"So, where are we going?" asked Darius, according to the script of course.

"I am taking Lord Darius to the armoury for Honour Step Spiritknights. You do not need to go through any tedious activities. The basic tour covered the essentials. After the armoury, a spiritknight of your step will tour you around the areas designated for honour spiritknights of your step. I am unqualified to even take you to the armoury, however, due to the hiccup, it will take some time for your guide to arrive, hence I was advised to take you there directly in the meantime." said Jena with a smile.

Thankfully she had made it on time, things seemed to be heating up. She intentionally ran away to avoid the wrath of the Maldini boy. The others would deal with him, they were his problem. Jena did find something strange, however.

After reporting upwards that she had seen and rectified an error she had received unusual instructions. Usually, the armoury is the last room on the tour, and it was also best for there to be a spiritknight of the same step to be there to give advice. But they were instructed to head there anyway. Truly strange indeed…

As Jena mulled over this they arrived at their destination. Jena put her hand on a display and her credentials were verified. Two large warehouse doors opened, allowing the duo to walk in. After clearing things with the cleric they went to the section that Darius requested to see, the Echo Armoury.

The Rangers were one of the most technologically advanced organizations on the continent. Each of their spiritknights also fought with the assistance of powerful essence fueled tech. This part of the armoury was for weapons meant for Echos.

"Echo is the most common role, and it accounts for 50 per cent of all spiritualists. Thus they have the most variety as well. Please take your time to peruse." said Jena as she gestured forward."

Thousands of weapons and odd pieces of technology were on tables with big displays explaining what they were. As a new spiritknight Ranger, Darius has the right to choose two pieces of equipment. One three-star and one four-star. Most Honour knights only got a three-star piece of tech, but for those who were under the age of 25, there was an extra piece, as this was the watershed age between talented and prodigious.

Five stars were the maximum, hence Darius had been given one heck of a present. One could even say that this was the main reason for him to join the Rangers. Once chosen the equipment would completely belong to him.

Darius already had a target in mind. First, he needed a four-star helmet called Helmet of Hades. This was a super helmet that covered one's entire body in a unique membrane. The main purpose of this equipment was to stop probing. Even a Valour Step Spiritknight who specialized in reconnaissance would have no means of learning who Darius was.

The helmet could change into an ordinary pair of glasses. The glasses were also an incredibly powerful tool and had all the processing power advanced A.I.s had. He basically didn't need a communicator anymore. The powerful A.I. in the helmet could help him with many things, such as reconnaissance, night vision, super-powered hearing aides, internet access, access to the ranger database, transactions, body regulation, training and other functions.

Once the membrane was attached it would never go away unless he ordered so. But why the heck would he do that? He was basically invisible with this, not to mention it had other handy tools like cleansing, which made bathing unnecessary. The membrane also helped regulate his body through things like temperature, pressure etc. He could jump in water and not be afraid of drowning.

The membrane would enter his orifices like a liquid and seamlessly combine with his body. He would only feel a slight discomfort in the first few seconds.

Ro had told him that this was usual but Darius was stunned when he saw the helmet. It was like a motorcycle Helmet, completely covering his head. There were plenty of useful functions, but they naturally came at a cost. Spiritual essence, lots and lots of it.

The star level of equipment usually also determined the drain it had on one's spiritual essence. Spiritual essence batteries were considered equipment on their own. Darius wasn't sure if he possessed enough spiritual essence to power this thing, but his master seemed confident. Darius then moved on to his next target.

His next target was a bodysuit. The suite covered one's entire body. There were 7 balls in groves in random places on the suite. One on each appendage, two in the chest area and one on the back. This suit's main purpose was what had been mentioned before. A spiritual essence battery!

The 7 stars cloak. It was not a cloak in any way but no one cared about that. The suit itself wasn't the battery, but the 7 spheres on it. These were the '7 stars' in the name. Each of the stars could hold a tremendous amount of spiritual essence. If one was talented and skilled enough, he could save the spiritual essence of 7 different types, one in each star!

The stars were not only batteries, they were also mediums for initiating spiritual arts. They move according to the will of the user. The cloak was a defensive treasure that could resist multiple types of forces and kinetic energy. The cloak could also boost one's spiritual output by 1.5! But this depended on ones ability to control spiritual essence.

But there was one more attribute that made this cloak so attractive. It was upgradable! It could be upgraded to 4 stars. All one had to do was to gather the necessary materials and find a suitable crew of spiritual engineers and theorists to upgrade it. The blueprint was already in the A.I.

The 7 nights cloak was upgradable to 5 stars so long as one meets certain conditions and uses the helmet of Hades in tandem, which meant he could use it for a long time, this was its true value. Despite all these amazing aspects, it was still just three stars. Why? Because it was incredibly difficult to use, especially in combat.

Not only did one need to have incredible control over their spiritual essence, but they also had to have at least 7 attributes over 5 %. After that one needed to have the ability to split their concentration into 9 parts. One for the cloak, seven for the stars and one for the environment. This was the true difficulty.

It was difficult for the average human to even draw a circle and a triangle with both hands at the same time. This was on a whole new level. Hence, despite this suit's incredible utility, it was not popular.

The Helmet of Hades needed ridiculous amounts of spiritual essence. One has to always be channeling spiritual essence for the helmet to work. For most spiritknights, this was even harder than splitting their minds.

Channeling spiritual essence was like stirring a pot of soup. Eventually, one would get tired and lose concentration. For this suit to function properly, one had to continue to 'stir the soup' 24/7.

Despite these drawbacks, Darius didn't hesitate in picking these two pieces of equipment. They were perfect for him as far as he was concerned. Anything that increased his chances of survival was a gem.

There were many pieces of good equipment Darius wanted, Alas he could only pick these two. The cleric in charge of this section looked at Darius as if he was a weirdo as he passed along what Darius wanted. Those he saw were only for exhibition.

'This is why you need a proper advisor.'

The old man shook his head in disappointment. The young man was wasting a golden chance, but what could he say? He was merely a mortal. He knew his place and kept quiet.

"Now then Lord Darius, on to the next-"

"Hold up, I need to put these on," said Darius with a serious face. The cleric dropped the cigarette he was smoking from shock, but Darius still had his, and he was huffing and puffing like his life depended on it because it kind of did.

You never know, it's never too late to be prepared. Darius was a firm believer of this. After the crazy things he had experienced, he was not a fan of his luck.

Darius started changing while mulling over a few things. What he was wondering about was the whole Lord Sir thing. When he was seen as a courage step spiritknight, he was referred to as Sir Darius. Now it was Lord Darius. What would he be called next? What were the rules around this nomenclature?

Darius put on the Cloak and Helmet. He tested them out and was pleased with what he saw. The cloak could change to look like the rangers' uniform making things simpler.

"Now then let's-"

"Hold up, I still need to charge these things."

The cleric and Jena saw Darius sitting cross-legged on the ground. The star on his left hand was shining, showing that it was already charging.