[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 58: Abjuration II

Grumbling, Sam turned his focus back to the armor. This beastly thing was a full two rarity levels and two tiers higher than his [Bronze Half-plate] armor.

It wasn’t just a step up. It was a fucking leap.

The stats alone on just this body piece were equal to one Swordsman level! And in stats that Sam preferred.

He couldn’t have asked for a better set of armor.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Matt grin. “You sure you don’t want this?” Sam asked against his better judgment. Somehow it didn’t feel right just getting this handed to him, and he said as much.

“Without you opening those doors, I would have been dead,” Matt said, folding his hands. “You earned this by saving me, without ever knowing that I had it. I would say you earned it, fair and square. Besides, my Strength is pitiful. I could never wear it.” He picked up the dark gauntlets and then looked at Sam with eyebrows raised. “Do you really have over 38 Strength?”

“It’s at 41 without equipment bonuses,” Sam said, buckling on the [Thanas Cuirass] with help from Komachi’s nimble paws. “Thanks,” he said over his shoulder to her.

Raiko looked on glumly.

Matt let out a low whistle. “Damn. I must really be behind.”

“We’ll get you caught up.”

“I would appreciate that.”

Sam picked up the cuisses and looked at Matt over them. “With these, it’ll be a lot easier I imagine. Each of these things gives me basically a level of stats. It’s insane.”

Matt looked haunted. “You get 14 stats per level?!”

“He’s on his Second Order Job,” Raiko chimed in proudly.

“I can hardly wait,” Matt said with enthusiasm. He pushed more of the armor closer to Sam. “Go ahead and put them on so you can one-shot everything we come across and the rest of us can catch up to you!”

“All right, all right.” Sam laughed and examined the cuisses.

[Thanas Cuisses]

(Heavy Armor) (F-Class)

(★☆Uncommon II)

Enhancements

Physical Defense V | Slashing Defense III

Magical Defense II | Enfeeble Resistance I

+7 Strength | +7 Vigor

A rare set of armor created from tempered Dark Bronze. It has been saturated with the menacing aura of an ogre for so long that it has taken on some of the ogre’s strength, imparting a variety of stat bonuses to the wearer. While heavy and unimbued, this armor boasts impressive defenses and enhancements. Those who do not meet the minimum Strength requirement will find the armor cumbersome and difficult to move in. Imparted with the steadfastness of an Alpha ogre, these cuisses provide a modest resistance to any and all types of enfeeblements.

Requires: >38 Strength

Not quite as amazing as the cuirass, but Sam wasn’t about to complain about getting yet another level’s worth of stats. His pants were hole-ridden and threadbare in spots, and since neither his body armor nor leg armor had any stats on them, the boost from the stats alone was tremendous.

He couldn’t care less about taking off his pants in front of his present company and swapped into his new cuisses with a sigh of relief. They were not only clean and fresh, but the stat boost from bonding to it felt amazing.

Besides, it wasn’t as if he didn’t have boxers on beneath his pants.

Sam picked up the dark helm and examined it before placing it on his head.

[Thanas Helm]

(Heavy Armor) (F-Class)

(★☆Uncommon I)

Enhancements

Physical Defense IV | Slashing Defense II

Magical Defense I | Dark Vision IV

+5 Awareness | +5 Insight

A rare set of armor created from tempered Dark Bronze. It has been saturated with the menacing aura of an ogre for so long that it has taken on some of the ogre’s strength, imparting a variety of stat bonuses to the wearer. While heavy and unimbued, this armor boasts impressive defenses and enhancements. Those who do not meet the minimum Strength requirement will find the armor cumbersome and difficult to move in. The wearer of this helm can view no light areas in shades of gray, and dramatically improved vision in low light.

Requires: >34 Strength

As soon as he bonded to it, his vision immediately improved. The dark regions beyond the firelight were bathed in brilliant silvery moonlight, but the darkness beyond was just as impenetrable.

Maybe there’s a range limitation, he thought.

Perhaps most interesting, besides the awesome improvement to his sight, was that the helm gave fewer stats and required less Strength.

Looking back at his cuisses and cuirass, Sam spotted the difference immediately. While the cuisses and cuirass were both Uncommon II, the helm was only Uncommon I.

That extra tier must make a much bigger difference than I would have thought.

He idly wondered if there was a way to enhance the rarity tier somehow. If he could get his [Thanas Cuirass] to Uncommon III, would the amount of Strength and Vigor it offered increase as well?

It’s too bad I don’t know a damn thing about items or equipment. I don’t even know what’s possible until it falls into my lap. I should be more proactive.

Easier said than done, but once they had a stable base of operations, he could take some time to discover what the world had in store for him. He still had a Profession to find after all.

Sam saved the boots and gauntlets for last, considering they were his best equipment pieces so far. He wasn’t looking forward to getting rid of either of them.

[Thanas Greaves]

(Heavy Armor) (F-Class)

(★☆Uncommon)

Enhancements

Physical Defense III | Slashing Defense I

Magical Defense I | Movement Speed III

+3 Agility | +3 Vigor

A rare set of armor created from tempered Dark Bronze. It has been saturated with the menacing aura of an ogre for so long that it has taken on some of the ogre’s strength, imparting a variety of stat bonuses to the wearer. While heavy and unimbued, this armor boasts impressive defenses and enhancements. Those who do not meet the minimum Strength requirement will find the armor cumbersome and difficult to move in. Those that meet the stringent Strength requirement will find themselves fleeter of foot while wearing these greaves.

Requires: >30 Strength

The enhanced movement speed was quite simply, amazing. Even given that it was one of the weakest rarity items, giving only 6 total stats, making them roughly equal to his [Bronze Half Plate Greaves], that was where the similarities ended.

Not only did they give Agility instead of Strength, a stat he was sorely in need of, but they were significantly sturdier.

He could feel the difference as soon as he put them on and bound them. The enhancement itself only seemed a single tier higher for physical defense, but Sam could feel that the [Thanas Greaves] were on an entirely different level.

It must be a rarity-specific tier system. The Thanas set is based off Uncommon rarity, while the bronze greaves were based off Primitive.

He wondered what the Thanas set would be in equivalent tiers to Primitive. Probably something ridiculously high, given the difference I can feel between them.

It was a shame to lose the [Stone Anchor] technique, but he would prefer higher defense than being rooted to the spot.

Since the old greaves were just going back into his Inventory, he figured there might be a way to re-use the technique.

More specifically, Sam was beginning to wonder if he could use his Void mana to transfer the imbued mana from one item to another. Given his scant successes with the [Storm Crystals], he had hoped that he could take both [Fire Blast] and [Stone Anchor] off of his old equipment and put them on the new.

That would go a long way toward letting him improve his equipment as he saw fit, rather than waiting on the chance to give him something better without sacrificing the uniqueness of his previous set.

[Thanas Gauntlets]

(Heavy Armor) (F-Class)

(★☆Uncommon II)

Enhancements:

Physical Defense V | Slashing Defense III

Heavy Weapon Damage Up II

+7 Strength | +7 Dexterity

A rare set of armor created from tempered Dark Bronze. It has been saturated with the menacing aura of an ogre for so long that it has taken on some of the ogre’s strength, imparting a variety of stat bonuses to the wearer. While heavy and unimbued, this armor boasts impressive defenses and enhancements. Those who do not meet the minimum Strength requirement will find the armor cumbersome and difficult to move in. Endowed with the ferocious strength of an Alpha ogre, these gauntlets deal increased damage when wielding a heavy weapon.

Requires: >38 Strength

Okay, forget [Fire Blast], Sam thought.

Given how large the ogre was, he could see the reasoning behind the buff to heavy weapons, but did anybody else his level actually wield those types of weapons?

Sam had special traits that allowed him to wield heavy weapons effectively, and he just so happened to get some gauntlets that not only covered both hands, but amplified his heavy weapon damage?

It seemed fated. Did being an Incarnate have something to do with it?

In fact, the whole of the Thanas armor would make him even better at what he was already good at. More accurate with Dexterity, hit harder from all that bonus Strength, and sturdier from Vigor.

Nothing for increasing his MP, but this armor wasn’t tailored towards mages. That was for sure. And while his mana wasn’t huge, it was adequate for the time being.

Maybe these items were so strong because a cohort was effectively meant to defeat the ogre in order to acquire them.

Normally that would mean, unless a cohort outsmarted what was effectively a giant boss monster, that the cohort who won would already be fairly strong by the time they acquired them.

Meaning these items, normally, wouldn’t be quite as big of a leap.

And that meant that Sam’s cohort was given a massive power level boost.

How anyone could have defeated the ogre in standard combat in that limited time window, he didn’t know.

Unless all the cohorts were meant to work together. Maybe Islegardians could have done that, but those from Earth certainly didn’t.

Raiko reached her hand through the [Thanas Cuirass]. “You would be a killing machine in these, except….”

“Except against mages,” Sam finished what she was going to say. The Thanas armor’s only weakness seemed to be magical damage. It was very limited, but still worlds beyond his old armor.

“Yes. Battling me won’t be so easy with this set.”

“Hopefully it won’t come to that.”

Raiko nodded. “Just be aware that some of the oni are spellcasters, of what I can remember. You do have Matt—”

“I’m Level 4,” he squeaked out.

Everyone stared at him.

“You’re practically a baby!” Komachi laughed.

He blushed in embarrassment, if you could call that purplish shade a blush, then turned his chin up. “A baby that got all this loot.”

“Hmm, dat’s true.”

“Matt, it’s very possible you might get one-shot in the upcoming assault.” Raiko stared at him. Could she see his HP somehow? “You need to get your HP up somehow. Or stay out of the battle.”

The Necram raised his hands, palms forward. “I get it,” he said. “Seriously, I know I’m the weakest around. I may not be able to pull my weight in a fight, but I can still cast from afar and you have to admit, this equipment is pretty useful.”

There were three other pieces of equipment left in the pile. Another breastplate that was significantly weaker than the Thanas set, a club that looked like a spellcasting focus, and a bangle that increased Mind.

All of which seemed best for a Cleric, even if Komachi didn’t want the armor or the club. They could probably offer it to Kai whenever he woke up. Which reminded Sam to go check on him soon.

The man hadn’t seemed that badly wounded, certainly not as hurt as Matt. Then again, Kai was—as far as Sam knew—still human, while Matt had literally changed into something else.

The bangle, however, was hotly contested on all sides. Raiko might not be able to wear it right then, but everybody wanted more MP. And enhancing Mind was the way to get it.