Now that he could build them using the schema, replicating the runic complex was not far from reach. Within two days' times, Baiyi had set up a prototypical Absolute Territory in his own lab.
Being a prototype, it was still no larger than a room. Of course, the most important part would be to see if the territory could seal off everything like the original, so Baiyi needed an accessory to help.
He snuck into Mia's room while she was sleeping.
The girl had already kicked her blanket away, while her nightgown was rolled all the way up to her waist. Baiyi shut his eyes in an act of modesty and relied on his psychic sense to locate her hammerhead shark plushie.
Even after he returned to his lab, the girl's body warmth was still lingering on the plushie.
"Please, allow me to run your test, Sir Hope. Surely you know of my field of expertise," The Engineer started.
"I beg to differ! I believe I'm more suitable for this; as the goal of the experiment is to test its shielding capabilities towards Void emission, I'm more than qualified for this," The Paladin chimed in quickly.
"Nooo, the stars are aligned in a way that they're telling me I should be the one to do it!" The Astrologer shouted above the din. "Sir Hope had found a way to get close to Michan; let us get a little taste too!"
"If we can't lick Michan, at least let us lick the plushie!...?" The remaining Gentleman cried out.
Those horny bastards were only this invested because the plushie still held the remains of Mia's body warmth. There was no way Baiyi did not know what they were thinking.
He rightfully ignored them and instead invited the Scholar into the plushie. Once everything was settled, he placed the plushie on the edge of the door of the lab while himself stood inside.
The first few emissions were of the normal variety— mana, combat chi and the likes. The Scholar was to signal to Baiyi if she felt it outside the Absolute Territory by wagging the plushie's tail against the door.
There was no signal from the Scholar. Baiyi took a deep breath, then started drawing out Void energy.
Inside, he was shaking a little. If the Territory did not work as he had hoped, and the Church had detected his energy, he would be endangering the Aegis family purely because the location was Tisdale's house.
Fortunately, his Void Energy was shielded within the barrier without a single leak. Of course, Baiyi had no idea of the limit where the barrier would break. He wouldn't dare try it— not presently, anyway— but he had his last battle with the demons for comparison.
Back then, the amount he had released— which had obliterated the demons completely— was still within the limit of the barrier. That level of energy was honestly more than enough as his ultimate move.
… Unless he was facing an opponent on the Demigod Level. But the possibility of meeting one who would beat the crap out of their opponent was smaller than a fraction, Baiyi reasoned. Thousands of years had passed— by now, the realization should more or less dawned on any Demigod-level being that the more serious they were in their fight, the closer they would be to that that thin, red line. And should they ever touch it, they might just wake up and find themselves in the Void.
So barring the possibility of meeting a Demigod Level fighter who would recklessly use his full power, Baiyi reasoned that the opponent he most likely had to guard himself against would be those of the Holy Level. If those fighters were resourceful enough— or desperate enough— they could still pose actual threats to him. But since his Absolute Territory had proven to be successful, he could use Void Energy within the territory to protect himself.
The only thing worth lamenting was that the barrier was static and required preparation to set up. In one word, it was still inconvenient. He also remembered that he had not found a way to remotely activate the barrier.
That was a given, as he had only copied a fraction of the entire Empire Formation. The caravan had activated the barrier after they'd left, which implied the possibility of remote activation. It was likely that the control unit laid within the Empire Complex, along with the ability to mark locations the way those demons had done back then. In fact, there must be more uses for it, too!
Those 'unlockable features' weren't the priorities for now. Baiyi was already pleased with its shielding. Now, he had to again wait for the Scholar to deduce the complete runic schema and its system. What he had was just a static formula, only good enough for static replication. If Baiyi could do as he had imagined— constructing the runes purely out of mana— he could just spread a massive barrier whenever he wanted. With the liberty of using Void energy without penalty guaranteed, he would be unstoppable. 1
With a pang, an impulse rose within his mind, Why don't I join the Church in their crusade against the Godsfall cult?
He would be given access to even more of their runes…
He stopped himself. The Church was an enormous organization, they might never see his talent. Besides, he finally delegated that whole load of trouble to them, did he really miss being tied up by a massive problem so much? He wasn't even alone— there were three girls under his wings, and their talents were all in being, well, moe 2 .
He probably shouldn't attract hostility to himself for no reason.
He returned the plushie back to the owner. After tidying up her immodest sleep pose and putting her blanket back on her, Baiyi went back to his lab. This time, it was to enchant Tisdale's staff.
He went through with his plan to give Tisdale an 'absolute defense' by enchanting his Teacher Summoning spell into her stave. Then, for offense, he added a fifth-grade fire magic, the Inferno Wall— the same spell he had used on the Steppe barbarians. Lastly, he added an assist spell called Hestia's Demureness, which would forcefully convert any remaining mana within the caster's body to the fire element. That assist magic would alleviate the damage and effect of any kinds of fire spells, at the cost of being denied access to spells of other elements.
Tisdale had always been more prodigious in fire spells, so Hestia's Demureness would greatly upgrade her offense. She might even be able to help Baiyi with it.
Why would he place emphasis on her offensive magic? Because Baiyi didn't want to waste the power of that rare magic-enhancing gem. You need to use it or it would be no different than a pebble, right? The Soul Armature admitted that his emphasis on fire magic would create flaws in Tisdale's defense and flexibility, but he could surely use other parts of her gear to fix that. Plus, she already had that Absolute Defense spell…
She will do great with this staff, Baiyi thought. The girl was actually one of the most talented among the students in the Academy. She relied on nothing but her own dedication and wits to enter the elite Golden Rose class, after all. She was only limited by her lackluster gears.
Hence, with Baiyi's guidance and resources, Tisdale would surely grow into a capable fighter. Pairing her up with Mia has affinity with the Water element— this duo would melt the hearts of any enemy and surrender on their own will. The world will then be at peace— isn't that beautiful?
With that lofty dream in mind, Baiyi handed the staff over to Tisdale. He also acted as an audio manual of sorts, as he explained every function of the staff to the girl.
She was jubilant. So jubilant, that the girl had jumped up and wrapped her slender, soft arms around him and gave the Soul Armature's face plate a hard kiss— right in front of Attie and Mia.
The four stood there in stunned silence.
Mia was the first to break the manikin act. She instinctively threw herself at Baiyi, wrapping her arms around his waist as she stood on her toes. What is the kid trying to do now?
Mia released her grip in quickly, realizing her own abnormal reaction. Fortunately, everyone was staring at Tisdale, and had not noticed her…
"S-sir… I was… I-I was merely… Trying to express my gratitude…" Tisdale stammered as the joy of receiving her staff receded quicker than she would liked, replaced by guilt. Her face was red as she spoke in an uncharacteristically soft and unsure tone, and even glanced at Mia.
Mia just gave her a smile.
"Cough, right. Er, please be more careful next time." Baiyi could only pat the girl's head hard as a form of penalty.
It didn't end there. The next morning, Tisdale, in her tidy uniform, rushed downstairs to Baiyi who had been helping Attie in preparing their breakfast, "Sir? Mia seemed to be feeling a little under the weather. She said she isn't feeling well and wouldn't get out of bed."
"Huh, a flu?" He placed the plate down and galloped upstairs to the girl's room, calling out in the journey, "You have your breakfast first, I'll see her."
The girl was still in her bed, her blanket covering her head tightly.
"What's the matter?" He asked gently, pulling the covers down. Mia's eyes was shut, her mouth seemed to be breathing. He touched her forehead and found her temperature to be normal…
Mia's eyes opened. Seeing Baiyi, she flashed him a soft grin. With a soft voice, she said, "Mr. Hope, I'm feeling a bit weak, I can't really stand up."
"What's wrong?" He asked again, even more concerned. "What exactly is hurting you?" He drew his face closer to the girl—
And like a jack in a box, Mia suddenly sprang from her bed and wrapped his neck with her arms, giving his face armor a kiss.
She bit her lips as they curled into a sly smile, as if she was holding on to that lingering taste. "Now, we're even."
Baiyi froze at her antics until the girl started changing her clothes in front of him. He averted his gaze awkwardly, trying and failing to muster the words to reprimand her behavior. In the end, he could only say, "You really shouldn't copy everything your Big Sister Dale does."
"It's just a kiss. You don't like it, Mr. Hope?" Mia said from behind him. Her uniform was already on and she was in the process of putting on her stockings.
"Well, I don't hate it," Baiyi replied earnestly.
"That's great! I do that frequently to my mom and dad, too," She replied, slipping her feet into her shoes and stood before Baiyi again. As usual, she nuzzled her cheeks against her Soul Armature's stomach before hurrying downstairs
If it's the same kiss as the one for your parents, how does that count as even? Baiyi thought as he watched the dancing twin horsetails behind her running silhouette.
Why do you sound like a supervillain? Japanese. It means cute, but unlike kawaii, moe serves as an umbrella term that encompasses all sorts of "cute" tropes