"You shouldn't underestimate enchantments, boy. Especially armor enchantments." The blacksmith chuckled at Silas' naivety.
"Hm?" Silas raised a brow.
"You heard me. You have no idea what you're talking about. I'm assuming you don't war armor for that very reason. You don't understand how precious armor and enchantments are, despite the fact that I've given you that ring of yours."
"I bought it." Silas narrowed his eyes.
"At half price. It's a way to get kids like you to pay more. You get to see first hand how powerful these items are and you become more willing to spend more money on it." The blacksmith shrugged. "However, it seemed to have the opposite effect on you."
"Happens when you nearly die to... Uhm... What do you call toki users who can kill sapphire cores?"
"Platinum Rank?"
"Yh. That." Silas shrugged while the two looked at him weirdly.
However, after a few seconds of this, the blacksmith redirected his gaze at Grant for a few seconds, analyzing him from head to toe before looking at Silas.
"You see you're friend over here?" The blacksmith pointed at Grant.
"Not friends." Silas cut him off.
"I can easily tell he had no idea what his armor is capable of. Honestly, the armor he is wearing is one of the finest armor sets I've ever seen. The runemanship is incredible, and the metal the creator of this armor had chosen to wear is extremely rare and expensive. Though, I've seen it before when Aleck came in here wearing it..."
"Aleck?"
"The previous commander."
"!!!" Silas couldn't help but widen his eyes. For a few months there, he had forgotten that the commander he had previously killed actually had a name.
"I... See."
"You see, even Aleck was unable to use 20% of the armor's power. Hell, he couldn't even activate any of its numerous abilities. However, if he was able to activate even three of them, he would have been unbeatable." The blacksmith explained, making Silas frown.
"Why couldn't he activate them?" Silas asked.
"Because the armor wasn't made for him. It's a relic of the past that was supposed to be passed down from heir to heir. Or at least that should have been the case, but clearly something happened at some point." He stroked his beard while Grant could not help but frown.
Was this why he couldn't activate the armor to its full potential. Was that why it felt like only a small boost?
Grant had seen what kind of person the previous commander became when he used the armor. Even at less than 20%, he could beat every general except War.
"The armor requires something more. it might be your body type or even the fact that you're not awakened. However, clearly the first owner of this armor had something that both Aleck and you did not have." The blacksmith closed his eyes and sighed.
"How strong can a good set of armor make a mage in the garnet core?" Silas asked straightforwardly. He did not have time to keep secrets, and even if the man were to ask him why his question was so specific, he didn't really have to answer him.
"Hmm." The blacksmith narrowed his eyes before a small smile perked up the corner of his lips.
"Well, it really depends on many things. Runamanship, materials used, the cores used, the forgemaster's level of mastery, and much more." The bearded man explained.
"I'm sure there's a ranking system or something." Silas commented.
"Well, yes there is. Actually, there's a ranking for each one of those, but that doesn't matter." He sighed.
"What does matter if the overall grading. Takes all of those into account and puts a grade on it. The ranks go as follows:
Basic Tier
Intermediate Tier
Advanced Tier
Superior Tier
Monarch Tier
Legendary Tier, and finally.
Mythical" The blacksmith continued to explain after seeing Silas' intrigue. Of course, Grant was in his own world since he already knew most of this, however, his attention was grabbed when he heard the last two tiers.
"I thought the legendary tier didn't exist, let alone mythical." Grant snorted.
"They do exist. My grandfather had discovered a legendary tier back in his youth. Sure, there isn't a single blacksmith on this continent who can make something of that level, but it's been clear for a while now that the people of the past were capable of creating such things." The scratched his beard again.
"Just like there isn't a single diamond core anymore." Silas thought aloud.
"Exactly. However, let's get back to your question. I can tell you right now that the armor your friend over here is wearing-"
"Not friends"
"Is at the very least a monarch tier, if not higher. Or at least it should be at its full strength. Right now it's no better than a hunk of metal with amazing durability. At least when Aleck used it, it was probably only at the advanced tier." He ignored both of them and spoke as if he didn't hear them.
"So, what about the garnet core scenario."
"Greed is quite wealthy, so I'd most likely say that her armor is at the very least at the advanced tier, and at most at the pseudo-superior tier." He explained before stroking his beard again.
"I've seen her armor, and I can tell you that it's within that range. And with that kind of power...
"She could have the strength that ranged between pristine amethyst and..." He paused for a moment and furrowed his brows.
"And?" Silas asked with a worried tone.
"And Dull-Sapphire."
"That's not good... Though, its nothing I've never faced before." Silas muttered
"Really. Because I remember hearing you say that you've almost died to someone at that level. He was a platinum 1, right? How do you expect to take her on if she's at the same level as a Dull-Sapphire?" Grant asked with a semi-mocking tone.
"I can do it... After all
Who do you think killed that commander of yours?"
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