Blackthorne gazed thoughtfully at the loot arrayed in several small piles before him. As he had thought earlier, most of his acquisitions were considered useless trash. The blacksmith refused to buy any of it, and the cost to repair it all was not worth the effort.

Were he the typical warrior he would not be able to do anything about the situation but abandon his hard won trash. However, he was Blackthorne, master of synergy! Trash could prove to be his treasure.

He eyed a small pile of cracked leather coats, and then looked to a slightly larger stack of tattered gambesons. "Try like-to-like, first..."

Blackthorne took up two of the gambesons then tilted his head sideways. Black stains and shredded material comprised the majority of their appearance. Faded symbols of heraldry were visible in some instances. Whatever these items once were, they were not fit for anything now but the burn pile.

A deep cleansing breath allowed him to focus his attention on the task at hand. His life force surged as he envisioned the two items becoming one. At first there was resistance. The items repelled each other lightly. However, with concerted effort and far more life force expenditure than he would have liked, Blackthorne overcame that resistance through an act of pure will.

Strong currents of energy arced between the two bits of cloth and then drew together slowly. Time passed slowly as he began to sweat. The strain of his efforts made his arms begin to shake, his breath to quicken.

The final resistance shattered a moment later then the two disparate items flew together. They dissolved into mist then formed into a radiant cloud. Soon a new item coalesced from that radiance.

Crude Wool Jacket

Equipped: --

Weight: 1.62

Armor Type: Light Cloth

Armor Class: 2

Quality: Low

Agility Reduction: 0

Durability: 18/18

Hardness: 1

Equipment Requirements

--

--

Bonus Armor Class: +1 versus impact

Special Options

Cold Resistance +1

"Hmm. Not much to look at, but definitely an improvement," he said.

Blackthorne ate a small meal then waited for his life force to regenerate. A few minutes into his wait, he offered a grin. He'd gained a rank in his synergy skill from crafting that jacket. "Guess, I found my sweet spot..."

Once his life force finished regenerating, he took his wool jacket in hand. "Not, yet..."

He set it aside then pulled out two more gambesons and repeated the process from earlier. The end result varied slightly, but it was more or less the same item. Blackthorne repeated his previous action a few times until all that was left to him from that pile was four wool jackets and a tattered gambeson.

"Right then..." he said with a smile, "Time to see what we get with a little more effort..."

Two wool jackets in hand, he began the process of combining them. The resistance generated by the items was markedly increased over the first combination attempts, but the process also went faster. In the end, it cost him less overall life force than the initial combination.

Thin Wool Vest

Equipped: --

Weight: 0.82

Armor Type: Light Cloth

Armor Class: 1

Quality: Low

Agility Reduction: 0

Durability: 22/22

Hardness: 1

Equipment Requirements

--

--

Bonus Armor Class: +2 versus impact

Special Options

Cold Resistance +1

"So, the base armor class drops but the bonus defense against impacts increases..." Blackthorne rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm..."

Time passed as he regenerated his life force and experimented with synergy. Once all of his jackets became vests, and those vests were combined he ended up with something slightly interesting.

Padded Wool Shirt

Equipped: --

Weight: 0.45

Armor Type: Light Cloth

Armor Class: 1

Quality: Low

Agility Reduction: 0

Durability: 27/27

Hardness: 1

Equipment Requirements

--

--

Bonus Armor Class: +3 versus impact

Special Options

Cold Resistance +2

Slightly thicker than an average shirt, the end result of combining several gambesons was something that actually might be worth a few Jerin. Against foes that used bludgeoning weapons, or fought barehanded, it would provide four additional points of armor class if equipped. In cold weather it would also keep the wearer warmer to a slight degree.

Blackthorne was tempted to keep it, all things considered. However, it was a day of experimentation. Much like a slightly drunk college girl about to experience female love for the first time, he was hesitant but intrigued. It might be a mistake, but then again it might be the best thing to ever happen to him.

In the end, his curiosity won out. He could always get more gambesons, after all.

Utilizing his ability to refine items through synergy, he spent nearly all of his life force to achieve his goal. The shirt grew smaller, and smaller still, until a tiny cloud of light and potential was all that remained. In the end a new item appeared.

Virgin Wool Cloth

Class: F

Quality: Low

Material Value:

Acquired through synergy refinement, this material can be used via synergy to upgrade items, or to create new ones. The effects added to an item will be based on the original nature of the material from which the wool was created.

"Hmm..." said Blackthorne as he gathered up the small square piece of cloth. "It's just like that beast iron, but it's for cloth items."

The padded shirt was probably worth more as an item of trade, but this bit of cloth represented a potential for something extraordinary, much like his previous beast iron ingot.

After he recuperated, he began his work once more. He took up two of his three cracked leather coats and combined them into a crude leather jacket. It was better than the crude wool jacket as basic armor, but did not have a special option.

Blackthorne glanced at his square of cloth then at the leather vest. "I can always make more..."

He synergized his crude vest with his cloth to create something reasonable. His thoughts on the potency of virgin wool did not prove to be wrong.

Padded Leather Vest

Equipped: --

Weight: 1.89

Armor Type: Light Cloth

Armor Class: 3

Quality: Low

Agility Reduction: 0

Durability: 26/26

Hardness: 2

Equipment Requirements

--

--

Bonus Armor Class: +3 versus impact

Special Options

Cold Resistance +2

"That's pretty good..." said Blackthorne with a grin. It would not earn him a fortune, but it taught him a valuable lesson about what his new resources could create.

"Now for the fun stuff..." he said before he looked over to the piles of rusty chain mail he'd brought back. By far the most common item he'd acquired during his hunting trip, though most of them came to him by way of accident. There were piles of the stuff lying around scattered about the area, no doubt remnants of battles fought in the area before when people sought zombie parts for various pursuits. Left behind as trash, such things were easily acquired without a fight the closer he'd gotten to the center of the graveyard. Blades and hammers were also discovered, making his day worthwhile indeed. Though most of what he'd found was too rusty for even him to consider worthwhile, there were still reasonably good bits and pieces scattered throughout the area.

His chainmail was scattered in two different piles. The smallest pile included relatively intact chainmail hauberks. The larger pile was filled with rusted piles of loose chainmail sections.

He set about combining the broken sections first. A few hours passed as he worked to lower the size of that pile. By the time he'd finished, he had several sheets of crude chainmail. He worked on combining them next and eventually refined them all down to a shining steel ingot that could be used in the same manner as beast iron or virgin wool cloth.

Blackthorne set about combining his hauberks next, and as time passed he rendered them all down to a single item. He began to refine it down to a base component, but then stopped half way when an errant thought seemingly caused something interesting happened. A smaller, daintier item had formed prior to the item becoming mist. He eyed the thing for a moment then laughed. Perhaps it was the result of his new metal salvage and refinement technique? Either way, it made quite the impression!

Crude Chainmail Battle Bikini

Equipped: --

Weight: 2.32

Armor Type: Light Chain

Armor Class: 1

Quality: Low

Agility Reduction: 0

Durability: 30/30

Hardness: 5

Equipment Requirements

--

--

Bonus Armor Class: +3

Special Options

Charisma +1

"Well, now..." he said with a grin, "This could be something!"

He looked to his shining steel ingot. His grin grew three sizes bigger and took on a disturbing appearance.

Quick like a bunny, he began work on combining the items. The end result was more or less what he'd hoped for, though still required work. Using his new technique, he managed to concentrate on what he desired to see happen. The shining steel ingot and the bikini merged together to create a shining steel chainmail battle bikini!

He worked using his technique to further refine the item. Instead of letting it become mist, he used a finer mental touch and shifted his focus. He thought strongly on what he wanted the item to become, and to some small extent it changed to match his desires.

"Aren't these stats ridiculously good for such a skimpy item?" he asked, his eyebrows rising up. Whether it was due to some innate desire, or it was the product of simple RNG, it was the best piece of armor he had crafted to date for one specific reason, the special option. Though, it was also the worst piece that he had crafted for the same reason. Also, its name was absurdly long.

Shining Steel Chainmail Battle Bikini of Charismatic Resilience

Equipped: --

Weight: 2.56

Armor Type: Light Chain

Armor Class: 3

Quality: Standard

Agility Reduction: 0

Durability: 42/42

Hardness: 10

Equipment Requirements

--

--

Bonus Armor Class: +4

Special Options

- Increase armor class by an amount equivalent to the wearer's charisma modifier.

- Armor class increase is nullified if item is completely hidden from view. It may be partially obstructed without penalty.

- Can only be equipped by women.

"Damned sexist armor. I want to wear you, too!" said Blackthorne with a laugh. Given his charisma modifier that tiny bit of sexist metal underwear would completely outdo all of his current equipment. Of course, nothing physically prevented him from wearing it. He could not equip it as an accessory, however, and thus would not receive the benefits of bonuses or special options.

A sudden thought entered his head and he acquired a goofy expression. Jackie would need equipment, and strangely this would actually cause her to wear more clothing that usual. Of course, not long after he had that thought the voices arose to rain on his parade. He was a pervert, a lecherous fiend. He'd done this on purpose to abuse her just like all of the other men who'd paid for her body.

"Fucking voices. Can't I have just one nice thing?" he asked in a quiet mutter.

"No," said a voice in a strangely quiet and serious tone.

Blackthorne grunted then waved his hand dismissively. It did not matter what the figments of his imagination had to say on the matter. This was a significant win for him, and he'd own it. Besides, even if Jackie refused to wear the battle bikini there was no way he could not sell it for a small fortune. It was a lightweight armor item that scaled with someone's stats. Given the fact that charisma was the main magic stat in this world, some sorceress or other would probably kill to get something like it.