Chapter 320 A Grade Above

Hearing the string of notification sounds go off inside his mind, Valyr went ahead and brought up his notifications in front of him, his eyebrows raised in curiosity as his gaze was focused on the name of the upgraded vambraces, as well as the increased rarity of it.

"Rare+…" Muttering out the rarity the system had affixed to his newly improved vambraces, it surprisingly did not take long for Valyr to figure out the reason behind it, continuing to maintain a tranquil yet efficient mind throughout the whole process as he inwardly nodded in agreement at his conclusion. "The effect of [True Prodigious Blacksmith's Sight]."

From what Valyr could remember from the guide he was following, each step that involved an upgrade in rarity would only result in an increase of a minor grade, which was equivalent to having an item go from a rarity that had a plus mark, to the next rarity above it, such as going from Common+ to Uncommon grade.

Yet, due to the fact that he had triggered the effect of [True Prodigious Blacksmith's Sight], which involved making sure that all of the materials making up the equipment were in harmony, the upgrade, which was originally supposed to give him an increase of one minor grade in rarity, instead gave him two.

"Does this mean that if I go through the second round of upgrading and the effect triggers again, the rarity will increase by a full grade again?" Though the thought of having armor of high rarity at such a relatively low level was quite enticing to Valyr, a slight frown lingered on his face as he thought about how the effect of [True Prodigious Blacksmith's Sight] would affect his Half Wyvern Armor set in the long run.

If it did not interfere in the upgrade process and only resulted in the final armor being a rarity or two above the intended rarity, then Valyr did not find it a nuisance, instead finding it a great blessing. However, if the activation of the skill stopped Valyr from reaching the final step of the guide…

"Haah…" Letting out a faint sigh as he imagined the possibility of the latter happening, Valyr eventually shrugged his shoulders as he thought to himself that there was nothing he could do if that happened. Of course, he could always forgo the usage of [True Prodigious Blacksmith's Sight] while he upgraded the armor set to its higher rarities, but he felt like doing such a thing would be a great disservice since, to him, it seemed like he was limiting it from reaching its full potential.

With that, he decided to think of the second round of upgrading from a more relaxed perspective, thinking to himself that whether or not [True Prodigious Blacksmith's Sight] activates once more, he would still follow through all of the remaining steps listed on the guide.

"How insane would it be to have a set of Epic+ grade armor though?" Entertaining the possibility of the skill activating once more to increase the resulting item's rarity by an additional minor grade, Valyr went ahead and used [Analysis] on the newly improved vambrace, his eyes briefly widening in surprise as he looked through its description.

"Considering how vambraces give less defense than a chestplate, this is surprising."

Ding!

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[(+10) Refined Young Wyvern Vambraces (Emulation)] (Level 20)

Rarity: Rare+

Defense: 36 - 60

Additional Attributes:

> VIT +11

> DEX + 24

Forged by a true prodigy in the field of blacksmithing, these vambraces were inspired by the Empyrean Dragon Armor of legends, with the blacksmith hoping that part of the legendary armor's strength could be emulated. Utilizing the subpar imitation the blacksmith had already forged in the past in the image of the legendary artifact as a base, the blacksmith had layered rarer and stronger materials on top of it, allowing the armor to emulate a greater portion of its strength.

Nevertheless, it is still a far cry from the real thing.

Although it's an improvement from the incredibly subpar imitation its base had achieved, this version of the armor is an item that could be considered an heirloom of a large clan with the strength it allows one to tap into. Yet, just like its base, great potential still slumbers within the vambraces, the possibility of it reaching a level of strength close to the Empyrean Dragon Armor now being greater than ever before.

<Innate Skill 1: Refined Grandeur of the Young Wyvern - Thanks to the power of Young Wyvern Blood infused within the armor, which has been amplified by the unity of all the equipment's materials, the level requirement for the armor has been reduced by 4 levels.>

<Innate Skill 2: Refined Wyvern's Breath - Allows the user to shoot out a wave of flames in front of them, targeting all enemies within a 8 meter radius, dealing damage equivalent to 300% of the user's Attack stat. Also inflicts Burn damage that deals 25% of the user's Attack stat every second, lasting for 10 seconds. Cooldown: 5 minutes. Cost: 1,000 MP.>

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<Refined Young Wyvern Set | 1/6>

Set Effects:

- 2 pieces: Attack and Defense +15%

- 3 pieces: HP +1,200 and MP +800

- 4 pieces: Damage Increase and Damage Reduction +15%

- 6 pieces: All stats +6

————

Reading through the description of the newly improved vambraces, though Valyr was already expecting an increase in quality once the upgrade process was successful, the knowledge of knowing the equipment would undergo an improvement was still different from seeing it first-hand, considering that the piece of armor before him was one minor grade higher than originally intended.

"Since this innate skill upgraded, I can enhance this armor to Level 30 and I'd still be able to equip it." Focusing his attention on the first innate skill that had been improved thanks to the upgrade process, Valyr's eagerness to see the entire set fully upgraded had gone through the roof, the fire of motivation inside him burning with ever greater fervor.

With that, he went ahead and continued upgrading the five other pieces that made up the Half Wyvern Armor set he previously wore, all of them successfully being upgraded to the Refined Young Wyvern Armor set by the time a few hours had passed.

…

"I wonder if he's still upgrading his armor…" Deciding to leave Valyr off on his own earlier since he knew he'd be stuck in the private workshop for hours if he did not leave while he still had the chance, Braum muttered his thoughts out loud as he made his way to where Valyr was, wondering how the latter was faring after a few hours had passed.

"Sure enough, he still is." Eventually, by the time he was only a couple dozen meters away from the workshop's door, he heard the faint sound of metal tapping against metal from time to time, which only grew louder the closer he got. By the time he was at the entrance, the sound had become considerably loud, echoing throughout the room as he felt the workshop quake for a second.

Curious as to what was going on, Braum decided to head inside, instantly feeling the increase in ambient temperature as he felt the furnace at the far end of the workshop do its thing as he noticed a piece of armor placed in the center of it. Shifting his gaze, he eventually found Valyr slaving away in front of the anvil, making his way towards the latter to find out what the man was doing.

Once in front of him, Braum watched what Valyr was doing in silence, taking note of the tranquil expression on the man's face as he deftly placed a considerably darker scale on top of one of the dark scales already on the armor, using the enlarged tweezers he held to nudge the new scale in position. Then, grabbing the forging hammer he had placed to the side, he tapped the new scale with a bit of force behind it, causing the scale underneath to turn into dust as Braum's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Shh…" However, before the man could even voice out to Valyr that he was destroying his equipment, Valyr stopped Braum from making noise, glancing at the man watching the entire process unfold for a bit before returning his attention to the armor before him, placing yet another new scale on top of one of the old scales. "This is part of the upgrade process."

"Is destroying the scales underneath really part of the upgrade process?" With a slight frown, Braum grumbled in a mutter as he watched Valyr place another new scale on top of one of the old scales, noticing that the new scales on the armor were placed in a way that they were spaced out the same distance from one another.

Though, just as he was about to ask the one forging why he decided to do that, Valyr grabbed Braum's attention and shifted it towards the new scale he had placed earlier, causing the latter to focus his gaze on it as he wondered why the young man called his attention for something he considered as trivial.

Instead, what he saw was that the dust from the old scales were being absorbed by the new scales, which prompted the new scales to take on an even deeper shade of black, now looking as if they were dark jewels polished to perfection.

"And… done." After putting the last new scale on the armor piece he was working on, Valyr briefly nodded in satisfaction as he picked the armor piece up with tongs before placing it in the furnace, taking out the piece of armor that was already in there earlier before placing it on the anvil.

At first, Braum thought that Valyr was going to let the piece of armor on the anvil cool down first before taking a look at it, considering that some of the scales on the armor's surface seemed to be new scales he had watched the latter placed on the piece of armor earlier. However, contrary to his mundane expectations, Valyr instead summoned forth a great amount of his mana before allowing all of it to be absorbed by the piece of armor in front of him.

Whoosh!

For a few seconds, the piece of armor on the anvil glowed a light blue as faint inscriptions lit up all over the armor's surface, prompting the armor to give off an aura that even Braum found slightly intimidating. Nevertheless, this phenomenon gradually disappeared a few seconds later as a string of notifications resounded within Valyr's mind.

Ding!

[You have successfully modified the armor 'Refined Young Wyvern Vambraces'.]

[Due to the immense modification done, the armor has gained the ability to tap into a far greater expanse of power it initially couldn't, thus increasing the armor's rarity to Epic.]

[Thanks to this change, its name has been changed to 'Nascent Wyvern Vambraces'.]

…

…

[Due to the immense feat you have achieved, you have gained the title 'Forger of Epics'.]