As he and Edgar wandered away from the corpses, Jonathan kept an eye out for more, as well as tracking the time. They had been here now for the better part of an hour, and they would need to hurry up if Jonathan wanted to keep his people safe.

He picked up the pace and Edgar hurried up behind him, allowing him to keep moving forwards at a steady rate. As they made their way out of the shadow of the mountain and into the main area of Tartarus, Jonathan realized that it would take far too long to explore, at least for now. However, he spotted something glistening in the distance, mingled with a large rock. It was located in the middle of a small pool of lava, with a tiny causeway of rock leading out to it.

As he looked at it, he suddenly felt a jolt of excitement as he realized what it was. It was a vein of Dark Iron. And given the level of this world, it was likely Tier 2. He ran towards it, leaving Edgar behind, and reached the rock a few minutes later, laying one hand on it. His heart raced as he did so, as he would find out soon enough whether he was right. A moment later, a quarter of the ore was sucked into his gauntlets, and they started to glow with power.

A nova of light surrounded them, and then vanished, revealing the gauntlets. They looked much the same, but the number of spikes had increased, and the metal felt far sturdier than before. Excited, he quickly opened the new description.

Marauder Lord’s Batterers

Tier 2 Weapon(Blunt)

Twin dark iron gauntlets that are imbued with the spirit of a pugilist, these weapons are the perfect accompaniment to any martial path that eschews normal weaponry in favor of fighting in hand to hand combat. Using these weapons will even the gap, allowing you to fight against wielders of any other weapon. These gauntlets have been imbued with the power of Journeyman smith, adding extra durability and offensive potential to their form. In addition, a runecrafter has enchanted the gauntlets with the runes of Hatred and Beckoning, creating a different effect for each gauntlet. The right one damages enemies, while the other pulls them in. These gauntlets have been taken to the very peak of their potential, and now possess Tier 2 power.

+12 to Strength, +12 to Dexterity, +6 to Resilience while wearing.

The growth part of the description was gone, as he had upgraded it to the max, but the power was still there. The stat bonus had almost doubled as well.

Before he could get distracted, he quickly placed his armor against the ore vein as well. The armor started to suck up the iron, far hungrier for the substance than his gauntlets had been. Over the next couple of seconds, it slowly tore the last bits out of the rock, and started to glow as it too increased in power.

Because of the higher quality of the armor compared to his gauntlets, it was even stronger than it had been before, and now it would serve him well against the many threats of this world. All of the tears and holes closed over with the upgrade, and as it stopped glowing, Jonathan let a grin slide across his face. Quickly opening the description, just as Edgar appeared, he smiled even wider.

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Hellknight Plate

Tier 2 Growth Armor(Heavy)

This suit of armor, while battered, is one of the best of its kind that you will find within this circle of the Infinite Hells. Made for a servant of Granath long ago, this suit has since been lost, only to be reconstituted by the System as a reward for the most daring of dungeon delvers. You have caught the attention of the System with your prowess, which has resulted in you earning this armor. This suit has the ability to grow with the user, up to a maximum of Tier 3. You have upgraded this suit to Tier 2, which has increased its power and durability by a significant amount.

Growth Reagents: Tier 3 Bone, Tier 3 Blood, Tier 3 Dark Iron.

+24 to Resilience, +24 to Constitution, -6 to Dexterity while wearing.

The armor now gave a whopping 48 points of stat bonuses, and the unfortunate demerit to Dexterity, which was already fixed by Jonathan’s rings, was not increased at all. The increase was enough that he could actually feel it, even with his already high stats. He felt like a mountain encased in iron, an inviolable lump of ore that could never be hammered into shape, no matter how strong the smith. Replacing the smith with an enemy and the ore with himself made the analogy all the sounder for it.

Then Jonathan frowned. He had never felt proud of himself for coming up with clever turns of phrase before. Perhaps his enhanced stats were acting up. His mind was far quicker and clearer because of his enhanced intelligence, and he was very quick to pride himself on that quality. He had always wondered why powerful beings in the stories that he had read and watched on Earth always became so arrogant. Perhaps this was why.

“Jonathan? What was that?” Edgar asked as he came to a halt by him.

“The final reagents that I needed to upgrade my weapons and armor. It seems like this place is a treasure trove of resources. Unfortunately, I doubt that we will find what you need for your armor here. Dawnstone might be something that is hard to come by in the Hells,” Jonathan replied. “However, I am eager to test out my new armor and weapon. Care to join me?”

Fifteen minutes later, they had found a target, a large elemental golem that strode across the volcanic rock like some domineering hegemon of the land. However, it was only a bit over level 150, and its size was misleading. It still possessed none of the weakness that such a being would have in the Ash Heaps however.

Jonathan now understood how Granath had grown so powerful even with the effects of the low mana density on his strength. It would have been almost impossible to reach the peak of Tier 2 with such a large demerit to strength. Tartarus had evened the gap.

As Jonathan appraised the golem with his skill, he decided to pump more Divinity into his Basic Truesight than before. He could feel that there was a wealth of information waiting to be discovered if he could only increase the efficiency of his skill. As he poured more Divinity into it, his eyes began to light up with a golden glow, and a moment later the skill triggered, feeding him a far longer list of information than before.

Volcanic Golem(Basic)

Level 157

Health:10575/10575

Status:Healthy

There were two new additions to the description, and he felt a notification arise from his usage of the skill in such a way.

You have altered a skill!

Basic Truesight:Legendary->Channeled Basic Truesight:Legendary

With the addition of more Divinity, you can supercharge the skill to increase the amount of information that you are given by the readout. At this current level, you can uncover the target’s current health as well as their current status. To find out more, you must upgrade the skill.