Reid wrinkled his nose at the smell of the spiders' latest meal, and walked an extra few hundred feet into the forest before he sat down.

His stats were full to their potential, and that meant it was high time for him to get to the next items on his list - equipment. Marrow had been a good set of armor, but Reid now felt it was time to retire the old set and move onto something new. The purpose of Marrow had been to take big hits and make them less impactful, while keeping his high-damage areas slightly intact. Experience had now taught Reid that his ideas were somewhat flawed. There was a level of damage where it simply stopped being able to be useful at all, and the fact that the 'Delocalize Damage' trait took time to delocalize damage taken meant anything Reid was fighting had to not hit him in the same location too often or the trait became useless. Maybe even more importantly, the broken pieces did not fix themselves, even with the other Self-Repair trait the armor possessed.

He was working with more traits than last time, and that should mean more he could make the new armor do. Growth was an absolute must - his equipment would get completely outpaced by his abilities if that wasn't there. Next, he absolutely wanted the new set to come with Smith's Recall. Being able to resummon the armor if it broke, or to make small changes would be key. It was, really, an overpowered trait in general, even if it took time and concentration to use. Bonded, of course - because it just felt right to have that trait included. Plus self-repair, so he didn't have to worry about the condition of the armor mid-fight. Reid bit his tongue. He hadn't even added new ideas, and he was already at 4 traits.

Restlessness drove him to stand, and pace. How should the armor be composed internally? That should lead to a better idea of what the 5th trait needed to accomplish. He wanted to retain some of the function he discovered in the sacrificial plates from the Crinoptera fight, but also wanted to ensure he could hold up to large blows and elemental forces like the magma crab. Density and sponginess, similar to what he'd done before...

Reid frowned and concentrated. He needed to see things to understand his own ideas, here. His hand pushed forward, and the front half of a chest plate formed. It was simple and solid at first, then quickly changed to have the same internal structure he'd found to be effective at deadening force. Then he grew sacrificial pieces atop that - and hated it. It was technically functional, but Reid hated how the armor looked. The sacrificial pieces were too obvious, and made the whole thing look like poorly designed stained glass.

His mana swelled and pulsed through the piece as he tested out other options. Putting the sacrificial pieces on the inside didn't do too much. Having them only exist in the joints wasn't really accomplishing anything. Making alternating layers of solid and sacrificial sections just ended up creating a piece that was overly bulky for little benefit. He reverted things back to the starting point. In an ideal world, he would just make the sacrificial pieces so small, they were impossible for someone to notice. The issue there was building such a fine structure was not feasible on his own. He would need a healer present to keep him going if he was going to do that much detailed application on every piece of the new set of armor.

Reid stilled, and nearly slapped himself on the forehead.

He had been working and experimenting for nearly the entire day, but didn't feel spent. Crafting had slowly become an easier process as his achievements that aided in the act stacked on top of one another. Then he'd received the Arcane Craftsman skill, which was all about making crafting easier for him. Making something complex and difficult wasn't going to completely sap his energy - and the process itself wouldn't be out of the norm. Reid was quite familiar with focusing on single tasks for long stretches, and had even done that to make much of the equipment he already carried.

A grunt of recognition faded out into the surrounding wilderness, and he put a hand directly on the chest plate. Reid had the tools he needed to get the job done. All he had to do was grasp the possibility, and put in the work.

#

#

A semi-finished set of armor sat on the ground. Each piece had taken the better part of a day to complete, and were equipped with a series of tiny, scale-like pieces that were aligned just right to provide multiple layers of potential protection if the outer ones were broken. They were nearly invisible, except for an odd shifting sensation they gave off when he turned a piece of the ivory material in direct sunlight.

The remaining work, now, was twofold. He had to connect the pieces together with his mana to get them recognized as a set, and imbue them with traits. His awareness plunged back down into the set - into the bone. Throughout the process and the detail work, Reid had grown to appreciate his new skill even more. Building and connecting and feeling out the bone was easier than it had ever been for him - and the sensations already came naturally before he had the skill. As he worked on traits, he could feel his intuition actively pulling him towards the changes that would bring out his goals.

He strained. Expended himself. Worked harder than he probably should have. But even through all that, the experience felt sublime. He sensed his desires slotting themselves into place as the equipment's potential solidified into the reality of the completed set.

A grand yellow-orange flash announced the true arrival of Reid's newest creation, and he took another long look at the completed piece.

The boots were large, with thick soles, and a series of overlapping joints that would allow for better mobility. There were a series of spikes and hook-like pieces set into the sole of the boots so they would be flush, unless activated. That would solve Reid's need to fully create stability-ensuring spikes in the middle of fights - he would only need to extend the ones already there. Simple, wide shapes rose in ridges off the sides of the boots and up to the ankles - an intentional choice to hide sacrificial sections within the design. The greaves boasted the same, filigree-esque series of shapes and curves rising from their surface. The designs on the greaves were slightly larger and more ornate, and the piece wrapped fully around his lower legs. The greaves ended in oversized, shield-like structures that sat over his knees, with a trio of hard bone points that looked quite a bit like thorns rising from the top of the kneecap shields.

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The rest of his legs were protected by simpler, scale-like bone-armor-pants that rose up to near his waist, and the tassets that went over it. The tassets hung on the side of his legs, with extra pieces over his center - front and back. Each had their own risen filigree, and the two side pieces had their designs centered around the trio of socket-like protrusions that rose out of the bone. More flexible scale-like armor covered his midsection to allow for more movement than the massive cuirass that covered his chest. That piece was amongst his favorite parts of the armor. The lower edges followed the contour of his ribs, and its thick sections boasted some of the finest detail on the whole set of armor. The loops and strands were also, in a way, modeled after the bowl from Gerald. It rose into a wide, thick collar decorated by a series of overlapping rings that rose up around his neck to protect him from bites and strikes.

His pauldrons had gotten even thicker than they were on marrow, with a large pointed rise whose tip would sit even with his eyes. The right side contained a socket for Marrowbomb, and the left had a hooklike structure to hold Bonewall across Reid's back at a 45 degree angle when he wasn't actively using the shield. Each also had their share of bulky lines and loops, plus a few hard point thorns to catch any would-be melee attackers going after the pieces. More scale-like flexible armor ran down his arm until the start of his gauntlets. Those protruded far out from the rest of the armor, and were actually some of the thickest pieces in the whole set. They sort of reminded Reid of Mega-Man, except instead of a smooth blue surface, they were lined with more risen designs, and a healthy number of thorny bone points.

Then there were the gloves. Reid had found, in the Crinoptera fight, that he felt most comfortable fighting with his fingers physically touching his weapon. He'd designed the new set with that fact in mind, and ended up with an 'outer shell' glove design, which consisted of a small plate that connected to his gauntlets, and five flexible pieces for his fingers that ended in pointed caps to go around his fingertips. That way, almost all of his palm and his inner fingers were open and available to grip his weapons and equipment. The finger caps would give him a bit of extra grip if he needed to hold onto something - similar to how his finger bones had against the magma crab. The small solid rises off the finger sections were made to look like knuckle bones, partly to give him extra damage if he needed to hit something unarmed, partly because it looked neat.

Last was his helmet. Reid struggled on that part, and ended up with a relatively simple design. The helmet was flared at the base, then sunk in around his cheeks before rising out to make exaggerated cheekbones. The opening for his eyes and mouth connected, in a sort of flattened Y shape, to give him ample sight and open breathing during combat. The top of the helm was lined with small flats and rises that ran front to back, akin to the ridges in his Vuxarinan visage. It also boasted a central band, slightly taller than the rest, that connected to the middle of the Y opening with a slightly more ornate set of filigreed designs.

Reid was immensely happy with the finished look. He was also far from an expert on fashion, but between the detail and filigree in multiple locations - especially on the cuirass and the helm - he could imagine the armor set would be at home either in battle or in the throne room of a monarch. After all, if he had to stand in front of a crowd again and have Hugo talk about him like a prince, Reid wanted to look the part. So, fancy, usable armor.

Still smiling, Reid read the notification, and inspected his work.

Congratulations! Unique Armor, [Ivory Regalia] Created! Congratulations! Experience awarded for producing a unique armor set. Bonus experience awarded for creating an armor set above your grade.

NOTICE: This armor possesses multiple traits. NOTICE: [Ivory Regalia] has successfully bonded to [Reid Calderwall]!

Ivory Regalia [Legendary]

Rank: E Traits: Sacrificial Filigree, Self-Repair, Growth, Smith's Recall, Bonded

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Sacrificial Filigree Damage done to this armor is shunted to the filigree surrounding the damage site. When all local sacrificial filigree is destroyed, the wearer may restore it with self-repair trait, or through the use of applied mana. This does not prevent damage of attacks with sufficient might, nor those that bypass worn armor.

Self-Repair This armor is capable of self-repair, either through latent energy stored within the armor, or through external injections of energy.

Smith's Recall As the bonded creator of this armor, the osteal smith is forever connected to their creation. Whether the original is damaged, destroyed, or lost - the smith may completely recreate Ivory Regalia through the use of mana alone. Whenever Ivory Regalia is recreated using this method, any existing versions of the armor are immediately destroyed - even if the recreation fails. Requires sufficient energy.

Growth This armor is capable of growth. Growth may only occur in conjunction with the growth of the bonded individual. Growth may be fueled by latent energy stored in the armor, or through external injections of energy.

Bonded This armor is bonded to its owner through the use of simple energy matching. Anyone that attempts to wear this armor without a matching energy signature will fail. Attempts to identify this armor will only show the bare minimum level of information, depending on the level of the identifying user.

Reid beamed. He'd secured everything he really wanted in the armor, and the new trait he created was linked to his hours upon hours of work to generate the intricate, purposeful filigree on the set. It went beyond relocating damage. With the possibility of near-instant damage transfer, impacts just wouldn't damage his armor unless they were strong enough to break through it entirely - or if the filigree had all been broken. It was like he'd given his armor its own health bar.

He'd also done it without completely draining himself. Arcane Craftsman was even more impressive than he gave the skill credit for. He could even continue crafting, right now if he wanted to.

And he wanted to.

Reid set back to work almost immediately. He had marrowbomb itself to take up the single socket on his pauldron, but he needed six new thrown spheres to take up the sockets now on his tassets. Reid had thought of making them different from the original, but he had shelved the idea for now. He wanted a set of like throwables, instead of ones with different purpose that he'd need to keep track of in a fight. A few hours of work later, Reid was the proud owner of seven separate Marrowbombs, all with the Shrapnel, Slug, Recall, Growth, and Bonded traits. All were also E grade.

A short rest and meal were quickly followed with growth sessions that saw Requiem (his mace), Little Nap (his dagger), and Bonewall (his shield) empowered with mana to rise to his current level of ability. Only then did Reid actually lie down to recover.

Even with the fatigue and stress of mana expenditure, he felt good.

Prepared.

Ready to go after a domain lord.

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