Chapter 146 (2/2)

She took another step forward and felt the raindrops on her skin. She looked up, frowning, but as the rain continued to land on her, her frown slowly faded away. It felt… nice. Natural and free, this rain, in a way she hadn’t really encountered since she was a child. Like all there was in the world to worry about was playing in the puddles and throwing handfuls of mud.

“Holy fuck…” She sighed, but then was startled out of her reverie by laughter. Her eyes narrowed as she turned to look at the Ghosthound, a split second later forcing her expression to careful neutrality. If this motherfucker was laughing at her…!

But the Ghosthound hadn’t appeared to have even noticed her presence, he was smiling down at the bracer in his hands. For several seconds, he simply stared at it, his green eyes bright and fierce as he looked down at the bracer. Then he looked up and blinked, surprised to see Helen.

Satisfied he wasn’t making fun of her (for all the Ghosthound’s strange gifts, subtlety wasn’t one of them), she smiled sweetly back at him. She was surprised how genuine it felt, and was even more surprised at the small tug of pleasure in her heart as he beckoned her over.

“Come look at this,” He said excitedly. “I had no idea the efficacy would increase so sharply…. What do you think?”

Helen walked over and took the bracer, and then inspected it. Her eyebrows rose very quickly. “Holy spear-fucking-shit.”

“...what?” The Ghosthound said, looking bewildered. Helen quickly blushed and smiled as prettily as she could, inwardly sweating.

“My apologies, I-I sneezed. This…. is impressive.” And it really was. Not for the armor, but for the engraving.

Apprentice’s Leather Bracer Lvl 25: Leather armor worked by an Apprentice, but made with poor materials. Vit +2, Health +25. Rain Engraved I.

Engraving of Dragonfly 61% (U): The wind seems to move with the wearer, aiding in both attack and defense speed. Wearer gains Aspect of Dragonfly II.

Aspect of Dragonfly II: Reaction +2, Agility +5

Rain Engraved I: The Engraver is developing his own personal process of Engraving, and benefits begin to accrue within the armor. Mana +5, Focus +1.

More than anything, however, Helen’s reaction to the armor was one of fear. The Engraving guilds probably wouldn’t mind extremely cheap knockoffs, where the user only received 1 or 2 extra points from an engraving. It would annoy them, and they would move to deal with it, but it would be a leisurely thing.

But this equipment… his engraving added 2 Reaction, 5 Agility, 1 Focus, and 5 Mana. A person might not notice when equipment had an extra one or two points of something, but when it neared 10? Anyone would be interested in it, even if it wasn’t in the Attributes that they relied on most frequently. After all, all of the attributes were tied into each other, and unless the circumstances were extremely contrived, all were useful in battle.

Still, the Ghosthound stood in front of her, a childish grin on his face as he looked at her. It seemed he was waiting for more of a response, so she said. “...it is quite impressive… but… do you not worry about the engraving guilds…? They do not take kindly to others performing their services.”

His green eyes flashing, the Ghosthound just laughed and turned away. “My path is always forward. I won’t worry about it until the obstacle is before me. I’ve got enough on my plate as it is. Good, impressive, good.”

He left, humming to himself, and Helen sat very still for a while. Then she looked up and smiled, enjoying the feel of the soft rain. It really made her feel… relaxed, for the first time in a long time. Perhaps it was a good thing that she had ended up here.