Apocalypse Redux - Chapter 250: Armory of Myth and Legend

Going to Brussels to meet people had been interesting and helpful, but also frustrating in places. He’d made plenty of new and useful contacts, but possibly even more importantly, he’d discovered several potential sources of friction.

Specifically, Ardouin was going to be a problem. He was powerful, influential, and had massive blinders on when it came to certain things. In essence, Isaac wouldn’t count on him when making plans any more than he did on Sun.

Both of them had the power and capabilities to be incredibly useful, to the point where they’d normally be the cornerstones of any plans, but were simply too unreliable. If a plan was built around them and their [Skills], then flaking would be beyond devastating.

What Isaac needed were things he could lean on. And right now, he was on his way to pick up some of those things. Stagmer had called him just before he’d gotten back to announce that the ring Isaac had left behind had finally been replicated.

But when he reached the blacksmith’s shop, he was greeted by a mess of police tape and a slowly breaking-up crowd of officers and looky-loos. He wasn’t stopped as he made his way into the blacksmith shop, however, and he decided to wait to ask questions until he was inside. After all, it didn’t look like there was anything urgently wrong, and Stagmer seemed to be just fine.

The interior of the most famous blacksmith’s shop in the world was a bit of a mess when he entered, with a massive crack running down one wall, and weapons worth hundreds of thousands if not millions of euros each scattered about like trash.

“What the hell happened here?” Isaac asked when he caught sight of the man himself.

“Oh, you know, someone thought I’d be easy to rob. They forgot that the ability to beat nigh-indestructible metals into new shapes and control the fires of the forge can be used in a fight,” Stagmer shrugged, “I punched the first guy into the wall there, shouted about me being robbed, and then your assistants showed up.

“Every time someone made a threatening move, one of them teleported them a hundred meters up and let them fall, head first. At some point, everyone realized they’d just keep earning themselves more lumps.

“What we think happened is that they thought that just because you and your colleagues were gone, this place was vulnerable. ‘If the cat’s away, the mice party’, that sort of thing. But there’s more than one cat here, isn’t there?”

Ah yes, his assistants. The people he’d raised basically from Level 1, ensured they’d get teleportation-based [Classes], and then his [Continent Strider] had granted him his own portal power, making them largely superfluous.

As a result, they’d become more or less everyone’s taxi service. It was a position that was invaluable to overall operations but had a significantly lower status than being his left and right hands would have been.

“And you didn’t call me … why exactly?” Isaac asked, trying very hard not to sound accusatory, “I could have been here in literal seconds.”

“Because this was handled. Even if me and your folks hadn’t been able to handle it ourselves, we’ve got a GSG-13 office literally five hundred meters away. These were a few punks under Level 50 who felt strong. You’re busy, I know that and don’t need you running yourself ragged on my behalf,” Stagmer explained.

“Yes, but …” Isaac blew out a long breath as he deflated, both metaphorically and literally, “Thank you. But getting bothered for no reason is still better than someone getting hurt because I didn’t help.”

“You don’t have to worry about that,” Stagmer reassured him, “I’ve got no intention of tangling with an S- or even A-Rank threat, but like I said, this was nothing. At least by this university’s standards.”

“Alright, but if something goes seriously wrong, call me,” Isaac insisted.

“I know, I know, I know,” Stagmer said as he walked into the back, coming out with a small box and a ring a few moments later, “I’ve got your sample right here, it’s so much easier to copy things when you can leave them with me for days.”

“I have a new ability that makes that a lot easier,” Isaac said as he took back the permanent manifestation from [Armory of Ancient Times] and slipped it onto his finger.

Laurin’s Ring

The ring of the dwarven King Laurin of the Rose Garden, able to pierce the invisibility of his fellow dwarves’ invisibility cloaks while granting him the strength of ten men, until eventually being removed by the efforts of the King Dietrich von Bern during a fierce battle.

It will automatically resize to be wearable by any humanoid being, grants the wearer the ability to pierce standard methods of invisibility, so long as the person hiding is not of a higher Level, has a higher rarity [Class], and the wearer’s Perception is at least equal to their Level. Higher power invisibility Skills or spells, or ones used by individuals who exceed the parameters laid out above in some major way will require additional effort to pierce, such as a significant investment into Perception.

The wearer also gains plus ten Strength.

The ring was fairly powerful in general, … aaaaaannnd largely useless to him as he was already functionally impossible to sneak up on. But plus ten Strength was plus ten Strength and considering this thing didn’t have an upkeep cost anymore, there was no reason not to wear it.

“And here we have twenty copies, as requested,” Stagmer opened the box to reveal the neatly lined-up bands of metal, intricately worked gold, silver, platinum, and starsteel, with a magic-infused rock crystal sitting in the center like a small, unblinking eye.”

Copy of Laurin’s Ring

A copy of the ring worn by the dwarven King Laurin of the Rose Garden, allowing the wearer’s gaze to pierce various methods of invisibility.

It will automatically resize to be wearable by any adult humanoid being and grants the wearer the power to see through standard methods of invisibility, so long as the person hiding is not of a higher Level, has a higher rarity [Class], and the wearer’s Perception is at least equal to their Level. Higher power invisibility Skills or spells, or ones used by individuals who exceed the parameters laid out above in some major way will require additional effort to pierce, such as a significant investment into Perception.

The wearer also gains plus five Strength.

The Strength boost had been halved and the resizing property had been reduced, but the most important part here was the anti-stealth measure. A few of these in the right hands would vastly reduce the risk of important figures getting assassinated.

“Keep one, make sure to keep it on hand,” Isaac said as he handed back one of the enchanted rings, “The next thieves might be using sneak attacks.”

“Oh, I already made one for myself,” Stagmer said, pulling off one of his heavy leather gloves to reveal the object in question, “And I know we agreed not to hand these out willy-nilly, but I figured personal use would be fine.”

“Obviously,” Isaac assured him, “I’m mostly worried about these rings trickling down into the black market and suddenly, eavesdropping and police surveillance becomes almost impossible.”

Also, he wanted to make sure that both Zambon and North could keep running around unnoticed, these rings becoming common could easily ruin Isaac’s information network.

So instead, he’d arm his allies, especially the magic users and others vulnerable to sneak attacks, and give a handful to the protective details of various political figures he needed to keep in play. He’d make sure there were so few of the rings that spiriting too many of them away for other uses would weaken the protection to an unacceptable degree.

“I also finished your armor,” Stagmer announced, pulling a large box from beneath the counter, reverently pulling off the lid.

Abyssal Scale Mail of the Warrior-Scholar

A set of armor forged from the scales and bones of the prismatic dragon, the final boss of the Draconic Abyss Dungeon, retrieved during its final minutes.

Built upon a base of Hydra Leather and metals sourced from the Draconic Abyss, its top layer consists of pure-white dragon scales that provide excellent protection from elemental attacks.

While worn, this armor enhances all flame-based attacks originating from the wearer’s hands or mouth, as well as any and all based on draconic Aspects.

Furthermore, this armor’s draconic nature resonates with the wearer’s dragon scale-enhanced skin, bonding with it and staying in place through magic alone, should the armor be damaged to the point where certain parts would normally fall off (severed armor pieces can be removed with sufficient force).

In addition, this armor has been built specifically to interface with Isaac Thoma’s [Fully Geared] to allow for extremely rapid and efficient regeneration. Due to the uniqueness of the materials that make up this armor, it was given the capability to convert lesser materials of draconic origin into the material that makes up this masterpiece. To do so, the materials in question need to be placed into the pockets of this armor before it is stored.

Finally, detached armor pieces can be stored in [Fully Geared] at a range of five meters.

While worn, the wearer’s Strength, Fortitude, and Agility are increased by twenty percent.

It was absolutely perfect. Durable as all get out, he didn’t have to switch out his armor after a few cuts, and it was one of the few man-made Stat-boosting pieces of equipment he’d ever seen.

He could also repair it with extreme ease, making it far simpler to keep around.

… The less said about the usual lifespan of his armor, the better.

Sure, if they ever killed a Tier 10 [Raid Boss] or even a [World Boss], he’d get a better suit, and once Stagmer hit the fifth Evolution, he’d obviously be able to make something far superior. But until then, this would be his permanent set.

“Thank you so much,” Isaac said with a wide and warm smile, “Name your price, any kind of material, any kind of monster part, whatever you need.”

“Just keep bringing me the usual amount of stuff, you’ve probably paid me for that piece ten times over by now,” Stagmer said, “Just make sure that set doesn’t come back slashed to ribbons in a few days, ok?”

“I’ll make sure to keep it intact, and to keep sending you materials,” Isaac promised.

After a few minutes of chatting, he left and headed off towards Camelot to hand over a few pieces of gear.