After several lengthy battle with the zombies on the surface they managed to gather up a lot of random junk. Hours spent cleaning the newly gotten gains cause the sun to hang low on the horizon. Despite the coming darkness, Blackthorne decided to try something.

An expression of wonderment and delight crossed Sonja’s features as she watched Blackthorne work. While she had seen him work with grass before, he had not done such work with equipment when she was around. At least, not to this extent. She could scarcely believe that anyone would have so many different types of skills that worked so well together.

Two battered and slightly rusted chainmail shirts were fused together inside a ball of light then reappeared as a single sleeveless hauberk. It was a thing of beauty to witness.

Sonja watched in delighted fascination as the mountain of time-worn and decaying armor that they collected, slowly dwindled to several reasonable pieces of equipment. Blackthorne had revealed the extent of his ability to use synergy in those quiet minutes. He went through four different busted chainmail coats to get the single sleeveless hauberk that he now held in his hands. However, the effectiveness of the new item could not be denied.

Blackthorne checked the stats of his newest piece of equipment then smiled. He was quite pleased with the result.

Ancient Chain Hauberk

Equipped: --

Weight: 5.16

Armor Type: Light Chain

Armor Class: 2

Quality: Low

Agility Reduction: 0

Durability: 26/26

Hardness: 8

Equipment Requirements

--

--

Bonus Armor Class: +3

Special Options

None

He handed the armor to Sonja then smiled. “Here you go. I can’t guarantee that it is a good fit, but it should help.”

Sonja practically squealed in excitement when he handed her the armor. As the main tank of the expedition she needed armor and equipment the most. Besides that, if Scott really felt the need to use armor he could revert to dragon form. His base defense was much higher than any piece of armor that he had given to her so far. She removed her apron and chainmail battle bikin, then quickly slipped the outfit on over her torso.

She stood up and admired herself. She was naked save for her shoes, so the effect of wearing her new hauberk was somewhat disturbing. However, she looked rather fetching and much better protected, though her new armor amounted to a sleeveless vest made out of linked metal rings that hugged various curves in ways both strange and intriguing.

Sonja bounced up and down experimentally, eliciting and 'shink! shink!' sound then grinned. “Not bad at all.”

Blackthorne smiled briefly then nodded. “The apron was nice, but I think this will work better for now.”

She shook her head then re-equipped her bikini, and wore her apron atop her new armor. “Till I have something to cover the bottom-half this is still required.”

He grinned at her. “You look like a warrior-chef.”

She grabbed her sword then raised it high into the air. “Victory or dishwashing!”

Blackthorne laughed at her despite himself. He had been in a funk until first coming to this world, but he had to admit that as long as he found people like Sonja to interact with socializing might become more fun in the future.

Sonja smiled slightly then nodded. “Thank you for what you are doing for me.”

He waved her off. He was not being altruistic. He was getting something out of the deal. The equipment in his possession had already increased by a decent amount.

Sure, she was wearing and wielding the best items at present, but he did have several decent swords now. Each of them had a jolt enchantment placed on them. More to the point, against slow-moving bags of experience like the zombies that they fought here, he could actually use magic as a mainstay attack. The actual jolt spell took a few seconds to cast, but Imperious Jolt! was nigh-instant and still did wonderful damage against zombies. Were today not about getting as much equipment as possible, with great efficiency, he would have practiced other things. As it was, those abilities worked quite well.

“Let’s get back to making equipment. I have a few more things I can try.” said the man.

She nodded excitedly, her face becoming flush. “Yes, more equipment please!”

Blackthorne laughed once again then started snatching up random crap from the rest of the pile of armor. He attempted to synergize a few things then grinned. It was the same as with the chainmail. He also understood a little more about the synergy process as well.

It seemed that when synergy was used to combine items it would either be a garbage result, or the items worked well and the best part of each item was used. In truth, that was not a surprise but he did enjoy the fact that his theories seemed to be true.

In the case of the chainmail, the full-length mail coats had been reduced to long-sleeved shirts. Those shirts would then be combined into a single decent sleeveless hauberk. It was possible that he could combine those items further, but he had not wanted to risk losing out on such decent armor if the end result was smaller and less useful. Besides that, he was certain that he could sell the extras. Money was certainly a priority!

He tried to combine the cracked leather armor that he had lying around. Unfortunately, he went through sixteen badly damaged leather coats to get a single leather bracer. Each time he combined two coats, he received a cracked leather cuirass. After combining the cracked leather cuirass he received a badly worn backless leather breastplate.

After Blackthorne combined the breastplates he had received a battered leather full-arm guard. Once the armguards were combined he received the hardened leather bracers. It took a lot of vitality, and loot trash to get that item. However, he did not mind it. It was good training, and there would be less to carry back to town. He checked the new piece of equipment, and his eyes lit up. In many ways, synergy seemed to operate under the rules of random number generation. Luck might play a part, as well as his other stats, but he had yet to see a way to guarantee special options. The bracer in his hand, though, offered quite good bonuses despite its lesser base capacity.

Ancient Hardened Leather Bracer

Equipped: --

Weight: 0.97

Armor Type: Heavy Cloth

Armor Class: 2

Quality: Standard

Agility Reduction: 0

Durability: 17/17

Hardness: 3

Equipment Requirements

--

--

Bonus Armor Class: +2

Special Options

Resist Impact: +2, Reduce Slashing Damage: 10%

“Hey, this should better than the chain bracelet that I gave you, but not by much,” said Blackthorne.

He handed her the bracer and she did something curious and admittedly obvious with it. Sonja took off her chainmail bracelet, equipped her new bracer, and then wore the bracelet over the top of it. It fit much more snugly now.

“This is great! More, more!” she exclaimed wildly.

“I need to restore my vitality a bit first.” They had slain zombies all afternoon and acquired a substantial amount of ancient and sometimes disgusting loot in the process. Most people would have seen it as trash, but now it was Blackthorne’s treasure. He was dangerously low on vitality, however, so he chose to eat a few apples and a sandwich.

Sonja eyed him critically but did not say anything for a while. When she did speak, it was to ask, “Synergy takes a lot out of you, doesn’t it?”

“Not really. At least, not anymore." He offered her a tired smile. "It’s just that I have to do it so many times to get anything decent that it builds up. It takes more and more vitality to continue to combine the same items.”

She nodded. “That makes sense, I suppose. I have never met anyone who can synergize, but I’ve heard people speak of such skills.”

Not long after their conversation came to a natural lull, Blackthorne grabbed up a tattered chain mail coat. He attempted to combine a badly rusted and scarred bronze cuirass with the iron chainmail coat to see what would happen. The end result was interesting, if lackluster.

Ruined Ancient Bronze Scale Hauberk

Equipped: --

Weight: 13.13

Armor Type: Light Plate

Armor Class: 3

Quality: Ruined

Agility Reduction: 0

Durability: 5/5

Hardness: 4

Equipment Requirements

--

--

Bonus Armor Class: 0

Special Options

None

“Oooh. Scale armor,” Sonja clapped her hands lightly.

Blackthorne grinned at her then ate another sandwich before he repeated the process. The resulting scale hauberk was slightly better than the first one, but still a broken garbage item.

Two apples and another combination later, and he had a sleeveless scale hauberk that was decent, but not great. He chose to pick up the only other cuirass in the pile. After combining the scale armor with the badly corroded bronze cuirass a thin bronze half-cuirass appeared.

Ancient Bronze Half-Cuirass

Equipped: --

Weight: 7.14

Armor Type: Heavy Plate

Armor Class: 3

Quality: Low

Agility Reduction: 1

Durability: 29/29

Hardness: 6

Equipment Requirements

STR: 12

--

Bonus Armor Class: +2

Special Options

Resist Slashing Strikes: +2

"How did that one turn out?" asked Sonja with wide eyes.

"Meh. A definite improvement over the junk it used to be, but you're wearing better." Blackthorne eyed the half-cuirass once more.

His old copper cuirass, possibly lost forever, had lower equipment requirements, and inflicted a higher agility penalty. "Weird that this has better durability that my old cuirass, though."

"Oh?" she asked curiously.

He nodded to her, but said nothing. There was an oddness about the cuirass that unsettled him. The agility reduction was only minus one. Heavy Plate should be minus three. Was it due to the higher equipment requirements and lower weight? The information that he'd gathered before he entered the dream seemed adamant on the subject. Though, admittedly that information did not always prove true. It still seemed like someone changed the rules on him at the last minute.

Either way, Blackthorne chose not to be too concerned about the end result. It could simply be an after effect of using synergy to create items. The RNG was quite varied in the stats produced at times anyway.

He ate a sandwich then picked up another chain coat. He would try one more time. After combining the two items something interesting happened. A new armor type appeared, a combination neck and shoulder guard.

Ancient Bronze Scale Aventail

Equipped: --

Weight: 1.11

Armor Type: Light Plate

Armor Class: 3

Quality: Low

Agility Reduction: 1

Durability: 24/24

Hardness: 6

Equipment Requirements

STR: 11

--

Bonus Armor Class: +2

Special Options

None

Sonja giggled like a school girl when she saw the new item. It was shiny and looked a bit like a fish's scales. “That’s new.”

“Yeah, I wonder why the others did not go through an aventail step?” He had no idea.

The Valkyrie accepted the aventail thankfully then slipped her head through the center. Now her shoulders and part of her neck were protected.

“Why were you going to buy armor again?” she asked playfully.

“I did not have any. Though, now that we have a ready resource, this would be a far better way to get basic equipment!" he said excitedly.

Curious, he asked, "I wonder how much this stuff would sell for?”

“Value? Hmm, usually weapons and armor makers like to pay around thirty percent of the sale value for pre-made items. They would give you very little for the stuff in the pile there, though.”

Blackthorne rubbed his chin. Synergy was a little random in what was produced. The items were either garbage because of bad compatibility, or they came out as something based on the best parts of the combined items.

He forced himself to eat his last sandwich and six more apples. He was full now, beyond full actually. “Let’s see if I can make you something to protect your thighs then head back to town. I need to rest up so that I can finish with this pile of crap.”

She grinned at him. “Such a good master.” Sonja leaned forward like she planned to pet him.

“If you rub my head and make baby talk sounds, I’ll bite you,” said Blackthorne.

Sonja laughed happily. “Sorry, I’m just excited.”

“Yeah, me too.” He grinned at her then sorted through the crap pile to find leggings and leather pants. Chain leggings were fine too; honestly anything that she could wear on her thighs would be fine. After working to combine a few things he ended up with a studded leather battle skirt. Before he could check the item status, however, a wave of heat washed over him. A weird electrical sensation inside his head made him cringe slightly.

"What?" he asked in shock.

"Something wrong?" asked Sonja.

"Nothing, I guess..." Blackthorne dismissed the oddness of the moment. It was not like it was the first time that he'd experienced a weird sensation while he used synergy.

Ancient Studded Leather Battle Skirt

Equipped: --

Weight: 1.11

Life Force Cost: 3

Level: 2

Armor Type: Heavy Cloth

Armor Class: 2

Quality: Low

Agility Reduction: 1

Durability: 19/19

Hardness: 4

Equipment Requirements

STR: 11

--

Bonus Armor Class: +2

Special Options

None

"These stats..." Blackthorne eyed the stat block for the leather skirt then tilted his head to the side. There were two new stats that he had never seen before.

Sonja’s eyes lit-up and she accepted the leather skirt with great joy. Her smile could light up a room.

It fit her well, a bit too well for Blackthorne not to notice. Everything that he had made seemed to be form-fitting despite the fact that he had nothing to do with the measurements and design concept of the armor. “So, how does it all feel?”

“Great! I could swear that a master armorer had made this stuff if it wasn’t low-qual... Uh, for the fact that I saw you make it,” she said. She had started to call it low-quality which, while true, might not go over so well with the craftsman after he took the time and effort to outfit her.

He smiled at her. “It’s fine. I know it’s garbage gear. It’s free, though.”

Her face colored slightly then she shook her head. “No, it is wonderful. Thank you.”

“It should be good enough to finish exploring the tomb area. We’ll make a few upgrades after I get my own equipment so that we have the best that we can have from the area,” said Blackthorne.

“Now, that sounds like a worthy strategy!” exclaimed Sonja. Better equipment would certainly be nice. She liked what she had now since it was free and she had earned it in battle after a fashion. Still, better was always well... better.

"I do wonder about something, though." Blackthorne looked her up and down. "How many items can you equip?"

"Hmm?" she asked him curiously. "Depends on the item I guess? Why?"

"Why would it depend on the item? How many equipment slots do you have?" Blackthorne offered her a slight smile.

"Equipment slots? What are you talking about?" she countered. "Never heard of such a thing."

He stared at her for a moment... "You have never heard of equipment slots? How do you equip items?"

"Just like anyone else? You equip the item and lower your maximum life force in the process." Sonja squinted at him curiously. "You've worn armor before. You should know this."

"I have no idea what you're talking about..." said Scott, a sinking feeling forming in his gut.

"Sh... well, people with a lot of life force can wear better equipment but they lose stamina in the process. The heavier item types like Heavy Plate take more life force than lighter types such as light cloth," said Sonja. She eyed him coolly as she spoke. Clearly she expected him to know such things already.

Blackthorne rubbed his head for a moment. "You're saying it was always that way? There were never any accessory slots, or limitations like that?"

"I don't even know what that is..." she said softly.

Before he could question her further, a pinging sound echoed inside his head and a message window appeared before him.

Greetings Mortals!

We are proud to present you with World Update 0.97a!

There are many exciting changes, and bug-fixes, in this update that frankly do not concern you mortals on a personal level. However, we have taken into account the various sentiments regarding how equipment works.

While limited equipment slots are quite functional, there has been a general outcry from our alpha testers that such a system breaks immersion. So, for the sake of building a cohesive and believable existence, we have opted to change the equipment mechanics. Expect many other wonderful tweaks in the future, for the sake of a truly immersive experience.

We are fast approaching our next major world update, lovingly referred to as Status One. The alpha state will reach its first true version and exciting changes will begin to occur in our world.

Please look forward to them.

Relevant Update Log:

- Equipment mechanics have changed to relate a more immersive experience. There are no longer equipment slots. Equippable items will now require you to lower your maximum life force to equip the item.

Further, statistical score requirements are being slowly phased out in favor of level based requirements for items. Expect them to be removed completely in the next update. In this way, a low-level player who won the stat lottery early in life will not be able to equip items superior to a higher level player. Certain skill requirements for specific item usage will remain for the sake of lore and immersion. These types of items are rare, however.

- Equipment related skills will allow you to wear items above your level, provided you expend the skill points and upgrade potential necessary to unlock those abilities.

- The skill, Synergy, has been deemed too overwhelming. Unfortunately, it is a legacy ability from the source code that we are using. Having implemented this skill in the manner that it was implemented does not allow us to remove it from the world. Thankfully, we have discovered several work arounds that will limit its broken nature to some extent.

Please look forward to future updates on the matter of synergy! We are doing our very best to bring you the ultimate in immersive existence.

- The Administration

Blackthorne's left eye began to twitch spastically. "T-the hell is this shit?"

"Something wrong?" asked Sonja curiously.

He looked to his companion then back to the screen that floated in the air before him. "Immersion my ass, are you bastards literally trying to nerf me?"

"Nerf?" asked Sonja.

Blackthorne shook his head. The life force thing would be less of an issue because of his draconic vitality, but that level based item shit was in no way immersive. If anything, it cut the feet out from under anyone with high stats because they would not matter at all when it came to equipping items. Worse, people would be forced to heavily favor vitality and life force generation each level if they wished to have good equipment. It would break so many different build possibilities.

"Fuck me!" snarled Blackthorne. Had he not become a dragon, a heavy armor mage build would have no doubt become nigh-impossible. Even now, it would drastically lower his life force when in human form.

On the one hand, the ability to use skills to lower the requirements for using certain items was at least a little immersive. On the other hand, it solved a problem that did not exist before. Quite frankly they could have done the same thing as a means to lower attribute requirements.

The worst part of the situation was that there were plans to find ways to nerf synergy. The skill already had a ton of draw backs. It required a lot of raw materials, a great deal of time spent in combining those materials, and he constantly had the shits due to all of the food that he needed to eat to keep the synergy train rolling. How would they make it worse for him? It was ridiculous!

Sonja watched him as he began to mumble death threats under his breath. Clearly, there was something wrong with the man for something as simple as equipping items to unsettle him to such a degree. He had clearly equipped items before, and it's not like such things ever change.