Chapter 41 - Full Armor Set

"Unfortunately, I can’t tell you anything," Arthur replied. "Not before talking with my master Bram. Is that a problem?"

Arthur thought Ray wouldn’t like that answer, since the mood seemed pretty tense, but he just laughed and patted Arthur’s back a few times.

"Relax, kid. Everyone has their secrets. Shall we head back? We have to get ready for the shop’s opening."

"Sure," Arthur said, sighing in relief.

As they flew back to the city, Arthur went to check the current state of his attributes. They were simply impressive.

[Name: Arthur (#0769)]

[Class: Soul Artisan (SSS)]

[Level: 10]

[EXP: 80/14000]

[HP: 560/560]

[MP: 425/425]

[Attributes:]

[Strength: 31 (+5)]

[Agility: 37 (+13)]

[Vigor: 31 (+5)]

[Intelligence: 40 (+5)]

[Free points: 31]

He had hit level 9, almost 10, when he completed those quests, and Shadow Cloak carried him the rest of the way while she killed monsters with the item he had given her.

Also, those 30 points the bloodline gave him in each attribute were absurd. That was several levels’ worth of free stats!

Any permanent attribute increase was extremely important. It was one of the ways to have more power than other players without relying so much on items.

And Arthur still had the ability to craft all sorts of powerful items, so the gap between him and the other players was already pretty big at that point.

’Infiltrating the Holy Church isn’t worth it right now, but maybe switching my class is a good idea? Maybe Swordsman + Mage would work?’

Arthur was taking inspiration from Louise’s class, the Runic Knight. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t be able to get that exact class, but combining 2 contracts, 1 from a Swordsman and 1 from a Mage, could give him a class similar to what he wanted.

Maybe that was a great path for the current stage of the game. Swordsman was also really strong in dungeons.

On top of that, mixing it with a ranged mage, plus the fire resistance he had gained from the bloodline, Arthur already knew a few fire field bosses he could kill from a distance without taking any damage. So switching his class now wouldn’t be so bad after all.

Rogue was indeed fast to level, but now that he had Yuki to help him, maybe he didn’t need to stick with that class.

Besides, he still wanted to test the donation function.

’Maybe donating something to Shadow Cloak will get me a relevant permanent benefit.’

Anyway, as soon as he arrived in the city, Arthur decided to spend some time crafting items for himself, getting as strong as he could before the dungeons opened.

"Mind telling me where I can find some hides to make armor?"

"What kind of leather are you looking for?"

Arthur didn’t know exactly all the monster types in that region, so he simply said, "Something to make a full armor set for level 10."

He was already prepared to spend some coins. His money was growing, and it was only fair to put it to use, but Ray was willing to hand them over for free!

"We have hides at the shop. Go ahead and take some. They’re great for level 10 items."

"Thanks."

Arthur went to the shop. A few players were already walking around in front of it, others even sitting in the plaza out front, watching the shop and wondering what it was all about.

The heating system was already working perfectly. Arthur gathered all the employees and asked them to change into the dresses that showed off plenty of leg and chest.

The funniest part was that the shop now had more female employees. Ray had listened to Arthur’s recommendation and had already swapped some workers around, focusing more on the women to serve the huge wave of players.

After all, most players were still men. Two of the shop’s vendors were men, to serve the female clientele, but Arthur kept them in regular formal clothes.

’I’m not having men showing off their bodies here.’

Once all the employees were wearing the proper outfits, Arthur recorded a new video showing the shop and had them make some cute expressions while looking at him.

Nobody understood why, since they didn’t know he could record and post on the Internet, but they obeyed him all the same.

After recording the shop, Arthur made a post on the game’s forum showing the footage and talking all about it with the updated info Ray had given him.

By now, he even knew the types of equipment being sold and the starting prices. The commotion among players was immediate.

Some even complained because they were in another kingdom and couldn’t access that shop.

"Why is Cinder’s shop full of beautiful women while the shops in my city only have sweaty bearded men? What the fuck is this?"

"I’m not even buying much, I’m just gonna spend my time hanging around those goddesses."

The comments rolling across the Internet were funny. Arthur had to smile while reading them. Apparently his plan was working. Players couldn’t resist beautiful girls in daring dresses.

And once they caved, they would come to the shop to spend money, which was exactly what he wanted. Everything was going according to plan.

Arthur went to the top floor and used a leatherworking crafting station. He wanted to make a full medium leather armor set, which would be essential for his Swordsman class.

Heavy armor would affect his movement, and light armor wouldn’t give enough defense for a Swordsman, a melee class.

"Where can I get leather suitable for a level 10 armor?"

The employees were already on standby, ready to help him find whatever he needed. That same blacksmith who had let him use the crafting station before was the one who stepped up.

It was starting to seem like the guy would do anything as long as it wasn’t actually crafting the items... Well, since he was helping, Arthur didn’t complain at all.

"Here are the hides, sir," the blacksmith said, handing them to Arthur. "If you need more, you can come grab them right here."

The first step was placing the leather on the tanning rack to prepare it for the leatherworking table. That process took a few minutes.

All Arthur had to do was stretch the leather on the rack, pour some tanning liquid over it, and wait for the timer shown by the system.

It was pretty simple, actually. While waiting, Arthur decided to go have some tea, watching the players gathered in front of the shop through the top floor window.

After his post, the number of players in front of the shop, eager to check it out, had grown.

Some players, upon reaching level 10, instead of exploring the city in search of quests and securing them before other players got there... nope, they went straight to hang around the shop.

They had even set up a digital countdown on the forum, tracking the hours until the shop opened.

’They’re insane!’ Arthur thought, shaking his head as he looked out the window.

He returned to the tanning rack and grabbed the leather, which was now ready to be used.

As soon as he got to the workbench, the system itself showed him some recipes for items he could craft.

Of course, there weren’t many options unlocked. To learn more armor pieces, he needed to raise his leatherworking level and also find recipes scattered around the world. Or buy them from other players.

There was a level 10 leather armor set. It was the highest-level item he could craft.

[Frosthide Leather Armor - Level 10]

The set consisted of 5 parts: helmet, chestpiece, gloves, pants, and boots. Arthur calculated how much leather it would take and realized he was still a bit short.

Before starting on the first piece, he grabbed some more leather, put it on the tanning rack to tan, and got to work.

The system helped a lot. As soon as he selected the piece he wanted to make, it showed him where to cut and how to tie everything with leather strips.

Even with that help, he still had to do the manual work of cutting and tying it all, so it wasn’t that simple. Arthur found that making armor was way more boring than making weapons.

It took him about 1 hour to complete all the pieces. But when he finished, Arthur couldn’t hide his smile as he admired his new items.

[Frosthide Leather Chestpiece]

[Grade: Uncommon]

[Type: Armor]

[Level Requirement: 10]

[Attribute Requirement: 20 STR]

[Defense: 25]

[Bonuses: +15 armor rating if wearing full set, +10 vitality if wearing full set]

[Soul Augment: +5% HP]

The other pieces had varied defenses. The helmet, for example, gave less armor than the chestpiece. Same with the gloves. And each piece had a different Soul Augment!

But the +15 armor rating and +10 vitality were full-set bonuses. They didn’t stack per piece.

Still, with the other Soul Augments, Arthur had a pretty powerful set!

One piece gave +5% HP, another +10% Magic Resistance, another +5% movement speed, another +5% Attack Speed, and the last one +8% Perception.

Arthur equipped the full set, already feeling way sturdier and more protected. He toggled the setting to make his helmet invisible.

’Good thing the game has that option. God, this helmet is ugly.’

Right after he put on the armor, a shop employee came up to him.

"Sir, the shop is opening early. You should probably head downstairs."

Arthur walked down the stairs wearing a full level 10 armor set.

The players went into shock the moment they saw him.