NOVEL NEXT Chapter 141
I headed straight to the last stop of today, eager to see Hephaestus’ masterworks. By the looks and sounds of it from some hundred feet away, the god of the forge and the pygmies were hard at work.
"Zeus, perfect timing!" Hephaestus exclaimed once he saw me. "I'm getting close to the last part of crafting your weapon."
"That's great news," I said, fascinated by the fact that this was about to happen. "Shall we do it now?"
"You can watch, if that's what you mean, but I need some of the enchantment stones to settle before I go on," he explained. "I can show you the rest of your equipment while we wait."
"You have the rest of my A-grade gear already?"
“Actually, I have everyone's gear, enchanted and all. I left yours until last because it is the trickiest to craft."
"You are the absolute best, Hephaestus," I said, and instinctively moved closer to him. "Can I see it?"
"This chest here is yours," he said, pointing at the middle of a series of five large metal chests, each engraved with a different emblem.
From left to right, the chests featured: two crossed swords, a heart, a lightning bolt (that was mine), a bow, and an anvil. I pulled mine toward us and opened its heavy lid.
Inside was a smaller wooden box on top of a shining set of armor. I took the box out of the chest, set it to the side, and picked out the full-body armor.
* * *
Name: Full Plate Armor of Absolute Nullification +4
Type: Full-Body Armor (Heavy)
Rarity: A Grade
Physical Defense: 276
MP Increment: 0
Durability: 29,500/29,500
Weight: 8880st.
Description: A unique combination of metal alloys and cores of magic items that provide resistance to, and absorption of, certain elements has granted this armor the unique ability of absolute nullification. This armor provides complete protection from any sort of elemental or magical damage that might come on top of physical damage. If more than one sort of elemental or magic damage is directed at the wearer of the armor, only the most powerful one will be nullified.
* * *
The armor was lighter in my hands than the C-grade armor I’d been using so far, yet it was also much more powerful. The color of it shifted as the fires of the forge reflected on its surface, changing from violet to yellow to red.
I found myself staring at it, running my hands across its shining surface and marveling at the masterful craftsmanship on each and every detail of it. From the little patterns engraved on the pauldrons to the way the metal curved over the back and the chest area.
"You're not saying anything," Hephaestus said, bringing me out of my thoughts. "Do you like it?"
"It’s stunning," I said, smiling at him. "I'm just amazed by it. I don't think I've ever seen armor with an ability like this. Completely nullifying damage? That’s amazing, even for A-grade."
"Not all damage," he corrected me.
"Yeah, alright. But still, with this high of a Physical Defense stat, even the normal damage won’t be significant."
"That's not all either. Look at the rest of your pieces. I'll call the others to come get their gear too before we craft your weapon."
I smiled at him appreciatively and picked up a helmet with two curling horns on it. As I ran my fingers over the horns, I realized that they were made of some kind of valuable gemstone and not bones, while the rest of helmet felt cold to the touch and extremely light.
* * *
Name: Gem Ram Helmet of Clouds +3
Type: Head
Rarity: A Grade
Physical Defense: 76
MP Increment: 0
Durability: 22,000/22,000
Weight: 60st.
Description: Gem rams are creatures who exist only in environments where gemstones have absorbed enough mana to become semi-sapient. These gem rams feed on said gemstones over the course of their very short lives, growing their horns in an effort to impress their mates. The horns of the gem ram allow the user of this helmet to reflect ranged elemental attacks back at their caster, while the clouds attachment of the helmet reduces its weight by 90%.
* * *
I’d never heard of a gemstone becoming semi-sapient, much less of a creature that fed on such gems. And all that, just to impress potential mates. These beasts somehow took the things we did to get laid to a whole different level.
Reading its description made me wonder whether the reflecting ability was something that kicked in automatically during battles, if I would need to trigger it, or if I simply had to put the helmet in the way of the attack. And if an attack carried two elements, could one of them be reflected by my helmet and the other nullified by the armor?
There were so many fascinating questions I had about my new gear. I didn’t want to waste any more time pondering over hypotheticals though. Not when there were more items to see.
"Looks like a cool helmet, Zeus," I heard Artemis say, and turned to find her behind me.
"You came really fast once Hephaestus called you about the new equipment, didn't you?" I teased.
"We were done with today's tasks already," Aphrodite said, coming up right behind her. "We were just waiting for Hephaestus to call us."
"Ares should be coming soon too," the god of the forge said. "You can all take a look at your gear in the chests before I show you your new weapons."
Both goddesses moved over to the chests, Aphrodite opening the one with the heart on top while Artemis opened the one with the bow engraved on its lid. Their soft gasps and sounds of excitement were drowned out by my fascination as I looked at the pair of winged, armored boots I pulled out of my own chest next.
* * *
Name: Boots of the King Roc +3
Type: Feet
Rarity: A Grade
Physical Defense: 52
MP Increment: 0
Durability: 19,000/19,000
Weight: 840st.
Description: These boots were infused with the magical essence of the king roc, a truly nightmarish beast found in the elemental plane of earth. This massive predatory bird can fly without needing to rest and is considered merely a legend by many. In utilizing a king roc feather to craft these boots, they have stored the ability to fly for 12 hours. This ability can be used either all at once or in several shorter flights, each time using a minimum of 1 minute of flying. The boots regain 1 hour of flight time toward a maximum of 12 hours with every 6 hours of continuous non-use.
* * *
Flying during battle was always something I’d considered a great advantage, but most magical items that allowed for it usually came with significant disadvantages. Either they were single-use only or had a significant cooldown between uses, or they came with greatly reduced defenses. These boots, however, provided great protection and an ongoing ability to fly. Twelve hours of flight time was not only enough to deal with any battle that might come my way, but also enough to flee if I needed to. I sincerely hoped it would never come to that, but it was good to know I had the option.
"You started without me?" Ares asked.
The complete silence that followed his question suggested that both goddesses were too deeply engrossed in the magnificence of their new armor to even notice Ares arriving. When I turned to nod at him, I noticed that Hephaestus was taking his own gear out of the chest with the anvil engraved on it, but paused to push the last remaining chest toward Ares.
Then I focused again on the last piece of gear in the box he’d prepared for me—a pair of gloves that looked like they were made of glass—and smiled upon reading the Dark Energy signature.
* * *
Name: Dark Energy Gloves of Invisibility +3
Type: Hands
Rarity: D Grade
Physical Defense: 52
MP Increment: 0
Durability: 20,000/20,000
Weight: 630st.
Description: Once every hundred trillion crafting attempts, the Dark Energy shows its magnificence by gifting an item with a truly remarkable ability. The person wearing these gloves can make themselves completely invisible for 10 minutes per day. No magical or divine means can pierce through this true invisibility. Additionally, the wearer can trigger the awakened form of this ability, during which they can also become immaterial for up to one minute per day.
* * *
So this was the true power of the Dark Energy. Being a god sometimes made me take the magnificence of the Apocosmos for granted. But it was times such as these, when I was faced with powers so vastly stronger than those of gods, that I felt the rush of wonder and adventure again.
These gloves would serve me extremely well in my fight with Cronus and I was already itching to get moving and finish this. I still needed to get my weapon crafted though, and I hadn’t even checked my jewelry. As strong as my armor set was, if I had no accessories to raise my Magic Defense, I would be an easy target for my father and anyone else with status-affecting spells. Thus, I pulled forward the smaller box I had set to the side, opened it up and took out a couple of earrings, a necklace, and a couple of rings.
They all looked like they’d been created from the same amalgam of different gemstones. It seemed as if diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and a dozen more valuable gems had been shaped into the actual accessories, and when I looked at their descriptions they all appeared to provide pretty much the same boons.
* * *
Name: Necklace of Gem Amalgam Regeneration +3
Type: Necklace
Rarity: A Grade
Magic Defense: 83
Durability: 26,000/26,000
Weight: 15st.
Description: A combination of the most powerful gemstones has been magically molded to create a necklace overflowing with powers. The different effects of each gemstone have subsided in the presence of so many powerful magical sources, and instead morphed into an overwhelming force of life. The wearer of this necklace regains 800HP per second as long as their HP is above 0.
* * *
Eight hundred HP per second was an absolutely crazy level of HP regeneration. At this rate, I’d be practically invincible and wouldn't even need a healer backing me. The only way anyone would be able to bring me down was if they could land thousands of damage per second and considering my heavy armor set, I sincerely doubted that.
But that wasn't all. The two identical rings raised this bonus even more.
* * *
Name: Ring of Gem Amalgam Regeneration +3
Type: Ring
Rarity: A Grade
Magic Defense: 38
Durability: 22,000/22,000
Weight: 15st.
Description: A combination of the most powerful gemstones has been magically molded to create a ring overflowing with powers. The different effects of each gemstone have subsided in the presence of so many powerful magical sources, and instead morphed into an overwhelming force of life. The wearer of this ring regains 400HP per second as long as their HP is above 0.
* * *
With both rings, that was another eight hundred HP regained every second. I scanned the earrings that looked like they were made of the same wondrous material.
* * *
Name: Earring of Gem Amalgam Regeneration +3
Type: Earring
Rarity: A Grade
Magic Defense: 42
Durability: 20,500/20,500
Weight: 15st.
Description : A combination of the most powerful gemstones has been magically molded to create an earring overflowing with powers. The different effects of each gemstone have subsided in the presence of so many powerful magical sources, and instead morphed into an overwhelming force of life. The wearer of this earring regains 250HP per second as long as their HP is above 0.
* * *
This raised my total HP regeneration per second to a staggering two thousand one hundred. At this point, the only chance Cronus would ever have of killing me was if he managed to strike me down in one attack.
Considering the divine abilities I had, the effect of the ambrosia, my strong equipment, and Aphrodite's buffs, I was feeling very confident about fighting him. I still needed to get my hands on the weapon that would be able to kill him though. And as my mind began to wander further, my thoughts were interrupted by one of the pygmies.
"Master Zeus," he said. "A messenger from your father is waiting for you on the other side of the Dion portal."
So you finally decided to make your move, father?