Silence.
Silence filled the entirety of Tristan's body as he read through the description of the item Valyr had given him, being a metal glove that had the Sand Serpent Fangs as protrusions on its knuckles. Under the rays of the sun, the metal glove had a faint orange-red sheen to it, mostly due to the Blazefield Stone embedded in the center.
Nevertheless, even though the metal glove was aesthetically pleasing to look at, Tristan's attention still remained fixated on the screen filled with text before him, his expression wide-eyed as it took a while for his expression to return to normal.
"Rare+…" Tristan muttered in shock as he closed the small screen in front of his field of vision, shifting his gaze onto the young man that had just forged the metal glove he was holding. "You… you really made this…"
"I may have only been away from the village for over a month, but I've honed my forging skills a lot since then." Valyr looked at his good friend, inwardly feeling great delight over the shock that was incredibly visible on the man's face. "I've definitely picked up a lot of skills along the way."
"I can definitely see that…" Taking some time to get over the shock the piece of equipment Valyr had given to him, Tristan took in a deep breath as the gears in his mind turned. Not long after, a faint light glinted his eyes as he posed a question to Valyr. "Mind if you teach me a thing or two on how you forged this metal glove?"
"I thought you didn't believe in the fact I have the ability to forge high rarity equipment?" Though he did not really mind teaching the one who had allowed him to trek the path of blacksmithing once more a couple of things, Valyr thought that now was the best choice to rub salt in an open wound, evident by the bitter smile on Tristan's face once he heard what the former said.
"I mean… I did have an idea back then you were something else." Tristan wryly chuckled. "After all, you could forge Common+ grade equipment without much problem even though you've only been forging stuff for a month at that time."
"Who knew it would continue to snowball from there?" The bitter smile on Tristan's face slightly widened.
Responding to Tristan's words with a bitter smile of his own, Valyr briefly scratched the back of his head before letting out a faint sigh, asking the former to give the metal glove back to him. "Who knew, indeed."
"Anyways, even though I don't really mind teaching you a bit of what I learned after I left the village, the monster tide is coming up in a few days, so how about we talk about it after the tide?"
"Fine by me." In response to Valyr's words, Tristan shrugged his shoulders. "Either way, you're helping me out here since you're giving me a shot at finally being able to craft a piece of Rare grade equipment."
"Says the one who allowed me to walk the path of blacksmithing in the first place," said Valyr in response, causing Tristan to let out a faint chuckle not long after. "You really haven't made a piece of Rare grade equipment yet?"
"Not even once." Tristan shook his head. "The best I've done was a piece of equipment rated at Uncommon+ grade, and that item would be the metal knuckles I forged."
"Speaking of which, I should thank you for giving me the idea to forge a pair of metal knuckles," Tristan added to his statement soon after. "Because of it, I was able to finally clear a dungeon I've been wanting to clear for a long time already."
"Is that so?" Hearing Tristan thank him, a grin gradually crept up onto Valyr's lips as he looked at the metal glove he had forged. Recalling the other reason why he had forged the metal glove in the first place, the grin on his face turned into a smirk as he returned to the anvil.
"Give me a second."
"Hmm?" Seeing as Valyr returned to the anvil with the metal glove, watching as the young man started to hammer out the small imperfections on it, Tristan raised his eyebrow in curiosity as he decided to ask Valyr a question. "What are you doing?"
"Just a few modifications to the glove," said Valyr in response. "You'll see."
"Take your time, I guess." At those words, Tristan shrugged his shoulders as he watched Valyr hammer the metal glove nonstop, watching as the faint imperfections on the metal glove's surface gradually disappear with every swing.
Not long after, he felt as if the aura being emanated by the glove gradually grew stronger with every consecutive swing, at some point even sensing that the immediate surroundings felt a bit warmer than it normally did.
Eventually, Valyr placed the hammer to the side, prompting Tristan to think that the man was finished with his modifications. However, just as he was about to move closer to take a better look at the improved metal glove, the former started to infuse his own mana into the metal glove, causing the latter to take a few steps back as he felt a deeper part of the glove awaken in response to the infusion.
Shaking his head a couple times as he felt the mana he had infused into the glove not doing its job properly, Valyr continued to infuse more and more mana into it, using [True Prodigious Equipment Attribute Awakening] quite a lot on the metal glove to get an attribute awakening that met his standards. Fortunately, by the time he had spent around a thousand points of his mana into the glove, he had finally gotten the awakening he wanted, quickly identifying it with [Analysis] before giving it to Tristan.
"Here you go. Take a look."
"This…" Grabbing the metal glove once more, Tristan went ahead and used [Analysis] on it to see what kind of modifications Valyr had done to it, only to be left at a loss for words once again.
Ding!
[(+10) Glove of the Blazing Serpent] (Level 26)
Rarity: Rare+
Attack: 236 - 394
Additional Attributes:
> STR +8
> AGI +7
> DEX +8
A metallic glove that utilizes the best properties of Azure Iron, Melafir Essence, Sand Serpent Fangs, and Blazefield Stone, the blacksmith that had forged this piece of equipment had a certain person in mind, wanting to prove to that person that they had far improved since the last time they saw each other. However, the original intent behind the piece eventually changed, instead changing into something that the blacksmith thought he should have done a long time ago.
<Innate Skill 1: Flaming Vigor - With every successful hit landed on a being the user deems as an enemy, the skill increases the user's STR, DEX, and AGI stat by 0.1%, reaching a maximum of 2.5%.>
<Innate Skill 2: Serpentine Blaze - Moving one's arm in an uppercut motion, this skill allows the user to deal damage equivalent to 300% of the user's Attack stat on a single enemy, with a slight chance of the damage doubling if the area the glove lands on is considered vital. Has a chance to inflict a scorching effect on the enemy. Cooldown: 5 minutes. Cost: 1,500 MP.>
Remarks: A weapon that definitely isn't made with a berserker in mind.
It took a while for Tristan to get over the shock the description of the upgraded glove had given him, considering that the Attack stat it gave was far greater than what the pair of metal knuckles he had forged could give him. With that, the thought that Valyr had done this on purpose to show off in front of him appeared in his mind, prompting him to ask the young man sometime later if he was taking it back after he had gotten a good look at it.
However, the answer that he got from Valyr instead was…
"Oh no."
"That's all yours."
