Chapter 406: The small pieces

"Katania take Eldrian to claim his rewards for his finding, and share the proposed mission." The king requested, and Katania nodded. Indicating for Eldrian to follow her as the two headed to the Adventurers Guild's tent.

"What are we doing here?" Eldrian asked.

"All items are kept here for safekeeping. The king realized that you lack armor and thought that you would appreciate some. He has two offers for you."

"First, you take a mix of Tier 2, 3, and a single Tier 4 magic-grade armors. The other option is returning to the fort to have a blacksmith forge you a personal Tier 3 armor set. However, it will just be a set in name and not have any special bonuses."

"How long will that take?" Eldrian asked, knowing that making something was not simple in this world. 

"A few weeks."

"Then I will go with offer 1." Eldrain immediately replied, knowing that he was going to be busy and it was best to become stronger and safer as quickly as he could. 

"Alright, follow me." Eldrian did just that, heading into one of the back compartments of the tent. There, a centaur was meditating, the room almost completely empty. To the side there was a large table, other than it there was nothing else there.

"Galeon," Katania said as soon as they entered, "Can you please take out the items we have discussed previously?"

The centaur took a second before opening his eyes and looking at the two, "Of course, you said that he requires a proper chestplate, gauntlets, greaves, and boots, correct?"

Katania nodded and the centaur stood up and started placing items on the table. While he was doing this Eldrian took the time to use mana sense both for the items and the centaur. 

He was shocked to find that the centaur was a Tier 7 mage, Eldrian knew how few Tier 7 people there were yet he seemed to come into contact with such people on a daily basis. 

"What about a helmet?" The centaur asked as the table became nearly completely filled. 

"If they won't restrict my view or movement," Eldrian replied, unsure if Galeon was asking him or Katania.

"Of course," The centaur took out 3 helmets and placed them on the table. "Feel free to decide which ones you want. Remember, of the Tier 4 you can only choose 1."

Nodding, Eldrians stepped forward and used Mana Sense to find the strongest pieces. Next, he eliminated those with abilities he felt he would never use and lastly he focused on those that appeared comfortable and adjustable. 

Naturally, since the armor wasn't going to be made for him, it had to be adjustable so he could actually make proper use of it. 

"I think these will do," Eldrian said, the pieces he had chosen a mismatch but all the best he could find. It was nowhere near to full plate, and he also did not wish for something like that. He preferred the mismatch with each piece being chosen for a reason. 

The helmet was an open Barbute type, covering the head and checks, however, Eldrian wasn't sure if he would actually wear it after putting it on. It felt truly strange and muffled his hearing. He felt it was just going to distract him, still, he took it. 

The helmet was also the weakest piece (outside of the shoes he chose) and had the strangest name, Crown Protector. It was Tier 2 and had no special ability, it also had no runes which was strange for magical items.

Yet, its armor value was nothing to scoff at. 

An armor rating of 41 meant that even Aoidos would be incapable of scratching it and the only damage a person would receive would be from the force of the hit. Which Eldrian realized was an amazing thing, but not being hit was still better. 

[Tier 2 Magical Helmet (Crown Protector)]

[Armor: 41]

[Attribute requirements met, no abilities]

For gauntlets, Eldrian only chose one as he had Kyma already, and instead, he had asked if he could get a pauldron in replacement. Galeon had agreed and even allowed him to take two, instead of just one. 

The gauntlet was Tier 3 like Kyma, and was strange, to say the least. It had an ability that sounded OP until you realized the limitations. However, the armor rating was truly nice, 36 AR, meaning that Aoidos would just be able to scratch the armor and not much more. 

[Tier 3 Magical Gauntlet (Stama)]

[Armor: 41]

[Magical Armor: 23]

[Attribute requirements met]

[Active Ability:  Block and Absorb; Blocks a single spell (must land on the gauntlet) up to Tier 4, absorbing the spell and sending the mana to the user.]

[CD: 2 Minutes]

'It sounds great, but first, you need to be able to block the spell, and secondly, it is only up to Tier 4. Will be awesome for the team matches though.' Were Eldrian's thoughts. Luckily the armor rating was good thus even without the ability it was a useful piece. 

Next were the pauldrons, both were Tier 2, the reason being that their abilities were too good to pass. The left pauldron was called Berdevo and the right Efthygram.

Berdevo allowed Eldrian to save a spell into the pauldron, though he was unsure how it was supposed to work. According to the description it sounded like he would be able to save it for when he needed it. Almost like a spell ring or scroll that was common in other games. 

While Eldrian could instant cast, he couldn't do that comfortably with higher-level spells while fighting. Thus, he felt this would be useful. He could even ask someone to save a Tier 4 spell, which he had confirmed was possible. However, there were limitations. 

[Tier 2 Magical Pauldron (Berdevo)]

[Armor: 22]

[Attribute requirements met]

[Active Ability: Save; Allows you to save a single spell (up to Tier 4) for when it is most needed. The higher Tier the spell saved, the more frequent it will be required to refresh the spell. (Tier 1: Once every two weeks. Tier 2: every week. Tier 3: every 4 days. Tier 4: every 2 days.)]

[CD: Spell Tier number as hours before being able to save a spell again.]

Efthygram instead had an ability that sounded truly useless but Eldrian felt would be awesome. It was called  recover  and the idea seemed to be that it would alter his center of gravity. 

[Tier 2 Magical Pauldron (Efthygram)]

[Armor: 24]

[Attribute requirements met]

[Active Ability: Recover; The pauldron will alter its weight, allowing the user to maintain their center of balance regardless of stance. Activation costs 5 MP, and drains 1MP every 3 seconds (Depending on weight).]

Naturally, these two would most certainly require some practice to get used to. However, Eldrian felt optimistic. 

The shoes he had chosen were actually Tier 1. Eldrian had no interest in armored boots and instead had asked Galeon to take out all the shoe types he had. What Eldrian finally chose appeared like work shoes (think steel-tipped shoes). They were made from leather and had no abilities. But they had an armor rating of 18 and were comfortable.

The latter being the thing Eldrian was most worried about.