Chess Mage of Faerûn

Chapter 543 The Armor Takes Shape
The frost of winter seemed to have bid farewell to this land with the end of the winter's month, leaving only a trace of chill on the high cliffs, but it could not stop the quietly emerging spring.

On the flat plains, signs of activity gradually appeared. The diligent people of the cliffs, led by the druids, checked the growth of winter crops between the furrows and planned to prepare for the upcoming spring planting.

Before the commercial district under construction has reached its full scale and more shops have opened, a comprehensive college aimed at popularizing basic knowledge and vocational skills, and emphasizing both general education and vocational education, has sprung up on the outer ring of the city. On its first day, it welcomed a large wave of eagerly awaiting students and their accompanying parents.

In the latter half of the month of sunset (i.e., March), while the rest of the northern region was still in the chill of early spring, the people of Gaoya, who had spent the past two weeks preparing for spring planting and sending their children to school, could finally begin to cultivate the land.

Meanwhile, in the Shadow Plane, a mage deep within the Shadowcliff Keep enchanting factory examined the work before him.

This is the torso section of a suit of armor. The dark, smooth armor plates have a fine, lustrous sheen similar to the glaze of porcelain. They interlock with each other and are reinforced with rivets.

The craftsmanship of the Keen artisans is undeniable, and the Elemental Forge is also impressive, but this power armor is clearly more than it appears on the surface.

If you remove the rivets and peel off the outer ceramic steel sheet, you can see the engravings that rise on the inner active metal deck. These are mysterious proverbs inscribed here in the form of runes.

The silver hooks and ironwork, forged from a mixture of shadow steel and pure silver, outline the paradigm of runic language, transcribing the ancient and magical chapters.

A total of three rune combinations were imprinted on the inner layer of the power armor:

Du-Laka and Jeha-Da, these two spells that solidify and resist magic are among the most proficient combinations mastered by mages, and they are also widely applicable.

The last one is Nir-Kadu-Inlan, the anti-gravity rune. This rune word, used on the ancient creation Shadowsteel Golem, is quite complex, and most of the past twenty days have been spent testing its application effects.

Using only a portion of the armor as a support is certainly insufficient to support the zero-gravity or even levitation effect of the entire power armor, and prolonged hovering flight would inevitably exhaust the power of the crystal reactor.

However, the magic power condensed by the runes themselves is enough to offset nearly 40% of the power armor's weight, and in a high-energy state with external energy infusion, this ratio can even be pushed to nearly 80%.

Even with the wearer's own weight added, the total weight is still reduced to an acceptable range, making it feasible and practical to maintain short-term levitation flight with the thrust of the external rocket backpack.

As for rocket backpacks, that's a mature technology. Old Clockwork has already built several and tested them. You just need to adjust the proportions according to the average person's body size. Of course, the output power will inevitably be reduced accordingly.

With the runewords already inlaid, Zhang Yuan carefully disassembled the remaining selected inner armor plates and began drawing the next stage of alchemical spell circuits.

Both runes and alchemical arrays are highly sophisticated systems. Randomly intersecting or even overlapping them will inevitably cause interference and obstruction between them. Rather than spending energy arranging the needles and wires, it is better to simply distribute them on different armor plates.

The thickest and sturdiest shoulder armor bears physical and magical resistance runes, while anti-gravity runes are engraved on the chest armor. What the mage sees now are several armor plates on the abdomen.

For the sake of flexibility, the waist and abdomen area of ​​the power armor does not use a large, single armor plate, but is made up of several polygonal armor plates linked together, which is just right for placing the first and simplest magic circle.

Constant temperature regulation. The structure and principle of the constant temperature array are not complicated. Based on the effect of the first-circle arcane tolerating elemental damage, it can withstand temperature differences of 60 to minus 40 degrees Celsius. Unless there is an extreme climate caused by arcane distortion, the wearer under the protection of this spell is immune to heat and cold.

Don't underestimate this magical air conditioner; it's truly indispensable.

All-metal composite enclosed power armor sounds incredibly cool, but only the unfortunate souls actually inside this metal can can truly understand the bittersweet experience.

Don't even think about breathability. But due to the characteristics of tin cans, they are warm in summer and cool in winter. Whether you get heatstroke or freeze, there's always one that suits you.

Not only did Master Zhang not want his power armor to lack the power of the other man's fearless vehicle, but he also thoroughly learned the driving environment inside that iron coffin.

Over the next two weeks, spell circuits and nodes were etched onto the armor plates by the mage's steady hands.

In addition to the temperature-regulating array on the abdomen, air filter bubbles and spell nullification barriers were successively engraved inside the helmet and on the back armor, forming a second line of defense behind the steel shell together with the runewords.

The former, as its name suggests, filters out evil miasma and poisonous gases to protect the wearer, while the latter provides the most solid talisman for brave warriors charging into battle.

The Spell Nullification Barrier, once activated, can resist and neutralize the effects of all fourth-circle and lower-level arcane spells within a twelve-foot radius, and also provides some resistance to higher-level spells.

If the mage hadn't made further progress in alchemy, solidifying such a sixth-circle arcane spell onto armor would have been extremely difficult. Keep in mind that the caster themselves are only at this level; enchanting a spell of the same rank is far more complicated than simply casting it.

This spell-nullifying barrier lasts for less than twenty seconds and can only be activated once a day.

Even so, it is still a powerful trump card.

Imagine, weak enemies facing the terrifying sight of a can of tin can thrown in their faces can only pray for an arcane miracle, and a spell immunity at a crucial moment can easily send their mentality into the abyss.

As for encountering spells of level five or higher?
Excluding the extremely rare occurrence of a high-level spellcaster on the enemy side, the high cliff knights, with their armor's magic resistance, runeword protection, and the added support of barriers and flight packs, still have a considerable chance to put up a fight and perhaps even give the enemy a good beating, if not a chance to turn the tide.

On the first weekend of the fourth month—Storm Month—the final piece of the puzzle was completed, bringing the power armor enchanting project to a close.

This puzzle piece is called Chanem's apparent death organ.

A complex and intricate multi-layered magic array is inscribed on the left side of the chest armor, closest to the heart. The spell circuits are interlocked, unfolding around several nodes and a central hub, resembling a spider web or even a star chart.

This bold attempt stemmed from the mage's confidence in his alchemy and his understanding of the Necromantic Alchemy School. The first circuit was used to detect the wearer's life status, and once the wearer showed signs of death, the second spell reaction—Feign Death—was triggered.

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(End of this chapter)