Overgeared!

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/A few minutes after the meeting…/

/Creak…/

"Sigh, I'll think about that later..."

With a dark expression, Dale opened the door towards Barme's smithy.

"Do you need help with that?"

He wasn't alone, as the owner of the shop was right behind him holding a large box.

"I'm okay, I may be old, but I'm not weak… Huff..."

"Hopefully this time, we won't have any more interruptions." Barme said as he dropped the box on the ground

/Clap clap.../

Cleaning his hands of the dust, he stretched his back while Dale took a sneak peek inside the box

There wasn't anything interesting inside of it, just a bunch of metallic junk, they'll likely be smelted and recycled into something more useful.

Barme let out a faint sigh, he felt tired just thinking about it…

"Since I was stopped due to you suddenly bolting out of the shop, I'll go over everything again."

He pulled a chair and sat on it, he looked at Dale with a bit of confusion.

"Boy, aren't you going to sit? Or will you stay up? I'm fine with either, as long as you're comfortable."

"Uh? Sorry, I was just thinking…"

"There's a chair over there, grab it and let's talk."

Dale went to the corner of the shop and dragged another chair neat to the counter, sitting on it as he waited for Barme to start his explanations.

He cleared his throat and said:

"As I was saying before, 2 weeks ago, I wasn't skilled enough to work with most of the items you brought me."

"I'm not afraid to say it, I know very well where I stand, and my horizons have opened ever since I started to read those books."

He smiled slightly as he scratched his beard.

"But things changed, I've familiarized myself with the smithing methods of the Corps thanks to all of those books you two brought back, and albeit I lack practice with some of those, I successfully fixed one set of armor from the Elite Soldiers."

"Just like I promised... Make sure to use it a bit and tell me how it feels, I'll try to fix any mistakes."

Dale moved his arms and legs, he didn't feel constricted at all, heavy armor was cool and all, but it was very stuffy, this set, in particular, was super heavy, and Dale himself had some difficulty walking around in it.

But that was mainly because his Stats weren't high enough...

"This wasn't without some costs, it took me 4 other sets to fix 1… And it isn't perfectly done so."

"I'm a blacksmith, not a magician, I can bend the metal back in place, I can reforge parts, I can make new ones... But I can't inscribe enchantments."

"I tried my best to follow the schematics, but there is only so much I can do with this small forge and tools, they are sturdy, but they weren't meant to work with these sorts of materials."

Barme expression fell, he looked at the ground and said:

"It's sad to admit, but the standard of the Corps was way above my best, and that is reflected in the quality of our workplaces."

"I only have a few workstations, while they had at least 4 times more machines and tolls, most I've never even imagined and I wouldn't have believed they existed if it wasn't for the books."

"It was extremely hard to make this one, I almost killed myself due to overwork, and I won't be trying it again anytime soon, sorry kid, but it's too taxing."

"I understand, in the first place, I gave them to you in the hopes you would repair them, but I never gave you a deadline."

Dale nodded, there wasn't much he could do.

Even if Barme's skills had increased considerably, his working environment was still the same.

He was already thankful he had managed to bring out a single set for his own personal use.

"Still, it doesn't mean things are over yet." Barme said as he turned around to look at the other side of the shop

'Honestly, I couldn't really stay still without giving my best at least once... And I did it... But I won't be trying again at least until I get a better forge that can sustain higher temperatures.'

"Fixing an entire armor is currently too hard, much less making one, these Ores are, unfortunately, too high level for me."

"But I've not gone senile to a point I can't even smith a sword or a spear."

Carefully getting up from his seat, he walked into the back section of the shop and not long after, came back with a long object clad in cloth.

"There is a lot to do, my Skills can still improve and I don't see them stopping anytime soon."

He placed the object on the table before going back to his seat, continuing with his narration:

"Materials to see, books to read, and just from the stories I've heard from Testros, I know there are better pieces of gear out there waiting for humble old me to take a look."

"After all, the ones you brought me were mainly from the Elite Soldiers that served directly under the Commander, with a few exceptions."

"Above them, we have the Elite Squad Captains, the 12 Division Generals, and the famed armor downed by the Absolute Commander of the Corps."

"According to the hierarchy of the army, higher ranks were given appropriate gear for their duties and achievements, so it is safe to assume their armor is better, made by superior smiths and made to fit their wearer with higher class materials and techniques..."

"The Commander's being the best one, passed down from the begging of the Corps…"

"Or so it should, as there are exceptions, the Hero of the Corps was said to have his own custom-made armor, albeit, I have no idea how it fared in comparison to the one passed down from Commander to Commander."

"Hell... Some Divisions don't even fight, responsible for the maintenance of the structures of the Wall and their War weapons!"

He was smiling widely as he said all of this, like a child telling a story about his toys...

It was clear all of this was of great interest to Barme, a blacksmith that until not so long ago, was rotting away due to a lack of drive and a repetitive lifestyle.

"Also, for those that excelled well beyond what they were supposed to, achieving unbelievable feats, were given Unique Armaments."

"In your case, I'm 90% sure I used one of the Elite Squad Captains armors as the base, but due to their similarities in design, materials, and the fact the paint has vanished over the years made it rather difficult for me to classify them."

"But I'm sure of one thing, this is one good piece of armor."

"With some decorations and some finishing, it would've been glorious."

"A true masterpiece… But unfortunately, we have no such luxuries, even basic paint is lacking, much less adding some fancy things such as feathers and a cape..."

"So you'll have to make do with some polishing, at least the original color of the materials is decent."

"It's beautiful enough for me."

Dale smiled, he liked it very much, it represented many things, not only his progress but Barme's as well.

With a relaxed gaze, he opened the Item description of this set.

[Southern Imperial Corps Elite Squad Captain Set (Relic)

Rating: 6-Stars

+50 all basic Stats while in the Southern Wall, otherwise, +20 to all Stats.

Strength Ratio -> 1 -> 1.1

Constitution Ratio 1 -> 1.2

Set Bonus -> Rally! If there are exactly 6 people wearing the Elite Soldier Set near you, temporary Skill, Strength of 10 4-Star is applied.

Strength of 10 -> Strength, Constitution, and Mental Power are increased by 15 as long as all 6 soldiers are in formation.

Rally, my Warriors! If there are exactly 12 people wearing the Elite Soldier Set near you, temporary Skill, Strength of 100 5-Star is applied, replacing Strength of 10.

Strength of 100 -> Strength, Constitution, and Mental Power are increased by 35 as long as all 12 soldiers are in formation, the temporary Skill, Barrage 5-Star is activated.

Barrage -> An Overshield that blocks damage equals to the total Mental Power of all 12 soldiers plus yours is generated, it regenerates 1% of its total integrity every second.

(Blocked)

Gives the temporary Skills, Forward March 3-Star (Active); Projectile Reflection 3.5-Star (Passive); Extend Orders 3.5-Star (Active); Impact Shield 4-Star (Active); Twin Keiser 4-Star (Active); Soldier Formation 4.5-Star (Hybrid)… (Blocked); (Blocked).

Requirements: Strength: 235; Constitution: 250; Dexterity: 175; Mana 190

Description:

Armor of the Elite Squad Captains of the Southern Imperial Corps tasked with the Colonization, Protection, and Exploration of the Southern portion of the Continent.

Directly under the Supreme Commander, those worthy of using this armor were among the most capable and brave of the Corps, appointed directly by him and the 12 Division Generals.

Above them are only the 12 Division Generals, and during the standard protocol, when a Division General falls in combat or retires after many years of service, the candidates to substitute them are selected from within their ranks.

The minimum requirement to become an Elite Squad Captain was to reach the 'Limit'.'

]

"..."

'No wonder it's so heavy... I simply don't attain the requirements to use it...'

'Most Skills are also grayed out, so I can't use them...'

'And a portion of them are blocked, likely due to the Enchantments not working properly? Is that how it's supposed to work?'

Now that he had more time, Dale could pay more attention to its overall stats.

And he immediately realized its insanely high Requirements, especially for Strength and Constitution, both of which he missed the mark by about 100.

However, upon thinking about it, and reading the description, Dale started to understand a bit more why this was the case…

But before he could say anything, Barme said as he unveiled the cloth...

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Notes

Allow me to explain how Stat works, and how it ties back to monster Levels, Player Levels, and Harcore players.

Normal and Hardcore players can go from Level 1 to 100 right?

But a Normal player would have 100 stat points, while a Hardcore payer would have around 300.

I'm talking about base stats, not accounting for extra things doing on the way.

However, as I've been trying to do so far, Hardcore players are akin to Npc's as their growth rate is similar.

A Level 100 Npc would have similar stats to a Level 100 Hardcore player if they followed similar training methods.

However, Monster Danger Levels follow Normal player Levels...

If that is the case, a Level 100 Monster would have similar stats to... A Level 50 Hardcore player? Something is wrong, right?

Not quite.

While Level 100 seems to be somewhat meaningful number for players, it isn't for monsters.

And remember, that is 'Danger Level' not exactly level.

It is a range, an estimation of how strong someone should be before fighting it.

And that is based on the Normal Players.

So technically, a Level 100 Dale would be able to fight a Level 300 monster...

We'll see about that, so far, I think our strongest monster was a Level 70-80 Elite Variant monster, that was cool, but not quite there yet for Dale's power Level, much less for the others.

But that was before the timeskip, Dale became stronger once again even if his Staus didn't increase by much, he went from Level 25+ to Level 39...

Stat wise, that isn't much.

Anyway, that is what I wanted to say, I'm ready for the suggestion if you have any, I'll eat some dinner now, see ya!