Chapter 234 Equipment and Source Essence Synergy

The change in Ryan's expression felt extremely familiar to Lance.

It was almost identical to the reaction of Vance, the administrative officer at the Veterans’ Institute.

“No way...”

Lance sucked in a breath internally.

However, Ryan's next action allowed Lance to relax slightly, while simultaneously making him even more surprised.

After remaining silent for nearly half a minute, this tough veteran's eyes slowly reddened.

Ryan let out a long sigh.

Lowering his head, he casually wiped away the tears gathering at the corners of his eyes with the back of his hand.

“Child... after all these years, being stranded in a place like this must have been hard on you.”

Back in his younger days, as a member of that secret organization, Ryan had genuinely lived at the center of power in the royal capital.

He had personally witnessed the extravagant lifestyles enjoyed by the direct descendants of the Pendragon Royal Family.

Because of that, he genuinely felt that Lance had been wronged.

At the same time, many of Ryan's lingering doubts were instantly resolved.

The War of the Twin Dragons that had erupted in the Astral Realm, the rare True Dragon Species Source Essence he had condensed, his unreasonable rate of growth, and even the outrageous feat of defeating a god.

Oh, right.

Even Lance's increasingly handsome face now appeared to Ryan as ironclad evidence of royal blood.

Although Lance's black hair and black eyes were completely different from the royal family's signature golden hair and green eyes,

Ryan found that easy enough to explain.

To avoid ruthless court assassinations, someone must have fed the child a special alchemical potion from a young age to alter his appearance.

Among the methods employed by great noble families to conceal illegitimate children, such tactics were exceedingly common.

Thinking about Lance's accomplishments,

Ryan even felt a surge of pride rising uncontrollably within him.

So what if the Senate Elders had invested countless resources into carefully raising the legitimate heir?

Hadn't that heir still lost to this true king, abandoned by the royal family and raised before Ryan's very eyes among the common people?

Ryan felt that being able to contribute even a small part to this child's growth was undoubtedly the greatest achievement of his life.

Meanwhile, Lance sat across from him.

Although he had no idea how many details Ryan had fabricated in his imagination, the moment he heard the phrase “being stranded out here,” he knew things were heading in a completely uncontrollable direction.

He immediately reached out and grabbed the veteran's shoulder.

“Uncle Ryan, no matter what ridiculous story you've imagined just now—”

“I guarantee that none of it is true.”

The moment those words left his mouth, it felt as though a bolt of lightning flashed through Lance's mind.

Every clue suddenly connected perfectly.

The sudden humility and flattery displayed by Vance in White River City...

The heartbroken question Elvira had asked before collapsing from exhaustion in the canyon...

And Ryan's current emotional state...

The three of them had likely misunderstood the exact same thing at different times and places.

Lance quickly put himself in their shoes.

The conclusion made his scalp tingle.

In their eyes, he was undoubtedly an illegitimate child of the Pendragon Royal Family, forced to live in exile due to some political conflict.

After all, according to the worldview of this world's natives, being Dragon-blooded could only be inherited through bloodline.

They certainly weren't going to believe that some rural kid who had only recently stepped into the Professional Rank had secretly gone and slain a true dragon all by himself.

“No wonder...”

Lance suddenly understood.

No wonder Elvira had cried so heartbreakingly after realizing he had activated a Red Dragon form.

Everything finally made sense.

Lovers becoming siblings.

Who wouldn't cry in that situation?

But understanding it didn't solve the problem.

Lance fell into an awkward silence.

He had no way of revealing the system—his greatest secret—to prove that he had absolutely no connection to the royal family.

Thus, during that brief silence, Ryan saw Lance's hesitant expression and immediately interpreted it as tacit admission after having his identity exposed.

In the veteran's eyes, this simply showed how considerate the boy was.

The child clearly didn't want the sudden difference in status between them to create distance.

That was why he was deliberately trying to comfort Ryan this way.

Ryan grasped Lance's arm in return, patted it firmly twice, and gave him a look that said, “I understand.”

“Don't worry, child. I understand everything.”

“As for your identity, even if I die, I'll take that secret to the grave.”

What exactly do you understand?!

Lance screamed internally, feeling as though this completely mismatched conversation was about to give him internal injuries.

Forget it.

Since there was no reasonable way to explain things, he could only let the misunderstanding continue.

However...

After calming down, Lance considered the situation carefully.

This illegitimate-prince identity that others had forcibly attached to him might actually prove useful in the future.

At the very least, bureaucrats like Vance—people who dreamed of climbing the social ladder—would become easy targets for manipulation under the influence of this halo.

Thinking about that possibility,

Lance lowered his head and chuckled.

Could something truly absurd happen one day?

Could he end up draping himself in the banner of Red Dragon bloodline, navigating the tangled web of royal power struggles, bluffing and deceiving people everywhere?

And then somehow, through a group of overly imaginative and fanatically devoted followers, accidentally create a massive “Prince Restoration Faction” among the common people?

If things really developed that far, the joke would become absolutely enormous.

Shaking his head to dispel those ridiculous fantasies,

Lance saw that Ryan had already opened the suitcase brought back from White River City.

The veteran put on a monocle-like alchemical device and carefully examined the equipment resting on the shock-absorbing velvet lining.

More than ten minutes passed.

Only then did Ryan remove the eyepiece with satisfaction and hand the equipment back.

“This gauntlet is good quality. Nobody tampered with it.”

The item was a fingerless gauntlet crafted from some kind of dark-red magical beast leather.

The back of the hand and the knuckles were reinforced with black alchemical metal plating.

This was the piece of equipment Lance had painstakingly selected from the treasury.

The gauntlet had been chosen specifically to complement his close-combat fighting style and his newly acquired Blessing, 【Royal Armory】.

After all, the activation condition for 【Royal Armory】 required physical contact.

If he wanted to seize an enemy's enchanted weapon on the battlefield, he couldn't exactly rip weapons away barehanded.

Although his Specialty granted additional Natural Armor to his hands, that protection was nowhere near enough to withstand the cutting power of enchanted weapons.

Therefore, a gauntlet capable of protecting his hands while providing sufficient hardness was the missing piece his combat system desperately needed.

Since Uncle Ryan confirmed there was no problem, Lance immediately equipped it on his left hand without hesitation.

With a thought, he guided Ember Dragon Breath into the gauntlet.

The binding process proceeded smoothly.

As Lance continuously infused his own Aether Energy into it, dark-red magma-like patterns began glowing through the gaps between the originally black metal plates.

Then the system panel displayed the detailed equipment information.

【Equipment: Unnamed】 (Resistance Threshold: 5)

【Trait One (Unarmed Hardness Judgment +5): When the wearer's gauntlet comes into contact with enemy weapons, its material hardness is equivalent to Common · Excellent-quality professional-grade alchemical metal. This material possesses excellent Aether Energy conductivity and will not easily melt under intense energy impacts.】

【Enchantment Ability (Detonation): Left-hand attack explosive power +3. When the wearer releases fire- or lightning-attributed Aether Energy through the gauntlet, each successful strike against a target generates a small-area physical explosion effect.】

【Special Synergy Notice: This detonation effect can synergize with the wearer's Source Trait “Armor Shatter.” The efficiency of destroying enemy armor will be increased, while also granting “Armor Shatter” splash effects.】

After reading the description, Lance clenched his left fist with satisfaction.

This special synergy effect was exactly why he had chosen this piece of equipment at first glance inside the treasury.

In this world, many powerful abilities did not function independently.

Just like the gauntlet's enchantment property, which could create a remarkable chemical reaction with his Source Trait and evolve into a more destructive tactical effect.

That was precisely why, in the world of Professionals, a perfectly matched enchanted piece of equipment often became one of the most important components of a person's strength.

Understanding this only reinforced Lance's belief regarding how absurdly overpowered 【Royal Armory】 truly was.

Of course, his Source Trait 【Armor Shatter】 was equally disgusting.

It essentially allowed him to forcibly dismantle an enemy's tactical framework during combat.

However, during his previous battle against Elvira, Lance had already discovered a weakness of 【Molten Metal Armor Shatter】.

Back in the canyon, he had genuinely intended to melt that damned sword.

But when Ember Dragon Breath carrying the Armor Shatter effect collided with the Holy Sword, it failed to inflict any actual damage.

Only after reviewing the combat records on the system panel afterward did Lance discover the reason.

The Noble Phantasm known as the Sword of Kingship possessed the inherent trait “Never Wears Down.”

Within the fundamental laws of this world, there existed a hidden priority-ranking mechanism.

The Sword of Kingship's connection to the world's origin was currently far deeper than Lance's newly awakened 【Molten Metal Armor Shatter】.

As a result, when their priorities clashed, 【Molten Metal Armor Shatter】 could not overcome the Holy Sword's “Never Wears Down” property.

Naturally, it was incapable of melting the weapon.

However, Lance felt no discouragement.

Priority rankings were not immutable.

As his professional level continued to rise, his Source Essence would inevitably become increasingly powerful.

Sooner or later, he would raise Armor Shatter's priority high enough to melt even the Holy Sword itself.

“You'll be called 【Detonation】.”

Looking at the crimson-glowing gauntlet on his left hand, Lance casually finalized its name.