Chapter 867 (1/2)

Jerome and Jameson watched the door close as Mr. Erickson took Jerome’s armor into his forge to “prepare” it.

Then they looked at each other.

“500 coins?” Jerome said as he scrunched his brow together.

“So cheap!” Jameson said with a sigh. “Like I said, I don’t think he has spent much time around people for a while.”

“The so-called ‘Hermit Master’?” Leaning back, Jerome looked up at the dark clouds above.

Jerome’s precious Level 55 armor that he had passed onto Erickson was something that he had only been able to purchase after gathering 1200 coins over the course of almost 6 months. During that time, Jerome lived on gruel and water.

With the armor, Jerome hoped to be able to fight against higher Leveled monsters to speed up his journey to Level 50. As it was… it was extremely slow going.

But even with armor… the rest of Jerome’s Squad wasn’t at a Level that they could keep up with him. And these days, it was very rare to find a monster that was possible for one man to tank. The common groupings of monsters were either a bunch that traveled in a pack or a single entity that was two stories tall. So despite the investment, experience continued to trickle in at a very unsatisfactory speed.

But when Jerome saw the shield that Jameson was selling… there was one particular line that caught his eye.

(Skill Level Limited by Item Level)

Eyes flashing, Jerome pressed his hands into fists. This man had killed beasts at Level 62 and 71. Likely he was part of a larger party, but there were very few groups in the world that were so capable that they could casually toss aside the bodies of their victims for chump change. Plus with the name of Erickson…

Jerome quickly devolved into a daydream about summoning an impossibly tall wall of emerald flames in order to isolate his enemies into reasonable numbers. Jamison wondered if he could obtain another windfall as he had earlier in the day while being filled with a deep fear of the man’s burning emerald eyes when he had demanded that no more people come to bother him.

But only 30 minutes later, Erickson returned out of his hut with a confused expression as he looked at Jerome’s armor. For several long seconds, the two men waiting outside couldn’t understand what was going on. Then, they both came to the same conclusion.

Instantly, it was like the floor fell out from under Jerome. He felt a flash of panic as he stumbled to his feet. The fact that Erickson returned so quickly could only mean one thing-

“It’s done,” Erickson announced.

“...eh?” Jerome blinked.

Erickson offered him the armor and he took it almost reflexively. Blinking slowly, Jerome looked down at the armor.

Wasn’t the short time frame more in line with a failure? Jerome almost had a heart attack thinking it was possible that the Mana Engraving had damaged the armor. There weren’t many Engravers in Donnyton, but there were enough that Jerome was familiar with the advantages and disadvantages.

And for most people, the benefit of twenty or so stats from the Engraving wasn’t enough to outweigh the cataclysmically bad loss he would experience if the armor was damaged. It didn’t happen often, but it was possible. Just a few critical failures while the Engravers were gaining experience was enough to sour most of Donnyton to the prospect. These days, very few armors were engraved not by the maker of the armor.

But the armor in his hands…

Masterwork Plate Armor ® Lvl 55: A powerful centerpiece of a suit of armor designed for a knight. Increases the effectiveness of Knight related Class Skills. Also vastly increases the wearer’s physical resistance. Purified Steel II. 1001 Hammering Technique I. Skill Lvl 55: Sea of Emerald Flames (Skill Level Limited by Item Level)

Sea of Emerald Flames ® Lvl 55: Conjure a sea of emerald flames around the user. The amount of flames conjured by the user increases with Skill Level(NA, growth impossible). User can manipulate the flames to form both defensive structures and attacks. Control and capability increases with Skill Level(NA, growth impossible). Allies within the Sea of Emerald Flames will increase the Health Regeneration by a moderate amount. Effect increases with Skill Level(NA, growth impossible).

“It isn’t exactly what I set out to create, but… I did try to expand the effect.” Erickson said, shaking his head. “You are a knight yea? Hopefully, this will help you reach Level 50. Now, now the coins?”

Jerome’s eyes were as wide as plates as he stared at the same notification that had been present in the other armor. Skill Level Limited by Item Level. Did that mean that this man had the ability to Engrave at Levels above 55…?

Then a crazy thought occurred to Jerome and he froze. Slowly, a picture began to form in his mind.

Emerald eyes, short black hair, those training spears casually stuck into the ground…

Transcendental crafting Skill… here in Donnyton…