Make and Mend uses MP, or I would have stayed up all night playing with armor configurations. As it is, I was up every few hours to try a few changes, then back to bed to get my MP back. The first thing I did was size my brass knuckles for a perfect fit and give them a little more weight. My boots didn't need much adjustment, but I used steel from a sledge hammer to put hard points on toes, elbows, knees, and forehead just to be thorough. My helmet took some fiddling, a little for size and fit, widened my peripheral vision, toughened up the face mesh, and added a spiderweb of reinforcement centered on the forehead. All just for practice before I take apart some riot armor and put it back together.
I caught Lance eyeballing my armor mods, but he made no comment. Made sure to test out my elbow strikes, and when I counted 85 goblins down I raised Stamina. Another 100 down and I raised Agility. No need to check Status, I could feel the change. I was stepping more efficiently and easily, all the time in the world to check my balance and footing, and I could project exactly where a strike would land. Movements all variations and experiments on a familiar pattern. Fist strike, scoop gem, Storage? failed, gem to bag, repeat. Parry with palm, knee strike, needs a hard point at the lower thigh?, scoop gem, etc. I knew where the stairs were, but I made sure to cover everywhere else on the floor to find any extra features. I found nothing but more goblins, and those only briefly.
Status.
Year 2 Month 6 Day 25
Name: Eric
Class: Farmer
Level: 1 544/1000
Age: 9 (57)
HP: 39 / 39 (42)
MP: 2 / 36 (39)
SP: 4
Strength: B 27 (30) + 9 36
Agility: B 27 (30) + 5 32
Smarts: B 27 (30) + 9 36
Stamina: B 27 (30) + 12 39
Skills
Status, Storage (0), Karate (0), Judo (0), TaiChi (0), Swords (0), Farming Plants (2), Artifice (0)
Storage (0): 451/1000
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Karate (0): 753/1000
Judo (0): 102/1000
TaiChi (0): 19/1000
Farming Plants (2): 184/3000
Artifice (0): 352/1000
Artifice Path Allows creation of new items.
+ Make and Mend (0) 370/1000
My armor fits so much better, but the biggest difference is in my hands. With a perfect fit on the brass knuckles, the impact goes straight into my palm. It's like having fists of steel.
I was also pushing too hard. Dungeon runs were addictive and even though my body was younger, stronger, and healthier than I'd been in a long time it was telling me to slow down with sore wrists and chafed spots that needed to heal or risk injury. It was time to spend some time in the real world so I was off to get more supplies, trying Storage every few minutes as my MP trickled back.
I was after all the armor material I could find. The fire department had tough fireproof gear and gas masks. A full set of riot gear from the police station started at ten pounds, and now that I could resize and add layers I needed raw material. How much would be enough to protect from literal monsters? Twenty pounds, thirty? I went to the airport and used my new Path to grab chunks from airplanes. They had to be strong and lightweight, right? Better than a riot shield? I was going to find out.
Did I need hard points tougher than the head of a sledgehammer? Probably not. Hard point spikes? I'd play it by ear, but there's no sense in overcomplicating the design until I know more.
Back at base, I finally decided to optimize my armor for goblin hunting. I could make heavier sets and train in them, but too much weight in the field would slow me down and maybe get me injured. I needed just enough to make a goblin attack zero threat, and then remember to treat it like a threat like Lance advised. For now, that meant I would wear a baseline of resized riot gear with my hockey guards giving extra protection around knees and elbows, combat boots, and I liked my custom goalie helmet better than the full-faceplate riot helmets. That might have to change when I fight different monsters.
I also needed to spend some time with my plants. They'd be feeding me soon enough so I needed solid root systems that could handle the neglect they'd face while I was busy in the dungeon or elsewhere.
Total MP comes back about every hour so after a couple days practicing while out on supply runs:
Storage (1): 1/2000
I finally had Storage and found I could carry about twice as much. Nice.
I was also ready to hit the dungeon again, but only for a couple hours per day. No need to burn out on it, but having my own personal training grounds one quick portal away from where I slept was an advantage I wanted to squeeze for all it was worth.