Armor

“By the way, aren’t you going to participate in the Hero Tournament?”

“I thought the registration was already closed?”

“If you’ve done a Solo Ascent of 50 floors or more, they give you a free pass through the preliminaries. If Americano reveals who she is, they might accept her registration even if the deadline has passed.”

“….”

I thought about it,

and shook my head.

“It’s okay. It’s a shame I can’t go, but with my current skills, I think I’d only be disappointed fighting.”

“Come on, no way. You’re so strong, Americano.”

“No, it’s that the opponents are too weak.”

“That could be true.”

Since using [Sword God], I’ve been able to sense Magical Power with my eyes.

I don’t have the same clarity and sense of oneness as I did with [Sword God],

but I can faintly catch it with my eyes, which is how I was able to find Hite.

‘Come to think of it, I heard that if you make a ring with your hand and look through it, you can see Demonic Energy.’

It’s almost never used anymore,

but I looked through the ring made with my fingers.

As soon as I made a ring with my fingers, a strange Magical Power aura gathered on my fingers.

Looking through it, the feeling was completely different from when I had looked through it before.

‘…Is that Hite?’

My own shadow.

Three silhouettes are visible.

I recognized Chocolat and Force from the silhouettes, and the remaining one was Hite.

‘There are three members of my family in my shadow.’

“Americano?”

“Ah, yes.”

“What are you going to do now?”

“Hmm…”

“If you don’t have any plans, would you like to go somewhere with me?”

“Where are we going?”

“To Ibon’s.”

Ibon.

A master craftsman.

I commissioned her to make armor, and in three months… there’s about a month and a half left until completion.

“The armor should be finished by now.”

“She said it would take three months, though?”

“Even if the armor is finished, it takes a long time to add functions. The State-of-the-Art Armor that Ibon is making feels more focused on the functions than the armor itself. So the armor should be finished.”

As Lee Su-ju said, I went to Ibon.

“You’ve come? The armor is still unfinished, though?”

“I just wanted to see how far along it was.”

“Su-hyeok… no, Ao.”

Ibon looked at Lee Su-ju and rubbed her head.

“…I increased my Avatar’s muscle mass to the maximum to make me look like a man, so that’s why…”

“….”

But Full Dive Avatars can’t change their gender.

So she increased her muscle mass to make herself look as much like a man as possible.

“…I thought men would be more advantageous in the Middle Ages, and if my gender was known differently, no one would recognize me in reality…”

Lee Su-ju muttered as if making excuses.

Ibon clicked her tongue and led us to the workshop.

In a corner of the workshop where several Mannequins were visible.

A slender, red armor stood there.

“This is it.”

“The chest is small, though?”

Lee Su-ju pointed out.

“That human asked me to make it small. She said that since she has a big chest, she wanted me to make storage space.”

“Aww, what a waste.”

“What’s so good about having a chest anyway? If you have any complaints, tell that human.”

“Reducing it is good, but wouldn’t it be prettier to make it a little bigger?”

“Personally, I want it completely flat? Ibon, isn’t that better?”

“Of course.”

Ibon nodded as if agreeing with Amel’s question.

It’s more practical to have no chest.

Even if it’s for design, a chest.

If a chest is there, attacks will slip towards the sternum or collarbone along its curves.

If you hit that chest area with a hammer, the damage to the armor will be different when it’s flat and when it’s protruding.

In armor, a chest actually reduces the value of the armor.

“That can’t be.”

“If you’re a craftsman, you should emulate Americano’s way of thinking. What’s so important about design?”

“For someone who says that, this armor is also decorated beautifully.”

“Are your eyes blocked with soot? Look closely.”

Ibon suddenly explained the function and role of each part of the armor.

Lee Su-ju had no choice but to nod at her words.

“Design? What I pursue is practical beauty. The more practical functions I add, the more this armor’s unique beauty shines through.”

Uwahaha.

Ibon laughed heartily.

“Do you want to try it on?”

“Can I?”

Amel asked back.

“I’ve installed the Magic on the chest, so you won’t have any trouble wearing it.”

Expectations welled up.

Ibon and Lee Su-ju helped me put it on.

The Automatic Detachment Function hasn’t been engraved yet.

I put it on.

Chest.

It got smaller.

Ooh.

‘It got smaller.’

I touched my chest,

but there’s no chest.

I could see my toes.

I don’t know how many months it’s been since I stood up and saw my toes.

And my chest was comfortably supported in the space created by the Storage Magic.

Haa…

‘It’s cozy.’

It was comfortable.

Amel smiled brightly without realizing it.

“Looks like you like it.”

“It’s so heavy.”

“A Hero complaining. I’m glad you like it.”

“Can I use Magical Power?”

“Go ahead. Unless you use the functions, it’s no different from the finished product… huh?”

At that moment.

Crack.

Bang.

The chest exploded.

The armor plate surrounding the chest flew off, hit Ibon’s head, and bounced off.

“Ah…”

Damn it.

“Wh-what is it?”

“I guess it won’t work…”

“What happened?”

Amel lifted her chest.

Ahaha. She laughed awkwardly.

“I have a rather special constitution, and I think I froze the Magical Power and broke the Magic.”

“What? What does that…”

“I guess.”

I moved my arms, but from the moment I moved to grab my chest, crack. Cracks burst out.

“I think State-of-the-Art technology and my constitution aren’t compatible.”

“What…”

“I’m sorry.”

The Slime Material applied to the inside of the armor. It was also frozen solid. [Frost] began to seep out of the entire armor.

Ibon touched the armor.

Her eyes narrowed.

“Magical Power, frozen.”

“I should have said something earlier.”

“No, it’s okay.”

Ibon rubbed her head.

“I’m glad I found out before it was finished. Damn it. What kind of variable is this?”

“Seeing this state, I don’t think it’ll be possible to make it with Slime Material.”

“Is that all? All Magic is unusable from the moment Magical Power is frozen.”

Win was able to do it, though?

‘Is it because it’s Win?’

Let’s ask her later.

Silence.

Quiet.

“Then what should we do?”

“It’s armor forged with Phoenix Feathers. If we’re lucky, it’ll regenerate.”

“….”

Silence.

Quiet.

The sound of heads turning, trying to figure out what to say, filled the workshop.

“Ahem.”

Ibon said.

“What will you do? If you stop production, I’ll refund the money excluding the funds I’ve invested.”

“….”

What should I do?

I shook my head.

“It’s okay. Just finish it. If it breaks down and becomes unusable, I’ll pay you again.”

“No, it’s okay. I have my pride too. If it breaks down and becomes unusable, I’ll prepare it with my own money and restore it to its original state.”

“I have a lot of money. Rather, tell me what other functions you were going to add. If it’s frozen and I can’t use Magic, I won’t be able to use those functions either, right?”

“Well… that’s right. It’s not just frozen, but since it’s freezing Magical Power, it’ll freeze and break like before even if I add them.”

So there’s no need to add them.

I heard about the functions she was going to add,

and among them were functions that reflected Magical Attacks or absorbed some of the Magical Attacks. They were interesting functions, but

‘There’s nothing essential.’

They were just additional functions.

“If you don’t add anything, is this state the finished product?”

“I guess so.”

“Ugh… okay, I’ll refund the remaining money.”

“No. Please use that money for research.”

Ibon flinched.

“Research?”

“Make armor that will be fine even if Magical Power is frozen, or rather, armor that becomes stronger by using the freezing.”

“Freezing means hardening.”

Ibon grinned.

“You’ve come up with something good.”

“I’ll give you more money if you don’t have enough.”

“I don’t know, but I’ll ask if I think I’ll need it.”

She didn’t refuse.

Rather, she showed a desire to do such research, which was good to see.

Some time after taking off the armor.

The armor was revived to its original state.

Armor and weapons made with Phoenix Feathers are said to revive even if they are broken.

Ibon watched it and closely analyzed the relationship between the Phoenix’s fire and Magical Power, already burning with the will to research.

Still, the Storage Magic was broken.

“What’s the difference between the Phoenix and Magic…”

Ibon shook her head.

Looking at the chest area of the armor,

“I’ll have to increase the size.”

“….”

“It’ll stretch even if you wear it as it is, so it doesn’t matter, but the entire armor will be somewhat thinner as the area increases.”

“…It stretches?”

“Isn’t it Slime? You’d know if you wore it?”

The armor was Slime.

One of the things I felt when I looked at the Magical Power was the impression that the armor’s shape had been shape-memorized to the Slime.

“Just give it to me. It’s okay because I can use Storage Magic.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s nothing.”

I shrugged.

Amel left the workshop,

and Lee Su-ju stayed in the workshop as if she had something to talk about with Ibon.

‘The chest, huh.’

The outline of the chest seeping out of the Nun Outfit.

When I reflected my appearance in the nearby glass window, the Nun Outfit was baggy, but it was unnecessarily seductive.

I can use Storage Magic.

But how do I use Storage Magic?

I saw Win use it, and I remember using the Magic that created the Water Sea during [Sword God], but the feeling during [Sword God] is completely different from now.

Unlike [Sword God], who used Magic instinctively, I don’t even know the feeling of using Magic itself.

‘Should I leave it to Win?’

But I doubted if she would do it willingly.

“….”

“(May I speak?)”

“What is it?”

“(My shadow can replace Storage Magic.)”

Hite answered confidently.

Her voice was full of confidence.

“….”

….

….

…It evokes [Possessiveness].

First, I checked.

“Do it.”

Then,

Swish.

The chest shrinks.

The outline of the chest seeping out of the Nun Outfit subsided and became as flat as a man’s chest.

I felt a chill.

“Hite.”

“(Yes.)”

“You were a capable one, weren’t you?”

“(I was always capable.)”

I wanted to [Possess] her.

‘But how do I possess her?’

If I could touch her like Chocolat or Force, I would have touched her right away, but Hite didn’t have a physical form that I could touch.

Maybe she has a separate main body.

I feel the presence of [Possession].

Hite’s presence.

I felt the presence of something I wanted to [Possess] somewhere far away, not in the shadow.

The power of [Possession] transcended physical distance and pointed me in the direction of Hite’s main body.

‘Should I go now?’

I shook my head.

‘It’s okay.’

She’ll run away if I approach her openly.

And the distance is quite far.

Let’s enjoy this joy now.

For the first time since starting the game, I’ve escaped the curse of the chest.

If someone who knows Amel knew, it would be something to be indignant about.