Beast Armor

The first day of their travels went out without a hitch. Hera and her team were just along for the ride. They sang road trip songs, played odd car games, and talked like teenagers. Vash was the spark that made everyone regress for a few hours. His energy was contagious, and Skyler, despite being on the older side of the group, was an elf, and by Elven's standards, she was barely considered an adult. Neria was surprisingly easy to coerce into joining their shenanigans. Hera also joined, mostly because her court already had their own game sessions apart from the team. If possible, they would also participate, but the truck lacked the necessary room for the title blades, along with everyone else. Not to mention, Nimbus and the others didn't want to leave the court alone while they had their fun.

When it came time to cross to the next room, the group just waited for the delivery people to set everything up. During that time, a few monsters would appear, but they needed to be more aggressive or desperate to attempt something against this large group. During that brief moment of seriousness, Roan mentioned that since the monsters didn't know that the truck trailers were not alive, it was likely that the massive objects would be more scary than the number of people around.

On the second day, they were taking pickup trucks instead of actual trucks. The weather in one of the rooms was very nice, which let some of the party ride in the back and enjoy the trip. They were all high-level enough to handle the speed without any worry. Even if an accident were to happen, they would be able to either land safely or not be too injured in the fall as long as the car didn't topple over them. In that case, things could be more dire. Unfortunately, it was pouring down in the second room, forcing the party to stay inside the cars and in a less animated state. The same happened in the final room of the day, and a few monsters tried to attack them. Oddly shaped foxes with extra limbs and two mouths split in the nose's middle. Those were very aggressive, and Roan took the opportunity to show off a little bit.

He was still a bit upset for not being able to fight against the wendigo. The beastman was the most battle-hungry member of the team, without counting on Livy, and he took the opportunity. Neria was also ready in case something went wrong, and Hera had her entire court out for the same reason.

As the Twinned Foxes got closer, Roan triggered his Beast Armor skill. Taking advantage of the chance to show his trump card skill in a less dangerous environment. He was suddenly covered in spectral black fur, which made his actual shape look like a blur. A large spectral mandible and a long snout also appeared around his mouth. The monsters roared, and Roan did the same back, letting out a primal sound that didn't seem to come from a sentient being. If anyone had doubts, that skill would mess with his mind; this simple act cleared any doubts.

Roan lunged forward without waiting to be attacked, covering about 50 meters in a single step. He swiped his left arm at the first fox, who was too surprised to move in time. The monster's head, upper body, and lower body were split with that one move. The rest of the pack jumped at Roan, angry and scared. The beastman didn't flinch even when the beasts bit and clawed at his armor. Instead, the spectral teeth opened and closed shut quickly, almost like a bear trap. The unlucky fox that was caught by it instantly died by having most of its spine and internal organs crushed. Another Twinned Fox let out a howl that created a sonic shock wave to push him away, but the spectral fur rustled like a tree in a summer breeze despite the attack, creating a ring crater around the monster. Roan jumped and disappeared. The fox jumped side to side and tried to find its enemy again. After a moment, the beastman landed on top of the beast, crushing the lower back of the Twinned Fox. The creature was still alive and obviously in pain, but Roan didn't put it out of its misery right away. Instead, it slowly slashed each of its limbs, almost skinning it alive. When the fox was bleeding so much that it couldn't even cry out in pain, Flint threw a rock at its head, empowered by his armor to finally kill the monster.

"That's enough, Roan."

The beastial Roan growled at the dwarf and slowly started to move towards him.

"Roan. Stop," Neria called. She didn't immediately use his trigger phrase since the beastman himself asked not to do so. He needed to be able to control that skill and regain his sanity without that trigger.

"Roan!" Flint yelled again.

'Livy, Lurize. Get ready to hold him down. Just in case,' Hera commanded without saying anything out loud as she and her court started to flank the beastman.

Roan continued walking towards the dwarf menacingly. His spectral snout opened and closed repeatedly. The movement barely made any sound, but it felt like they should be hearing a metallic clang as it snapped shut. For a thing called Beast Armor, parts of the skill were surprisingly mechanical looking.

"Roan!" Flint snarled, ready to fight the beastman.

This wasn't the trigger phrase he had told the rest of the team, but somehow, it worked. Roan stopped. He shook his head, and something in his eyes changed. The spectral armor around it faded a bit. He stomped his left foot on the ground and roared. The sound shifted midway, returning to something more like a yell of a person. When he finished screaming, the armor slowly came out of him as if the wind was carrying it away.

Roan groaned and rubbed his eyes, "Sorry about that. But this is what happens with the skill."

Everyone pulled back their aggression while still being on the lookout for any stray foxes who could be moving around.

"It is quite strong. Those monsters were level 30. It would take an active skill of mine to beat them in a single move. And those are not that cheap," Flint nodded.

"Same here. And my one-shot ones are a bit of a hit or miss," Skylar added.

Roan seemed satisfied with that, but he glanced at Hera, wanting to know what the unofficial wendigo hunter would say. Feeling she had to speak up, the Empress thought for a moment. She scanned the creature's mana and realized that they were more offensive than defensive, and some parts of their bodies were not as strong as the rest, "Honestly… I would need a skill to one-shot them, too, unless I was overlapping a lot of passives. Livy might have an easier time killing them, but she would need to hit them. I think those foxes were a bit fast." Livy frowned upon hearing that answer. "I'm not saying you are slow; it's just that they seemed faster. You are the heavy hitter, with big swings and a lot of damage, but when talking about speed, you fall behind pretty much everyone in the court."

"Fine, but that still hurt," Livy huffed and looked away.

"C'mon!" Hera had an exasperated expression and started buttering up the Leviathan, talking about how strong, big, and powerful she was.

That made the rest of the team laugh, and the delivery drivers laugh. Few people had intimate knowledge about legacies, and seeing that it could create people who were that close to each other was a bit surreal.

At the end of the second day, they arrived at a small village with just two thousand or so people living there at the moment. They spend the night in an inn and leave early in the morning, going back to the setup they had with Nimbus pulling a carriage made by Flint. Everyone on the team was still talking, but now they were less energetic. Instead of sharing stories about their adventures together or about how they got one particular item, they split off into duos and were just talking about random things.

Vash and Roan were on the edge of the carriage, talking about their culture. The two of them had very different lifestyles than the rest of the group, which made them quickly create a bond. Neria and Skyler were talking about their parents and how it was to be treated too preciously while also being required to be better than others. While Hera and Flint talked about crafting and the various materials they saw on their trips. Flint was particularly interested in the Temple of Sands, expecting that the river of sand that moved to the sky could give his armor some interesting properties. At the same time, Hera was poking his brain about the [Venomous Arsenal] skill. She saw his power armor in action and was considering making something similar. She has some pre-made pummels, handles, and shafts for various weapons while adding just the actual blade from her skill. The dwarf liked the idea and agreed to help her when possible. The big problem was the use of her [Weapon Brake] skill as a big burst thing. That skill would destroy everything, not just the blade itself. So, in order to solve this issue, she would either have to stop using that skill or make those parts of weapons easily replaceable. The options vary wildly for what she could add to those parts of the weapons. From simple boosts to damage, one attribute or an element, to adding specific skills.

Flint's most interesting suggestion was a skill that could only be used once. It was called 'Rinse and Repeat.' A skill that a lot of people attempted to change and tweak. The original version, however, was all Hera needed. The skill would replicate any effect used on a weapon. But it would do so as many times as it could until the item broke. People used to offset that by attaching the skills to gems or parts of the weapon that could easily be removed. Like a tire of a car that could be quickly removed.

Flint already knew that the skill would work with [Weapon Break], but very few people were willing to use it like that. It was very hard to find someone who treated weapons as easily replaceable. Most people would spend more money on their weapons than most of the rest of their gear. Making an attachment for the Rinse and Repeat skill always came with a danger. If it would malfunction or take too long for the part of the weapon that had that skill to be ejected, the skill could force the weapon to break.

Daskka also added one interesting tidbit of information. Apparently [Rinse and Repeat] could work with Hera's court. If any of her blades used it, they would just repeat the previous skill over and over until their form couldn't handle it anymore. But, the biggest difference between this and [Weapon Brake] was that the former wouldn't destroy the court member permanently. The legacy would only act as if they were broken during a fight, not as if they were being obliterated.

That conversation with Flint lasted for a long time. Even after the rest of the team had swapped talking partners, the ophidianite and the dwarf were still talking about the skills. They only stopped at the end of the third day, when they arrived at the city where their new mission was waiting for them. The city of Bysten. A place where art supplies were abundant. The fruits and ores in the area could easily become paint just by adding some water or colorless oil, the furs of the monsters were easy to weave into beautiful dresses and rugs, the wood and stone could create the most marvelous instruments, and the same could be said for the dungeons that existed inside. Each of them was dedicated to a specific type of art, from dancing to writing, from theater to ceramics, sculptures, and songs. Anyone who wanted to delve into the arts could hope for no place better than this room. Endless supplies, ways to fix mistakes, and even dungeon and quest rewards that could be attached to an art form. This was all part of the room called Gallery Pathway.