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/A few minutes after the meeting…/
/Creak…/
"... I'll think about that later..." Dale mumbled out loud with a dark expression
Thinking about everything that happened not long ago, Dale opened the door towards the backroom of Barme's smith.
"Do you need help with that?" He asked as he held the door open, allowing someone to move through it
It was the owner of the shop, holding a large and heavy box.
"I'm okay, I may be old, but I'm not weak… Huff... My back..."
"In any case... Hopefully this time, we won't have any more interruptions." Barme said as he dropped the box on the ground
/Clap clap.../
Cleaning his hands of the dust, he stretched his back while Dale took a sneak peek inside the box
There wasn't anything interesting inside of it, just a bunch of metallic junk, they'll likely be smelted and recycled into something more useful.
Some of the items he did recognize, drop items from players that hunted in the immediate periphery of Resko, albeit these items had been thoroughly depleted of their durability, not even worth it to fix, or even if they were fixable, the players likely did not wish to wait and spend the tremendous fee tied to it.
So they likely preferred to sell them as like that they could recover some of the losses.
Looking at the junk, Barme let out a faint sigh, he felt tired just thinking about smelting it all…
It was a tedious process, he couldn't just shove it all inside a bucket and hope for the best, he needed to make sure everything was properly processed before doing so, otherwise, he might compromise the integrity of his forge, and that would be disastrous.
"Since I was stopped due to you suddenly bolting out of the shop, I'll go over everything again."
Barme was clearly talking about the moment Dale received his Event notification, bolting out of the shop to meet with the Caravan.
He pulled a chair and sat on it, he looked at Dale with a bit of confusion.
"Boy, aren't you going to sit? Or will you stay up? I'm fine with either, as long as you're comfortable."
"Uh? Sorry, I was just thinking…"
"There's a chair over there, grab it, and let's talk."
Dale went to the corner of the shop and dragged another chai to the counter, sitting on it as he waited for Barme to start his explanations.
He cleared his throat and said:
"As I was saying before, 2 weeks ago, I wasn't skilled enough to work with most of the items you brought me."
"I'm not afraid to say it, but I wasn't as skilled as I believed I was."
"Now, however, I know very well where I stand, and my horizons have been opened ever since I started to read those books."
He smiled slightly as he scratched his beard.
"And now, things changed, I've familiarized myself with the smithing methods of the Corps, and albeit I lack practice with some of those, I successfully fixed one set of armor from the Elite Soldiers."
"Fixing may be a bit much, everything I did was clean everything and connect multiple pieces with one another while patching some holes here and there."
"You brought dozens of individual pieces, I just fused together the better ones with each other."
"Just like I promised... Make sure to use it a bit and tell me how it feels, I'll try to correct any mistakes as we go."
Dale moved his arms and legs, he didn't feel constricted at all, heavy armor was cool and all, but it was very stuffy, this set, in particular, was super heavy, and Dale himself had some difficulty walking around in it.
But that was mainly because his Stats weren't high enough...
"This wasn't without some costs, it took me four other sets to fix this one, which was about everything we had of this kind… And it's not perfectly fixed yet."
"I'm a blacksmith, not a magician, I can bend the metal back in place, I can reforge parts, I can make new ones... But I can't inscribe enchantments nor anything of the sort."
"I tried my best to follow the schematics, but there is only so much I can do with this small forge and tools, they are sturdy, but they weren't meant to work with these sorts of materials."
"On those notes, I would say the armor you're wearing is about 87% to 95% completed, but don't underestimate those last few percentages, they matter the most!"
Barme expression fell, he looked at the ground and said:
"It's sad to admit, but the standard of the Corps was way above my best, and that is reflected in the quality of our workplaces."
"I only have a few workstations, while they had at least 4 times more machines and tools to process each exoteric material that passed through their hands, with most being so complex I never even imagined they were possible."
"And I wouldn't have believed they existed if it wasn't for the books."
"It was extremely hard to make this one you're wearing, I almost killed myself due to overwork, and I won't be trying it again anytime soon, no matter how beneficial it may be to us."
"Sorry kid, but it's too taxing." He said with a tired expression as he tapped on the counter
"I understand, in the first place, I gave them to you in the hopes you would repair them just so we could wear them, I never gave you a deadline nor expected you to bring them back to such a pristine state." He said with an understanding nod
Even if Barme's skills had increased considerably, his working environment was still the same.
He was already thankful he had managed to bring out a single set for his own personal use.
"Still, it doesn't mean things are over yet." Barme said as he turned around to look at the other side of the shop
'Honestly, I couldn't really stay still without giving my best at least once... And I did it... But I won't be trying again at least until I get a better forge that can sustain higher temperatures.'
"Fixing an entire armor is currently too hard, much less making one, these Ores are, unfortunately, too high level for me."
"But I've not gone senile to a point I can't even smith a sword or a spear."
Carefully getting up from his seat, he walked into the back section of the shop and not long after, came back with a long object clad in cloth.
"There is a lot to do, my Skills can still improve and I don't see them stopping anytime soon."
He placed the object on the table before going back to his seat, continuing with his narration:
"Materials to see, books to read, and just from the stories I've heard from Testros, I know there are better pieces of gear out there waiting for humble old me to take a look."
"After all, the ones you brought me were mainly from the Elite Soldiers that served directly under the Commander, with a few exceptions."
"In fact, they may not even be completed given the conditions they were found in, as I can imagine that, in a situation of desperation, of life and death, the soldiers wouldn't be carrying around everything they were entitled to."
"There are likely many relics lost in those old ruins..."
"If we go by ranks, above the Elite Soldiers, we have the Elite Squad Captains, the 12 Division Generals, and the famed armor donned by the Absolute Commander of the Corps."
"According to the hierarchy of the army, higher ranks were given appropriate gear for their duties and achievements, so it is safe to assume their armor is better, made by superior smiths and made to fit their wearer with higher class materials and techniques..."
"The Commander's being the best one, passed down from the very beginning of the Corps…"
"Or so it should, as there are exceptions, the Hero of the Corps was said to have his own custom-made armor, albeit, I have no idea how it fared in comparison to the one passed down from Commander to Commander."
"The same can be said for the 12 Division Generals, each of them had their own custom-made armor."
"Hell... Some Divisions weren't even tasked with fighting, being responsible for the maintenance of the structures of the Wall and their War weapons!"
He was smiling widely as he said all of this, like a child telling a story about his toys...
It was clear all of this was of great interest to Barme, a blacksmith that until not so long ago, was rotting away due to a lack of drive and a repetitive lifestyle.
"Also, for those that excelled well beyond what they were supposed to, achieving unbelievable feats, were given Unique Armaments."
"In your case, I'm 90% sure I used one of the Elite Squad Captain armors as the base, but due to their similarities in design, materials, and the fact the paint has vanished over the years made it rather difficult for me to classify them properly."
"But I'm sure of one thing, this is one good piece of armor."
"With some decorations and some finishing, it would've been glorious."
"A true masterpiece… But unfortunately, we have no such luxuries, even basic paint is lacking, much less adding some fancy things such as feathers and a cape..."
"So you'll have to make do with some good polishing, at least the original color of the materials is decent, so it looks fancy either way, albeit some of the inscriptions are a bit faded."
"It's still beautiful enough to me."
Dale smiled, he liked it very much, it represented many things, not only his progress but Barme's as well.
With a relaxed gaze, he opened the Item description of this set.
This was the first time he did it, as he wanted to do it while being next to Barme, for no reason really, it was just a small desire he had...
[Southern Imperial Corps Elite Squad Captain Set (Relic)
Rating: 6-Stars
+50 all basic Stats while in the Southern Wall, otherwise, +20 to all Stats.
Strength Ratio -> 1 -> 1.1
Constitution Ratio 1 -> 1.2
Set Bonus -> Rally! If there are exactly 6 people wearing the Elite Soldier Set near you, temporary Skill, Strength of 10 4-Star is applied.
Strength of 10 -> Strength, Constitution, and Mental Power are increased by 15 as long as all 6 soldiers are in formation with you at the center.
Rally, my Warriors! If there are exactly 12 people wearing the Elite Soldier Set near you, temporary Skill, Strength of 100 5-Star is applied, replacing Strength of 10.
Strength of 100 -> Strength, Constitution, and Mental Power are increased by 35 as long as all 12 soldiers are in formation with you at the center.
While Strength of 100 is active, the temporary Skill, Barrage 5-Star is activated.
Barrage -> An Overshield that blocks damage equals to the total Mental Power of all 12 soldiers plus yours is generated, it regenerates 1% of its total integrity every second.
(Blocked)
Gives the temporary Skills, Forward March 3-Star (Active); Projectile Reflection 3.5-Star (Passive); Extend Orders 3.5-Star (Active); Impact Shield 4-Star (Active); Twin Keiser 4-Star (Active); Soldier Formation 4.5-Star (Hybrid)… (Blocked); (Blocked).
Requirements: Strength: 235; Constitution: 250; Dexterity: 175; Mana 190
Description:
Armor of the Elite Squad Captains of the Southern Imperial Corps tasked with the Colonization, Protection, and Exploration of the Southern portion of the Continent.
Directly under the Supreme Commander, those worthy of using this armor were among the most capable and brave of the Corps, appointed directly by him and the 12 Division Generals respectively.
Above them are only the 12 Division Generals, and during the standard protocol, when a Division General falls in combat or retires after many years of service, the candidates to substitute them are selected from within their ranks.
The backbone of the Southern Corps, each Captain represented the essence of their crafts and aspirations, being the role model of tens of thousands.
The minimum requirement to become an Elite Squad Captain was to reach the 'Limit'.'
]
"..."
'Ha... No wonder it's so heavy... I simply don't attain the requirements to use it...'
'Hum, most Skills are also grayed out, so I can't use them...'
'And a portion of them are blocked, likely due to the Enchantments not working properly...'
Now that he had more time, Dale could pay more attention to its overall Stats.
And he immediately realized its insanely high Requirements, especially for Strength and Constitution, both of which he missed the mark by about 100.
However, upon thinking about it, and reading the description, Dale started to understand a bit more why this was the case…
But before he could say anything, Barme unveiled the cloth...
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Notes
This chapter is updat𝙚d by f(r)eewebn(o)vel.com