In the morning, Nyx was awoken by one of Powder's contraptions, and Vi's yelling that came soon after.
Laughing at their antics, Nyx got dressed and ready for the day before grabbing some of the things out of his stash.
Running by Vi, he slapped the back of her head and ran out before she could react. "Hey! Nyx, get back here you bastard!"
"Hehehe." Laughing, Nyx grabbed the drink that Vander set out for him to snag, hearing him speak up as he ran out.
"Don't get caught while you're gone. You're already enough of a headache." Though he muttered that last part.
Running off to a secluded spot in the Lanes, it wasn't long before Nyx arrived at his own personal hideout. It was an old warehouse that was long abandoned by the time Nyx arrived and tricked it out.
See when he migrated over to this world, he had wished for a genius level of intelligence, vast amounts of talent for magic, and some kind of supernatural power.
The only problem in there is that he wasn't allowed to pick what power.
But besides that, during his short childhood down here in Zaun, Nyx had transformed this abandoned warehouse into the perfect personal workshop.
Closing the door, Nyx slid a large, thick bar into a slot across the door to make sure it stayed locked.
Sighing, Nyx unloaded his pack onto one of the many desks laid throughout. Taking the hex crystals out and sorting them, he recounted and found that ne now had a total of 117 crystals in total.
Over the past few years, he had lied, cheated, and stolen his way into a stash this large and he was damn proud of it.
Taking one and moving onto the next desk, there lied a large contraption with a slot in the middle for the crystal. Placing it in there, Nyx put on a special pair of goggles before starting to crank a lever on the side, making the large arms that arched over top start spinning rapidly, building up a large amount of energy along the way.
Rapidly tying away at a runic keyboard he had made, he formatted the new energy to converge within the crystal.
Nyx knew that Victor had, and will eventually do something similar to this in the series, but he had figured this out all on his own. Or he had at least figured out the runic language all on his own.
Using runes to crystallize the electric energy, Nyx watched as the crystal slowly transformed into a perfected version of itself, and it wasn't long before it became a perfect glowing sphere.
Wiping his brow and letting out the breath he was holding, Nyx took off his goggles and gloves before taking the new crystal over to the next station in the line.
This one was the second to last step in the project that was ever so close to being completed. It was his new and improved version of the Hexcore.
Unlike the one that Victor will end up making in the coming decade, this one had modules for a fifth world rune along with the other four that were in the previous model: the Rune of Inspiration.
Nyx still hadn't decided whether or not to change much about the main story yet, but he wanted the power to protect himself from whatever was about to drop itself in his path and a perfected hexcore was the exact thing that he would need for that purpose.
Slotting the crystal into the open window, Nyx fitted the panels he had dismantled to open it back into their spots.
Immediately, the Hexcore lit up with neon blue magical energy, floating above the table. The way it was designed was quote ingenious as well; It was made up if two parts, the inner core and outer shell.
The inner core is what held the five key World Runes that breathed life into the Hexcore. It was essentially a hollow core that held the hex crystal.
The outer shell is where all the fun happened. While de-powered it was made of shifting panels that allowed for inner access, but when powered the panels split into hundreds of other smaller plates that allowed for much more precise and complicated spellcasting. All of these runes on the outside held basic runes that Nyx created in his free time, all of which were connected to basic elemental concepts.
Like a shifting wave, the Hexcore shifted around as if getting used to its body. Nyx could see it in the patters because it vaguely reminded him of how he felt when he first came to this world.
"Hello little guy. How do you feel?"
The Hexcore froze in its undulating motion, before flying into action as it instinctively crafted a spell.
Magical energy was expelled from the core and collected in the air to form letters:
[Hello. Who. You?]
"Haha! I'm your creator, Nyx."
...
[Nyx? What is... My Name?]
Nyx raised a brow at its rapidly growing intelligence. "You don't have a name yet, but I suppose I could give you one... How about Axel?"
...
[♡]
"Haha, Axel it is. We'll why don't you get used to your body while I go and tinker with some of my things?"
Axel didn't respond, merely bobbing up and down as if it had nodded it's head.
Shaking his head, Nyx took off to a more secluded and very much not magic related workbench. See over the years he had come to the realization tha he would eventually have to fight for his life, so he decided he needed to prepare.
At first, he took the Batman route: Smoke pellets, a variety of ways to taze someone, and his most helpful gadget of the grappling hook. But the latter was actually apart of something he was genuinely proud of.
Rolling up his sleeves, his prized vambraces were revealed. Now these weren't just some slightly bulky peices of armor, these are the new and improved version of his hidden blades.
With a name like that there's only one place it could come from, but he had added many functions the more he improved on the design. Pinching a specific spot on each arm, the protective plate came off, revealing the incredibly intricate insides if the gadget.
Of course, lying on the side if his palm were the gleaming blades. They themselves were just over the length if his hand, so about 8.5 inches long.
The inner carriage was split into four separate parts. The under position o er his veins is already occupied by the blades, though there is more space for modifications. The two sides were reserved for small projectiles such as smoke pellets and smaller blades. Said blades could also be extended out of the outer edges of the vambraces for added lethality.
Lastly there were the top portions that held the more heavy duty projectiles. By making a specific hand motion, he could switch between the grappling hooks or a simplified pistol with five bullet each. The switching mechanic worked via small but durable wires that connected up and into the fingers of his gloves. Seeing as there would be an issue of potential damage, there was a manual switch added as well.
Nodding to himself, Nyx did some routine maintenance before re assembling. Now, it was time to dive into the mystery that is his own damn body.
"Seriously though, what the hell am I?" He muttered to himself, looking over is diagrams.