Chương 1425: 1424. Skin of Athena

When Seth returned to the shop the next morning, the fully enchanted shirt was neatly placed on one of the workbenches in the workshop. Rún had done as he promised and completed the work overnight. What was left was for the spirit blacksmith to forge the prepared soul, enchant it, and infuse it into the shirt. This was not too tall a task. The <Soul of the Warriors' Iron Defense> had already been waiting for this very moment.

The <Soul of the Warriors' Iron Defense> was the essence of all skills that raised endurance, defense, and resistances. This soul actually stuck out a little from the rest of them, because it not only had a couple of skills and one trait, but two. As one would expect, when taking 500 souls specialized in physical combat and taking all the skills concerning endurance, defense, and resistances, there was a lot. Almost every class had passive and active skills to improve their survivability in melee combat.

The first Trait was "Solid Physique" which raised overall defense by 25% and all common resistances by 30%. Less common ones by 15%. Less common effects were, for example, curses or mental effects. This was slightly more restricted but similar to one of the skills of Tekar, which allowed him to raise all his resistances, which was an absolutely broken class skill, in Seth's opinion.

Not that someone with the ability to rip the souls of considerably weaker opponents right out of their bodies had any right to complain about how broken someone else was... The second trait was "Adaptive Defense". Following the principle of what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, it granted a base bonus of 10% to overall defense and 5% to resistances. Every time one was hit by a certain kind of damage, a counter would be created that raised defense by another 5% and resistances by 2. 5%.

The counter would persist until one exited combat. Depending on how resilient the user was, this meant one's defense in a battle would rise until they were immune to their opponent's attacks. This was especially practical when talking about damage over time. If, say, every tick of poison counted as an instance of damage taken, that would mean every tick would increase Poison Resistance by 2. 5%. This was not the percentage of already existing resistance, but base resistance.

Adding the two traits meant Monique would become immune to common kinds of damage after taking 130 hits within a single battle. Considering what value Monique started with, it would potentially take a lot less. This kind of trait would have also fitted Bulko very well, who was able to share part of his resistance and defense with allies, but the priest insisted on his setup of dedicated armor sets. Lastly, the soul also came with two active skills. <Active Skill: Roar of the Tank, no Cost, Cooldown: 15 minutes.

You become immobile and immune to damage for the next 30 seconds, focusing all hostile attacks in a 50m radius onto yourself. > Apart from the incredible range, it was a typical tank skill. It was just a shame that this did not mesh with the Adaptive Defense. The trait only worked when damage was received. Since the skill granted immunity to damage, there would be no counters. On the other hand, the skill worked like a charm with Damage Reflection. The effect worked on the damaged before it was inflicted.

This meant that during the duration of the skill, 40% of incoming damage would be reflected, and the remaining 60% would be negated. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Although that only worked for armor pieces actually enchanted with it, it was crazy to think that the ultimate defensive skill of a tank was potentially turned into a 100m diameter of self-harm for the enemy.

The second skill was <Iron Defense>, which would raise endurance by 100 and defense by 50% for 5 minutes, but half defense for 2 minutes after it ended. It was a potentially life-saving skill, but one needed to know when to use it. As mentioned the other day, the forging itself was actually the easier part. It took him roughly an hour to get the soul in shape. Fortunately, the soul only had to look the part on the surface; the bigger challenge was going to be the infusion this time.

But before that, he still had to enchant it. In the designing phase, he had actually deliberated using an automaton circuit on the soul, so the item itself could react to attacks and active skills, but he decided against it. He trusted Monique's skill and judgment in combat. Instead, he chose Basic Olympian Defense. It was the opposite of Basic Olympian Attack.

It increased the multiplier of physical and magical defense per endurance or willpower by 25%, meaning that it raised the base defense of the wearer, on which most other effects were based. It did half of what Athena's Defense already did, making Seth curious whether these were going to interact with each other. Once the complicated circuit was engraved, the soul was ready for the last hurdle of the piece, infusing it.

When infusing a soul into a fabric or a mail shirt, he had to make sure to infuse it into every fiber or link in this case. Still, it was nothing compared to the time when he exhausted himself to create the bronze for Hellion. Soon, the chain and plate shirt, fitted with its new soul, found its way into the Water of Styx to be reborn. <Ding! You have finished a special item. +100p of Power of Existence. > <Ding! A synergy of materials has changed the effects of your item!

> The shirt floating in the water glittered in the light of the workshop. For a moment, it glowed up, and Seth got the familiar notifications. The blacksmith didn't hold back and immediately appraised the shirt to see what had changed. < Skin of Athena Special Regalia of Athena Set 1/X Phys. Def.: 2300 Mag: Def: 2600 Durability: 9000 1. Athena's Defense++ 2. +50% to the power of skills and magic 3. Trait: Solid Physique 4. Trait: Adaptive Defense 5. 40% Damage Reflection 6. Active Skill: Arcane Cuirass 7.

Active Skill: Athena's Last Stand 8. Active Skill: Adamant Defense 9. Active Skill: Athena's Storm Cloak Set Effect Regalia of Athena: To be decided. A mail shirt radiating Athena's splendor, forged as part of her Regalia by Master Smith, the first Master Blacksmith and Master Enchanter of Urth. Using a special metal and curated materials in addition to his mysterious means, Master Smith made the ideal armor for a chosen of Athena.

Requirements: Blessing of Athena, Master Smith> The blacksmith's eyes scanned over the options. The first thing he realized was that Basic Olympian Defense had been absorbed into Athena's Defense, making it Athena's Defense++. The effect now added 60% to base defense and doubled the defense of barriers. The remainder of the changes could be found among the whopping 4 active skills the shirt had received. <Athena's Last Stand> used to be < Roar of the Tank>.

The synergy with <Silver of Athena Promachios> has doubled the duration and now focused all hostile attacks on the user, without restriction to area. <Adamant Defense> had developed from <Iron Defense>. It now raised Endurance by 100 points, Willpower by 100 points, and doubled defense for 5 minutes. The duration of the price had halved, now only causing defense to be halved for one minute instead of two. Lastly, there was <Athena's Storm Cloak>. It resembled <Arcane Cuirass>, which had not changed.

The skill cloaked the user in a small snowstorm. It hides the user and diverts ranged attacks. It was a real head-scratcher where this skill came from, until Seth remembered that he had used the leather of the Giant Blizzard Owl for the pteruges. He wouldn't have expected it to be enough to generate an effect, but apparently, Athena's affinity for owls was greater than he expected, despite correcting it upward after seeing Nyctimene. Having explored the powers of the finished piece, he placed it in his inventory.

He could not spend all day on this. It was still morning, and he had more planned for today. The next stop was the tailor workshops. The blacksmith wanted to check whether the gloves or boots were done, so he could continue on those.