Preparations

[shockingblue]

A: Mythril Cage

[Since encountering what turned out to be the next Herald and feeling that sort of immense pressure and fear, Gunvolt has redoubled his training difficulty. Enough to push himself to new limits; though considerably more dangerous than before. He still played by whatever rules the Cage set up for training protocols, but he's much less conservative in his training regimen.

Whether you're watching him, or actively training with GV as a form of sparring, at some point during this intense training, he takes a gash in his arm. He recoils in pain, hissing and throwing his hand over the wound to put pressure on it as blood starts to flow. A quiet curse in German follows, though it's more at the discomfort and his own screw-up rather than at whatever hurt him.]

Better get this patched up before we continue. Just give me a...

[...A strange sensation fills him as he speaks, which is what gives him pause. Removing his hand from the injury, sparks of bright blue lightning arced through his blood and wound, criss-crossing over it and dancing down towars his fingertips. In a matter of moments, the wound's bleeding all but stopped, and it started to close up on its own. Blinking in confusion, Gunvolt tested his hand and arm... it still stung and was tender, but... he had full range of motion.]

Huh. That's... new. Did you see that...?

[The young man still looks completely baffled by this.]

B: The Anvil and Testing Grounds

[If you're a frequent comer to the Anvil for runic inscription, forging, or anything else involving crafting magical things, you've probably seen Gunvolt there pretty often. Much of the time, he's been tinkering with his armor and Dart Leader, adding and adjusting features and further protection to his equipment. But like his training, he's pushing his limits further, looking for new ways to use his skills and adapt his powers. His toil has been practically relentless over the past couple of weeks; whenever he had time where he wasn't scheduled to train, go to class, or relax, he was here, working on a few new inventions. One was still in blueprinting, but he had started to procure a number of parts... a long pole, some magical runic engine... and he'd ordered what looked like a heavy axe head and speartip. Whatever he had in mind looked to be... quite a thing. It also looked like he was in the midst of developing an entirely new Dart Leader pistol as well, judging by the gun frame on his worktable and several vital components and internals covered by a clear plastic lid.

But for now, he donned the other thing he had been working on. A pair of mythril bracers, etched and runed to the gills in his own specific style. Sturdy, yet flexible, the bracers' purpose wasn't immediately clear by look. GV moved into his testing ground, though it was more like a shooting range.]

Time to see if all this sweat has paid off.

[The Candle closed his eyes, looking like he was envisioning something in his mind's eye. His focus looked intense, and soon enough a few runes on his bracers lit up a dark orange. Drawing his Dart Leader, he fired off a set of darts at the target down range, and then channeled his Radiance. His Flashfield remained a brilliant blue, lightning coursing all around him, though when he threw out his hand to direct it, instead of the usual lightning, a series of fireballs launched out from the field and homed in on the dummy unerringly. The flames exploded and erupted on impact, but the dummy remained standing, thanks to its magical durability. Smoke and brimstone filled the air along with the smell of ozone that sometimes followed Gunvolt's electrical power.

GV looked over to the screen next to his station, which measured estimated damage and energy inflicted on the target dummy, and clicked his tongue, in a mixture of triumph and disappointment.]

...It's working, all right. But I'm still bleeding power in the elemental transfer. The question is... is it the runic pattern I used not efficient enough, is it me, or is this something that can't be helped? ...Maybe another element.

[It was at about that point that Gunvolt realized there were eyes on him, and he turned around to glance at whomever it was over his shoulder. He was still focused on his work, so he might not be paying full attention at just who he was looking at.]

Hey, sorry. Didn't know you were back there. Commissions are a little tight right now, but if you need something made, I might be your guy.

C: Wild Card, Relaxation

[Fortunately, despite his intensity with work lately, he's still not forgotten what Nana and his friends have taught him. Take time for yourself. Recharge. Relax. He takes time to stop by Cafe Phantom to enjoy coffee and sweets while doing some light studying, while also spending time in Aube's common room playing video games, either on console or handheld.

In these places, he can be joined by Monarch, if so desired.]

Comments

[notbornguilty]

I definitely saw it.

[Maybe she should cut down on snacking on her blood pudding supply. Other people's wounds starting to look appetizing is maybe a sign she's let her guilty pleasure have a bit too much reign.]

Some form of lightning based regeneration? From your reaction I feel fairly safe in assuming that's new.

[shockingblue]

It definitely is new. I didn't even think lightning could do something like that, much less my Radiance.

[The worst of the injury was fading fast, and he watched as little bolts of electricity continued to jump over his arm without his command.]

...Sometimes I wonder if Radiance has a mind of its own.

[notbornguilty]

...Little is known about Radiance, despite our best efforts. I'd like to believe otherwise, but it wouldn't surprise me if it did. I was locked out of a whole aspect of my Flame until I got the right push.

[shockingblue]

You too, huh? I think there's a lot of stories about Candles only getting their awakenings when they're given something like that as a catalyst.

[He keeps moving the arm, shaking it out as the lightning around it slowed and eventually stopped.]

Wonder if our Flames continually respond to need... or if they adapt to new situations we find ourselves in.

...And if having a Flame is an adaptation in and of itself...

[notbornguilty]

Well, they seem to be trying to protect us either way, so I wouldn't worry too much.

Oh! Where are my manners? I'm Weiss Schnee, your neighbor. You might have heard about me from Desidera?

[shockingblue]

Ah... Well. I'm... Gustav, though no one calls me that. Just call me GV or Gunvolt. Either of those is fine.

[He gives an awkward, but earnest smile.]

Yeah, I've heard about you from her. And a little from Ruby a few months ago. I'm sorry I've never really stuck around to introduce myself sooner...

[notbornguilty]

It's fine, it's not like I went out of the way to introduce myself either. Honestly, you probably wouldn't have liked me when I first came here. I was a rather... unpleasant person until recently. Ruby... she helped me be better.

[Yeah, there's no hiding the fondness in her tone when she talks about Ruby. GV was the one who brought her up, now he has to deal with this lovestruck dork.]

[shockingblue]

[He chuckles a bit at the idea of him not liking her before.]

It probably would've been fine? Maybe. Couldn't have been worse than Maple being my roommate before Desi came along, anyway.

[Still, he nodded along with the rest of the sentiment giving something of a smile.]

She's something else. Always cheerful and infectiously energetic. Spoke highly of you on the occasions she did. Wish I'd gotten more time to get to know her, but... I was way, way too work focused at that point.

B;

[unlogic]

[With taking only a quick glance back, GV likely just assumed from the uniform that it was just one of the academy's regular students. It wasn't, though; it was Desidera, still in her own uniform because she'd just gotten out of some of her classes and hasn't yet bothered to change into anything more-casual.]

It probably wouldn't be the entire answer, but part of it could be that it's multiple fireballs instead of a single larger one.

[Hearing her voice easily gets him to pay more attention, though, so when he actually turns to face her...] So this is what you've been working on? I know that you've been in here quite a bit recently, but it seemed like a fair bit more often than usual for what you usually do.

[shockingblue]

[Of course he recognizes her voice right away, causing him to wheel around more quickly and look pointedly sheepish that he made such a mistake.]

Ah ha... sorry about that Desi. I uh... got a little wrapped up in thinking about this.

[He held out his arms in front of him a little bit, twisting his wrists and examining the bracers himself once more, watching the runes flicker from orange to a more aquamarine color.]

Multiple fireballs feels easier to launch off, admittedly. I think it's because I get multiple arcs of lightning coming off the Flashfield and it's easier to channel that way. They might all hit the same target, but building them into one projectile is... tricky, so far. It's kinda like trying to play two video games on one controller.

[He walks closer, letting her inspect them more up close. They look extremely complex, as far as runic equipment he usually shows off.]

Yeah. This is... well, I don't have a fancy name for it yet, but it's kinda like an elemental adapter. Basically, an option I have to throw something other than lightning at something via magical conversion. I've built it to work in several elements, but... it still needs testing. I've put a lot of hours into this so far.

[unlogic]

[While she's had some interest in runes (and it really isn't hard to guess why) and had been acting on that interest for awhile by doing some reading up on the basics some time ago (until other things had forced her to put it, as well as some other things, on hold), the more-complex ones still generally elude her if she can't recognize enough of the individual smaller ones that compose them.

So, while she might be able to make out some parts of the entire thing, she can only come away from it with a limited understanding of how it's supposed to work.

Maybe she should resume actually acting on that interest, in one way or another.]

And it works with your darts? I have to say, that is a little bit of a surprise. I thought those were more like little lightning rods than anything else?

[shockingblue]

[Gunvolt smiled a bit, knowingly.]

They essentially are. But the base power of everything I end up converting is Radiant lightning. Even though the runes convert virtually all of the power to a different element, there's just enough residual electrical energy left to attract to the darts.

[He gives the bracers another look over, tracing along one of the inscriptions with his thumb and looking over it.]

It still isn't going to be as efficient as just using lightning, though. It's slower, for one... so anything else converted probably won't be as accurate. Tradeoffs, though. I don't really have the time to go and learn how to do elemental magic of other schools more properly, so I had to adapt the principles of what Professor Kiske taught me to something I already had experience with.

[unlogic]

And I would expect that there's no simple way to try to amplify what isn't lost. [Adding an extra kick to it would almost certainly need to draw additional power from somewhere; it wouldn't simply just work.]

Mmm, this is a bit of a puzzle you've gone and made here, GV.

[shockingblue]

Sure is. But that's the trick of engineering and design. You often have to sacrifice certain things for others, and things that sacrifice nothing are often expensive and impractical.

[He folded his arms and took a moment to think.]

The only way I've come up with is giving the bracers a battery of their own to help boost the output, but a magical battery like that comes with complications of its own. Weight, having to charge it, and potential failures. I used something similar for a pair of shock gauntlets in the past for someone else, but...

It's impractical for the output we're looking at. Those gauntlets were much lower output than the Flashfield is. The reserves in the battery would get depleted real fast in trying to boost how much juice I already generate.

[unlogic]

Maybe it would work, or maybe not, but what if it simply used a portion of what you were already providing, instead? Make it so it takes just enough that it would work, and what's left over could be converted?

[Desi's no engineer, but she's at least trying; GV using some of his own lightning as a potential power source for any further additions would eliminate the possibility of weight and recharging being issues, but...]

Though, using something else for a power source would probably be more effective.

[shockingblue]

That's kinda what I've been trying to do with them natively.

[The conversion is always the hard part... but he didn't start this without expecting a serious challenge. Still, maybe he's looking at this from too limited of an angle.]

...Don't suppose you have an idea for that power source?

[unlogic]

Nothing else is coming to mind at this moment, no, at least nothing that wouldn't make things even more complicated.

[He's going to ask her to spill that idea anyway, she knows it. So, she does:]

Maybe if it could somehow draw what it needed from the area around you? Something like a solar panel, except not necessarily for sunlight. [She pauses for a moment, making one of her frequent hums as she does.] I don't know how viable something like that would be, or if it's even doable through runes.