It took quite some time for him to return to town due to the numbness in his legs. By the time he made it make to his room, his entire body felt as though it were made of cement.

"Man, why did it have to be something that uses poison," muttered Blackthorne while he massaged his legs. He did not feel as though he was in danger due to his stat information, but the sluggishness in his body would have proven deadly had he remained in the area.

"Cheapest antidote serum was six hundred jerin... can't rely on that," he mumbled. "Maybe Jackie or Scraggles know something I can use out in the wilds..."

No matter what way he looked at the situation, he was not ready to tackle an underground hole filled with venomous pseudo-lobsters. Neither, his personal abilities nor his equipment were up to the task.

Blackthorne frowned briefly then decided to keep himself busy by checking his newly acquired items. What use they might prove to be was still a mystery.

He took out a bit of shell and looked it over first. "Bit thin, but hard..."

The scorpion shell plates did not do much for the scorpion when he stepped on them, but perhaps they would prove more useful for him. As he looked it over, he discovered no notable information from the system. "Guess I'll just have to try to work with it on my own."

Curious, he pulled out a verdant grass ring then held both it and a smaller piece of shell in his hand. "Alright..." he said as he began an attempt to synergize the two items.

The process was slow and ineffective. The materials seemed to fight each other in his hands. Much like two magnets producing the same charge, they attempted to repel each other.

"This isn't working..." he said after a few attempts that led to his life force dropping to dangerous levels.

He stuffed a bit of vita grass into his face and chewed thoughtfully on it for a moment. "These can both be used as items, clearly. It's not like with the grass... I can't get the sprigs to synergize at the moment without making an item out of them first."

He eyed the other bits of shell. "Maybe..."

Instead of making an attempt to fuse together two distinctly different items, he opted to try and combine his bits of shell together. Once his life energy recharged to a certain point, he took two small pieces of shell and tried to combine them. The process proved to be quite simple and cost effective, as the two bits of shell easily joined together.

"Ah, that's some sort of success at least..." he said lightly. He knew exactly where to get more scorpion shell bits. Experimentation was more important than item creation at the moment, so he decided to combine all of his bits of shell together until it had one large smooth bit of scorpion shell.

"What happens if I refine you?" he asked.

The shell was thick, thicker than his breast plate in truth, and it could prove useful. It did not do much for the scorpion when it came to impact or piercing damage but it resisted slashing strikes from a sword quite well.

The likelihood that some useful material would be the result of refinement excited him. After his health regenerated, he held the piece of shell up and concentrated on the task at hand. A gentle glow began to radiate outward from it and soon the air nearby grew hot.

Sweating profusely, Blackthorne was uncertain of what would happen. The environmental effects were quite pronounced during this refinement period. Whether that would prove to be a good sign or a bad one, was his key concern.

Despite the strange effects, however, he managed to refine the synergized bit of scorpion down to a single rectangle of material. He eyed the strange object for a moment then his eyes went wide even as a ridiculous grin revealed his true thoughts on what he saw.

Beast Iron Ingot

Class: F

Quality: Low

Material Value:

Acquired through synergy refinement, this material can be used via synergy to upgrade items, or to create new ones. The effects added to an item will be based on the original nature of the material from which the ingot was created.

"The quality is low," he said lightly. "Better use it on a throw away item, though..."

What he truly wished to do was to upgrade his armor or sword, but there was no way to know if the material would be a good fit. Those items were his only good bits of equipment and he did not wish to risk making them worse.

"Ok, let's see what we get..." he said.

When Blackthorne attempted to combine the two items this time there was no push back. If anything, they drew together with extreme ease. Motes of light drifted between the two items and soon became a stream of energy. His eyes lit up as he saw that light form into a new object even as the old ones became transparent and faded away.

"This..." he said softly. The item that hovered gently in the air now held a stylized appearance similar to the grass ring, but it no longer looked like a simple woven and tied affair. The ring looked like something a skilled craftsman might make if they knew the art of chrome-plating, as it bore a smooth and lustrous metallic sheen.

Crude Lustrous Ring of the Grassland Scorpion

Equipped: --

Weight: 0.02

Armor Type: Accessory

Armor Class: 4

Quality: Low

Agility Reduction: 0

Durability: 22/22

Hardness: 5

Equipment Requirements

--

--

Bonus Armor Class: +2 [+4 versus slashing damage]

Special Options

Poison Resistance + 2

He released a slow whistle. "The name's a mouthful, but this thing is amazing compared to what I can normally make. I wonder if I could make another one and have the poison resistances stack together?"

Blackthorne nodded to the ring. It was a garbage-tier version of what it could be according to the quality and the word crude that appeared in the item name. However, it would provide nearly as much protection as his breast plate if he equipped it. "A few short excursions to the mine entrance should give me enough materials to experiment... Still need a more effective weapon, though."

Something nagged at the back of his mind, however. Could he improve his ring? There were no more bits of shell to use, and he did not trust the claws or tail barbs not to cause him problems. In the future, he would try using a vita grass ring to see if the effects would prove superior. For now, however, there was only one thing he was willing to try.

He reached into his bag and fished out a vita crystal that he created over the source of the last few days. While he did not go hunting, he did occasionally run across onions during his trips to the lake and back to town. Enough shards dropped to allow for this one crystal to be made.

Blackthorne eyed the crystal for a moment then nodded. Once his health regenerated to a useful point he spent a moment synergizing the crystal with his ring. The process was not difficult, but it did prove to be a lengthy endeavor as several minutes passed. He was forced to stop part of the way through and allow himself to regenerate. Surprisingly, his work was not in vain due to that fact. He sensed that stopping and starting weakened the end result, but otherwise the synergy process worked.

"Neat," he said as he stared at the ring in his hand. It now offered a weak, but healthy green, glow that caused it to shimmer slightly in the light.

Lustrous Vital Ring of the Grassland Scorpion

Equipped: --

Weight: 0.02

Armor Type: Accessory

Armor Class: 5

Quality: Low

Agility Reduction: 0

Durability: 24/24

Hardness: 6

Equipment Requirements

--

--

Bonus Armor Class: +3 [+5 versus slashing damage]

Special Options

Poison Resistance + 3, Regenerate +0.05 life force per minute

He laughed brightly for the first time in days. There was no sense of shame or hidden darkness in his joy. This was legitimate jubilation! "It's better than my breast plate!"

For the first time since his journey began, he was able to acquire a piece of equipment superior to his noob starting gear. While the breast plate's armor class and hardness were slightly higher, it bore no special effects. Worse, it actively lowered his agility! Unequipped that agility penalty would be even worse, but that just meant that he needed to find a way to train his heavy armor skill or to spend points on it after his next level-up.

"The bonus armor class is the same as my breastplate, it's even higher versus slashing attacks..." he said in a curious tone.

He thought about it briefly then nodded. "Maybe I should unequip the heavy armor until I can make a better version? Two rings like this would provide plenty of protection..."

Hardness and durability only mattered if his ring was actually attacked. His breastplate was a much larger target, and constantly took hits.

"Pretty sure the regeneration would stack, even if the poison resistance doesn't..." he said. The idea of regenerating an extra point of life force per ten minutes without having to shove food in his face was nice. He did not consider it a game changer by any stretch of the imagination, but it was a definite improvement.

It was tempting. He could only equip a few items, but he was able to wear anything that he liked. The only difference would be that armor that was unequipped did not provide access to special options, and would not be able to grant additional bonus armor class to unarmored parts of the body. His breast plate would still protect his torso regardless of whether it were equipped as an accessory, or not. If he equipped two rings such as the one he just created, he would have the same level of full body protection in general, and an extra four points of defense against slashing damage.

"What I really need is cheaply made body armor that I can upgrade and wear normally... I wonder if there's a critter near here that drops actual armor and weapons?" he asked thoughtfully.

"Jackie, and maybe Scraggles, should know... Need to ask them about collectibles to be used for poison antidotes anyway..." he said.

Blackthorne mused thoughtfully on the matter for a moment then nodded. His new direction decided, he rose up to go discuss the matter with the locals.