at the same time. The teachers had pitted the two of them against each other for training, and they’d been fighting for a while now. And he had been unable to get through his sister’s defence. That was mortifying. He was one of the best fighters of the third level, and he was unable to get a clean hit in. By all accounts, he should have all the advantages. He clearly had higher stats. He had a second Class, albeit he hadn’t had the time to bring it up to parity with his main Class yet. His main Class had already evolved twice, making his Skills stronger. And he couldn’t hit her.
He could practically run rings around her, but it seemed like she knew exactly where he was going to strike every time he attacked, bringing her shield or her weapon made of light to protect her. She obviously had some Skills improving her Vitality, as otherwise she shouldn’t have been able to withstand his attacks even if she did block. It helped that she almost never took his attacks directly. Her shield was always slanted in a way that caused his power to skid across the surface and miss, causing him to overextend instead of being able to directly apply his power against her shield.
Her ability to change her weapon on the fly was also extremely annoying. Her reach changed from moment to moment, and it seemed that the purple glow around her weapon reinforcing it easily transferred over to the new shape. Any time he dodged, the length of her weapon could suddenly change, forcing him to overexaggerate his movements to compensate. She managed to keep him off-balance with little tricks, while he was unable to penetrate her formidable defence. He was certain that he would be able to win in a direct clash of power, which is why she never allowed him to get into such a clash. All his Skills were dodged and avoided with her impeccable and unpredictable footwork.
He wasn’t in danger of losing, but just the fact that he wasn’t winning despite the staggering difference in levels was a loss in itself. He'd sparred with his sister for years, so he knew better than anyone that she was good. Just not this good.
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“Where did you find this girl?” Chao Lingshen asked, eagerly leaning forward as she watched the siblings spar. “I can see why Eva is so confident now.”
“Isn’t the brother just taking it easy on his little sister?" Miyazaki Nodoka asked timidly. "I mean, I'm not an expert in such things, but…"
"He's not," Tatsumiya stated simply. "He's trying his hardest. Well, maybe not his hardest as he's not fighting for his survival, and I sense slight hesitation in his attacks, maybe because of their history, but he is giving full effort. The difference in actual talent is just too large. Stats aren’t everything.”
“They aren’t everything, but they should mean more than this.” Chao’s eyes shined as she identified both. “The brother is ninety levels above her! And she’s only level fifteen.”
"She was level ten when she arrived, and we've only done basic training since," Tatsumiya noted. The semester had not lasted that long. “She’s been working hard. With a couple more months and some time with the arrays…I believe we could get her to level thirty before any serious competitions.”
Chao gave a small whistle. “Does she have some learning Skill aside from the buff everyone at the academy gets?”
“I wouldn’t doubt it. Almost everyone gets offered at least something, and most are smart enough to take the opportunity.” Tatsumiya was quite sure this was the case.
“Let’s push her. The harder we push, the better she’ll respond. I can guarantee that.” Chachamaru promised with a small smile of her own.
"Kaede could take her under her wing when she gets back," Tatsumiya suggested. The elusive ninja liked training only a small handful of students at a time instead of large groups.
"That's a lot of investment in one student," Nodoka noted a little carefully. "Do you not think it's a bit rushed when we haven't seen her take part in a single competition?" She was mostly playing the devil’s advocate as she knew absolutely nothing of this student.
"On the other hand, if we start investing in her early, the greater the rewards." Chao went in the opposite direction.
"I can guarantee that any investment in this student will not be wasted. I have the utmost confidence in that." Chachamaru said confidently.
“You know something we don’t.” Chao realized right away.
"I know a lot of things you don't," Chachamaru replied simply and walked off, sporting a small smirk for having gotten one over her old friends.
-----
Seraphiel stared at her status screen without really seeing it. She’d had a bit of an epiphany during her fight with Raziel. She was stronger than she should be. Even taking into account her stats from her second Class and race. The difference wasn’t massive, but for someone as tuned with her own power as her, it was noticeable. It had taken her a moment to figure out what was going on, but she was pretty sure she’d figured it out.
Lucifer had changed her race into a Celestial. Or had he? He had mentioned that Father had been involved in the creation of her new body, and it would be just like Lucifer to have already made her body into that of a ‘Celestial’ and then pretend he did it only after the System Day. Either way, her race shared the rank of an XXX race with pretty much just Dragons.
At first, she’d assumed that just meant she got the same stat growth. But that wasn’t it, was it? The relationship was reversed. Dragons were not an XXX-ranked race because of their stat growth. They got the largest stat growth because they were XXX-ranked race as a base already. Elves gained more Agility and Perception because those were the stats their base body leaned into. They were lithe, flexible, and had excellent senses. On the other hand, Giants got more Strength and Vitality because of their large and sturdy bodies. Obviously, Dragons were superior to almost everything else at a base. What did that mean for her though?
She didn’t have the strength of a Dragon. Yet. She was still growing, and it was undeniable that her new body would slowly turn more like her real one over time until the two became indistinguishable. So, was that the reason? Her base, so to speak, was slowly transforming to match her rank? It would certainly explain it…