Safe and secure in my new form, I stride confidently forward, intent on showing off. I manage to take two steps, before I’m exhausted. Who would’ve thought that making ice super dense would make it so heavy?! My highest stat is dexterity! I should be able to fucking move around is some freaking armor.

There must be a solution here. Making the armor smaller is obviously not a solution. I need the protection, for survival. But I also need mobility for survival! Some of those big things hit hard. I’ll be a sitting duck if I can’t dodge heavy blows…. What if I use explosions to move? That could work, right?

I consider the possibility and then decide there is only one way to find out. At my command, an explosive orb of fire forms behind my armored calf. My muscles strain, attempting to move me forward under the massive weight. The orb explodes, to aid my leg’s forward motion. My leg accelerates, straight forward, taking my other leg with it. Unfortunately, my upper body did not go forward at the same rate, but smashed into the ground instead.

I stare at the ceiling, nursing my bruised pride. The moment of confidence I had is shattered. My eyes moisten, feelings of despair welling inside of me. I shake my head as if to dislodge my thoughts of giving up. I can still do this. I can get better. I may not have talent, but I can improve through effort and diligence. I’ve already improved so much since I got here. What if I used less powerful explosions and spread them equally over my body? Or if I made the ground ice and slid around somehow? Um… let’s see. Well, I can burn intangible stuff like emotions so they don’t affect me. What if I burn weight or gravity somehow? What if I burn gravity to power the explosions, but instead of explosions they’re like a constant flame pushing outwards! If I could do that, then maybe I could fly or-

A loud clang rings through my helmet, dispersing my thoughts. Honey stands over me, blades in hand.

“I like your new armor. Very intimidating,” Honey grins at me, hefting her blades. “Need a hand seeing how sturdy it is? I would love to help.”

“You know, normally I would, but it’s too heavy for me to move.” I admit. Honey looks at me like a curiously shaped shell at the beach or a strange item in a pawn shop. Her head cocks to one side, trying to figure me out, her grin fading.

“You made it out of Source, right?” She asks, slowly. After seeing my nod, she continues. “Then why don’t you control it and tell it to move, like you would if it was a fire orb?”

“But, it’s too heavy! I don’t have enough control over Source to move something so big!” I protest, not willing to believe it could be so simple.

“You don’t have to move the whole thing,” she says, poking and prodding at my armor with her blades, probably trying to judge how much of beating it can handle. “Just move the joints. You don’t need so much Source to fuel your body anymore because your outer layer is already tough enough, so re-prioritize your usage.”

“……” I say nothing out loud, but berate myself for my stupidity in my mind. It is such a simple and elegant solution! And to think I was considering giving up.

“When you figure it out, come find me. It’s been a while since you and I had a good training session,” Honey turns to leave after a few minutes of my awkward silence.

“Wait!” I call, swallowing the few bits of my pride I have left.

“Yes?” I can barely see her arch an eyebrow at me while I strain my neck to see her.

“Could… could you help me up first?” I mumble.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear you. Could you say it louder?” Honey says, touching a hand to her furry ear.

“Help me up please?” I strain, a little louder.

“Oh? Why do you need help up?” Honey looks at me with fake surprise.

“I’m too weak to do it myself,” I reply with gritted teeth.

Blades sheathed, Honey saunters over and lifts me up with ease. That I look about three times her size when in this armor makes the feat even more impressive.

“Maybe you should learn how to make a cane out of ice next,” Honey says, a twinkle in her eye.

“Please do-“

“Cause you’re an old man!” She laughs at her own joke.

“-n’t,” I finish. “That joke was just as bad as Mordai’s, minus the sexual content.”

Un-phased, Honey waves off my comment, walking away to allow me space to experiment. I think I heard her mumble something about not wanting to get fallen on, but that would be rude. And Honey respects me, probably, so she wouldn't be rude.

I take a few minutes to center myself, and to think about the advice Honey gave me. Just move the joints. Seems solid in theory, but I remember how hard it was to coordinate all my muscles to complete powered-up actions while also fighting. A delicate dance of control I’m none to good at. Normally I’d say practicing until it becomes second nature, would be the easiest course. Just spend all day in the armor, which I want to do, anyway. Easy as that. However, unlike the others I am worried about what might be down here in this sub-dungeon. If it is previously unexplored territory, it can only add to our problems.

The Dungeon Master’s tests worry me, but I’m getting another ominous feeling. That ‘Creature under my influence’ that keeps popping up in my notifications? He is consistently defeating Floor Champions and Floor Masters. Can someone or something that powerful truly be under my influence? No one likes to be under someone else. I know I sure as hell don’t like being in debt to the Guild. There is no way this being is happy being under my influence. More reason to figure out this armor thing fast. I’ll just try hard.

I follow Honey’s advice and am able to lurch forward with jerking steps. After a few minutes of ‘walking’ around I break into a light jog. Or, try to, at least. I lean forward, like I usually do when I jog, and my weight carries me forward. My feet struggle to keep up with my falling upper body, propelling me forward at speeds I am not comfortable with. My battle with gravity ends abruptly when I crash into a wall. The long spikes in my armor embed me to the wall, holding me to the wall. So, the whole ‘try hard’ thing didn’t pan out. I relax my weight into the wall, letting my feet get some relief from all the weight.

Time to brainstorm a new idea. I’m gonna scrap the external assistance ideas I had before. This monstrosity is made of my magic. I feel like that is the key to figuring this out. What do I know about moving humanoid magic? Or just moving magic creatures? Henry moved humanoid magic… Slimes are creatures made of magic, but they move just fine despite not having muscles or anything… Is there a connection? Hmmm. Well slimes have cores, but Henry’s Shadows didn’t. Henry said that the Shadows could move and think on their own, but slimes don’t think, right? I’m not sure I’d want thinking armor. Although, that could have some uses.

I have a core, but it is different from the ones slimes have. My Monster Core’s energy would react badly with the Vampire energy in my armor, I think. Can I make a core? What would I make it out of? I guess I could use my blood because it would synergize with my armor. If I could just form it into some sort of crystal and imbue it with… Wait a second. I already fucking did that! I’m so fucking stupid sometimes.

I add a command to my Blood Crystal necklace, ordering it to assist my movements with the armor. My motions stutter a bit, caused by a delay in the Blood Crystal reading my intentions, but I still manage to wrench myself free of the wall with more power than I could muster on my own. For the next hour or so I do all the movements I can think of, trying to acclimate myself to the new delay in movements. I’m nowhere near as fast as I was, but my very movement has a sense of building momentum. Surprisingly, my dexterity didn’t become completely useless, it just changed. I found that I can still step quickly and move my hands fast, but large motions are much more taxing.

Quinn interrupts me while I’m considering the possible changes to my fighting style. She pulls my staff and shield out of her satchel as she approaches me.

“You’re going to take that stuff off at night, right?” She says with a frown, handing me my weapons.

“Yeah! Yeah. Of course,” I stammer. I honestly hadn’t considered it.

“Okay, well Honey sent me over cause you looked like you’ve gotten the hang of moving around. She says she’ll give you thirty seconds to brace yourself,” Rising up on her toes, with wings spread for balance, Quinn plants a kiss on my helmet, where my mouth would be. She makes a face at me, “I’m not a huge fan of the cold. Anyway, good luck darling! Try not to get hurt.”

Quinn hops and skips a few feet away before twirling on shapely legs to turn and face me. She stands next to Mordai, who is watching me with a knowing gaze. He smiles at me with a wink, and blows me a kiss. I smile back, even though she can’t see, my face. What a cute little Angel I’ve been blessed with. Off to my side I can hear counting, followed by a rapid patter of feet. I brace myself to meet my attacker, forming my staff into a spear and hefting my shield.

Flowing in the wind of her movements, her long-white hair flutters. Honey hurtles toward me; her pure white smile is a sharp contrast to her ebony skin. Corded muscle presses against her skin, undulating rhythmically as she twirls her curved blades. I rumble forward to meet her charge head on, a new strategy for me.

Mist streams around me as I lumber forward. I band my spear against my shield, in an effort to intimidate my opponent. Honey doesn’t slow down at all, so I tuck my shoulder beneath my shield to brace for impact. At the very last second, Honey spins out of the way. Lowering my center of gravity, I slide to a stop, twisting to face her. I come to a stop, my eyes catching the 3 sheared spikes laying on the ground where I had passed her. She got me. I assess my armor to find 2 long cuts repairing themselves. I’ll need to be more careful.

Not waiting for me to recover, Honey charges again. I raise my shield to block her attack, but she jumps into the air, kicking against the top of my shield with both feet. The edge of my shield is forced back, hitting me in the face. In a movement I would’ve thought impossible, Honey does a backflip off my shield to land on her feet. I stumble backward from the force of the blow, her blades relentlessly chasing me.

I use my high dexterity to move my shield to deflect as much as possible. I’m on my back foot and I’m losing. I need to move forward. I know my armor can take a hit or two, so I stop worrying about blocking all the attacks and charge forward instead, seeking an opening with my spear.

Like a feather in the wind, Honey floats out of the way. Her blades rain punishment on me, aiming for the joints in my armor. The ice reforms as fast as possible, but her blows are faster. I roar my defiance, attacking her with a flurry of quick thrusts. She dodges them flawlessly, a single blade chopping off my spear-head.

I reform a spear head as fast as possible, not relenting in my thrusts. She makes to slip past my guard again, but I will the spear tip to explode. The explosion of ice causes a small cloud of mist to form, filled with sharp ice crystals. I know she won’t be damaged by that, but I need a distraction. Knees bent, I twist my waist cocking my body like a spring for one big attack, meant to overpower her. Before I can finish setting up, a leg snakes out from beneath the cloud of mist. Honey hooks my knee, knocking me to the ground.

With her foot on my chest and a blade pointed at the slit in my helm, Honey tells me my flaws.

“Your armor is solid, I’ll give you that. But you’re just too slow. You need to work on your footwork. You don’t have what it takes to be the big, strong guy on the battlefield. Be heavily armored if you want, but be quick on your feet,” She says, in a matter-of-fact way. Heavy breaths and a big smile betray her though, I think she had fun beating me up. “Your shield-work is pretty good. It goes well with your armor. However, your spear skills are horrendous. Don’t you have a class that focuses in spears now? What’s the deal?”

“I, uh, haven’t figured it out,” I admit.

“If I were you, I’d spend the rest of the day practicing,” Honey suggests. “Get the basics down. You can forge your technique in the fires of combat tomorrow.”

Ah yes, the giant bugs. I am ecstatic. So. Very. Ecstatic.