Evan D. Sherden, Reinforced Fighting Power (4)

After several days of research on the dragon blood with Bernard, Evan began to outline how the dragon’s by-products could achieve the desired performance. More precisely, it allowed the processing of the dragon’s products, which couldn’t be processed naturally, and activate the dragon’s power on the completed object.

“What an interesting ingredient. We even need magic reagents to make clothes from it!”

Ottpah, the leading designer of Brotherhood Boutique, was intrigued as he spoke, accepting the dragon’s leather after first processing it by removing the scales and dipping it into the dragon’s blood-refined reagent. But Evan, who couldn’t tell her the identity of the leather, smiled and answered evasively.

“It’s a special monster. Anyway, I want to make a cape exclusively for the knights with this, is it possible?”

It went well with anyone regardless of occupation and was excellent in a practical sense, such as blocking wind and dust and protecting one’s clothes and skin. A cloak with a unified design would add to the sense of belonging for the knights of Astray.

“There’s so much leather; it’s possible! I’ll have to do a lot of work.”

“It’s not going to get in the way of the battle, is it? Of course, it’s better to add a hood.”

“It depends on the magic of the material, but…I think that’s enough! But what kind of monster is it?”

“Hahaha, he was just a pretty strong guy.”

Evan and Ottpah designed a cape dedicated to the Astray Knights on the spot, a cloak that was faithful to its proper function but reduced in volume to not hinder in battle and with certain hardened parts to prevent enemy attacks in case of an emergency!

“Well, Master Evan. No matter how many functions are included in the magic costume, wouldn’t it already be called an artifact if this function is realized?”

“That would be fun. Please take good care of it for now. Please let me know if you need a jewel for mana power. We can provide as much as we want.”

“…Master, where is this leather from?”

“Hahaha.”

Evan’s blatant gloss no longer puzzled Ottpah. She hadn’t yet forgotten the prestige Evan had shown at the sea party. What kind of monsters could he not catch on this earth? Nothing would stop him — unless it were a dragon from legend.

“Anyway, it’s an honor to have a chance to work with such a perfectly groomed leather. Let’s work with the spirit of really creating artifacts!”

“Yes, please.”

The Red Dragon cape would be the last artifact to fill Evan’s precious and valuable limit on the wearing of artifacts. There was only one thing Evan wanted from the cape. Defense! He wanted potent protection from the cape, enough that he no longer had to worry about anything!

“Madam, can you dye the cape black?”

“Hey, we’re going to unify the knights’ attire, unification.”

‘I never planned that.’

Leaving Ottpah to work and leaving the boutique with Shine, Evan looked back at the artifacts he was wearing now. There was the first artifact he actively took — the necklace of Miraseul. It was vaguely obtained from the Marquis for slime training. Still, it was surprisingly accompanied by great options such as increased mana volume and faster mana recovery, and, to make matters worse, increased artifact performance by crushing slimes for nearly a decade, which was more overwhelming than any other artifacts Evan had ever known. Evan himself was also frightened, but he had never experienced a mana breakdown, thanks to it.

Next was the Snow Mountain Spirit Earrings, which increased the speed of mana recovery. In the Yo-Ma Great War series, these earrings were excellent enough to be confirmed as final equipment as soon as they were acquired. The necklace of Miraseul was almost meaningless now, thanks to it, so Evan was thinking of replacing it as soon as the day came when he got a valuable artifact. The third was the glove-shaped artifact, Black Cloud, which gave additional power proportional to his strength. Likewise, this was also obtained during the slime training. As Evan’s strength increased, the artifact’s power grew, and the option of its Rune increased physical strength, mana power, and the pace of stamina recovery. As it was an artifact that suited him too, he wouldn’t be able to separate it. If Evan had a weapon, it would be this artifact.

‘Well, this is what I originally intended…….’

The fourth was his boots with mana. The official name was ‘Blessed of the Devil,’ which was acquired to train mana resistance and secure the boots’ full-body defense. After mana was added to this and that, and after one thing or another, it became an unprecedented final equipment-level artifact. Among the artifacts that Evan currently had, this artifact had the most formidable ability to fight to the best of his ability, ignoring the degradation of the status as much as he could control the mana and allowing the full-body defense of the boots to be released when he wanted. If gamers had seen this item, it would’ve been crazy enough that they would say it was a cheat or a bug item. Of course, if there was a punk who noted that, Evan wanted to tell him to put on the boots from the beginning and suffer for years.

The last and fifth artifact was the Rose Vine Ring from Rose. The defense shield and mana amplification function were perfect for a piece of final equipment, but there was something more than that — the Mahwa tribe’s unique effect. Wearing this ring alone could cause fatal damage to the Demons! Due to the game’s characteristics, more people dealt with Demons in the second half. So, if this ring had been released in the game, it would’ve been OP. If this unique feature worked against The Demon King and even the Devil, then the fraudulent nature of this ring…no, he wouldn’t have to fight with the Devil directly so that it would be all right. He would never fight with the Devil. He wanted to believe that.

“Anyway, there’s nothing to take out except for the Snow Mountain Spirit earrings. I have to bet everything on that cape…”

“I think you’ve said you’re going to paint it with defense penetration artifacts.”

“We have no choice but to get an artifact with a good ability and take out the Snow Mountain Spirit earrings.”

At Shine’s words, Evan replied with a shrug. However, one pessimistic fact was that it was challenging to obtain artifacts with options for defense penetration. You needed to be over the dungeon’s 70th floor to have one drop every once in a while, and they were often still bad. Of course, it wasn’t that the performance was good, but the more it was used, the more difficult it became. Among the most fraudulent artifacts, there was an artifact that boasted 40 percent of the most deception, barely obtained by killing the Demon King and catching the hidden boss that only appeared on DLC. It was unlikely to drop, too!

‘Killing the Demon King is a prerequisite, so I don’t have any room right now. Whoo, I have to do something about Merdin.’

To kill the Demon King, of course, he must save Merdin. He didn’t die properly in the human world, lived forever in the mana world, and tried to fight the human world through his subordinates. But as he was the final boss, being summoned to the human world and fighting with the main character was common in all the series. And since the Demon King resurrection event took place only when certain conditions were met in Sherden, Pellati, and Merdin, it was essential to free Merdin to revive and kill him.

“You don’t look good…”

Shine woke Evan up.

“Think about the future after you get such an artifact.”

“No, thanks. I’ll wear the Snow Mountain Spirit earrings…”

What if there was no option for defense penetration? Wouldn’t it be solved to some extent if he just poured out mana and ground the Heaven’s Press and Heaven’s Blade together? Of course, the rebound would cause the ground to collapse and the sea to split, but it was such a trivial matter.

“But the Snow Mountain Spirit Earrings are good enough.”

“Come on, let’s go next, next. I’m going to upgrade my double-edged dagger again this time.”

“I think black is better…”

“So let’s give up black, for now, Shine…”

* * *

But that evening, what he didn’t want happened. As usual, it happened while lying on Belois’s lap after taking a shower in the evening so she could clean his ears.

“Well…? Master.”

“What?”

Evan, who was slowly closing his eyes as he enjoyed Belois’s touch, opened his eyes to her call. He could see something glistening.

“What, light? Did you use magic?”

“No, that’s…”

Belois picked up Evan’s Snow Mountain Spirit earrings. It was set aside for ear cleaning, but now, it was emitting an unusually brilliant light.

“What, is it evolution?”

No, he didn’t think so. Nothing had happened when Evan was wearing it, so now it couldn’t have changed. Evan looked down. The volcano spirit earring hanging from Belois’s ear was also emitting light.

“Lua, your earrings are shining, too?”

“Huh? Ah…uh!?”

At Evan’s words, the moment Belois put her hand on her earring, the incident occurred. The Snow Mountain Spirit Earrings and the Volcano Spirit Earrings filled the room with brilliant light as if they were resonating.

“Argh!?”

“It’s not harmful, wait.”

Evan grabbed Belois’s hand, who was screaming in embarrassment, and waited calmly for the light to fade. He could guess from the moment the volcano spirit earrings were shining, but as far as he knew, this hadn’t happened in the Yo-Ma Great War Series…

‘It’s not new for things to happen that haven’t happened in the game.’

The light soon faded, and their sight returned. Evan looked at Belois’s hand. The Snow Mountain Spirit Earrings that had been placed there wholly disappeared. Instead…

“Uhhh…really?”

Belois put her hand to her ear with a shudder. Her earrings now had a different texture, shape, and mana.

“Oh, well.”

Belois, who instinctively realized that the Snow Mountain Spirit earrings and the Volcano Spirit earrings combined, felt embarrassed as tears formed in her eyes. As she had dared to destroy her master’s belongings, she couldn’t help but be embarrassed.

“That’s what happened. That’s great.”

“Sorry, I’m sorry, Master…”

“No, this must be right. I knew they were a set, but I didn’t think they were hiding options like combined evolution…”

Evan reached out carefully and stroked her ear. Belois’s face turned red, but she remained silent. The earring, which evolved with the combination of the Mountain Spirit and the Volcanic Spirit Earrings, had an unusual form of a double-cross with two purple crosses slanted together.

“I feel something strange.”

“The amplification is enormous. What’s more, it aids both flame and ice properties, and maybe it’s…Master, excuse me for a moment.”

With those words, Belois created a small foxfire in the air from nothing. The number of foxfire she could make was seventeen, but this time, it was different. One by one, it seemed that the number of foxfire eventually increased to eighteen, and surprisingly, they were brought together again and turned into negative purple energy. It was not flame nor ice. It was the manifestation of a new property that only Belois could handle.

“I succeeded in increasing the number of fox fires to eighteen this morning…”

“That’s why the earrings evolved. And thanks to the combination of the two artifacts, your foxfire has evolved again…”

It was thought that the Snow Mountain Spirit earrings and the Volcano Spirit earrings evolved together, but that wasn’t all. The Artifact Jade Salt Orb was also gone.

“It means that three artifacts have been combined. Well, you can’t just have two artifacts give off this much energy.”

“Master…”

“Don’t look like that. It’s okay. I wanted to have a better artifact, but it’s better to use it as an evolutionary material instead of throwing it away.”

“I’ll pay the price.”

Even though Evan said he was okay, Belois firmly insisted that she would pay the price. Even if Evan didn’t like it, she was determined to deliver.

“Dear Master.”

“Huh?”

Belois leaned over and kissed Evan on the cheek. Then she whispered, bringing her small lips to his ear.

“Thanks to you…now I can have the witch’s coming of age.”

“Hmm…?”

“When witches have unique abilities, they have a coming-of-age ceremony, which gives them the power of Rune. That’s how I become one complete witch.”

The word ‘unique ability’ immediately struck him. Belois meant the purple energy that she just created with the artifact’s help. No one could help but recognize her as a great witch, but Belois wasn’t up to the standard she had set for herself. However, it was only with this incident that she could understand herself.

“So…after I get the rune, I’m a complete adult.”

Adult. The standard for adults defined in the Silk Line was 18, but that wasn’t what mattered now. No one would ever call Belois a little girl because she won the Rune and became a real witch. And what she was saying right now was…

“Uh, um….”

“Adult Ceremony, I’d like you to be with me.”

Belois cleared the last handful of tears in her eyes and smiled lightly. Did she cry in the first place? Evan was suspicious, but he didn’t dare ask.

“Please, may I offer it to you?”

“…Yes, I get it.”

All Evan could do, tempted as he was by a witch, was to nod his head gently.