After leaving Ivory City, Adam did not stop to rest. He feared that the steel golem would co for him, enraged by the fact that he had stolen its master’s creations.
However, the golem was still continuing to patrol the ruined dod building, tirelessly guarding the armory that contained nothing. It mattered little. The directive had been given, and the construct would obey until the day its power source finally burned out.
But Adam had no way of knowing that. His cautious—borderline paranoid—nature drove him to dash through the jungles of Mabi for an entire week before he finally allowed himself to properly rest.
Perched high on the hillside, the cave’s mouth was partly hidden by dropping vines and moss, overlooking a vast stretch of jungle with a river andering through it in the distance.
Inside the cave, the air was cool and damp, carrying the scent of stone mixed with the faint smoke of a fire pit Adam had built. The floor was uneven but dry, scattered with leaves and patches of moss.
Adam and Gege sat near the fire, roasting the panther’s at over the flas. While the mimic was intently gazing at the sizzling at, drooling from its mouth, the scarred youth was studying the artifacts he had obtained from the armory.
Over the past week, he’d had plenty of ti to test the artifacts, and by now he understood both their effects and their limitations.
The youth’s fingers traced the faint runes stitched to the inner lining of the hooded cloak, and he murmured:
"This cloak is unnaturally light yet durable. Although its edges are frayed from age, it is still in good shape. To be able to last for many thousands of years..."
Adam was genuinely fascinated by the Artificer who had created such fine items.
The Stealth Cloak, as he had co to call it, suppressed the wearer’s presence, making them far harder to detect by both sight and arcane senses. While worn, movents and sounds were muted, and its effects grew even stronger under the cover of night.
When standing still or moving slowly, the wearer could beco nearly invisible, blending seamlessly into their surroundings. Although sudden movents could break that effect.
That was precisely how Adam was able to travel relatively unscathed during the past week. The Stealth Cloak was truly a blessing for him who was unable to cast spells at the mont.
"But there are two limitations to the cloak," he murmured.
"It offers no direct protection, so defensively it’s worthless. And the other one... it consus a lot of mana. Even with my deep reserves, I can’t sustain it for extended periods of ti. As expected of a Grade 4 Artifact, I suppose..."
His lips curled into a wide smile, and he mumbled, "I wonder what color it is..."
He turned to the mimic and asked, "Hey, Gege, what color is this cloak?"
"Gege!"
Adam’s lips twitched.
"...Of course."
The youth set the cloak aside, then turned his attention to the leather boots, which he had rather uncreatively nad... Stealth Boots.
These boots were well-fitted and flexible. Despite their age, they looked almost new.
"It completely muffles all footsteps and contact sounds," Adam murmured as his fingers brushed over the leather surface of his boots.
"Even sprinting and landing from great heights produces no noise. It pairs perfectly with the Stealth Cloak. In fact, wearing them together compounds the stealth effect to a degree."
Through trial and error—mostly error—Adam learned that the boots were invaluable for climbing trees and scaling hills. But, like the stealth cloak, they drained a hefty amount of mana.
"And finally..." Adam retrieved the twin short blades from his back and set them before him.
Of the three artifacts, these blades were by far the most valuable. Slightly curved short swords of forearm length, forged from an unknown tal, they radiated imnse durability and sharpness.
At the poml of each sword was a chain link, which themselves were forged from a strong alloy, light yet unbreakable. These chains could magically extend or retract between two to ten ters, allowing the blades to serve as both close-quarters weapons and mid-range tools.
These chains responded directly to the wielder’s intent, able to whip, bind, or pull targets with unnatural precision.
The mysterious and complex runes carved on the surface of the blade granted them a very devastating ability. When activated, the blades would be engulfed in flas that could deal great damage to the toughest of enemies.
At the base of the poml, Adam had also discovered sothing interesting. It was an inconspicuous engraving of the elven Artificer’s na—or at least, what he thought was the Artificer’s na.
"Fulgrim..." he murmured as he gripped the two short swords.
His lips curled into a grin, and he added, "Then I shall na you... Blades of Fulgrim."
The youth was very happy to finally have another pair of blades. He liked wielding the staff well enough, but for close-quarter combat, he preferred daggers.
Unfortunately, his old bladed weapons, the Nighthollow, had been lost when his storage earrings were destroyed. That made the Blades of Fulgrim a more than welco addition to his arsenal.
"It has only been two months since I arrived on this continent," he muttered under his breath. "Yet I’ve already acquired three Grade 4 Artifacts. I can see now why so many Magi co here seeking treasures, and why just as many never return..."
Although Adam had gotten his hands on three artifacts valuable enough to tempt even a Mana Core Magus, he had done so at the cost of risking his life ti and ti again.
Hundreds of magical beasts, led by dozens of Mana Vortex-level beasts, and finally an indestructible steel golem with strength equivalent to a Mana Core Magus... that’s what Adam had to overco to get his hands on these artifacts.
And he had done it all while drowning in utter madness!
Although greed may have played a part in his pursuit of these artifacts, Adam also needed them. After all, he could not use spells, and his only weapon until now was a staff.
Fortune had smiled on him, granting the Stealth Cloak and Stealth Boots, both perfect for his journey into the heart of Mabi.
But that was the thing about fortune... it only favoured the bold.
"Gege! Gege!" The mimic excitedly called out to him.
Adam stopped mumbling to himself and turned his attention to the panther at. The at was now cooked and ready to eat. He sliced into it with his new blades.
"Alright, Gege, let’s eat well and rest tonight. Tomorrow, we head deeper into the island," he said with a grin.
"Gege! Gege!"
And just like that, the human and the mimic feasted on the at of a Mana Vortex-level beast, chatting away in their own strange way...
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