Sitting there and Watching Brenden move around the Workshop, shadowboxing the air, I couldn’t help but think about a little fact I hadn’t mentioned to him.
There was a reason that his new equipment was a far cry from what he’d usually wear, and although the bit I said about Plate armor was true, it wasn’t the main reason he had received the Drakehide gear.
Initially…it was meant to be mine…however, after carefully crafting it, the moment I saw the stat boosts and benefits brought by wearing it, I had written off the gear as inadequate, aka, a failure… at least for me, that is.
I suppose I should explain Gear boosts and such, but if you are a gamer and have played an RPG in your lifetime, you should have a relatively good idea about what armor and weapons bring to the table…that’s right, stat boosts, and weapon-specific skills are a thing.
Mind you, the boosts weren’t really that relevant at a lower Grade, such as what I had handed over to my brother; however, in a battle of life and death, it could give you that slight edge over your opponent that could allow you to keep your life and walk away in one piece.
In the case of Brenden’s blue hide gear, once fully charged with particles, so long as he was wearing the full set, he would receive a 5% boost to all Talent Skills and a 7% boost to his Physical Offense.
For him, it would be pretty good, but for me, who relied more on stealth and moving swiftly, I required very specific stat boosts from my gear.
Unfortunately, when it came to crafting pieces, it was totally random what kind of stats your stuff would come out with upon completion. I couldn’t count the number of failures I had made before even getting the product Brenden was moving around in.
Even so, though I may think of it as a failure, for him, it was perfect.
Thinking back to the lengthy "rerolling" process involved in trying to get preferred stats, I felt a slight shudder run through my body.
Rerolls was something I wasn’t unfamiliar with, even before the descent of Arkadia, as I had played dozens of mobile games, and the process wasn’t usually difficult.
However, in the case of rolling for new stats, I would first need to scrap all the runic inscriptions and Particle pathways I had made within the equipment and start from scratch, a process that, depending on what type of material and the size of the equipment, would take me between 3 to 8 hours to complete.
From start to finish, each piece of gear my brother wore took me between 2-3 days to finish making, then another day to write in the initial runes and form the particle pathways, so basically, it takes roughly four to 5 days, to craft a single piece a gear.
And that’s not even factoring in things like coloring or putting a logo on the vest. Overall, it took me almost a month to get everything made and layered and then dyed, something Brenden knew as there wasn’t a single person who was able to hammer out bonded equipment like a conveyor belt in the Origin Timeline.
For the better part of twenty minutes, Brenden adjusted his gear by allowing particles to flow through the Drakehide until he was comfortable in his new "hero suit."
"It’s comfortable, lightweight yet durable, and the boosts seem tailor-made for me….so how long did it take you to make, and what were your resource expenses." Dismissing his armor, Brenden walked over to me and asked, only to be surprised when I shoved a bundle of fabric into his chest.
"We aren’t done yet, little brother; that’s just the first layer; this cloak should work wonders for someone like you, as not only does it have a hood to cover your hair, but it also has temperature control so you stay cool in the heat, and warm in the cold."
"That and it has a few stealth functions, and oh yeah, it’s fireproof and bulletproof for the most part. I say cloak, but it’s more like a hooded cape than anything that drapes over your shoulders; bond it as well." With that said, I left Brenden by the workbench and moved around, picking up smaller equipment pieces and bringing them back right as he finished bonding the cloak.
"The rest of this stuff can all go in your belt; I’ve got bear mace, flex cuffs, gloves, neigh invincible vials for potions, and a bunch of other goodies that can transform that belt I gave you into a literal B*tman style utility belt." Carefully placing everything down on the workbench, I reached into my inventory and withdrew a small piece of technology that I had significant difficulty making, given the current lack of components in the past.
"What’s this," summoning only his belt, Brenden had already gotten halfway through storing all the items I had given him when he saw the small device.
"That…is your nuclear option…"
The device was the size and shape of a hockey puck and didn’t have a single marking on it apart from a thumbprint-sized blue button in the dead center.
"Is this what I think it is…" Staring at the Puck, Brenden unconsciously took a single step back, away from me, and narrowed his eyes.
Updat𝓮d fr𝙤m ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com.
"Yep, it was a pain in the ass to make without blowing up the base, but I was able to get my hands on a lot of the correct components thanks to blowing a large chunk of cash in the Arkadia Shop; but yeah, it’s a high yield Particle Grenade…Ver Xiph." I said with a hint of pride in my words, and as expected, Brenden lost it in response.
"WHY IN THE FUCK DID YOU MAKE A PARTICLE GRENADE!!! WHAT POSSIBLE REASON WOULD YOU NEED WMDS IN THIS ERA??" Throwing his hands up in the air, Brenden screamed while putting another step of space between us.
**WMD = Weapons of Mass Destruction**
"To be fair, this Era, back in the Origin Timeline, didn’t have over a thousand people running around with superpowers; I’m not saying you have to use the damn thing, but that pouch on your left hip is literally built to hold it and keep it deactivated." Rolling my eyes, I moved too fast for Brenden to register, and in less time than it takes to blink, I stored the Puck in his utility belt.