Although this 'Armed card' appeared to have been successfully synthesized, the image displayed on its face was slightly different from what Dark had imagined.
He frowned faintly and picked up the Armed card, channeling magical power into it.
As a thread of information fed back to him, he gained a rough understanding of the card.
[Card Name: Wooden Armor]
[Type: Tool Card]
[Effect: Defense +10. Slightly increases the ability to attract moonlight.]
Judging purely by the panel, there didn't seem to be any major problems.
Armed cards did indeed belong to the Tool Card category, and the panel displayed them directly as such. The card's name was also perfectly fitting in a perfectly ordinary way — it was, after all, armor made of wood.
As for the effect.
For something this crudely made to carry a stat like "Defense +10" already exceeded his expectations. He had originally assumed it would be something like "Defense +1" at best.
And not only was the defense bonus decent, there was even a bonus effect of attracting moonlight.
"Attracting moonlight, huh? Wear this wooden armor and you'd automatically become the shiniest kid under the night sky, wouldn't you?"
Dark gave a dry laugh, then used Normal Summoning to materialize the Wooden Armor set.
Armed cards generally had two summoning methods: one was to summon them into thin air, and the other was to summon them directly onto a target wearer, in which case the armor would equip itself immediately.
This time, Dark chose to summon it into open air — his goal was to get a clear look at the complete set.
As the card's surface shimmered with light, the full armor set materialized on the tabletop.
A sun hat, a vest, a little skirt, and two bracelets.
That was the whole of the Wooden Armor.
Aside from a faint white glow coating its surface, it was almost completely unchanged from before the Armed synthesis.
"Size: unchanged."
"Material: unchanged."
"Wood. Still wood."
After a careful inspection, Dark confirmed his findings.
Despite now bearing the name "Wooden Armor," the set was fundamentally still a wooden carving. The core had not changed at all. The carved buckles, straps, and ruffles remained wooden.
This was completely unlike what he knew.
After all, Alvit had been capable of using the [Tri-Armed Transmutation Circle] to transmute woven cloth into actual battle armor. That was what true Armed synthesis looked like — a fundamental transformation of the armament's very material.
"So where exactly did it go wrong?"
"Is it because the carving wasn't precise enough?"
"Or because I cut corners using [Major Sin]?"
"Or maybe there's an issue with the materials?"
Dark couldn't help sinking into thought.
But his understanding of the Tri-Armed synthesis came almost entirely from Principal Cynthia's explanations. Things that seemed blindingly obvious and self-evident to the Principal could very well be the exact stumbling blocks he'd never be able to see on his own.
...
"This is really hard!"
Thinking this, Dark drew a slow breath.
"Mii."
Sylveon's feelers had quietly wound themselves around his wrist, kneading gently as if in comfort.
He turned and cradled her tiny paws in his hands, smiling. "It's okay. Obstacles are what give you motivation."
Sylveon: "Mii——"
Gatomon: "She's saying her skirt just got delayed again."
Sylveon: "(ー.′ー) Mii!"
(Classic slander!)
...
All in all, Dark's mindset was holding up well.
Not failing on his very first Armed synthesis attempt was already a stroke of good luck. Every shortcoming could be addressed through repeated experiments and research going forward.
A high-difficulty synthesis experiment like this was never something that could be cracked in one go.
Take this past Wednesday evening, for instance — after Astronomy class, he had actually received the materials on the [Love Magic Circle] from Professor Medea. But after flipping through them, he realized he couldn't understand them at all.
Redeveloping them into [Flower Cards] was completely out of the question.
This had rendered the large stockpile of materials he'd prepared for that project entirely useless, and he'd had to break them down for use in other experiments.
To truly understand the [Love Magic Circle], he would likely need to study far more astronomy and astrology first.
But he hadn't yet demonstrated any divination talent, and his progress in astrology had hit a bottleneck.
Under normal circumstances, if he wanted to continue developing it independently, his only real hope would rest with Eevee-chan. If Little Eevee could make meaningful progress in her studies, Dark could then continue the redevelopment of [Flower Cards] with her assistance.
Fortunately, the [Flower Cards] weren't an urgent priority. With the research foundation already in place, it was a project that could be restarted at any time — putting it off until later was perfectly fine.
That kind of mindset was genuinely rare. People who try to grab both the sesame seeds and the watermelon at the same time usually end up with nothing.
...
In the end...
Dark called Ditto over and had it transform into the shape of the puppet, then equipped the Wooden Armor onto it.
"Busy-busy!"
Ditto, now wearing the little skirt and sun hat, began wiggling its little bottom on the tabletop.
But the wooden outfit clattered and clunked as it hung off its body, with none of the feel of actual clothing whatsoever.
"At this level, the Armed doesn't provide any amplification at all. If anything, it creates a negative effect..."
Dark mulled it over for a moment, then decided to seal it away forever.
...
The next day, Monday.
After a full day of earnest studying, Dark went to the Library to finish his homework, grabbed something to eat, and headed back to the dormitory.
Last night's synthesis had not dampened his enthusiasm in the slightest — if anything, it had made him more eager.
This time, he selected a larger piece of wood and set about carefully crafting a skirt sized to fit Sylveon. From drafting the design to finishing the carving, the whole process took just over an hour.
Afterward, rather than moving directly to synthesis, he took out a set of paints and started adding color!
This was his countermeasure to last night's failure.
Of the three possible reasons he could think of for the Armed synthesis falling short of expectations, the [Major Sin] shortcut was temporarily unsolvable, the choice and addition of materials offered no clear lead, which left only carving precision as the angle he could actually work on.
Last night's carved outfit had simply been too crude — it didn't look anything like the real thing.
This time, he was going to make a skirt that actually looked like a skirt!
Emmm...
Two hours later, he had successfully produced a pink wooden skirt and had Sylveon try it on for size.
The color suited her well enough, except the wooden skirt got stuck on her legs.
Under Sylveon's deeply aggrieved gaze, Dark pulled the wooden skirt back off, then began his second attempt at Armed synthesis.
With the experience of the first attempt behind him, this second synthesis was noticeably faster than the day before. Both the pouring of the Mental Furnace and the final smelting were considerably more practiced.
In just under an hour, he completed the second Armed synthesis and obtained his second Armed card!
Since only a single wooden skirt had been used, this Armed card looked no different at a glance from an ordinary Equipment card. But in practice, Armed cards and Equipment cards were fundamentally different in how they operated.
He picked up the finished product and examined it closely. The pink skirt rendered on the card's face had noticeably more texture and depth than the skirt on the Wooden Armor card.
That breakthrough in quality gave him somewhat higher expectations for the result.
With a thread of anticipation, Dark channeled a wisp of magical power into the card, and information flowed into his mind — he couldn't help the corners of his mouth turning up.
[Card Name: Moonlight Skirt]
[Type: Tool Card]
[Effect: Defense +23. Becomes more enchanting under moonlight.]
"From Wooden Armor to Moonlight Skirt… this is a qualitative breakthrough!"
The name alone made the enormous leap self-evident.
The slight increase in defense was almost beside the point. But the bonus effect was excellent — for a Sylveon who already possessed [Charming Body], this was probably one of the most fitting effects imaginable.
Dark summoned the Moonlight Skirt without hesitation.
As the light bloomed, that pink skirt fell into his hands.
The moment he touched it, he could clearly feel a softness distinctly unlike wood.
Though the softness still felt somewhat lacking — it didn't quite have the delicate suppleness of actual fabric.
The most groundbreaking detail, however, was the waistband — it actually had an elastic band!
Dark had deliberately carved in the impression of an elastic waistband, but he hadn't expected it to actually manifest in the synthesis.
"Looks like my thinking is at least on the right track."
Dark's smile widened. He held the skirt up toward the light of the magic lamp to examine it further — and incidentally to show it off to the Magic Guide Spirits gathered around.
Nearly every pair of eyes in the room was drawn to the skirt.
DemiDevimon touched the hat on its own head and suddenly felt a vague sense of threat to its social standing.
Meowth's eyes lit up brilliantly, its bright gaze flicking back and forth between the skirt and the fat-headed fish in its paws — the look of someone clearly itching to get their hands on it.
But of course, the most excited of all was Sylveon, who had only just tried on the wooden skirt.
"Mii!"
She let out a loud cry and both feelers climbed up onto Dark's wrist, pushing gently but insistently.
Dark snapped back to attention, lowered his hand, then scooped her up into his arms. He flipped her over so her belly faced outward and gave her little tummy a good rub.
"Mii——"
Sylveon immediately let out a blissful purr.
Dark then caught her tail, slipped the skirt on, grabbed her right leg and threaded it through, then the left leg.
Once both legs were through, he gripped the waistband and pulled it up from behind to her waist.
And just like that, the little pink skirt was on.
Dark looked her over with a satisfied nod, then set Sylveon down on the floor.
The moment her back paws touched the ground, Sylveon excitedly bounced up on the spot and launched into a spinning dance right then and there.
Then she started humming the everyday version of [Alluring Voice] — the "Alluring Song."
In short: visibly, undeniably thrilled.
...
After so many days, the queen had finally returned in triumph!
As Sylveon sang and danced, she would occasionally steal glances at the watching Magic Guide Spirits, delighting in how they all looked a little sour.
Especially that hypocritical white cat, curled up at the top of the cat tree looking like a pitiful little orphan.
And that chubby smelly milk cow, who was good for absolutely nothing besides producing milk.
As expected — the most beloved one was obviously this Fairy here!
As her gaze drifted, it landed on the top of DemiDevimon's head.
"Mii!"
(So what, it's just a hat? I'll have one too, sooner or later!)
...
Dark watched with half-lidded eyes for a moment, then took out Sylveon's Magic Guide Card and observed the changes in her magical power through the numbers on the panel.
The Moonlight Skirt might not be of much practical use, but it was still an Armed card when all was said and done.
Armed cards and Equipment cards, beyond the difference in whether they required being worn, were also fundamentally different in their underlying mechanics.
To put it simply.
An Equipment card is an external object.
But an Armed card fuses with its user to a certain degree.
Take the same sword as an example: if it were an Equipment card, it could only be held and used by hand, and the attack bonus the equipment provided had to be channeled through that sword.
But if that same sword were an Armed card, then the attack bonus it provided would partially take effect across the user's entire body, raising their base attack power as a whole.
The feeling it gave was like entering a state of perfect unity between person and blade!
Applied to armor, the principle was the same.
An Equipment card was simply putting on a suit of armor.
An Armed card, by contrast, elevated the whole body — like a [Transform]!
...
The main reason for this difference lay in how the two types functioned at their core.
Equipment cards generally had a duration limit, but once summoned they could be used right away. When the duration ran out, a single infusion of magical power could extend it.
Armed cards, on the other hand, had no duration limit — because they required a constant and continuous infusion of magical power at every moment!
It was precisely the support of that constant magical flow that allowed Armed cards to display effects far beyond what Equipment cards were capable of.
And it was precisely because that flow of magical power never ceased that the Armed card could remain so tightly bound to its user, achieving the effect of "merging" or "transforming."
So as with all things, there were trade-offs.
Armed cards looked wonderful on paper, but because they demanded a constant supply of magical power, they simply couldn't be made universal. Equipping one on a Magic Guide Spirit would cause its magical power to drain at a frightening rate — and for a Magic Guide Spirit, magical power was equivalent to life itself.
That made Armed cards extremely difficult to deploy in formal duels. Mages generally reserved Armed cards for use on themselves.
...
And right now, with the Moonlight Skirt equipped on Sylveon, Sylveon's magical power was naturally draining.
For the moment, though, the drain appeared to be within an acceptable range.
The likely reason was that the Moonlight Skirt was, frankly, terrible as a combat tool.
An Armed piece with more decorative value than fighting value like this one didn't carry much weight in any meaningful comparison.
The Moonlight Skirt alone wasn't enough.
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