Chapter 16: Crafting Game-Breaking Equipment

Remember to join my Patreon to get 17 chapters in Advance! You can check it here: https://www.patreon.com/pancakeswitch

-----

Ding!

[Congratulations! You have successfully synthesized the [Black Wolf's Punk Devil Shorts (B Grade)] x1 [Black Wolf's Punk Devil Top (B Grade)] x1 [Black Wolf's Punk Devil Boots (B Grade)] x1!]

[The Subclass Skills: [Alchemy (C): Lv5] [Crafting (D): Lv2] [Runic Engravement (B): Lv2] has Leveled Up!]

[You learned the Subclass Skill: [Sewing (D): Lv1]!]

[The Subclass Skill: [Sewing (D): Lv1] has Leveled Up!]

Not only did Vlad level up all his manufacturing Skills after improving Chris' equipment, but he even learned a Skill he had been aiming for a while now: [Sewing]. As long as he activates this Skill while sewing clothes, threads, and fabrics of all kinds, he'll receive a bonus of dexterity and improved quality for the resulting product.

"I really like this!"

As Chris put on the clothes and spun around in midair, an aura of blue essence, phantasmal in nature, slowly started to emerge from his clothes. At first, he didn't really notice, but the blue-colored mist became more prominent, encompassing him.

"Ugh, this is weird; what's this?" he wondered. "And it got cold out of nowhere."

"Oh, that must be the effects of the Phantasmal Obsidian Steel in effect. Interesting." Vlad nodded. "Let me check the set's description."

-----

[Black Wolf's Punk Devil Set (Top, Shorts, Boots)]

{Item Type}: [Armor] [Clothes] [Combined Set] 

{Item Quality}: [B Grade]

{Item Requirement}: [Incubus Only] 

{Item Durability}: [30.000/30.000]

{Item Effects}: [Arcana]: [6.000/6.000] [Physical Defense]: [3.000] [Magical Defense]: [6.000] [Strength]: [+300] [Vitality]: [+450] [Dexterity]: [+600]

{Runic Engravements}: [Tier 1 Earth Spell: Rock Skin] (Top) [Tier 1 Fire Spell: Fiery Strength] (Shorts) [Tier 1 Wind Spell: Winds of Speed] (Boots)

{Item Abilities}

[Phantasmal Black Wolf Set]: Equipment reinforced using the pelt of a black wolf and a special type of phantasmal ore. Once all set pieces are equipped, their stats combine and share the same durability. When all sets are equipped and Arcana is imbued, a {Phantasmal Black Wolf's Veil} will be conjured, protecting the user from a lethal attack once per day. Once the Veil effect is used, a Phantom Black Wolf will be summoned for the next hour, sharing the equipment stats plus 25% of the wearer's stats and possessing unique abilities.

{Description}

A powerful set for any Incubus, an upgraded version of their original equipment set, now using the black wolf pelt and the phantasmal ingots. It is said that it can protect its wearer from a lethal blow once a day and summon a mighty protector. Made by a sickly Dhampir for his beloved Incubus. 

-----

"Oh, seeing the entire item status is really amazing!" said Chris, as he noticed Paul covering the "{Description}" area of it due to the embarrassment he felt.

As he did, Vlad analyzed the item; it was just as he planned it to be. At least in terms of power. He had tried to imbue a spell to connect the equipment, and he succeeded. Not only did this make it so that all the equipment shared a single pool of durability, but it also made it possible for the spells to be conjured at any time.

However, what he did not expect was for Chris to get some sort of divine protection ability, protecting him from a lethal blow once a day! And it even summoned a one-hour phantom wolf to protect him?

Wasn't the equipment he made way too complex for the material quality?

Paul couldn't wait to see what else he could make once he acquired actual high-quality materials.

"As you can see, the top, shorts, and boots have their own spells; all of them are for you to get a little stronger," Vlad explained. "Rock Skin enhances physical defense; Winds of Speed increase your movement speed; and Fiery Might increase your attack power. Be careful that it uses the Arcana of the equipment; the buffs usually last for a minute."

"Nice! Thanks a lot, dude; I really owe you a bunch," Chris smiled. "Now what are you hiding there? Come on, show me~"

"W-Wait, no, just close the panel!" Paul tried to stop him.

However, Chris dragged his hand away and looked, and his curious face quickly turned into a teasing smile.

"Heh~" he giggled. "Am I that beloved Incubus?"

"I don't know why that description appeared; our relationship is purely that of friends or colleagues at most," sighed Paul. "Now I'll just finish your stuff and move on to my own things."

"Okay, fine…" Chris sat on the bed while reading more.

As Vlad started working on his trident and improving it, Chris was beginning to better comprehend how to use Arcana; just like he read, he started using his own imagination and visualization.

He slowly formed every rune he could and then arranged them into magic circles, which gave birth to spells.

"Yeah, this is really complicated," he nodded. "It is much better to imbue spells into things to use them easily."

"Yeah, that's what I did," said Vlad. "Unless you have specialized magic-casting skills from a specific class for that, it's really hard. I guess I might be able to get a skill like that if I absorb the corpse of a magician."

"You're scaring me a bit," said Chris. "Don't talk so casually about absorbing corpses, please…"

"My bad; keep practicing anyway," said Vlad. "Unlike me, your stats don't decrease all the time, only when you're hungry for life energy. So magic using your internal Arcana would be generally much stronger than whatever I can create."

"Yep, I know~ Don't worry, bro, I'll carry you," Chris giggled.

Paul ignored him as he continued working.

The red-colored trident was a low-quality and rather weak weapon given to most devils from the get-go. Incubus were a type of devil, so their weapon of choice was either this red trident or a spear.

Chris got the trident instead of a spear, which wasn't too bad of a choice, but spears seem a bit easier to handle; tridents tend to be heavier because of their triple pointy ends.

Paul had thought about making it a spear by cutting it down, but he thought that might damage the durability and power of the weapon, so he only decided to mix it with Phantasmal Obsidian Steel and then embed it with beast cores and runes.

The process was quick as his skills had leveled up a lot, making everything much swifter and more precise at the same time. Whenever he activated the skills themselves, he felt like his hands moved automatically.

"This should be about done."

Once the bubbling alchemy cauldron synthesized the trident's new components completely and the weapon emerged from its liquid, Vlad moved on to his second project, the magic bow. 

He used a mold for bows he found in the Heavenly Treasury and researched online to see if there was any information on magic bows themselves. He only found a single forum page of someone who had made one, showing the image and description of his work.

It seemed that people with Runic Engravement Skills were incredibly few and precious, often requested by top players to craft their special equipment. 

Seeing the potential of his talent, Paul felt even more proud of his work, and by copying how the other crafter made the magic bow almost step by step while modifying and improving a few things, he was done in twenty minutes.

Yes, only twenty minutes! The power of Skills made manufacturing and crafting incredibly quick once you had something to follow, such as a blueprint, a guide, or a mold. And he had all of them, so it was obviously fast.

The only thing that took him more time to do was the runic engraving; he spent several minutes doing that but managed to engrave the spells necessary. He copied the same spells the other magic bow had and made them better.

As the bow emerged from the cauldron, Vlad nodded with pride.

"It's done…"

Ding!

[Congratulations! You have successfully synthesized the [Vampiric Devil Trident (A Grade)] x1 and [Magic Bow: Shadow of the Night (B+ Grade)] x1!]

[The Subclass Skills: [Crafting (D): Lv3] [Runic Engravement (B): Lv3] [Sewing (D): Lv2] have Leveled Up!]

[You have become extremely proficient in the Arts of Crafting, Alchemy, and Manufacturing Items. The Subclasses [Apprentice Alchemist] [Runic Engraver] and [Magic Tailor] have been unlocked.]

[To obtain a Subclass, you must first reach Tier 3 and walk into a Divine Shrine.]

"Interesting, so that's how you get Subclasses, huh?"

As Vlad nodded, he quickly called Chris, who was very concentrated, conjuring flashes of bright light and spheres of darkness. It seemed he had a good talent for Light and Darkness Magic. His Heavenly Core granted him an immediate affinity with Life and Light Magic. And because he was a Devil, Darkness and Curse Magic Talent was a given.

"Chris, I'm done here. Grab these!" Vlad quickly gave Chris his new trident and bow.

"Huh? Already?!" Chris gasped. "Oh my gosh, they're so cool! All for me?! You're pampering me too much, Paul! Do you love me or something? Hahah!"

Chris laughed as he checked the items, very happy to be given all this "free equipment," completely unaware that Paul planned to use him to grind as much as they could inside of dungeons. So he needed his only party member to be strong and useful.

But even then, that question, even if as a joke, made Paul slightly flustered. He quickly realized that even if it was for a friend, he might be going a bit too far for no reason. Well, there might be a reason why he was doing this for him, but he didn't really want to even consider it.

"I'm just doing it because you're a party member; I need you to be strong, that's all." Vlad crossed his arms; his vampiric charm and serious demeanor made him an eye candy. 

"Okay, thank you~" Chris smiled, winking at him. "Anyways, the Trident upgrade is really cool!"

The formerly red-colored trident of roughly 1.70 meters had remained almost the same size, but it now had black alloy mixed into it, resembling flames. There were small jewels embedded in the weapon, and the forked end was now even sharper than before, embedded with pointy vampiric bat fangs.

"It's equipped to be able to drain the life force from foes you touch," said Vlad. "Also, look at the bow."

The bow was almost completely made of pitch-black steel, only embedded with a single red jewel, a beast core of the black wolf they fought at the beginning, and several smaller beast cores too.

Packed with a lot of beast cores for Arcana, the magic bow was overflowing with a powerful aura of magic, while the trident had a more oppressive aura of blood within it.

Chris's heart was beating faster; although he loved all of this, the whole intention behind the gifts themselves was what made him feel so flattered.

"He's obviously lying," he thought. "Paul, you gave me such amazing gifts; do you think I'm dumb to not realize something's up? Heh…"

As Chris was thinking about all those things, Paul analyzed the two weapons' information before continuing to work on his armor, rings, necklaces, and bracelets.

-----

[Vampiric Devil Trident]

{Item Type}: [Vampiric Weapon] [Trident] 

{Item Quality}: [A Grade]

{Item Requirement}: [Incubus Only] 

{Item Durability}: [10.000/10.000]

{Item Effects}: [Arcana]: [7.000/7.000] [Physical Damage]: [5.000] [Magic Damage]: [1.000] 

{Runic Engravements}: [Tier 1 Wind Spell: Float] [Tier 1 Earth Spell: Stone Shield] [Tier 1: Blood Spell: Blood Absorption] [Tier 1 Curse Spell: Body Weakening Curse] [Tier 1 Thunder Spell: Lightning Strike]

{Item Abilities}

[Vampiric Devil Fangs]: This trident has been upgraded and imbued with Phantasmal Obsidian Steel and the Fangs of Vampiric Bats, granting it the ability to directly absorb Life Force from any wound dealt against a foe, weakening them in the process. Each wound that has drained some life force will decrease the foe's Defense and Strength by -1%, for a maximum debuff of -20% for 10 Minutes.

{Description}

An old trident that was remade anew using high-quality materials, embedded with several useful spells and the ability to drain energy from foes and targets, has become a weapon powerful enough to compete with the most prized treasures. However, only the mischievous Incubus may wield the weapon's power.

-----

"Perfect, just as I envisioned again."

The trident was just as he wanted—the draining ability and all the spells too. He added the Float Spell so Chris could launch his spear and then get it back. The Stone Wall was a defensive spell if Chris ever needed one. 

Blood Absorption would allow him to absorb the blood of foes to restore health; Body Weakening Curse to temporarily slow down and weaken foes; and Lightning Strike to attack as quickly as possible.

They were all Tier 1 Spells though, so their power wasn't that good. However, Magic Equipment with spells imbued into them can grow stronger, and the Spells themselves will also increase their Tiers with the help of a magic blacksmith.

This means that once more materials are available, it is possible to Rank Up the Spells and therefore, make the weapon much stronger!

"And the bow…"

-----

[Magic Bow: Shadow of the Night]

{Item Type}: [Magic Bow] [Weapon]

{Item Quality}: [B+ Grade]

{Item Requirement}: [Dark Affinity, Incubus, Moon Elf Only] 

{Item Durability}: [6.000/6.000]

{Item Effects}: [Arcana]: [10.000/10.000] [Physical Damage]: [1.000] [Magic Damage]: [3.000] 

{Runic Engravements}: [Tier 1 Wind Spell: Wind Arrow] [Tier 1 Fire Spell: Fire Arrow] [Tier 1 Ice Spell: Ice Arrow] [Tier 1 Curse Spell: Cursed Arrow] [Tier 1 Poison Spell: Poison Arrow] [Tier 1 Thunder Spell: Paralysis Arrow]

{Item Abilities}

[Assassin's Bow]: A bow imbued with Phantasmal Obsidian Steel and embedded with many magic arrow spells, perfectly made to be used as a long-ranged, damage-dealing magic bow. However, its name also has a meaning. When equipped, it encompasses the wielder on a Veil of Shadows that increases their Stealth abilities and decreases the chances of being spotted by foes. Additionally, whenever an arrow strikes down a foe by surprise, the bow will regain 25% of the Arcana spent.

{Description}

An incredible magic bow forged with great effort, made entirely out of Phantom Obsidian Steel, and embedded with powerful spells. This weapon was made for those who dislike fighting at close range and have good dexterity and agility. However, due to the bow's nature, only Incubus and Moon Elves may equip it.

-----

"Really good, though I am still wondering why it's not A Rank…" Paul wondered. "Anyways, Chris, we're done with your stuff. I'll quickly continue doing my own thing now. I would recommend you go practice archery outside if you want."

"Right, yeah… I just feel a bit surprised still; it's like I just purchased some overpowered item, but it's actually for free, crazy," Chris said. "You're simply too hard for me, Paul. I guess I'll have to work hard not to disappoint you."

"Simping?" Paul sighed, facepalming. "Just go practice…"

He didn't want to admit it, but it really felt that way.

His armor base form was almost done by now; only the painting and engraving processes were ahead of him.

"Perfect, we're almost done here... And as for the rings, bracelets, and necklaces, I guess I can always use the molds to mass-produce them. I'll need as many as I can fit in my body."

To make up for his great weakness, Paul decided to rely completely on his equipment.

-----

Remember to join my Patreon to get 17 chapters in Advance! You can check it here: https://www.patreon.com/pancakeswitch