Mystery(4)

After Baek-ho’s suggestion, we began researching the armor we had just obtained.

Two high-level mages.

Baek-ho and I, both former gamers.

And two top-tier local explorers.

Although none of us recognized the armor from the mystery box, we quickly got our first results once we began working on it together.

And to start with—

“It’s definitely a Numbers item.”

“…A Numbers Item? I’ve never of anything like that.”

“I haven’t heard of it either, but surprisingly, there’s no doubt it’s a Numbers Item. After all, numbered items are identified by testing for a distinct mana reaction.”

“How can that be…?”

“If you look back at the history of the labyrinth, not all numbered relics existed from the beginning. There was even a time when ‘numbers’ didn’t exist at all.”

“Oh! An era without numbers items? Such a period existed?”

“Yes. The creation of numbers happened after a certain appraiser compiled 10,000 treasures into a single book.”

“Perhaps this armor is a new Numbers Item that no explorer has discovered until now, from the time the labyrinth was created until now.”

“…A new Numbers item?”

“I get the sense there’ll be more items like this armor. So, I propose we call them the “no-numbered”—or better yet, the “mystery numbered” items,’ the GM suggested greedily.

Unfortunately for him, someone had already beaten him to it.

“The official name is Secret Numbers.”

“Excuse me…?”

“Alluva Raven discovered it first and gave it that name.”

Yeah, she’d definitely be annoyed if someone else took credit for her discovery.

Instead of sulking, GM’s eyes lit up. “So… there are more treasures like this?”

I hesitated for a moment at his words, but since the information could help us navigate the current situation, I answered honestly.

“Just one. I found it in the labyrinth.”

“Could we see it?”

“Unfortunately, it’s not in my possession at the moment.”

“I, I see…”

Everyone seemed curious about what that item was, so I simply told them I’d obtained it during the basement floor 1 exploration.

“A Secret Numbers item from the newly opened area… Maybe there are far more undiscovered Number Items than we thought.”

Well, I think so too.

First, it was the underground floor I’d explored not long ago, and now, beyond the city walls, uncharted places had slowly begun to open up again in recent years.

Anyway, besides the information about the Secret Numbers, here’s what else we found out—

“Whoa, it’s a bound item?”

The armor was already bound to me.

“A b-bound imprint… T-that means you can’t return it, right!?”

The GM let out a full-blown scream when he found out, but honestly, what could I do?

I just picked at my nose and pretended not to hear him.

“Anyway, explain it properly. It’s a bound item… are you sure?”

“Huh? Ah, yes… When others try to wear it, the form adjustment doesn’t work. Even if they force themselves to wear it, it just becomes ordinary armour with no special effects. It’s the typical pattern of a bound imprint.”

“So that strange mana wave we discussed before was the armor imprinting on its owner.”

“Yes, that’s very likely.”

On top of its binding trait, it was also indestructible and even granted a direct bonus to its wearer.

‘Increases all regeneration speed.’

According to the GM, this was the highlight of the armour.

‘It’s a rare ability. It doesn’t target Soul Power, mana or Divine Power specifically; it enhances all forms of regeneration.”

 

This regeneration wasn’t limited to finite resources such as MP. The increased recovery speed also enhanced Natural Regeneration and even boosted the recovery of any special resources I might gain from future skills.

“But since it’s a Numbers item, shouldn’t we give it a proper name?”

As Baek-ho suggested, we couldn’t just keep calling it ‘armor’, so we gave it a name too.

“Aegis’s Dragon Armor.”

“……Huh?”

“It’s Aegis’s Dragon Armor. That’s the name of this armor from now on.”

When I announced the name, Baek-ho nodded.

“Wow, not a bad name. Considering the colour, it really feels like a set item now.”

While Baek-ho showed a positive reaction, Jayna, who was standing next to him, tilted her head.

“I get the Aegis part, but why Dragon Armor? It’s not made from dragon hide or has a dragon heart inside or anything.”

“Uh…”

It was such a casual question that I didn’t know how to respond. But if I had to answer honestly…

“Come on, isn’t it a bit dull to just call it plate armor?”

“Ah, I see…”

Jayna still looked unconvinced, but the men in the party all nodded. They all preferred calling it Dragon Armor rather than just chestplate or armor.

“Yeah, women just don’t get it sometimes.”

Regardless, the item was named Aegis’s Dragon Armour, and interestingly, we ended up discovering something else because of it.

“It’s truly fortunate. I compared it with the Wall of Aegis just to check, and they actually resonate.”

“So basically, it’s really a set item with that shield?”

“Yes. Aegis Dragon Armor and Aegis Barrier—both are Resonance Relics.”

Resonant treasures were just set items that gave extra effects when used together.

For example, Mr Bear’s gear, No. 7611 Deceit of the Necromancer, resonated with the skull belt, No. 7612 Pride of the Necromancer.

When either of them was used, it would restore an additional fifty percent of blood.

Anyway, once we discovered it was a set item, we updated our data.

“So, what’s the resonance effect between this armor and the shield?”

“Hmm… It seems the regeneration boost is the resonance effect.”

The Aegis set’s resonance effect was that increase in every type of regeneration.

“Oh, so there’s a separate passive effect?”

“Yeah… looks like it has one passive skill and one active one.”

In other words, the armor itself held one passive and one active skill, and we managed to identify the passive skill after a few tests.

[Yurven Havelion has cast Level-5 attack spell [Lightning Spear]

The effect was simple.

[Yurben Havelion has cast a Level-4 attack spell [Storm Surge]

As expected of armor, it was a defensive-type ability.

[Yurven Havelion has cast a Tier-4 attack spell, Ice Blade…]

Because—

[Character has used [Aegis Dragon Armor]

After all, the best defence is a good offence, right?

****

[Reflects accumulated damage]

The armour’s active effect is quite similar to the Essence of Gachabone’s counterattack ability.

And—

Swaaaaah-!

Just like the disposable skeletons generated for counterattacks, a kind of summoned creature appeared behind me.

Those two traits made it quite similar to Gachabone. However, there was one key difference.

“…Why is it so big?”

It was much more powerful than a mere skeleton.

“…Could it be a summoning ability?”

“Uh… but it’s moving, though?”

The massive spirit Viking warrior swung its greatsword down at GM, the one who had attacked me during the test.

“Shit!! Block it!”

In response to Baek-ho’s shout, Ruin Gramps hastily created a mana barrier to intercept the swing.

Crash!

But since it was cast in a hurry, the barrier wasn’t sturdy enough to stop it completely.

“Get behind me!”

Rex Aures rushed forward, raising his shield—

“Guh—!”

After he blocked the attack, the situation came to an end as Rex Aures coughed up a bit of blood.

Clang

Aures’s massive shield fell to the ground with a heavy clang, marked by a deep dent. The spirit giant that had wielded the greatsword then faded away, as if its purpose had been fulfilled.

Jayna rushed over to check on Rex’s condition, while the GM, finally realizing how close he’d come to death, collapsed backward.

“Whoa… that was insane.”

Baek-ho, who had been watching the whole thing, observed with shining eyes.

“Getting hit is definitely the trigger condition,

“So the trigger condition is getting hit but does it reflect damage based on how much you take? Or is it a flat amount that just caps out after a certain point? Hmm, depending on which it is, the approach to fighting it would change. Still, since the reflection isn’t guaranteed, it probably won’t be too troublesome.”

I let out a sigh. This was exactly why I’d wanted to investigate it on my own time.

“Hey, what are you all standing around for? No one’s dead! Stop freaking out and get back to testing.”

“Huh? Baek-ho? Didn’t you see? I just coughed up—”

“But you’re fine now.”

“……”

At Baek-ho’s insistence, we resumed the research and analysed the active effect thoroughly.

“So you gain stacks every time you’re hit, and the amount of physical damage dealt depends on how many stacks you’ve accumulated.”

“Its cooldown is only five minutes, and it doesn’t consume any special resources. But even with just four stacks, it can tear through twenty mana barriers like they’re paper?”

“Ah, yeah. Indestructibility’s a given—it’s a numbered item, after all.”

“But since it’s a set item, wearing both items together enhances your regeneration, and there also appears to be an additional passive effect that is unkown?”

Uh, hmm…

To summarize, it’s roughly like that, but…

“What the hell, what is this broken armor?”

“……”

I have nothing to say.

Well, it’s because I agree with that part.

My opinion of it might change depending on what the passive turned out to be, but its active skill alone put it on par with the single-digit Numbered Items. If the passive matched that level, then it wouldn’t be wrong to call this a new Single Numbers item altogether—

“B-but… it was mine…”

Hearing the GM mutter made me feel guilty, but what could I do about it? It’s not like I can give it back now.

“Yurven Havelion, stop whining.”

“B, but……”

“It can’t be helped. It’s not like I bound it to myself because I wanted to. Or do you think this expedition will be the last time we ever work together?”

“Then isn’t it good for you too if I become stronger? I don’t forget favours.”

The GM clenched his jaw at my reasoning. He looked a little sulky, but I figured that would fade with time.

“Wow, Baron, your gaslighting skills are insane.”

Ignoring Lee Baek-ho’s words, I resumed my equipment research. I wanted to check out the passive we still hadn’t managed to identify.

However…

One day, two days, three days…

No matter how much time passed, the Dragon Armor’s passive effect remained a mystery.

“Ha… if only there were monsters around, we might figure something out.”

“It seems we’ve tried everything we can do without monsters.”

“Unless it’s a very specific condition or a hard-to-notice effect, we probably need monsters to figure it out.”

Therefore, we gave up on discovering the passive effect for now.

However, with things ending like this, the situation became troublesome again.

After all, we began studying the Dragon Armour to find a way to escape this place.

“So we’re back where we started, huh?”

Baek-ho’s dejected words echoed through the air, lingering in everyone’s ears.

But being a leader means pretending everything’s fine, even when the world’s falling apart.

‘Let’s start again and slowly work through our options.’

I encouraged everyone as best I could, and we resumed exploring through the Golden Ruins.

We went over every passage again, breaking through a few walls when we had to.

We also climbed back up the stairs to revisit the hidden secret of the Golden Ruins, the tomb of Macairo.

“…Huh?”

What on earth is this now?

“…Damn. That’s… creepy.”

The corpse of Macairo, which should have been resting inside the coffin, was gone.

 

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