Rune Armor

In recent days, Zaunites who inhaled "shimmer" have begun to show negative symptoms such as addiction and irritability.

However, thanks to Chen Nuo's early warning, the situation remained within Vander's control, and no casualties occurred.

Before the situation could escalate further, Chen Nuo and Viktor brought the Type-B "shimmer" serum to Zaun, helping Vander resolve the impending trouble.

Due to his frequent assistance lately, Chen Nuo had now accumulated a certain level of prestige in Zaun, allowing him to further expand his power and influence.

Simply put, it was all about buying, buying, and more buying.

Land and chemical plants in Zaun were very cheap, incomparable to those in Piltover.

It was just that it was difficult for outsiders to establish a foothold here.

Now that Silco was no longer there to interfere, the mining of hextech crystals could proceed normally.

Everything was moving in a positive direction.

Chen Nuo's cosmetics were soon ready as finished products and placed on Madame Kiramann's desk.

"Cosmetics?"

Madame Kiramann's gaze was slightly strange.

"Wasn't your study at the academy focused on mechanics?"

"What, has Professor Heimerdinger recently changed his interests and started teaching you chemistry?"

Although she harbored some doubts, Madame Kiramann still accepted them and gave Chen Nuo a few pointers, telling him not to waste his mind on such useless things.

If he was truly short on money, he could just ask her for it directly.

The most important thing for Chen Nuo right now was to study well with Professor Heimerdinger; if he truly had excess energy, he could also work with Jayce on developing Hextech.

Madame Kiramann was right about one thing: Chen Nuo was indeed very short on money right now.

Otherwise, who would bother making cosmetics for no reason?

Wasn't it because women's money was the easiest to earn?

Chen Nuo didn't care about Madame Kiramann's attitude; he would let the results speak for themselves.

No woman would be indifferent to her own appearance.

As for Chen Nuo's purpose for earning money, it was to forge his own orichalcum rune armor.

Ordinary alloys couldn't carry the power of runes; the best choice was orichalcum, which had the best magic conduction effect.

The previous rune gauntlets and rune rifle were merely Chen Nuo's attempts at applying rune theory; now, he was going for something big.

How much gold would be needed to forge a suit of rune armor?

It would have to be measured in tons at the very least.

The Jiramane Family could certainly afford it, but Madame Kiramann was currently heavily invested in Hextech; if Chen Nuo wanted her full support, it would be at least a few years away.

In that case, it was better to earn the money himself, while also further infiltrating his influence into the land of Zaun... Inside the mechanical workshop,

Chen Nuo was constantly revising and perfecting his rune design.

It was also thanks to Jayce's Hextech that he had a reference for mastering Ark Rune, preventing him from taking too many detours and saving a lot of time.

The rune suit beside him was his best recent achievement.

Of course, due to the lack of sufficient financial support, Chen Nuo had currently only forged an orichalcum shell, which was not even one-tenth of the original overall design.

But this was already enough for him to conduct experimental tests on his design.

Chen Nuo used a carving knife to engrave various runes inside the suit.

These runes all originated from the ark rune reactor and belonged to the same rune system—which could be named Ark Rune—and they all followed similar patterns.

They were both independent of each other and could form a whole.

They were distinctly different from the runes of Hextech.

However, for those who didn't understand the mysteries within, it was impossible to distinguish the differences between these two rune systems.

Engraving runes was an extremely exhausting task; the slightest discrepancy could result in the final product failing to meet the intended design.

Even for Chen Nuo, engraving this outermost set of rune designs in one go was quite an exhausting feat.

If it were Viktor, he would likely have lost half his life.

Mechanics required high physical standards; a weakling couldn't enter this profession. Just look at Jayce—those muscles were all forged from swinging a hammer.

The rune suit designed by Chen Nuo was divided into three layers.

What he was engraving now was the outermost set of runes, used to provide defense for the suit.

The middle layer of runes would provide power to the suit.

The innermost layer of runes was used to assist the ark rune reactor's energy output, increasing the reactor's output limit and stability.

Although the outermost set of engraved runes covered the largest area and involved the greatest number, it was actually the easiest.

This was because it involved the fewest variations and types.

For the innermost layer of the suit's design, Chen Nuo even had to engrave runes on gears the size of a grain of rice.

To complete the first phase of his rune suit in one go, Chen Nuo even specifically asked Professor Heimerdinger for a few days off.

Once all the runes were engraved, the next step was to test them.

Chen Nuo installed the ark rune reactor into the pre-prepared slot in the suit and connected the internal circuits, which required the use of alchemy.

To be honest, from the surface, this design style did indeed look somewhat similar to Tony's Mark suit.

The more cutting-edge the technology, the more it tended to converge in similarity in the end.

This was largely due to the principles of aerodynamics.

If one were to leave the atmosphere, the external design of a flying vehicle could be completely unrestricted.

However, Tony himself was still in the Marvel Universe flirting with Little Chili, so it was unlikely he would come here to charge Chen Nuo a design fee for the suit's appearance.

As the ark rune reactor successfully lit up, nuclear energy containing magical power flooded into the entire suit, connecting all the originally independent runes to form what could be called a magical existence.

Although the experiment seemed to have no issues—the ark rune reactor was running normally and the runes were all activated—success depended on whether it achieved the expected effect.

Namely, the formation of the magic that Chen Nuo had calculated should appear.

Rune magic was the result of rune permutations and combinations.

Depending on combinations of space, orientation, size, type, and so on, magic with different effects would be formed.

The spatial collapse of the chomper bomb was a form of magic that Chen Nuo had figured out.

Unlike completely idealistic magic, rune magic contained a certain unique logic, much like solving a puzzle; even an ordinary person could create various solutions if they mastered the patterns.

This might actually be another manifestation of idealism.

Who knew whether these patterns were objective existences or the result of one's subjective perception?

One must know that runes had their own consciousness and could adaptively evolve according to the user's thoughts.

Chen Nuo's research and development of Ark Rune were based on Jayce's Hextech runes, so it was hard to say he wasn't influenced by the latter.

But Chen Nuo didn't care about that; he was a pragmatist. Whether it was magic or science, as long as it achieved the desired result, it was fine.

Chen Nuo picked up the carving knife from the table and stabbed it into the suit with all his might.

With the force of ten Nuos, even a ten-centimeter steel plate would be easily pierced by this strike.

However, all of Chen Nuo's force was like a stone sinking into the ocean, completely absorbed by the suit, only causing a slight ripple that vanished in an instant.

That was actually the spatial membrane on the suit's surface.

It was the defensive magic that Chen Nuo wanted to construct with runes.

This was far tougher and more durable than the energy defense layer on a titan mech, and it wouldn't fail due to the machine overloading after prolonged defense.

"Not bad, not bad. Let me see if I missed anything."

Just as Chen Nuo was about to perform a comprehensive check on the suit, Caitlyn's voice came from the door.

"Nuo! Are you in there?"

"No."

Chen Nuo paused his movements and replied.

Hearing this, Caitlyn pushed the door open and was immediately drawn to the orichalcum rune suit in the workshop.

The shiny gold was indeed a bit too high-profile.

He would have to apply a coating to hide it later.

"Is this the result of your work these past few days?"

Caitlyn blinked, her eyes filled with a look that said she wanted one too.

"Don't even think about it."

Chen Nuo blocked Caitlyn's request in advance; this one suit alone had put him into a financial crisis.

"I haven't even said anything yet."

Caitlyn looked at Chen Nuo with dissatisfaction.

"Even if you don't say it, I know what you're thinking."

Hearing this, Caitlyn felt inexplicably happy. Did Chen Nuo understand her that well?

Chen Nuo pressed a button and took out the ark rune reactor; this was the core of the suit. Without this thing, the suit was just an iron coffin.

Although this rune suit wasn't even as tall as an adult yet, if it fell over, it could crush a person to death; its mass far exceeded that of ordinary metal.

Seeing that Chen Nuo was ignoring her, Caitlyn took the initiative to bring up the main business.

"Mother sent me to find you. She said it's urgent."

"Oh~."

Chen Nuo's eyes lit up.

This must be related to the cosmetics.

It seemed the speed of the flying bullet was even faster than he thought.

In fact, if Madame Kiramann hadn't forgotten the cosmetics in her drawer for a few days, it probably would have been even sooner.

The effects of cosmetics from the Cyberworld were so direct they could be described as transformative, and they were also very cheap.

It was only because upper-class people in Night City could choose to directly swap their faces if they cared about their appearance that using cosmetics became a desperate choice for those at the bottom.

This, in turn, caused the cosmetics industry to fall from the high-end luxury market.

Chen Nuo packed up briefly and followed Caitlyn to visit Madame Kiramann.

This time, the lady was far more enthusiastic than before, making Chen Nuo a bit uncomfortable.

After all, cosmetics were something Madame Kiramann truly had a use for.

"Nuo, you've truly given me a huge surprise. How can the effect of these cosmetics be so staggering? Are there any side effects?"

Madame Kiramann, who looked ten years younger, warmly took Chen Nuo's hand, completely forgetting about Caitlyn beside them.

The latter was speechless.

It turned out the reason her mother was so anxious was merely for the sake of her own face.

Well, she did look a lot younger, but was this really necessary?

In Caitlyn's eyes, the cosmetics developed by Chen Nuo certainly couldn't compare to his previous exoskeleton mechanical equipment; after all, the former had greatly improved people's livelihoods.

While the latter, at a glance, only served high-society noblewomen.

Caitlyn, who was in the prime of her youth, couldn't empathize with the appearance anxiety of aging noblewomen like Madame Kiramann.

After all, although Piltover practiced monogamy, it was a tradition among the noble class to keep mistresses.

The Jiramane Family was primarily matrilineal, so there was no need to worry too much in this regard; Caitlyn's father wouldn't dare find a mistress even if he were given ten times the courage.

But other noble ladies were different.

When it came to sexual interest, men were always very consistent: they liked them young and beautiful, no matter how old the men themselves were.

Even if just for the sake of family harmony, these noble ladies had to find ways to increase their competitiveness to keep their husbands in check, if only for the sake of their descendants.

Illegitimate children also had inheritance rights in Piltover.

The effects shown by the cosmetics Chen Nuo developed were very direct; on the night Madame Kiramann applied them, Caitlyn's father's back was severely strained.

Realizing the potential market value within this, Madame Kiramann knew she had made a serious mistake.

Fortunately, it wasn't too late to make amends.

"There are some side effects; long-term use of makeup will cause the skin condition to deteriorate, but I was also considering skincare products before."

Chen Nuo explained.

Technologies for makeup, skincare, beauty, slimming, and muscle enhancement were very well-developed in Night City.

Chen Nuo was ready to harvest the shiny gold coins from the purses of Piltover's upper-class noblewomen.

Of course, he didn't plan on letting the children off either; as for men, they could wait a bit.

Once Jayce's Hexgate was built, with the help of this future international airship port, Chen Nuo could also harvest the gold coins from the pockets of noblewomen in Noxus and even Demacia.

"Then what is the cost of these cosmetics?"

Madame Kiramann was delighted to hear this. So there were even skincare products; it seemed her understanding of this market was not yet comprehensive enough, and there was still much to be excavated.

Hearing this, Chen Nuo held up one finger.

"One gold coin?"

Madame Kiramann began her calculations.

If the production cost was one gold coin, the profit margin might be a bit lower.

After all, cosmetics were consumable products; if they were sold at a price of ten gold coins, only upper-middle-class nobles could afford them, especially since the volume Chen Nuo provided in a bottle was very limited and wouldn't last many uses.

"One silver coin."

"What?"

Madame Kiramann shouted in surprise.

Wasn't this too cheap?

Considering the effects produced by its use, Madame Kiramann felt her cognition had taken a bit of a shock.

"A single silver coin can produce a whole bucket."

Chen Nuo added.

It was just that cheap; after all, cosmetics in Night City were usually supplied to those at the bottom, so the value of the raw materials definitely wouldn't be high. What was truly expensive was the technology inside.

And this technology, if placed in the Night City of decades ago, would indeed have been very expensive.

"..."

Madame Kiramann felt her throat go dry; she picked up her cup and took a sip of tea to calm down.

She was a bit shocked by the huge profits involved.

Hextech and everything else could be put aside for now; Madame Kiramann now only wanted to improve the marital relations of the Piltover nobility.