"Quit your bitching. Do you even realize how difficult it is to dye Drakehide in the shade of blue you like," rolling my eyes, I pointed to the center of the top, where my brother’s hero logo was printed.
"Let alone adding your stupid hero logo, it took days of curation and work to get it to look even remotely like something a hero would wear." With a huff, I took the vest back and tossed it onto the bench before picking up a matching mask made of Drakehide and in the same shade of blue.
Unlike the shitty hockey mask I had been parading around overseas with, this mask covered from the brim of his nose to both temples down to the bridge of the nose, a pretty typical comic book hero mask, with eyeglass-like lenses to protect the eyes and hide the wearer’s eye color from people.
Contrary to the mask type I would wear that covers most of my face, Brenden had a more cliché style to his outfits, and I knew what he would want from a mask; thus, that’s exactly what I made using some leftover Drakehide.
"You have a suspicious amount of Drakehide lying around…don’t tell me…" Raising an eyebrow and trying on the mask, which would adhere to his face and could only be removed by having the bonded person particles flow through it, Brenden inquired.
"Yeah, I was soooo lucky to end up in an Alpha ++ Caverns Instance where a large Juvenile Drake was living, it was a pain in the ass, but I eventually came out on top, and since I was solo, all the loot belonged to me including the meat."
"Once you rank up to Alpha, you can have some of the meat; you know how beneficial it is to eat. Anyway, go ahead and bond with all the Drakehide gear; that way, I can move on to the other stuff." Pulling out a small pocket knife, I handed it over to Brenden to begin the relatively simple but inadvertently complex process of bonding gear.
Gear bonding was something that wasn’t rare in the Origin Timeline, yet at the same time; it was incredibly difficult to do on a regular basis, the reason being the complexities behind crafting Bondable gear.
Essentially, there are three steps to bonding. The first is crafting proper bondable gear. For this, multiple layers of circuitry and Pathways are planted into the Equipment, emulating the nervous system of a human being.
I say that, but basically, you need to craft a channel for particles to flow freely as if moving through a person. Simply put, you have to create a vessel for your particles to travel.
There was no exact or precise way to do this, and every crafter had their means of doing it; for example, I used a personal method I devised after studying the way Many of the Myriad Races craft gear until I came up with a workable method that met all my requirements.
Using this technique, I basically write a set of instructions with Runic inscriptions similar to computer code, which tells the particles how to move and the material how to react.
As I said, it’s complex; however, after that, it’s all pretty simple. The bonding process isn’t hard and only requires two things: blood and particles.
Once both are added to the mix, the Runes take over from there. Once the Runes accept the "offerings," they will act accordingly, allowing the Equipment to be stored in a separate pocket dimension accessible only to the person bonded.
Although I have no idea where they actually go since I didn’t come up with the full method, many races believe that when the gear leaves the wearer’s body, it is stored within the soul; however, I have yet to prove not only the existence of "Souls" but also the exact location the Equipment is stored.
My main running theory, though, is that it is stored in a spatial pocket, waiting to be summoned through the blood and particle connection.
Using the pocket knife, Brenden pricked the tip of each of his fingers on his right hand before willing particles into the drops of blood that formed and dripping it onto a singular piece of Equipment; then, with a flash of blue light, the gear would vanish one by one, until all the Drakehide armor was gone except for the mask, which he was still wearing.
With the main gear finished, he then squeezed out another drop of blood and placed it on his mask, which then vanished along with the rest of the gear.
"It still amazes me that you are so consistent in creating bonded Equipment. You realize that we only had two crafters capable of making suitable pieces, and even then, they had a 5% chance of the gear coming out as Bondable." Looking at me with a hint of suspicion and wonder, Brenden summoned his armor and, in a flash of light, looked like a superhero’s sidekick….since he was so small.
Since he had already bound it, all the gear magically fit him perfectly, and he couldn’t help but strike a pose and ask…
"How do I look?"
"Like a knock-off Robin in blue short-sleeved leather and a bdsm fetish…." I quipped with a smirk.
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"Fuck off," was all he said in response while moving around to get used to the standard physical restrictions that came along with wearing a full outfit made from leather.
Although extremely resilient to damage and visually looking tough, I had gone through the painstaking process of curing the hide to such an extent that it was pliable and soft on the inside. At the same time, the outer shell could stop swords and maybe even a bullet from a small caliber handgun.
And that was all without adding particles into the mix, as once you did, the toughness and protection provided by the armor was at the peak of Alpha-Rank and could stop basically anything under a tank shell, meaning Brenden could prevent 99% of handheld weapons from ever touching his skin.
Shock and blowback would be a bit of an issue since there wasn’t much protection from impact, but he wouldn’t have to worry about that once he had access to his talent, which reinforced his Defense.