Chương 1332: 1331. Nädel's Work

---Minas Mar, Workshop, 3 days later---"Yes, if we shape it like this and have it overlap here and here, we should be able to strike the perfect balance between range of movement and flow of energy," Tored, the dwarven master, explained while gesturing around over their blueprints. The masters of Minas Mar were still discussing the optimal armor set to be made from the Sky Dragon materials, but the discussion was slowly reaching a conclusion. A knock on the door interrupted their heated conversation.

Seth looked up from the blueprints that had all been bent over and went to see who was there.

"Nädel?" Seth asked, surprised, seeing the old tailor standing at the door. The blacksmith had given this old friend the refined hide of the shadow leopard, or what was left of it after Ceres threw it into the volcano. He had not expected to see the tailor this soon.

"Oh, good, it's you. This might have gotten a little awkward if it were someone else," Nädel said with a tired yet happy smile. After a moment, it dawned on Seth. Could it be? Had Nädel already-"It's finished," the tailor nodded and whispered, smiling.

"This quickly?" Seth asked incredulously. No wonder he looked so tired. It had not even been a week since Seth made sure Nädel had all the materials needed. He must have worked day and night on Mina's new equipment, and that at his age.

"Did it help? Were you able to-" Seth tried to ask for the outcome, but Nädel stopped him from talking with a humble nod.

"I want you to see it for yourself," he interrupted.

"Do you have time?" he added the question, despite knowing that the other masters had assembled to work on the plans for the dragon set. The blacksmith looked back in the workshop, where the others were still agitatedly discussing, even without him.

"I guess I have some time," he mumbled and followed the chuckling Nädel. The two walked over to the tailor workshops, where they sneakily entered Nädel's personal workshop.

"... Wow." Seth's breath stopped for a moment when he saw the tailor's master piece. Seth had given Nädel the "Black Bird Armor" as a sort of template, as it was a style of armor Mina had taken a great liking to. In essence, it was a full set of light leather armor, a hooded cloak, and a face mask to completely hide the wearer's identity. Although the armor had not been of the best quality, it had already looked great on the armor stand at the shop, however, Nädel's work was nothing like that.

Nädel's work was way better, it was a Magnum Opus! Although the blacksmith had though of this possibility jokingly, but he never really expected for the old tailor to pull it off. Seth didn't even need his <Eyes of the Maestro> to recognize the incredible quality of this piece. Despite just being draped over a tailor's dummy, the flowing design and materials like materialized shadow made it look alive, like a stalking predator in the night.

At first glance, he was able to tell that everything was perfectly tailored to Mina. For a moment, he had almost thought that it was her posing in her new armor. This was not just some legendary armor, but tailor-made equipment. It wasn't just the holes for her cat ears in the hood, or the gap for her tail in the back. The black velvet-like leather was tightly embracing the Judy, which had been adjusted so scarily close to Mina's measurements, that Seth got suspicious how Nädel did it.

Seth was her fiancé, and he may have very well known her body better than she herself, yet he was almost fooled into her standing in the room when he entered.

"My part is finished, but it still needs enchantments. I hoped you could maybe ask Lady Al'Zalsar to give it her blessing, or lend Rùn to me for a few days," the tailor shared with him, while Seth was still captivated by the items.

"So you finally did it.." Seth mumbled when he finally appraised the set and read the flavor text. The tailor simply smiled, satisfied. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Nädel had used the hide to create the Shadow Stalker Set, an armor made up of seven set items and with every piece he looked at, he realized how close the powers of the leopard and Mina's were. The armor really perfectly augmented the shadow assassin/shadow magician.

Even though the armor was still missing enchantments or a soul, each piece started off with at least four effects, although they slightly differed depending on the item. Three of them were shared among the items, while one depended on the piece of equipment. For example, the cuirass, the central piece, carried the individual effect called Shadow Hide, which was able to negate all attacks below a certain threshold by diverting them through the shadows.

The gloves, on the other hand, offered the wearer the active skill <Shadow Drain>. <Shadow Drain> allowed the user to actively draw power from the shadows, but that was not the main purpose. It allowed draining mana and stamina from targets that were connected to the user through shadows. This was an extremely useful spell, especially for Mina, whose favorite strategy was to create a field of Darkness to trap her opponents.

Now she would he able to supplement her mana consumption by draining targets within her domain. Although each individual skill was quite impressive, the shared ones were nothing to scoff at. Of the shared effects, the first two improved the power of shadow attacks one way or the other, but the fourth was special. The fourth was an effect created by the skills of Nädel as a tailor, similar to the effect of cloth being able to raise its defense by 50% when supplied with mana.

<Damage Dispersion> held true to what it sounded. <Damage Dispersion, No Cost, no Cool Down Thanks to the excellent skills and technique of the creator, all incoming attacks are dispersed across the item, lowering the overall incoming damage. The more connected pieces with <Damage Dispersion> are worn, the more damage can be dispersed. > This could have both positive and negative outcomes. Dispersing incoming damage meant putting strain on the items and increasing the pressure across the wearer's whole body.

If the damage became to great, it could crush the wearer to a pulp, on the other hand, such an attack would be lethal no matter what. Damage Dispersion was a great match with Shadow Hide, as it meant that most attacks would be negated, as they would be too weak to overcome the effect after being dispersed. It was a great combination. Although each item already started off with four effects, the true star of the show was the set effects that the armor could grant.

This was where the true power behind the Leopard's hide was hidden. <Shadow Stalker Cuirass Legendary Shadow Stalker Set 1/7 Legendary Phys. Defense: 2100 Mag. Defense: 2350 Durability: 4500 1. +75% Affinity with Darkness 2. +150% Power of Shadow-related Skills and Spells 3. Shadow Hide 4.

Damage Dispersion Set Effect 3/7: +100% Power in Darkness 30% Affection with Darkness Set Effect 5/7: +200% Power in Darkness 50% Affection with Darkness Active Skill: Shadow Clones Set Effect 7/7: Minor Speed of Arachne +300% Power in Darkness 70% Affection with Darkness Trait: Shadow Body The central piece of Master Fädli's Magnum Opus. A cuirass fashioned from the hide of a legendary predator.

A phenomenal piece of equipment for any practitioner of the dark arts, which will truly blossom in conjunction with the rest of the set. > Starting with three pieces, the Set effects started increasing the overall power of the user in darkness, but most importantly, directly granted Affection, the higher version of Affinity. This not only meant that stark reduction in mana cost for related skills, but also the ability to draw power from the respective element.

As the number of set items increased, the armor granted two skills and one ability. <Shadow Clones> was pretty self-explanatory based on its name. The skill allowed the creation of doubles, with up to 50% of the original's power. The trait "Shadow Body" had two effects. First, it lowered almost all elemental damage by 65%, except light. In exchange for lowering all other damage by more than half, it increased damage from Light Elemental attacks by the same 65%.

In Seth's opinion, this was a great deal, especially if Mina simply wore another item that could protect against light elemental damage. What made the trait the peak power of the armor was that it also granted the max lv. of <Shadow Manipulation>, the ability to shape shadows using one's Mental Power. It was in the same vein as <Fire Manipulation>, a precursor to Seth's <Pyrokinesis>. Nädel had even managed to manifest the power of the Arachne thread when all items were worn.

Minor Arachne Speed increased Dexterity by 50, Attack Speed by 20%, and increased Attack Speed Multiplier by 10%.

"I will lend Rùn to you..." He would have asked Al'Zalsar, but she was nowhere to be found. They were about to finish the design of the Sky Dragon Armor, so Rùn would be free. He was looking forward to it. All this, and it had yet to be enchanted or receive a soul. The potential was... smashing.