Mature Content Warning: Nothing much, really.

Author’s Notes: I will try to get all three segments of this chapter out by tomorrow (Hopefully today, as there is a fairly obvious reason in hindsight why I have been pushing to get so many chapters of this story out.)

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Chapter 8.1: Gentleman of Darkness

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An expression of wonderment and delight crossed Sonja’s features as she watched Blackthorne work. She could scarcely believe that anyone would have so many different types of skills that worked so well together.

The two battered and slightly rusted chainmail shirts fused together inside a ball of light then reappeared as a single sleeveless hauberk. It was a thing of beauty to witness.

After the battle with the zombies on the surface they had gathered up a lot of random junk. After spending hours cleaning it, so long that the sun had started to hang low on the horizon, Blackthorne had decided to try something.

Sonja had watched in delighted fascination as the mountain of time-worn and decaying armor that they had collected, slowly dwindled to several reasonable pieces of equipment. Blackthorne had revealed his ability to use synergy. He had gone through four different busted chainmail coats to get the single sleeveless hauberk that he now held in his hands. However, the effectiveness could not be denied.

Blackthorne checked the stats of the item that he had created by combining a lot of random crap together. He was quite pleased with the result.

<<< Item >>>

Ancient Chain Hauberk

A low-quality chain hauberk created through the power of synergy. It suffers from material degradation. The inner lining is thin due to lack of skill in the synergy process.

Defense: +34

Durability: 26/26

Quality: Low-Grade

Value: 1467

>>

He handed the armor to Sonja then smiled. “Here you go. I can’t guarantee that it is a good fit, but it should help.”

Sonja practically squealed in excitement when he handed her the armor. As the main tank of the expedition she needed armor and equipment the most. She removed her apron and quickly slipped the outfit on over her torso.

She stood up and admired herself. She was naked save for her shoes, so the effect was somewhat disturbing. However, she looked rather fetching and much better protected in what amounted to a sleeveless vest made out of linked metal rings.

Sonja bounced up and down experimentally then grinned. “Not bad at all.”

Blackthorne smiled briefly then nodded. “The apron was nice, but I think this will work better for now.”

She shook her head then re-equipped her apron atop her new armor. “Till I have something to cover the bottom-half this is still required.”

Her temporary master grinned at her. “You look like a warrior-chef.”

She grabbed her steel long sword then raised it high into the air. “Victory or dishwashing!”

Blackthorne laughed at her despite himself. He had been in a funk until first coming to this world, but he had to admit that as long as he found people like Sonja to interact with, socializing might become more fun in the future.

Sonja smiled slightly then nodded. “Thank you for what you are doing for me.”

He waved her off. He was not being altruistic. He was getting something out of the deal. The equipment in his possession had already increased by a decent amount. Sure, she was wearing and wielding the best items at present, but he did have several decent swords now. Each of them had a jolt enchantment placed on them.

“Let’s get back to making equipment. I have a few more things I can try.” said the man.

She nodded excitedly. “Yes more equipment please!”

Blackthorne laughed once again then started snatching up random crap from the rest of the pile of armor. He attempted to synergize a few things then grinned. It was the same as with the chainmail. He also understood a little more about the synergy process as well.

It seemed that when synergy was used to combine items it would either be a garbage result, or the items worked well and the best part of each item was used. In the case of the chainmail, the full-length mail coats had been reduced to long-sleeved shirts. Those shirts would then be combined into a single decent sleeveless hauberk. It was possible that he could combine those items further, but he had not wanted to risk losing out on such decent armor if the end result was smaller and less useful.

He tried combining the cracked leather armor that he had lying around. He had to combine sixteen badly damaged leather coats to get a single leather bracer. Each time he combined two coats, he received a cracked leather cuirass. After combining the cracked leather cuirass he received a badly worn backless leather breastplate.

After Blackthorne had combined the breastplates he had received a battered leather full-arm guard. Once the armguards were combined he received the hardened leather bracers. It took a lot of vitality, and sixteen total ancient and badly damaged leather coats to get that one bracer. However, he did not mind it. It was good training. He checked the item he had crafted through synergy.

<<< Item >>>

Ancient Leather Bracer

A low-quality leather bracer created through the power of synergy. It suffers from material degradation. The leather is hardened, but thin and lacks both durability and defense.

Defense: +9

Durability: 13/13

Quality: Low-Grade

Value: 164

>>

“Hey, this is better than the chain bracelet that I gave you, but not by much.” said Blackthorne.

He handed her the bracer and she did something curious and admittedly obvious with it. Sonja took off her chainmail bracelet, equipped her new bracer, and then wore the bracelet over the top of it. It fit much more snugly now.

“This is great! More, more!” she exclaimed.

“I need to restore my vitality a bit first.” They had slain zombies all afternoon and acquired a substantial amount of ancient and sometimes disgusting loot in the process. Most people would have seen it as trash, but now it was Blackthorne’s treasure. He was dangerously low on vitality, currently, so he chose to eat a few apples and a sandwich.

Sonja eyed him critically but did not say anything for a while. When she did speak, it was to ask, “Synergy takes a lot out of you, doesn’t it?”

“Not really. It’s just that I have to do it so many times to get anything decent that it builds up. It takes more and more vitality to continue to combine the same items.” he admitted.

She nodded. “That makes sense, I suppose. I have never met anyone who can synergize, but I’ve heard people speak of such skills.”

Blackthorne grabbed up another chain mail coat then had an idea. He attempted to combine a badly rusted and scarred bronze cuirass with the iron chainmail coat to see what would happen. The end result was interesting, if lackluster.

<<< Item >>>

Ruined Ancient Bronze Scale Hauberk

A badly damaged bronze scale hauberk created through the power of synergy. It suffers from material degradation and many structural faults. The inner lining is thin and missing in several locations due to lack of skill in the synergy process.

Defense: +3

Durability: 0/5

Quality: Low-Grade [Broken]

Value: 678

>>

“Oooh, scale armor.” Sonja clapped her hands.

Blackthorne grinned at her then ate another sandwich before repeating the process. The resulting scale hauberk was slightly better than the first one, but still a broken garbage item.

Two apples and another combination later, and he had a sleeveless scale hauberk that was decent, but not great. He chose to pick up the only other cuirass in the pile. After combining the scale armor with the badly corroded bronze cuirass a thin bronze half-cuirass appeared.

<<< Item >>>

Ancient Bronze Half-Cuirass

A low-quality bronze half-cuirass created through the power of synergy. It suffers from material degradation. The inner lining is thin due to lack of skill in the synergy process, and both the defense rating and the durability suffer greatly.

Defense: +18

Durability: 11/11

Quality: Low-Grade

Value: 997

>>

He ate a sandwich then picked up another chain coat. He would try one more time. After combining the two items something interesting happened. A new armor type appeared.

<<< Item >>>

Ancient Bronze Scale Aventail

A low-quality bronze scale aventail created through the power of synergy. It suffers from material degradation. The inner lining is thin due to lack of skill in the synergy process.

Defense: +20

Durability: 19/19

Quality: Low-Grade

Value: 912

>>

Sonja giggled like a school girl when she saw the new item. It was shiny and looked a bit like a fishes scales. “That’s new.”

“Yeah, I wonder why the others did not go through an aventail step?” He had no idea.

The Valkyrie accepted the aventail thankfully then slipped her head through the center. Now her shoulders and part of her neck were protected.

“Why were you going to buy armor again?” she asked playfully.

“I did not have any. Though, now that we have a ready resource, this would be a far better way to get basic equipment! I wonder how much this stuff would sell for. Some of it has a value of over a thousand Jerin.”

“Value? Hmm, usually weapons and armor makers like to pay around thirty percent for pre-made items. They would give you very little for the stuff in the pile there, though.”

Blackthorne rubbed his chin. Synergy was a little random in what was produced. The items were either garbage because of bad compatibility, or they came out as something based on the best parts of the combined items.

He forced himself to eat his last sandwich and six more apples. He was full now, beyond full actually. “Let’s see if I can make you something to protect your thighs then head back to town. I need to rest up so that I can finish with this pile of crap.”

She grinned at him. “Such a good master.”

“If you rub my head and make baby talk sounds, I’ll bite you.” said Blackthorne.

Sonja laughed happily. “Sorry, I’m just excited.”

“Yeah, me too.” He grinned at her then sorted through the crap pile to find leggings and leather pants. Chain leggings were fine too; honestly anything that she could wear on her thighs would be fine. After working to combine a few things he ended up with a studded leather battle skirt.

<<< Item >>>

Ancient Studded Leather Battle Skirt

A low-quality studded leather battle skirt created through the power of synergy. It suffers from material degradation. The inner lining is thin due to lack of skill in the synergy process.

Defense: +16

Durability: 18/18

Quality: Low-Grade

Value: 567

>>

Sonja’s eyes lit-up and she accepted the leather skirt with great joy. Her smile could light up a room.

It fit her well, a bit too well for Blackthorne not to notice. Everything that he had made seemed to be form-fitting despite the fact that he had nothing to do with the measurements and design concept of the armor. “So, how does it all feel?”

“Great! I could swear that a master armorer had made this stuff if it wasn’t low-qual... Uh, for the fact that I saw you make it.” she said. She had started to call it low-quality which, while true, might not go over so well with her master after he took the time and effort to outfit her.

He smiled at her. “It’s fine. I know it’s garbage gear. It’s free, though.”

Her face colored slightly then she shook her head. “No, it is wonderful. Thank you.”

“It should be good enough to finish exploring the tomb area. We’ll make a few upgrades after I get my own equipment so that we have the best we can have from the area.” said Blackthorne.

“Now, that sounds like a worthy strategy!” exclaimed Sonja. Better equipment would certainly be nice. She liked what she had now since it was free and she had earned it in battle after a fashion. Still, better was always well... better.

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