Chapter 74 – The Mystery of Armor
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"Oh, Daphne! I'm glad you finally understand the joys of research!" Lucia beamed as she puffed out her chest proudly. I wasn't researching for the sake of it alone, but I didn't want to rain on her parade, so I just played along. I'd invited her to assist in my next critical finding. If it goes the way I think it will, I'll have no problems using the General to fight, I thought to myself as we waited for Cassandra to magically rearrange the surroundings.

"We are only helping because your question amuses us," She said before taking her leave as the magic began to take effect. After a short wait, the shelves had formed a wide circle, the center of which would be where we'd be conducting our test. Come to think of it, it's like an arena, I thought to myself absent-mindedly as I donned a set of armor and took to the stage.

Armor in this world was weird, and its relationship with the P-DEF stat was even weirder. Armored classes usually had higher defense as a rule but suffered from slower speeds as a result. They were also susceptible to weapons like rapiers, hammers, and armor shredders, but how much of that was specifically because of the armor? And in a certain context, was the armor even needed at all? If I find no answer to these questions, I'll have to look for another class, I thought to myself as I stood to face Lucia.

I happened to run into Isis the other day and took the opportunity to tell her about my plan. She gave me a Status Ring, which was an item that allowed players to monitor their stats in real time. When I activated it, I was floored by what I saw:

Daphne LV 100
HP 1500
Str 750
Dex 496
Spd 341
Luck  572
P-DEF 750
M-DEF 444
Status -----
Compatibility Lucia

By that much?! It was shocking. My P-DEF had gone up by about 200, and my Spd had gone down by the same amount, and I wasn't even wearing a full body suit of armor! I had my helmet on, a breastplate on my chest, and guards for my arms and legs but nothing too heavy. It makes sense now. No wonder they're always donning full body suits of armor! The mystery was beginning to unravel, but there was more to test.

"Lucia, are you sure about this?"

"I'm 100% confident!" She replied with assurance in her voice as she produced a glass jar with earth inside from her robe. Where did she learn to do that? I wondered as she mumbled some things, probably an incantation of some sort before violently throwing the jar on the floor and watching as it shattered. 

"What the—" The earth on the floor of the library gathered together to form a small golem with what appeared to be an earthen hammer in its hand. 

"Don't worry. I've adjusted its strength so that the strike won't be fatal," She reassured me with a smile, but I was dying to ask, How did you do that? As far as I knew, there was no earth magic that could do that in the game. What she did was closer to summoning than any offensive, elemental magic I knew of. Was this the magic the created? I wondered but kept the question to myself as I watched the little guy run up to me. 

Its movements were rough yet refined in a charming sort of way. Like a puppet being controlled by its strings, it swung its small hammer at me, and the damage I took almost brought me to my knees. 

"Are you okay?!" Lucia asked with a deep look of concern on her face.

"I'm fine," I answered as I activated the ring once again.

Daphne LV 100
HP 772
Str 750
Dex 496
Spd 341
Luck  572
P-DEF 750
M-DEF 444
Status -----
Compatibility Lucia

Roughly half of my HP was gone from that one strike. How strong was that golem? I puzzled over that question as I took out a Full Potion from my left pocket and drank it. With my HP fully replenished, I was ready for round 2! I just needed to remove my armor this time and take another attack from the little guy. 

Once I did, the golem wasted no time, hitting me a second time with all its might. I stumbled to one knee but took less damage than I had imagined.

Daphne LV 100
HP 1238
Str 750
Dex 496
Spd 541
Luck  572
P-DEF 549
M-DEF 444
Status -----
Compatibility Lucia

 

I-incredible! The 3x damage multiplier does not apply to me once I remove my armor! It was a remarkable insight that would determine the course of my actions moving forward.

"Daphne, are you okay?!" Lucia came running up to me with worry written all over her face. 

"I'm great!" I replied with a smile. "Now, I know one thing for sure."

"And what's that?" Lucia asked with a worried but somewhat curious look on her face.

"I won't be needing armor," I declared with a triumphant smile on my face. Of course, that would put me at greater risk of taking more damage from powerful enemies, but I can work my way around that by mastering [Great Shield], I concluded. It wouldn't be easy, but I'd take that over losing 200 Spd! 

"It's been on my mind for a while now, but have you grown taller?" Lucia asked out of the blue.

Knowing the secret behind this, I smiled teasingly at her and answered, "It's just your imagination," as I happily skipped out of the library to return the Status Ring to Isis. 

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