Runeblade
Chapter 81: Armoured pt. 2

Standing in the vault they had gained access to after slaying the assassin Champion, Kaius crouched down to take a closer look at the rewards. A pair of chausses and a ring that lay in the centre of the inscribed metal floor, haloed by the light of the wardlights set into the ceiling.

"Well, what do they do?" Porkchop asked from beside him, his nervous pawing at the ground giving away his impatience.

Kaius rolled his eyes. "Give me a moment, I haven't identified them yet."

He reached for the ring first. It was a simple band of gold, a ring of dense inscriptions encircling its interior face. He reached for True Sight, peering deeper into the hidden nature of the artefact. A moment later and its system description popped into his vision.

Ring of the Tigers Claw:

Common - Tier I

Embody the tigers fury and tear your foes asunder with the cutting might of your body, this is what it means to be of the clan. Trust in your gifts, and show me what you have learned.

Made from mana saturated gold, this ring's enchantments project a honed edge of mana that projects from fists and natural weapons during unarmed combat.

Depths-wrought Artefact.

Accessory (Ring)

Ethereal Claw I, Resizing I, Self Repair I

Rolling the ring around his hand, Kaius appraised the ring with an appreciative eye. He rose from his crouch, turning to Porkchop with an open palm held out.

"Paw."

Porkchop physically vibrated at his words, slapping his paw down on Kaius's hand with enough force to slap it out of the way.

"Sorry." He said sheepishly as Kaius shook his head at him and slipped the ring over one of his claws and onto his finger. "What does it do?"

"Should project some sort of blade from your claws when you try to scratch something. Why don't you try it out?" He asked, stepping back as Porkchop chittered in excitement and rose onto his hind legs.

Porkchop swiped the air. As he did so Kaius watched a blue haze trail behind narrow blades of mana that coated the front edge of Porkchop's claws, extending a few finger lengths further out. He knew he could only see it thanks to True Sight, without some sort of mana sensing ability the blades would be entirely invisible.

Kaius whistled as Porkchop cackled in glee, following up his tentative swipe with a blurring flurry of raking strikes as the blue mist of unaspected mana settled throughout the room.

"Careful now, don't want to accidentally set off any of the defences in here now, do we?" Kaius said, eying the way Porkchop's projected blades narrowly missed scraping the inscribed floor.

Porkchop gave him a huff, but dropped down to the floor anyway before running over to butt his head into Kaius's hip.

"Loot!"

"Yeah, yeah." Kaius said, scratching him behind the ear. "Let's see what I got."

He stepped forwards, bending down to scoop the chausses he had seen off the floor. They were a near identical match to his cuirass, with the same bluish sheet scales coating a backing of beast leather, with heavy plates to defend his groin and thighs.

Kaius pulled up their description with True Sight, eager to see if they really were of the same make.

Serelian Scalemail Chausses:

Uncommon

Knight of Sereli, the night is dark, this you already know. Our city burns, blood running through our streets while foul sorcery runs rampant. It matters not, you have your duty. Our flag remains high until we are felled to the last. Be strong, knight, and trust in your armour. It may yet see you through till the coming of the dawn.

Forged from a Heilomite-Steel alloy, this scalemail armour was standard issue for the mage-breaker knights of Sereli. Designed to be light and mobile even for medium armour, it provides significant physical and arcane protection without unduly hampering movement.

Depths-wrought Artefact

Medium Armour (Cuisses)

Durability II, Magic Resistance I, Self Repair I

He was right! They were of the same make, though it was a shame that they weren't part of a set. Set items were rare, the purview of master enchanters, and the Depths themselves. They conferred additional bonuses as you wore more and more of the set.

Though, it was far less common to see sets come from Depths' rewards. Something about the random nature of the rewards made it very uncommon to receive more than one item from a set, and it was impossible to tell if an artefact was part of a set until you had more than one of them. He'd heard a few rumours of delvers who had discovered their items were part of a set when perusing a merchant's stock, having to bite their tongue lest they get fleeced once the merchant learned of what he had.

There were darker rumours too, of delvers crossing in the night and replaceing that they each had a piece of a set. Those stories often ended in death and blood, though Kaius was of the mind that both were just that. Rumours.

Still, even if it wasn't part of a set, his Serelian scale had treated him well. It was a simple defence, but a stout one. Thankfully, it looked like it would fit over his leather reinforced trousers. They might have been comfortable, but they were a poor replacement for armour. He had been getting his legs cut up far more often than he liked recently.

Kaius slipped off his boots before hurriedly buckling on his latest artefact. Like everything else he had gotten from the depths, it fit like a glove.

"Well? What do you think?" He asked Porkchop as he raised his arms and gave a slow spin.

"Shiny, but hopefully you'll get stabbed in the legs less."

"My thoughts exactly." Kaius said, shooting his friend a grin.

"What now? That's pretty much it for this city right? Other than the Guardian?"

"Yeah," Kaius nodded. "We'll need to head for a different biome, replace some more Champions. If we can, we should keep an eye out for other Guardians too, see if we can replace a better matchup. This one is some sort of ogre. It's bloody huge, I think we could take it, but a single hit would mess us up bad."

"I'm gonna miss the beds and cooked food." Porkchop said forlornly.

"Chin up, we'll stock up before we go and besides, there's still one more thing for us to do."

Porkchop cocked his head at him, the soft light from the wardlight above reflecting off his red and black fur.

"Oh?"

"I'm ready to merge my next legacy skill, remember?" Kaius grinned. "Plus I'm going to need your help getting my next two before we set off. I'll be fine training them against depths-born, but acquiring them in combat would be a little more risky."

Porkchop's ears perked up. "More wrestling?"

"Yes, more wrestling." Kaius laughed. "Now let's head back to one of those estates to hole up. I'm bloody exhausted and want to be my best for the merge."

Kaius led the way out of the vault, happy he and Porkchop had found yet more gear to support them on their delve. As they passed through the bank, Kaius eyes the shredded body of the assassin that had brought him so close to the brink. He shuddered as he saw the knife discarded to the side of its twisted and broken limb, turning away as the memory of his lifeblood pumping out of his throat washed over him.

"A good reminder not to underestimate this place." He thought to himself grimly.

…

Kaius took a deep breath, enjoying the view of the city and surrounding cavern that he had from his seat on the balcony of the noble estate they had retreated to. It was nearly five stories off the ground, and sitting on the outer rim of the district it provided a fantastic vantage point from which to look out over the rest of the biome.

Below him he watched goblins crawl around the city like mites, with a smattering wandering through the fungal fields outside of the city. He felt distant, removed from the constant chaos and ongoing struggle of pushing their way through the infested dwarven city.

They had left the bank a few days ago, sneaking through the seat of the city's government to return to this patch of calm. It was their second stay in the estate, it being the first place they had bunkered down for the night after reaching this layer. Opulent and rich, it provided them no small measure of creature comforts while they rested their minds and bodies after their fraught confrontation with the assassin.

Plus, the fact that the grounds were surrounded by ten stride high stone walls that the goblins had not managed to breach made it a lot more secure than some of the other places they had rested on this layer.

He'd needed the break. Two Champion fights in a handful of days and a close brush with death had worn on him. Though, in the end it was nothing that some dwarven beer, fine foods, and soft mattresses hadn't been able to fix.

Porkchop had enjoyed their break too. Though he seemed utterly determined to grow fat on dwarven delicacies, what with the way he had been eating. It seemed that his friend was not looking forward to going back to unseasoned meat and survival rations after they moved on. Hells, he was still sleeping from their lunch, barely able to move after tearing into a whole beef roast, the glutton.

Well, at least it gave him a break from the constant yammering. Kaius smiled.

Another deep breath steadied his mind. He was ready.

He closed his eyes, turning his attention to the burning light of his soul that dominated his centre.

Not intending to waste any time, Kaius latched his attention onto the first skill that would make up his second to last legacy skill. Latching on to his soul he spun out a thread of soulfire, weaving it into a tight golden filament.

His legacy skills started to scream with greed and desire, eager to monopolise his attention. Despite the ear splitting ring in his ears, he managed to tune them out and forge a connection with his first skill. Meaning flowed across the link, foreign sensations and images revealing the core of the skill.

A flood of red raced through his vision, battering against a spectre of death, forcing it into submission with pure volume. The skill spoke of logistics, how even the most grievous wound could be healed with an overwhelming application of power. It was a simple thing, a solution to a dire problem. Perhaps not the most elegant, but one that would fight with all its strength to keep you alive. It cared not for subtlety, deft control, nor manipulation. To be miserly with the essence of life was to risk perishing to an avoidable fate. Fast Healing.

The skill thrummed, accepting his connection. Now bound by gold thread, the nexus of power that orbited his inner fire sang with resonance, a crisp tone echoing through his centre. Kaius scrunched his forehead, scowling as the spiteful resistance of his platinum garbed legacy skills ratcheted up to new heights. A single skill and he could already feel a migraine coming on, lancing icicles of agony drilling through his skull.

It was just pain, only pain. He could manage. There was little he wouldn't do to ensure his success, and subjecting himself to a little headache was more than acceptable.

With redoubled focus, Kaius spun a new gossamer thin thread of gold from his soul. He snapped it towards the next skill as fast as he was able, unwilling to endure the torment of his legacy skills for more than he had to.

Sensations flooded his mind as he connected to Stone Blood. Sweet, red vitality coursing through the network that fed the very foundations of his being. A precious commodity, to be held tightly, guarded with jealousy. The skill was almost as avaricious as the legacy skills that even now clawed at his mind with desperate fingers. It cared not for the attention that he lavished it with, only wanting a promise that he would hold tight to the sweet red nectar that it was so fascinated with.

Kaius agreed with it easily, afterall, only a mad man wanted to let people 'steal' their blood. As he accepted the skills plea it pulsed with an inner carmine light, buffeting his soul space as it joined Fast Healing in a growing harmony.

The disturbance aggravated his legacy skills, Kaius suppressing a cry of agony as they tore at him. They were so desperate, needing his touch like a man needed water. It took all of his will power not to cave to their demands. He had to do this. Fingernails cut into his palms as he clenched his fists.

Holding firm, he withheld the psychic agony that tore through him, waiting for the heightened aggression of his skills to pass. It could have been a moment, or an hour, but eventually their jagged tones softened. Nowhere near enough to stop his pain, but slackening to the point he could push on.

His chest shuddered as he prepared himself for the final push.

Just one more skill and he would be able to merge Lesser Regeneration.