I was in the same room with Undying and my hands were trembling with the items that I had in my arms.
What I was holding in my hands was my new set of Netherite armor and tools.
It was a gamble, but I asked Undying if she could make the tools for me since there was a high chance the System wouldn't be able to see what I was doing in the Nether.
And I was right!
While Undying was confused at what she just created from my exaggerated reaction, she was still happy to help.
"So what's this, and why does it have the same name as the Netherite scrap I have framed on my walls?"
"This, my dear Undying, is something very hard to find and it's stronger than the diamond tools."
She raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"Then how come the people from the other world don't come flocking to search for this ore?"
"Most likely they don't know about its existence, and even if they did, they couldn't do anything with it since you need to have a higher level than 7 on the Crafting skill, and the System is seriously against this creation. For now, only the people in the Nether seem to be able to make them without the System interfering."
Maybe I could also, just in this dimension once I level up my Crafting skill.
"Interesting, so there won't be any Royal orders to craft some more."
"Don't think they would, and I'll appreciate it if you don't tell anyone about it."
"My lips are sealed. Also, you should check on Bobby since he seemed very stressed last time he visited us, and his orders got significantly bigger than before."
This made me stop and look at Undying with a confused look.
"Do you know what happened?"
"No, he didn't tell me anything, but I have a hunch that something big happened in his Kingdome."
Maybe I should visit him before I start my journey towards the Coral Kingdom, with this occasion I'll also gift him an enchanted compass for my home.
With this done, I equipped the new armor which was cold to the touch.
When I had the full set on, I felt everything clicked together like a mech suit instead of armor.
Not only that, but it had a passive cooling ability making fire resistance unnecessary.
"That looks...menacing. I can't even see your face in the open slots of your armor, and your presence feels much weaker, I can bearly sense you even if you're in front of me."
Fascinating!
I walked a few steps to feel the movement of my armor and observed that I couldn't hear my steps.
I was the perfect assassin.
"Undying, can you hit me with your weapon?"
Without any question, she took out her enchanted golden axe and swung at my stomach with force, taking me by surprise.
She did that without hesitation!
But that hit was enough to get all the data I needed.
First thing first, I didn't take any damage.
This was impressive since even if I had a fully enchanted diamond armor, when I was hit with a lot of force I would take some damage.
Not because it passed my defence, but the vibrations of the attack would transfer through the armor which was enough to hurt me for half a heart.
But not with this armor, since it seems to have the ability to absorb vibration.
And with all the enchantments on it, I didn't see a way for me to get damaged.
No.
There's a way to damage me, mostly through a splash potion.
I already have blast resistance on this so explosives aren't a danger anymore, but I have to find or make a costume enchant against magic.
It's going to be annoying, but I'll ask Solomon if he has something for it.
With that, I went inside the big three and tested my new tools on different blocks, feeling like a child who just got new toys.
When suddenly I heard something being placed down which made me quickly turn around.
It was a double chest that previously wasn't there.
I got closer and opened it to see all the research books from the outpost.
"Violet must've dropped it here, that's good, I can start putting Solomon to work."
And I could already hear my two researchers arguing in the other room.
"How could you not study the soulsand in your world, they are full of potential!"
"For us, it only has two uses. To slow the enemy down and to grow nether warts on it. I would argue that a block of the dirt in your world is much more useful than soulsand with how versatile it is!"
They both argued with no ending in sight until I had to interrupt those two.
"Ahem!"
Both of them jumped in surprise as they looked at me, and soon their deminer changed to one ready to fight.
"Who are you, how did you get here?"
Blue was pointing his crossbow at me which I didn't expect."
"Relax guys, it's me, Trader."
I said that as I took off my helmet.
"It's really you Trader, but when did you get here, I didn't even hear you open the door, or walk in."
So the stealth options are more versatile than I thought.
"Really? I didn't try to be particularly silent."
I said that as I put my helmet back on.
It was surprisingly comfortable to wear.
Solomon looked with intense eyes at me like trying to piece a puzzle together, until it finally clicked.
"Is that new armor better than diamond?"
"Yes."
"Fascinating, I only heard about but it is different when you see it in person."
It was my turn to be surprised since I didn't expect anyone to recognize it.
"What do you know about it?"
"Not much, only that my ancestors tried to make a metal stronger than diamond through an achievement."
Again, he talks about achievements in a way that I think is different from what I know.
"What is an achievement, more exactly?"
"When someone reaches the max level at any skill, they would receive a reward from the System in the form of a new recipe in their field."
That's an amazing thing to receive as a reward!
No wonder the ancient civilization managed to progress so much in such a short time, they accumulated achievements over time and requested custom enchantments, potions and even crafting recipes.
How many managed to reach that level, and how many undiscovered recipes are out there?
"But I know a lot of people who reached level 7 in their skills! Even I managed to do that, and I haven't seen the System."
I mean, it saw me but I don't think that counts.
"No, the max level is 10, but the System stopped it at 7 since after that are the custom recipes. But even if you managed to get to that level Trader, it's not guaranteed you'll get the rewards, since there are a few historical records of people not getting it."
Wait, that could be a way for me to get back.
I can increase my Crafting skill until level 10 and request an item that can bring me back home.
Even if there's a low chance of succeeding on this, there's still hope at the end of the tunnel.
But this would be a hard task since I can only craft with diamonds from now on, and the higher level I go, the more resources I have to spend.
Unless...
"Solomon, do you think the water temple survived the System purge?"
The scientist looked at my face trying to read what I was about to say.
Unfortunately, I had my helmet on, and the effects only gave him darkness to stare at.
"That's what we're hoping for since it's the reason we started the invasion in the first place."
"Do you think I'll find custom Crafting recipes there?"
His eyebrows raised realising what I was thinking.
"Yes, there's a high chance you'll find what you're looking for in there."
Perfect!
"Do you know where the temple is hidden?"
"Unfortunately no, only the General has the map to it's location."
That sucks, but maybe I can go to the Coral Kingdom and ask the fisherman there if they saw the gardiens.
A plan slowly started to form in my mind the more I thought about it.
"Well that decides it, I'm going to the Coral Kingdom next! Blue, you're in charge of supervising this man to not run away or do any immoral experiments. Otherwise, give him everything he needs, and if you don't have the items at hand, you can take them from my base."
The man nodded his head in understanding, so I said my final goodbye as I left the tribe towards the Stone Kingome portal.
Unfortunately, when I arrived at the fortress, I was stopped by the guards since they didn't recognize me in the new armor.
Funny thing about this, they only found me because I accidentally bumped into someone.
"Who are you, how did you get here?"
The two guards quickly took out their diamond swords and pointed them at me with confusion on their faces.
"There's no need to draw swords, it's me, Trader, you must've been tired from all this heat and haven't seen me since my armor is blending so well with the dark bricks."
I said that as I took off my helmet to show them my face.
I was surprised by the stealth of this armor once again, since it seems to have the passive ability to make others avert their eyes from my general area.
And as long as I wasn't in a brightly colored area, I was safe to walk unnoticed.
This is more fun than I expected.
The guards looked with suspicion at me, but they knew about that master with no nose that defeated the Zombie Lord, and they had strict orders not to make him mad.
"Sorry sir, I truly must've been tired since I didn't see you, carry on."
With that, they continued their patrol with higher alertness than before.
I could only chuckle as I passed the portal now into the Overworld.
I calmly walked besides the wall of the tall hallways as I saw servants running to finish their jobs.
But just as I was about to visit Bobby's office one of the guards saw me and yelled with his loud voice.
"You there, who are you? Identify yourself, or face death!"
I was taken by surprise, so I turned towards the guard who soon was joined by to others ready for a fight.
But for some reason, they were more tense then then normal, ready to attack me at a slight twitch.
What happened here for them to be on edge?
Since the stealth of my armor didn't work on those guards, I decided to put it in my inventory to ease their minds and not bring any more treble.
"It's me, Trader I came to check on my friend Bobby, sorry if I scared you."
They were taken by surprise as the menacing aura was suddenly gone, and let me visit Bobby as I wanted.
With them out of the way, I walked towards Bobby's office with the exception that every servant was seeing me, and stopped from time to time to look.
In the end I arrived at Bobby's office without any hiccups and knock-on his door.
A few moments of silence and I heard a yell from the other side.
"Come in!"
I opened the door, only to see my friend buried in a mountain of paperwork and dark bags under his eyes from lack of sleep.
"Just put the rest there- Oh Trader, it's you!"
"Bobby! Glad to see you as well, what happened here, I thought you'll get all this paperwork after you become king."
I said with a small laugh.
"At this point I want to be anything but the King."
I raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"What happened?"
He stopped writing and leaned back on his chair letting out a big sigh.
"Our Vault has been destroyed."