He made his way over, and then paused.
“How much for the armor, George?”
“How much? I don’t charge for my work,” the man said, smiling.
Sam paused.
“Wait, what? You don’t charge anything?”
“Of course. I’m getting experience out of this. What else would I need?”
“How do you pay for food?” Sam asked.
“People sometimes bring it. Why would I need more than this?”
“Because you’re being exploited, that’s why. Credits are the backbone of this new world, and if you don’t start earning them,. You will never be able to pursue your craft. You are able to work with mundane materials now, but what about when you progress? How will you afford the materials with no money?” Sam asked George, incredulous at how naive the man was being. “Here, I will give you fifty thousand credits for that, and consider that an order.” Sam started the transfer, but George looked guilty.
“But Pa always told me that if he told me to work, I would jump to it with no questions asked. If I didn’t, then he would beat me. What if these people beat me when I ask for money?” Something changed within the man, turning him from a tall and sturdy young man into a scared child, cowering from an abusive father. Sam didn't know what to say in this situation. He felt that anything could say would make things worse. He still tried though. Moving over to George and laying a comforting arm on his shoulder, Sam waited a bit before speaking.
‘ “George… Your father is not here. He can’t hurt you anymore. You are far more of a man than he ever was. You must seize your life with both hands, not cower in fear of days long past. That is the only way that you can escape his grasp.”
George wiped a tear from his eye, and looked down at Sam.
“Really?”
“Yes, really. You can start by taking this money.” Sam pushed the money across his credit balance to George, and this time the man took it. Smiling, Sam picked up the armor and equipped it. He could feel the difference immediately, but he did not analyze it yet. Behind him, George watched, with a strange expression on his face. The next person walked into the shop, and started shouting at George about the delay. George ignored him and stared off into the distance, lost in his own little world. As soon as Sam rounded the corner, he checked out his new armor’s stats.
Superior Lightning Mithril Chainmail Half-Plate
F-Rank Armor
The peak of mortal crafting, this armor is made out of mundane materials that have had every last drop of potential squeezed out of them by a masterful smith. It provides superb protection against slashing attacks, with good protection against other attacks of the same rank. It is enchanted with basic System granted enhancements, which include various utility features such as auto cleaning and equipping. It has been upgraded with a lightning aspected beast aspect, as well as a bar of mithril. The beast aspect has given the armor added durability, as well as a weak retributive function. The mithril has increased the durability of the armor beyond its previous limits.
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Armor Skill:Bolster
Upon use, the wearer will gain significant power for the span of a single minute, after which they will take an amount of damage equal to a tenth of their health bar.
The name had gotten a bit long, but it was worth it. Sam closed the stat sheet, and walked down the road, feeling an unexpected surge of pride at the state of his new armor. He felt a little bit guilty about using up both the mithril and the static bladder in the construction of the armor, but he already knew that the others would have wanted him to do that anyway. As he continued to drift further and further wavy from them in terms of strength, the more resources punt into his growth the better. He had been the only reason that Salvar had not won, and he had still been a G rank at the time. Now that Sam was an F Rank, he needed as much power as possible.
Speaking about the alien invaders, Sam wanted to find out why there were so many corpses outside the walls. Had the city been dealing with non stop attacks ever since Sam and the others had left? Sam ran down a main street towards the walls, relying on his superhuman Dexterity to weave his way in and out of the crowd. It was incredible how fast he could go now, with over a hundred points into the stat and a threshold crossed. At this point, his movements would have been barely more than a blur to a normal human, and his limb movements invisible.
It only took him a bit over a minute to reach the edge of the city, a minute to run five miles. The only problem was that at this rate, by the time that the second threshold had been crossed, Sam would be moving at speeds greater than the speed of sound. If he did not find a way to deal with that, then he would be creating sonic booms every time that he reached his top speed, which was bad for a multitude of reasons. Still, he had another 400 stat points left to go until then, and he didn't have to worry about anything like that now.
Sam ran up the stairs on the wall, and as soon as he reached the top, he saw for himself why so many corpses were outside. Two alien armies were approaching from all directions, and they were setting up siege equipment on the blasted plain outside the city. One of the sentries looked up, and not recognizing Sam, he assumed that he was a superior.
“Sir! What are our orders? These are only two low leveled armies after all. Should we commence Operation Brimstone or should we wait until they have explained their terms?”
Sam had no idea what the sentry meant, but he could already see that the aliens were aggressive. With a smile, Sam nodded.
“Begin Operation Brimstone.”
The sentry nodded and pressed a button on his belt, one that was a deep red color and had a pentagram on it. Sam gave it a look. That was a bit on the nose. All along the wall, the artillery started firing, and a wave of projectiles sped down towards the enemy, passing through the shield like it was not there. The aliens rushed for cover as the myriad of shots struck the plain, but because of how damaged the area was, there was nowhere to hide. Hundreds died in the initial volley, and half of their siege engines were torn to shreds. A few of them started firing on the city, but the mana shield held firm. Sam felt a tugging on his mana pool as the projectiles made contact, but it was so slight that it could have been his imagination. Still, it was working. The shield was so powerful that it didn't even bend as the projectiles hit, instead forcing them off its inviolate surface.