Kirou was currently in Village Tailor Sam's cottage. After returning from the swampland more than twenty minutes ago, he has been in the cottage, sorting the items in his inventory. He had hunted so many monsters and gotten so many materials that he currently needed to organize them before he could even start figuring out where to start.
After another five minutes of organizing, Kirou was finally able to finish sorting his items. Taking a look back at the amount in his storage, Kirou couldn't help the wry smile forming on his lips. He had to spend so much time going through so many items all because he went overboard with his hunting. Shaking his head free of those thoughts, Kirou turned to face Tailor Sam who was patiently waiting for him from the moment he entered the cottage. Unlike the other areas in the village where players normally commute, the tailor shop rarely saw traffic after players got to a certain level. This was because they could now receive armor from killing monsters.
"Now that my materials have been sorted out, you have any advice for me before I start working on my armor, Senior Sam?" asked Kirou.
"Considering the number of materials you just showed me, I can freely say that you should experiment with the materials from weaker monsters before you jump into making your final armor set." Tailor Sam said that as he recalled all the armor materials had just gone through. When Kirou first did his quest, he thought Kirou got lucky. It was only now when he saw the amount of materials Kirou returned with and their quality did he realize that he was dealing with a monster. "That being said, I suggest you come up with a design for the armor first. It would be a waste for you to start making something, only to lose track of the final product midway. Especially with materials of this quality." After saying this, Tailor Sam passed Kirou a leather-skinned notebook.
Receiving the notebook, Kirou flips through a few pages with a raised eyebrow before asking, "This is...?"
"Just a sketchbook from my younger days. You can use those designs as an example for your armor designs or you could probably draw inspiration from them to make your own. Either way, it's your decision for what you end up doing." Tailor Sam replied with a smile, confident in his designs.
Hearing his words, Kirou decided to look through the leather book in greater detail. In all honesty, Kirou never did understand fashion or designing all that much. He was more of a practical guy. If it fits his needs, he'd use it and if not, he'd ignore it. Looking at the designs Tailor Sam had given him opened up his eyes towards making a few of his own later on. Though they probably won't be anything better than amateur work in terms of looks at the moment, he was confident that his future designs should give Tailor Sam a surprise. Besides, he was working with superior materials. Only a retard would intentionally waste those.
After looking through the leather book for a bit, Kirou found a design that he liked. This design was titled the 'Swampland Leather Armor Set.' Unlike the ones before, this was a set design that worked around multiple materials from different swampland monsters. Looking over the material requirements and the ones in his possession, Kirou realized that he could use that design as a practice model.
"I'm going to be borrowing one of your designs, for now, Senior Sam. You mind if I use your equipment to make them, as I have yet to make my own?" asked Kirou as he turned to Tailor Sam.
Tailor Sam looked at the design Kirou chose before replying, "Go ahead. I'd like to see how your first attempt at armor crafting turns out."
Getting Tailor Sam's permission, Kirou thanked him before looking over the design once more and verified the materials needed. Satisfied with his preparations, Kirou dived into his work on making the armor.
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It's currently been over an hour since Kirou started crafting his prototype version of the swampland leather armor set. So far he's finished making three of the four armor pieces; the pants, boots, and gloves. All that's left was the top. Kirou decided to tweak the design slightly and change the top's design from a jacket to a vest. He did so to account for his change in size when he makes use of lycan transformation.
After another ten minutes of working on it, Kirou had finally completed his work. Looking at the finished product, Kirou was quite satisfied with his work.
Equipment: Swampland Leather Armor Vest
Equipment Level: 10
Equipment Type: Prototype (Unranked)
+5 defense
+50 HP
Armor Set Bonus: Only active when the different parts of the set are equipped
2 pieces: +10 def
3 pieces: +150 HP and 100 MP
4 pieces: -10% damage from enemy attacks
Equipment Swampland Leather Armor Pants
Equipment Level: 10
Equipment Type: Prototype (Unranked)
+5 defense
+50 MP
Armor Set Bonus: Only active when...
Equipment: Swampland Leather Armor Gloves
Equipment Level: 10
Equipment Type: Prototype (Unranked)
+3 defense
+3 constitution
Armor Set Bonus: Only active when...
Equipment: Swampland Leather Armor Boots
Equipment Level: 10
Equipment Type: Prototype (Unranked)
+3 defense
+3 agility
Armor Set Bonus: Only active when...
Looking over the stats on his personally crafted armor, Kirou was quite satisfied. Beside him, Tailor Sam was looking at the armor in surprise.
"Even though it's my design, I never expected them to come out this well." Tailor Sam said this while looking at the armor set in amazement.
"It's understandable, Senior Sam. You made the design with the use of average quality materials in mind. This is the result of using excellent quality materials instead." Kirou said this while nodding his head.
"Be that as it may, it probably wouldn't have turned out like this had I made it myself so it's worth giving praise."
"Well, I'll thank Senior Sam for his praise then," Kirou said this cupping his hands and giving Tailor Sam a slight bow.
Tailor Sam waved his hand to stop Kirou. "No need for the politeness. Since you are done with this prototype, do you plan to make another set or two, or will you just dive into making your real armor now?" Tailor Sam asked this while giving Kirou a knowing look. "I know you have materials from strongest monsters on you as well so I highly doubt you'll be satisfied with just this."
Having been called out like that by Tailor Sam, Kirou could only give him a wry smile before responding, " Since Senior has already noticed, I won't hide it anymore. I do have materials from the elite variants of the monsters that gave me the materials used to make this armor." Tailor Sam revealed a smirk at his deduction proving true. Kirou saw it and could only release a helpless sigh before speaking, "Originally, I planned to make another armor set or two and just decide which of them to wear after making some comparisons. But now, I think I might as well just use the elite variants' materials to make a stronger version of the armor I just made."
Tailor Sam nodded his head and turned around before heading towards the room exit. As he left, he left behind some words for Kirou, "Since that is the case, I'll leave you to it then. I originally stayed in case you needed help but looking at your work has eased my mind. You've also managed to give me some inspiration for new designs so I'm going to document them now while they are still fresh in my mind while you do your work. I hope you'll let me see the finished product when you are done.
After his final words, the door to the room closed. Kirou was now left in the back room alone with all the equipment he would need to craft his gear and all the materials he would need to craft a few complete armor sets in his inventory.
Kirou didn't immediately start work on the superior armor set. He sat down on the ground and began going over what he just experienced when crafting the prototype. The prototype was quite good and he could be satisfied with it as is, but Kirou was hit with a bit of inspiration while working on it. He felt that the armor set shouldn't contain just four pieces, but five. At the moment, he was thinking about how to design the fifth piece, the headpiece.
Quite a few designs for the headpiece flashed through his mind but in the end, Kirou decided to design the headpiece in the shape of the overlord of the swampland itself, the swampland crocodile king. Having come to that decision, Kirou took out all the materials he would need. He did one final check to very they were all the superior variants before he proceeded to craft the proper armor set.
******************
An hour and a half later found Kirou currently putting on the finishing touches on the final piece of armor, the crocodile king headpiece. Kirou made it so that the headpiece would be attached to the vest, essentially turning both pieces into a hoodie of sorts. Looking at the finished product caused a smile to form on Kirou's face.
Equipment: Swampland Leather Armor Vest
Equipment Level: 10
Equipment Type: Rare
+10 defense
+10 strength
+100 HP
Armor Set Bonus: Only active when the different parts of the set are equipped along with the Swampland Crocodile Headpiece.
2 pieces: +15 def
3 pieces: +200 HP and 150 MP
4 pieces: -20% damage from enemy attacks
5 pieces: Grants the wearer the ability to use water arrow.
{Water Arrow: This skill allows the user to generate a ball of water and turn it into an arrow before launching it at a target. The speed of gathering and execution will depend on the user's proficiency.}
Equipment Swampland Leather Armor Pants
Equipment Level: 10
Equipment Type: Rare
+10 defense
+10 strength
+100 MP
Armor Set Bonus: Only active when...
Equipment: Swampland Leather Armor Gloves
Equipment Level: 10
Equipment Type: Rare
+5 defense
+5 dexterity
+10 constitution
Armor Set Bonus: Only active when...
Equipment: Swampland Leather Armor Boots
Equipment Level: 10
Equipment Type: Rare
+5 defense
+5 agility
+5% MP recover in battle (default is 1% every second)
Armor Set Bonus: Only active when...
Equipment: Swampland Crocodile Headpiece
Equipment Level: 10
Equipment Type: Rare
+5 defense
+5 intelligence
+Underwater breathing
Armor Set Bonus: Only active when...
The armor had been upgraded from unranked prototypes to rare armor, giving them the right to be called one of the rare item sets to be introduced to the game world by players themselves. Kirou doubted that there existed much of such armor if any at all at this point in the game. Most players are still under the system assisted gameplay mode and one would need to be on semi-auto mode to even attempt crafting this set. And even that doesn't guarantee that they would be able to create as good of a prototype armor set as his previous creation, much less what he has just finished.
Kirou wasn't underestimating the other players' skill in crafting when he thought this but he was damn positive they lacked the skill in acquiring the materials needed to make the armor. Couple that with the lack of skilled crafters available in the game at the moment and one could see the logic behind Kirou's deduction on the matter.
'With this, I'm done with my preparations, as far as armor goes, for completing that quest Old Wolf gave me. Now I need to head back over to Bladesmith's smithy to reforge my tonfas. That blasted crocodile did a number on them.' This was Kirou's thoughts as he started to equip his new gear. After he was done, he couldn't help opening up his menu to check his current stats.