"Poor Vark, that was cruel. That is not how technomagic works for them" it had been weeks since the system AI had spoken so he had kind of forgotten about it.
"What do you mean? It worked he was able to make the colour change and also summon a sun"
"That because all you did was program a true magic spell into the medium, he won't be able to do that. He was just activating your spell and the use of variable input is possible but that is not how it works."
Infy words had been true, it only took a day before Vark had returned to report that he wasn't able to replicate the spells. Null felt awful and explained to Vark that it seemed it was something unique to him.
He was disappointed and felt that he had wasted his time when he could have just earned some EP and learnt it from the library. He had tried to get the system to teach him but he kept getting shut down and told to go earn some more EP.
'I think it's time I focus on something else, I need a new weapon. My weapon was useless in that last fight' Null knew it was time to move on to something more practical. Weapons first and then use the knew Zallium to make some spells.
'I think I should go for a staff or polearm and look into creating a fusion window shield gauntlet' Null disappointment was quickly forgotten once he started to think about creating new equipment. He always enjoyed the task of creating. He found it to be relaxing plus he would get to try out the equipment.
After tinkering and practising in VR he had settled on a two-part partisan polearm instead of a staff. It was built in two pieces each piece was 3 feet (90cm) long. The Shaft of the weapon had a hexagonal cross-section and was made from carbon nanotube and imbued to be near weightless.
This 3-foot shaft could be wielded as a short staff or be combined with the top half which used the same material as Jania weapon. It had a Titanium-3-Gold spearhead with 6 inch upward curved protrusions on both sides attached to a small shaft that help with parrying blows. Both halves of the weapon could be wielded 1 handed or they could be connected to make a full 6 foot Partisan.
Null made a practice version of the weapon and asked Jania if she was up for a spar. Jania had beaten Null to the practice room. She had gone nearly 2 weeks without any action and was antsy for a fight.
"Weapons only, no spells, no abilities, no hybrid mode, Do you agree?" Null was setting the ground rules he wanted to test the weapon, not their overall fighting skills.
"Only if after testing we can have a real spar with powers" Jania didn't mind practising with weapons but she was still keen to find the trigger for her berserker ability she had discovered while fighting the abomination.
The first battle lasted only 5 seconds, Null had been using the weapon in its combined configuration which had allowed for Jania to wrap the rope end of her weapon around the head of the staff and use the long leverage to pull the weapon out of his hands.
"Well that could have gone better," said Null
"I don't know it went pretty well for me" replied Jania before getting ready for round 2.
The second battle was a lot more even. This time Null was using it in the duel wielding configuration. He could use the spearhead end to parry and lock in place Jania scythe while he had deliberately wrapped the rope end around the short staff end. With both hands occupied, it became a battle of leg reach. Jania was 5 years older than Null and was a good 8 inches (20cm) taller so also had the longer leg reach, it had taken a while but Jania was finally able to pin Null down.
" 2 – nil, you aren't even a challenge" Jania was teasing Null, they had sparred enough that they knew how to push each other's buttons.
"Oh let's see if you can beat me at full power" Null had taken the bait.
Chris and Lisa had both come to watch the match as there wasn't much else to do.
"So what do you think" asked Lisa.
"She beautiful" Chris had spoken without thinking.
"Oh, really? Why don't you tell her that" Lisa enjoyed teasing her son, she knew that the two of them had been spending a lot of time together.
"Uhm, what, No the new weapon is beautiful" Chris was embarrassed but believed he had saved it.
"Yeah.. the weapon ok. So Chris what do you think our next move should be"
" Well, Null and you have been throwing yourselves into research. Jania is going stir crazy and has been ready for the last week to go do something. I'm ready to do something as well."
Lisa didn't disagree but she didn't know what they could do. "It all well and good, but what can we do. I think that mission was a once-off deal"
"We won't know until we talk to Littleman, I want to see if we could do some training mission or something. If the council wants to use us, they let us grow a little"
Chris and Lisa's attention was drawn back towards the two warriors who were currently having an argument
"Hey!, That's cheating!" Jania was currently arguing with Null.
Null argued back "But you agreed that we could use our full powers".
"But it took me ages to activate berserker mode and you just went and cancel it" Jania understood Null wasn't cheating but she was disappointed that she hadn't got the chance to stay in berserker mode for longer.
It had taken Jania most of the fight to realise the trigger for berserker mode was emotional. She had to reach a certain level of battle-lust before she could channel it. She found that in berserker mode she tunnelled in on the battle and couldn't focus on anything else. She wanted to train more to find out what her limits were while in the mode but it was difficult to enter.
Jania entered pout mode and sat down cross-legged on the floor.
"It is unfair to fight you at full power little-bro. Any chance you can make an anti-field spell for our suits? Or maybe an anti-anti-field spell so you can't cancel my berserker mode"
"We would need more Zallium. I have plans for our current amount. I'm not positive that I could make those spells as they are a little bit unique." answered Null. Lisa and Chris had now entered the conversation. Chris helped Jania off the floor, shaking his head at her childish antics to which she responded by poking her tongue out at him.
"I think its time we talked to Littleman and see if we can do some more missions" stated Lisa