The Apprentice of Ouroboros [Monster Evo LitRPG Adventure]

As the arcane lights dimmed due to the late hour, Trevor and Neska worked laboriously, putting together a small ritual to craft the ceramic inserts. The threading that contained the linking enchantments and the ability to transform and fit the wielder was already done. These were the contingency triggers: to create a burst heal for the wielder should the plates be heavily damaged, and by virtue, their wielder.

Surprisingly, crafting rituals were not that difficult. The focus was the item itself, and the runes were etched directly onto the material. In this case, the ceramic composite of ground wasp chitin and other binder material that Trevor had baked in, with the assistance of one of the crafting professors.

It surprised her they still focused on that. Apparently, equipment for frontline soldiers and students commanded a premium, and there was nonstop demand for the latest equipment to give an edge, if levels and abilities were lacking. She hadn’t really thought about it that way; item builds could be used to bridge the power gap between a soldier and a higher-tier foe.

She lowered her body, keeping herself perfectly still as she etched in the acid to make the negative for the rune. “You have very steady hands,” he said as they progressed through the multiple plate inserts.

“One advantage of this body. Good muscular control.” Or it could be her agility, which had increased substantially since this adventure began. Though she also thought some attributes may be form-limited. A passage in the Codex of her Interface mentioned it, but offered no specifics. “You know what, you can throw out the concept that I’m cold-blooded. Monster biology is different.”

“Your emotional range would suggest as much.”

“Huh?”

“You run hot when you need to.”

She flicked out her tongue in annoyance. “I do not.”

He chuckled softly. “A poor attempt at a pun, on my part.”

“Huh. Usually that’s my job.” She kept focus on the rune, etching the symbol for ‘burst’ that should set up a trigger activation if the plate was damaged to a certain point. In a way, having the plate fracture may prove to absorb or divert the kinetic energy of a blow. “There’s honestly still much I don’t know about myself.”

“You worry too much.” Juni, Syra, and Brent were all on the other end of the room, playing cards. Unsurprisingly, Brent was winning, though Juni had a small stack of chips sitting on her side of the table. “Full castle, read them and weep, Brent,” Juni grinned as she flopped down her hand.

Brent just wore a smug expression as he slid chips her way. “Cards is a long-term game. You win one round, you lose one round…but where are you in a hundred? The really skilled players always win in the end.”

“I’m out of chips, what do I bet?” Syra huffed, blowing bubbles out of annoyance.

“Favors?”

“Oh, I am never doing that thing we did together ever again,” Syra said with a click of her tongue.

“What thing?” Juni squinted and peered at Brent, shuffling the deck of cards

“Uh, nothing,” Brent said, frowning softly as Juni dealt a new hand. His expression became unreadable to Neska as he sank into the game, and they continued betting.

“Oh, I want to hear about this one, wolf boy. I’ll wager one secret of mine for one of yours.”

Brent folded his hand on the table after placing his blinds. “Oh, hell no. I need to be able to live with my dignity after this war with invading monsters is over.”

Neska smiled softly as Juni leaned into egging Brent on. It was nice to see her making friends in the same circle she found herself in. Though Kasfew and Noricatu weren’t here and had elected to take more close-quarters combat lessons in the evening, and likely retired thereafter. The sting of the wasps at close range had sparked a determination to never be overwhelmed, even when out of their element.

Kasfews’ sum-up was to be the best rival she ever faced. She could live with that rationale. Maybe someday they’d spar off against each other. It might almost be fun.

She nearly dropped her dripper at that thought, and she froze. “Something up?” Trevor asked, confused.

“No. I’m just… double-checking. Okay, add the neutralizer. This etch is done.”

Internally, it was another matter. Ew, ew ew ew! How can you like someone for precisely the same reasons you can't stand them?

Told ya not to develop feelings for the birdbrain. Though I do like this egghead working with us. and Brent.

His head is not shaped like an egg! I should know best. Let's focus on the task at hand, Vivi?

Without another word, Trevor added the second chemical to prevent the acid from eating fully through the plate. They next added the glossy coating to the rune material to fill the cavity, with concentrated mana dipped in her [Love Bites] antivenom. Once the rune glaze cured, it would function as an emergency healing burst effect. Even if the plate fractured accidentally, it shouldn't harm the user.

The card game ended later, and by then, Neska and Trevor had finished the last plates for the armor inserts. The fabric remained on the drying racks, and Trevor looked at it with one of his scope tools, furrowing his brow.

“Well?”

“It’s…better than I expected.” He wore a proud smile. “I’m not entirely sure why. Either precision, premium materials…or a little luck.”

Neska examined the small device in his hand. It displayed a jumble of letters and numbers like the interface she didn't quite know how to read. “Trevor, this looks like gibberish. How can you read this?”

“Oh, it's still a bit of a work in progress. It's an attempt to predict the Interfaces' ‘read’ of a device, or the potency of an equipment item and its impacts on physiology and Attributes. There are various sequences within those lines of a text that I can interpret.”

“And?”

He paused, reading the display again. “Okay, theoretically, we've made a cheap, reliable light armor survival suit.”

He went to the chalkboard and ran a few calculations. “Alright, are you ready for this? Plus four to Agility and Endurance when equipped. High resistance to a broad spectrum of toxins. The plating inserts have the [Fragile] tag and trigger a heal burst that should last for…fifteen seconds. Wow.”

“What's it called?”

“Uh…interesting. The Interface has a name for it. It's registering a 'Vespid Gambeson of Survival'. A bit on the nose, but, hey, I don't feel like every bit of equipment needs a name.”

“Sure it does.” Neska clapped him on the shoulder, smiling proudly. “You've made something incredible.”

“We did, technically.” His voice faltered on the words, and his cheeks seemed a bit flushed. Oh, now he was bashful? “We will still need to test my morphic enchantment to see how many forms it adjusts to. For you, Brent, and Syra, it should be straightforward. Juni will be a little tougher. I'm sure the love birds will enjoy a set, once I work around their varied wing types.”

“What about evolutions?” Neska asked. “Trevor, I'll be Tier three sooner or later. So will the rest of us.”

He shrugged. “As long as the evolutions aren't a radical departure from your current forms, it should be easy to adjust.”

“Speaking of which, is there any rhyme or reason to evolutions? I've been a bit short on time to look them up.”

“Yes and no. Other Awakened have reported variance in their available evolutions. There may be attribute gates, ability gates, or even title gates that preclude one from evolving into certain forms. Though your choice of lamia is unusual enough. There's maybe a half dozen on campus.”

“And I am friends with none of them so far.” She huffed impatiently. “After we deal with Markus, I'm fixing that.”

“To do…what?”

“Make a coil ball. It's a thing snakes do.” She wondered if he knew what exactly that meant as she wore a fanged smile.

“To…socialize?”

“Something like that.” She glanced at the armor. “I want to try it on. It's all set now, right?”

He glanced at it, testing the fabric. “Should be. It's dry. Go right ahead. If the Interface detects it as I've described, it should prompt you if it's all correct.”

The garment reminded her of the leather armor that Hadley favored. The armor slid over her head and neck easily, with overlapping buckles on the sides she used to secure it. It felt comfortable against her scales, sliding effortlessly. She could feel the bulk of the armor inserts covering her chest and torso, with smaller plate inserts along the flanks. It provided significant coverage without otherwise inhibiting movement.

After a moment, she buttoned up the last bit. It felt a touch stiffer than before, and fit over her regular academy uniform without issue. She glanced at the sleeves, the fabric feeling snug against her arms. Bracers or gauntlets could be added, in theory, but she preferred a high-mobility combat routine. “So this fits nicely. But where's that adaptive feature?”

“Well, your upper half is mostly human…ish.” She tousled her feather strands and flashed him a fanged smile for emphasis. “Emphasis on the’-ish’ part of that statement.”

“That was the most monotone statement I've heard from you. Something to add?”

“J-just, um, uh, pull up your Interface and see if there's an option for the adaptive toggle. That's what my other prototypes typically showed.” He shied away as Neska pulled up the display.

Equipped item has additional functionality. Activate? Y/N.

Well, here we go. This better not turn me into a knotted snake or anything. She activated it and felt the fabric stretching along her torso. Additional plating that had seemingly disappeared into pockets on the material during assembly reappeared. It hugged the flanks of her serpentine body, stretching to bring the dark green fabric along her lower torso to where her tail started.

She arched her body, testing the material for any reduction in her mobility. To her delight, it stretched and flexed with her body, and didn't interfere with her scut scales on her belly. The plate inserts added a little weight, but it was not a significant encumbrance. If anything, it felt like a fully optimized protection-to-mobility ratio.

Plus, with her upgrade to her [Sudden Molt], this gear was staying permanently attached to her. She gave Trevor a coy smile. “Well, it looks like I’m not the only one who gives snugs.”

“Uh, the fit is intentional. Loose armor gives foes means of grabbing hold, or finding folds to pierce through." Meanwhile, the Interface was whirring, displaying runic text

Equipment identified. Analyzing…

Okay, drumroll please, Neska. Or a hiss.

I am not going to hiss like a fool. That's reserved for…I don't know, normal people!

Fine, fine. Without further drama…

[Equipped] Vespid Gambeson of Survival

+5 Endurance

+5 Agility

+2 Perception

All insectoidswill treat you as neutral unless engaged in direct hostility

Venom immunity up to and including Tier three sources

[Adaptive]: Accommodates multiple forms and will contour to physiology.

[Fragile]: Armor plates are designed to ablate blows and prevent damage from physical attacks. When fractured by a heavy blow, they will reduce the force of a blow 75% and trigger an automatic regeneration effect on the wielder to heal damage taken.

Unless they hit you with a boulder or a death ray. This doesn't work on bits and pieces.

Neska narrowed her eyes. “Uh, Trevor? Your machine needs work. It not only grants a +5 bonus on those, but also grants bonus Perception, renders insect hostility neutral unless I'm actively firebombing them, full venom immunity up to Tier three sources, and the heal burst also has an emergency damage reduction. Is this normal?”

He gaped at that last one. “Uh…no.”

That sounded like a grossly understated response. “Are you some kind of savant? Were you too conservative in your assessment?” Something had to be playing a role in this unexpected development, and she couldn't figure out what it was.

He shrugged. “Maybe? Oh, Juni, would you do me a favor?”

Juni peered at him, pointing a tiny mouse claw. “Do you a favor? Oh, no. Thanks to her, I now have two mad arcanists to worry about, by the sound of it. Divines forbid the Awakened ever become compatible with humanity and you two mate.”

“We would have the smartest lamias on the continent. Who hopefully will not take after their mother, who tends to detonate, burn, or rip apart giant monsters on an uncomfortably frequent basis,” Neska said, nodding proudly. Trevor stammered like a steam engine with a leaky valve, unable to comment on the quite improbable scenario where that became possible. “Oh, and I think he wanted you to try on the armor set, to confirm if it gives you the same attribute boost.”

“Yes, absolutely! I would love to know the variance in equipped attributes, and determine if we have found a currently unknown synergistic bond between equipment and wielder!” Neska couldn’t help but notice his voice pitch was highly elevated, and his words spoken per minute–already high for most–were even faster now. He must truly take passion in his craft.

A moment later, the decidedly oversized suit shrank to fit Juni’s smaller frame, and she stepped carefully. “Well, it fits nicely. But when I dig, is that going to get in the way?”

“Unlikely, seeing as you already can using your academy standard uniform. Now, can you please read back to me the exact status of the equipment?”

Juni sighed; her eyes scanned back and forth, as if reading something. Her puzzled expression only grew. “Uh…well, that’s interesting. Same attribute bonuses, same properties. You might have just made a better light armor set than you planned for, owing to the exceptional talent of one industrious lamia.”

Neska shrugged. “We just followed his blueprints. I think the credit goes to him. This toxin immunity is exactly what we need to deal with Markus. How many sets do we have?”

“Half a dozen? We have materials for more, and we’ll get more bug chitin from the nest as part of the standard recovery option for major Varadur expulsions. Why?”

“Let’s get the team as soon as we have enough sets. The longer we wait, the more I feel like Markus is getting closer to doing something terrifying.”

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