Our first stop after Shal’s chamber was the armory. Although the outfit they had given me was stylish, it had no defensive capabilities. Zuri and I walked in awkward silence the whole way.
We stood in the armory, trying to pretend we were examining the armor. I decided to break the silence. “So, what kind of armor do you-”
“You didn’t have to accept, you know.” Zuri interrupted, whirling to face me. If looks could kill, her scowl would have obliterated me out of existence. “I don’t need your help.”
I frowned at her. “You know that I know that. I’m just as happy about this as you.”
“Then why? What’s my father paying you? I could pay you double to go away.” She said, sounding almost desperate.
The question was rude, and she knew that. I had neither the time nor the patience for subterfuge, so I elected to continue my policy of honesty.
“Two ruby tokens,” I said nonchalantly.
That brought her up short. She had opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out. After a few heartbeats, she found her voice. “Really?”
I nodded. “Really.”
“Fine,” She spat out. “The Ash Stag uses a lot of fire attacks, so you need something that will protect you against it. You’re allowed any two pieces of armor from this room.” She crossed her arms and huffed. “You can keep the items even after the mission is done. Consider it a gift from the Molten Fist clan.”
“Are you sure?” I said, smirking.
“Don’t get any ideas. The items stored here are a maximum of Rare rank.” She said, curling her lip in distaste at my obvious avarice.
I schooled my expression and nodded gratefully at her. “Thank you.” I scanned the rows upon rows of items in this room and turned my attention inward. “Alright, Hob,” I thought to my companion, “Any suggestions?”
“I feel like chest armor and a helmet is the best course of action, Sir.” He said, tapping his chin with one of his claws.
“Agreed,” I sent him. “If we find a long piece of chest armor, it can act as partial leg armor. We haven’t had a moment to discuss whatever my right arm is yet, but something tells me that it's more durable than anything in this room, so a pair of gloves would be a waste.”
Hob nodded. “A fair assessment, sir. Your arm could withstand an explosion that would level a building, even if the rest of you didn’t.”
I shuddered, and Zuri turned to me with a questioning look. I shrugged and waved her unspoken question away.
“Alright, let’s table that matter for now. As long as this thing acts like an arm should act, questions can wait.” I refocused on the task at hand. “Is there anything you can do to help me pick the equipment?”
Hob did a little hop in his little window. “Indeed I can, sir! As these items are considered unclaimed, I can access some basic item info without you prompting the examine function. Please face the rack of armor.”
I did as he asked, and after a ten-second wait, Hob exclaimed, “Done!”. A selection of items lit up, and I grinned widely.
“What are you smiling at? Found something good?” Zuri asked.
“We’re about to find out,” I said with a wink and started examining the items Hob highlighted.
The first thing I looked at was a really nice leather jacket.
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[Infernoblock Jacket]
Rank: Rare | Level: 20
Description: A leather jacket with an integrated cooling system.
Subroutine: [Temperature Control] - Passively cools the wearer. Reduces effects of ambient heat.
Durability: 50/50
“Let’s keep it cool, baby.”
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I hummed. It was long, so it would partially protect my legs, too, but the subroutine wouldn’t be too useful where we were going. From what I understood of environmental control facilities, they were on the colder side.
“Hey, Zuri,” I said, turning to face her. “What are the chances of the creature setting fire to our environs?”
Zuri snorted. “My father wouldn’t waste that much money on a frivolity like an organic environment control facility.”
“Fair enough,” I said, nodding to the woman whose father owned a flying fortress and the volcano that the fortress was hovering above. “Hob,” I sent to my friend, “Remove all items that deal with environmental negation.”
“Yes, sir.” He said, and a few items that had been highlighted winked out. I looked at the next item. Now, this was interesting.
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[Smogweave Overcoat]
Rank: Rare | Level: 15
Description: A trenchcoat made of fire-retardant fabrics and metal alloys.
Subroutine: [Smokescreen] - Whenever the wearer is hit by fire, the coat emits a cloud of electrically charged smoke.
Durability: 65/65
“When there is fire, there is smoke.”
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“What are the durability numbers?” I silently asked my friend.
“Durability acts in a similar way to your HP. It indicates how much more damage the item can repair itself from. Once it's at zero, if the item is destroyed, it's gone for good. A shirt with a high enough durability can regenerate from a single scrap a couple of times before needing to be recharged.” Hob helpfully explained.
“And the levels? Are those requirements?”
Hob nodded his head from side to side. “Yes, and no. The level of the item denotes the relative power of the item. The closer the level is to 100, the closer the item is to the hypothetical maximum power of that type of item. It also indicates what level you need to be to use the item at its maximum potential.” A tiny curved chart appeared in Hob’s hand. “If you are below the item’s level, the more significant the disparity between your level and the item’s, the lower the item's effectiveness. That can manifest in reduced chances of effects triggering, longer cooldowns, or in other ways.”
Hob tapped the chart he held. “This effectiveness decrease is exponential, so an item ten levels higher than you would work just fine for the most part, whereas an item fifty levels above you would, in theory, be incredibly powerful but practically useless to you.”
I nodded thoughtfully, digesting the cavalcade of new information. Zuri gave me an odd look. “You like this one?” she asked.
Her question caught me off-guard. I wasn’t about to tell her that I was nodding to what the voice in my head was saying, so I had to improvise.“Uh, Yeah! A little. The smoke from its subroutine can also disrupt electronic means of detection. Sounds handy.” I replied.
Stolen novel; please report.
She rolled her eyes. “The Ash Stag isn’t using electronic means to see. It has regular eyes. The smoke can be helpful to get away from danger, but we’re hunting the stag, not running from it. Try this.” She grabbed something that looked like a bodysuit from a stack and tossed it at me.
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[Nanomesh Bodysuit]
Rank: Uncommon | Level: 12
Description: A bodysuit made of multiple layers of Nanomesh.
Subroutine: [Nanomesh Regeneration] - Passively increases HP regeneration by 10%.
Durability: 150/150
“Like a second, fancier skin!”
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The suit increases my HP regeneration? That shouldn’t be the case. As far as I knew, the HP mechanic was available only to me. “Hob, why does this talk about HP Regeneration?” I asked.
“Ah, that is one of the adjustments I made,” Hob said proudly. “The [Nanomesh Bodysuit] usually comes with a minor healing subroutine, meant to stabilize a critically injured soldier, but it would interfere with the Gem’s automatic healing functions, so I devised a workaround to make it fit.”
“Impressive,” I thought.
He nodded, crossing his arms. “Indeed, sir. Needless to say, this adjustment automatically applies to all items where their functions would interfere with the gem.”
I fought back a grin at his smug, self-satisfied look and shook my head at Zuri. “This is nice and all, but not nearly as specialized as I would like. I’ll keep it in mind in case I didn’t find something better.”
Then, I found something better.
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[Flameturn Coat]
Rank: Rare | Level: 25
Description: A black leather coat lined with heat-absorbing alloys.
Subroutines:
[Flameturn Ray] - Aborbs 30% of incoming fire damage up to a maximum of 50 points. Once the heat absorption limit is reached, the wearer can trigger a superheated ray containing all the stored damage. [Flameturn Ray] can be triggered once every 4 minutes.
Durability: 55/55
“Give them the old switcheroo!”
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I held it up and smiled. It was just my style. The coat was all black leather, but it was decorated with metal lines of swirling silver and brown. “Hey, Zuri, why is this only of rare quality?”
She squinted at the item, and then her eyebrow lifted. “I imagine because something that attacks you with fire is likely to take significantly reduced fire damage, or if it is a person, to wear fire-resistant clothing. But, as it so happens, the Ash Stag attacks with fire but is not particularly resistant to heat and fire attacks.” She nodded approvingly. “Good find.”
My grin got wider, and I put the coat on. In an instant, it had resized to fit me perfectly, and it felt good.
“Right,” I said. “Let's look at headgear.”
Zuri looked mildly shocked. “I would have thought you would look for bladed gauntlets, boots with thrusters, or something equally as idiotic. Yet here you are, going for the reasonable options of a chest-piece and a helmet. My, aren’t we full of surprises today?”
I ignored her slightly acidic tone and chuckled. “I got a jacket that can shoot heat rays. I’m not beyond all hope.”
Despite her previous tone, Zuri chuckled. “True. Headgear is here.” she pointed at a very obvious rack of helmets.
Hob immediately highlighted the interesting ones, and I picked one up.
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[Furnace Defender]
Rank: Uncommon | Level: 6
Description: A welding mask with built-in coolant systems.
Subroutine: [Refreshing Chill] - By connecting the wire on the helmet to an energy-based weapon, the helmet can instantly cool an overheating weapon. Cooldown is dependent on the size and heat tolerance of the weapon.
Durability: 38/38
“Why let the heat get in the way of your fun?”
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I raised my eyebrows and whistled. “This thing feels overpowered,” I told Zuri, holding the helmet up.
She made a non-committal sound. “In some circumstances, yes, but it does have its limitations. If the weapon is too big or can withstand too much heat before it overheats, the [Refreshing Chill] subroutine will get overwhelmed, and the helmet will break.”
I felt crestfallen. “So, no shooting a giant plasma cannon twice in quick succession? “
She chuckled. “No, no shooting a giant plasma cannon twice in quick succession. Where would you find one anyway?”
I waved away her silly question. “Details, details. Besides.” I gently put down the helmet. “‘It was not meant to be.”
I moved on to the next item highlighted, which looked like a simple piece of cloth.
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[Inferno Bandana]
Rank: Uncommon | Level: 8
Description: Carbon-fibre bandana soaked in a heat-dissipating nanogel.
Subroutine: [Gel Shot] - Once every 60 seconds, you can launch an expanding gel projectile from the bandana. If the projectile impacts a fire-based attack, it will negate up to 60 points of damage.
Durability: 12/12
“Spit in the face of your attackers.”
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The item sounded incredibly useful. Negating an attack that would take off more than half of my HP once per minute would be a potential lifesaver. It’s just… Well, the image of the gel projectile being shot out of my mouth, along with the wording of the flavor text, put me off from it. It might be shallow, but I didn’t want my abilities to include spitting.
I turned my eyes to the next item, but all the highlighted items went dark before I picked it up.
“Hob?” I asked, concerned.
“Disregard my previous suggestions, sir. I think I may have found the one.” Hob said seriously. “It’s at the bottom shelf at the back.”
I knelt, ignoring the weird look from Zuri. Whatever Hob had found was at the far back, but I could see a tiny bit of it highlighted in my vision. I reached deep in and pulled it out. My hands started shaking as I read its information window.
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[Firepath Hood]
Rank: Epic | Level: 42
Description: A hood made of microscopic vulcanized plasteel scales. The wearer can summon a mask to protect and obscure their face instantly.
Subroutines: [Flame’s Foresight] - Passive 10% chance to see the predicted trajectory of fire-based attacks before they happen.
[Visual Scrambler] - Passively interferes with electronic sensors attempting to record or identify the wearer when the hood is pulled up.
Durability: 390/390
“They can’t burn what they can’t hit.”
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The [Flame’s Foresight] subroutine was awesome, if slightly unreliable, and I could feel this being a really high-quality, high-rank, durable item, but more importantly than any of that stuff… It looked a little like my old [Hood of the Rust Reaver]. Call me sentimental, but that drew me to it the most. The mask didn’t have my signature red streaks and was far more angular than my old one, but it was close enough that, even if it had been an uncommon-ranked item with a subroutine that didn’t quite fit, I’d have picked it anyway. But this…
I turned to Zuri and grinned. “You said any two pieces, right?”
She was examining a pair of gloves with a thoughtful look. Hearing my question, she sighed impatiently. “Yes, any two armor pieces. And no, we are not so petty as to individually count bracers, gloves, or shoes. Why, what did you…” Her voice trailed off as she looked at my grin, then down at the item.
She squinted at it, obviously examining it, and then glared at me. “What?” I asked, batting my eyelids at her.
“Where in the blazes did you find that?” she asked suspiciously.
I pointed at the bottom shelf. “Back here. You said two armor pieces in this room. You didn’t say they had to be Rare or below, only that the items here should be Rare or below, right?” My grin grew wider.
She made a disgusted sound and waved me away. “Whatever, keep the damned hood. It’s my father’s fault for assigning someone incompetent enough to miss the item when we were reorganizing our storage.”
“Great!” I said, jumping up. “With that done, I believe I have everything I need.” I clipped the hood to a slot in the jacket’s collar. The two items clicked together, and the seam between them disappeared, the hood now looking like it was a part of the jacket.
“Finally,” Zuri huffed. “Let’s go. We have a monster to kill.”
I cracked my neck and knuckles. “I thought you’d never ask.”