[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 34: Spoils of War

“Finally,” Sam said, pulling out some plated gloves and holding them up to the light, “some equipment upgrades!”

There were several pieces of equipment in here. And at first glance, Sam could tell some of it wasn’t meant for him. But there were heavier pieces of equipment that his Fighter Job could definitely use.

No breastplates or other chest armor upgrades that he could see, but there did appear to be a set of “half plate” equipment.

[Bronze Half Plate Greaves]

(Heavy Armor) (F-Class)

(☆Primitive VI)

Enhancements

Physical Defense II | Slashing Defense I

Falling Resistance I

+3 Strength | +3 Vigor

Imbuements

Earth Mana II

A pair of calf-high metal greaves harboring decent Earth mana for its level. Due to their elemental alignment, they weigh more than average heavy metal boots, but embolden their wearer with additional physical stats. This item’s durability is low, diminishing its rarity level and the reduction of its falling resistance. Having traces of First Layer mana, it somehow made its way down to the starting island.

[Stone Anchor] (Technique): Conjure rocks that mold to these boots, increasing friction and weight. Grants a minuscule bonus to the effect of Strength when using [Stone Anchor].

Mana Cost: Low (Continuous)

Requires: [Armor Foundation]

Without a second thought, Sam pulled off his [Stout Boots] and laced up his brand-new ones. He handed the old ones back to their former owner.

As soon as Komachi touched them, they split into four distinct boots to cover each of her paws.

“That’s so adorable,” Raiko whispered.

Then the boots disappeared, allowing Komachi to wriggle all of her 20 black toe beans. “I got boots and toe beans!”

Considering this Dark Vault seemed to have all sorts of floating platforms now that it was transformed, having a little insurance policy by way of falling resistance seemed a good idea.

Not to mention, he was beginning to notice that using his Breaker bloodline was harder than he thought against a living creature.

Having some added weight to keep himself from moving while swinging his massive sword would be a nice improvement.

If there was one lesson from his sword training that he kept close to heart, it was that all good attacks came from a solid base. A weak foundation means a weak attack.

And until Sam was strong enough on his own, the boots should help anchor his stance.

At the very least, he’d be less likely to get thrown around the place. And even if he did, then he had the falling resistance to help him out a little.

Not to mention, these were the first piece of equipment that had stats on it. While a few points of Strength and Vigor didn’t seem like a whole lot, that was equivalent to a full Fighter level worth of stats in the two that his Job seemed most suited for.

Can’t imagine much will top these, Sam thought as he stamped his feet to settle them into the new bronze-fronted boots. They’ll protect my shins too.

Sam set his stance wide and tried to trigger the [Stone Boots] ability, but nothing happened. He shifted his stance here and there. He even tried saying the ability aloud in case that was a requirement.

Raiko snorted in amusement. “You need to connect yourself to them,” she told him. “Feed it a little bit of mana. You’ll see.”

Nodding, Sam did as she suggested and immediately felt the rush of power similar to a level up. And in many ways, it was.

Most intriguing of all, however, was not the bonus stats.

It was the unfamiliar sensation of Earth mana he had access to. It was like he gained an Earth attunement. The pool of Earth mana was accessible without being devoured by his Void mana somehow.

Maybe I can wield other types of mana if I can get items like this that aren’t, technically speaking, connected to my core somehow?

Sam earmarked that thought for later. It might prove to be incredibly useful, and a nice way to get around his limitation.

For now, he was more than satisfied with the improvements, and relished the ability to wield a new type of mana.

It wasn’t much, perhaps a quarter or less than what his own personal mana clocked in at. Unfortunately, the boots provided no hard numbers to go by. He only had a mention of a “decent” amount of mana, and his own sensation to go from.

Ecstatic to see what else this Dark Vault had in store for him, Sam pulled out a pair of bronze gauntlets with reverence and awe befitting their strength.

To say he was surprised would have been an understatement.

He figured that the greaves were a one-off, but the gauntlets doubled down on not only giving him some proper armor for once, but also yet another new type of mana.

Unfortunately for Sam, he wasn’t big on reading descriptions, and it took him several minutes of searching in the chest for the second gauntlet before his reading comprehension caught up to him.

Fuck.

[Fireblast Bronze Gauntlet]

(Heavy Armor) (F-Class)

(☆Primitive V)

Enhancements

Physical Defense I | Fire Damage II

Imbuements

Fire Mana II

A single, left-handed heavy gauntlet with a fire aligned ruby set into its back. Whoever forged this managed to combine the opposing nature of heavy armor and elemental magic into a piece of equipment that can be wielded for fiery destruction. An atypical find within Il’dran’s First Layer.

[Fireblast] (Spell): Channel mana through this gauntlet to launch a blast of fire mana.

Mana Cost: Moderate

Requires: 10 Mind

“Why not just a fire rod?” he groused. Still, there was no use in complaining. This piece of gear would double as armor and a kind of weapon.

If only he had another one. Still, replacing his left-hand glove, Sam pulled on the [Fireblast Bronze Gauntlet] and bound the piece of equipment to himself.

Just like with the greaves, Sam could feel the new pool of Fire mana open up to him, as well as the [Fireblast] spell. He hadn’t thought of getting any sort of spell, but now he liked the idea of having a long-range attack.

By binding the equipment to himself, Sam learned a lot about the abilities they came with, or in the case of the gauntlet, the spell.

It wasn’t particularly powerful, though that might be because he only had a single point of Mind higher than it needed to be equipped.

But it had a decent range on it, and with higher stats, he might be able to stretch it a bit. Ideally, he’d have the high ground, but that wasn’t always an option.

What it could do, however, was distract an opponent while he closed the gap.

That was always the problem with melee. They could get kited by any bastard with a bow or spellbook unless they were exceptionally fast.

And while they could certainly tank several hits, why let your opponents get in some cheap shots while you’re effectively defenseless?

With [Fireblast], Sam could retaliate, distract, and keep his enemies on their back foot while he closed the distance between them.

Too bad his [Charred Claymore] didn’t have anything fancy like this on it. He would have loved some bonus stats as well, but who wouldn’t?

Thinking about it, he wished that was the case.

Somehow, some crafter made this gauntlet and placed this spell into it. If he could figure out where the technique for its creation came from, if it wasn’t just the crafter’s own design, then maybe he could reverse engineer that to put an ability or spell onto an already made weapon.

A man could dream.

Of course, that would require Sam to be a crafter. And while he was fairly sure that was what Professions were for, he had no idea how to go about acquiring one.

At the moment, crafting was a far-off dream. There was nowhere remotely safe enough to craft for any length of time. Not to mention he needed tools and a teacher.

Komachi sniffed intently at the greaves. “Whut’s First Layer mana? How is it any different than… well, any other kinda mana?”

Sam was wondering that himself.

He looked over questioningly at the wan Sage, then reminded himself that perhaps Raiko picked another Job other than Sage. It certainly wasn’t available to choose for him among the other First Order Jobs.

Raiko was sitting, legs folded, with her scabbard resting against her shoulder. “I’m no expert any longer on such matters. When the Shard Ascended, and I started again at the lowest level, much of my knowledge and skills have dulled.”

“Is that… normal?” Sam said.

“It depends how you go about Ascending,” she said, looking over and studying his boots. That seemed rather far to see its information. Her brow arched at what she saw. “The Apocalypse mana certainly threw a wrench into things, but by beginning again at the weakest tier, my limits can be pushed all that much farther. Or so it seems, through ancient texts.”

“So you dunno,” Komachi said, padding over and laying against her leg in an almost companionable way.

“I wished to be upfront that my knowledge isn’t that of a scholar or a Sage’s anymore.” Raiko reached out and slowly pet her side. Not quite in the right area that Komachi liked, but the cat enjoyed it all the same. “Many things are new and different about Il’dran. Even so, I’m an inquisitive sort, so I’ve learned some things.”

“You know somethin’ then about First Layer mana,” Komachi said, tail lashing.

“I suspect it’s the pervasive mana beyond the starting island, stronger and denser than what it is here.” Raiko studied Sam’s gauntlet now. “Whether it is merely the atmospheric mana, or that plus the mana within all things—such as resources, monsters, equipment and even people—is not clear to me.”

Sam scratched his chin in thought. Despite what she said, he didn’t think Raiko was being forthcoming about everything she knew. Not that he blamed her. He still remembered her proposition of climbing the Ascension Layers.

Now that he formally understood there was an actual First Layer, of course there’d be more of them. But just how many Layers were there? And how were they connected?

Most importantly, he thought excitedly, how can I Ascend to the next one?

He could imagine a whole shattered world opening up before him, containing progressively stronger and stronger Layers, offering greater and greater rewards the further he climbed.

Seeing how dangerous the starting island was, and that it contained something like the Dark Vault, it was no wonder Raiko wanted a leveling partner.

And he was starting to realize his worth.

Next up was a [Lightweave Robe] that he immediately handed over to Komachi. As the cat looked it over, the clothing shrank to fit her fluffy, chubby body.

The Cleric meowed with glee. Imbued with Light Mana II, the robe sped up the casting time of restoration magic spells and decreased the mana cost slightly as well.

Sam couldn’t help but want to know how that was done. Not the cloth. Weaving for hours sounded incredibly tedious. And Sam, using a needle, was just asking to get stabbed, but the imbued mana was fascinating.

He promised himself he’d find out, eventually.

He could ask Raiko about it, but she wasn’t some NPC in a game that would field any and all questions he wanted, completely disregarding social norms.

Besides, Raiko had all but admitted that she was only a bit more knowledgeable than he was. They had both been brought to a new world with different systems than they were used to.

The difference between them was how much closer to this system Raiko was than Sam. She could make educated guesses, whereas Sam was completely out of his depth.

At the bottom of the chest was a small pouch and, tucked into the corner and nearly forgotten, a small ring with a green stone set into it.

His eyes lit up with surprise at the almost forgotten piece of loot. Picking it up, Sam swept his hand side to side to make sure there wasn’t anything else left behind.

This was his first legit treasure chest, after all, and he wanted to be thorough.

When it was clear that there was nothing hidden in the silvery chest, he turned his attention to the ring in his hand. Even before he focused on it, Sam could tell there was something magical about it.

It felt oddly heavy for its size, and something about the engraved symbol on the green stone called to him as if it wanted him to put it on.

Now this ring is interesting….