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    Standing in the vault they had gained access to after slaying the assassin Champion, Kaius crouched down to take a closer look at the rewards. A pair of chausses and a ring that lay in the centre of the inscribed metal floor, haloed by the light of the wardlights set into the ceiling.

    “Well, what do they do?” Porkchop asked from beside him, his nervous pawing at the ground giving away his impatience.

    Kaius rolled his eyes. “Give me a moment, I haven’t identified them yet.”

    He reached for the ring first. It was a simple band of gold, a ring of dense inscriptions encircling its interior face. He reached for True Sight, peering deeper into the hidden nature of the artefact. A moment later and its system description popped into his vision.

    Ring of the Tigers Claw:

    Common – Tier I

    Embody the tigers fury and tear your foes asunder with the cutting might of your body, this is what it means to be of the clan. Trust in your gifts, and show me what you have learned.

    Made from mana saturated gold, this ring’s enchantments project a honed edge of mana that projects from fists and natural weapons during unarmed combat.

    Depths-wrought Artefact.

    Accessory (Ring)

    Ethereal Claw I, Resizing I, Self Repair I

    Rolling the ring around his hand, Kaius appraised the ring with an appreciative eye. He rose from his crouch, turning to Porkchop with an open palm held out.

    “Paw.”

    Porkchop physically vibrated at his words, slapping his paw down on Kaius’s hand with enough force to slap it out of the way.

    “Sorry.” He said sheepishly as Kaius shook his head at him and slipped the ring over one of his claws and onto his finger. “What does it do?”

    “Should project some sort of blade from your claws when you try to scratch something. Why don’t you try it out?” He asked, stepping back as Porkchop chittered in excitement and rose onto his hind legs.

    Porkchop swiped the air. As he did so Kaius watched a blue haze trail behind narrow blades of mana that coated the front edge of Porkchop’s claws, extending a few finger lengths further out. He knew he could only see it thanks to True Sight, without some sort of mana sensing ability the blades would be entirely invisible.

    Kaius whistled as Porkchop cackled in glee, following up his tentative swipe with a blurring flurry of raking strikes as the blue mist of unaspected mana settled throughout the room.

    “Careful now, don’t want to accidentally set off any of the defences in here now, do we?” Kaius said, eying the way Porkchop’s projected blades narrowly missed scraping the inscribed floor.

    Porkchop gave him a huff, but dropped down to the floor anyway before running over to butt his head into Kaius’s hip.

    “Loot!”

    “Yeah, yeah.” Kaius said, scratching him behind the ear. “Let’s see what I got.”

    He stepped forwards, bending down to scoop the chausses he had seen off the floor. They were a near identical match to his cuirass, with the same bluish sheet scales coating a backing of beast leather, with heavy plates to defend his groin and thighs.

    Kaius pulled up their description with True Sight, eager to see if they really were of the same make.

    Serelian Scalemail Chausses:

    Uncommon

    Knight of Sereli, the night is dark, this you already know. Our city burns, blood running through our streets while foul sorcery runs rampant. It matters not, you have your duty. Our flag remains high until we are felled to the last. Be strong, knight, and trust in your armour. It may yet see you through till the coming of the dawn.

    Forged from a Heilomite-Steel alloy, this scalemail armour was standard issue for the mage-breaker knights of Sereli. Designed to be light and mobile even for medium armour, it provides significant physical and arcane protection without unduly hampering movement.

    Depths-wrought Artefact

    Medium Armour (Cuisses)

    Durability II, Magic Resistance I, Self Repair I

    He was right! They were of the same make, though it was a shame that they weren’t part of a set. Set items were rare, the purview of master enchanters, and the Depths themselves. They conferred additional bonuses as you wore more and more of the set.

    Though, it was far less common to see sets come from Depths’ rewards. Something about the random nature of the rewards made it very uncommon to receive more than one item from a set, and it was impossible to tell if an artefact was part of a set until you had more than one of them. He’d heard a few rumours of delvers who had discovered their items were part of a set when perusing a merchant’s stock, having to bite their tongue lest they get fleeced once the merchant learned of what he had.

    There were darker rumours too, of delvers crossing in the night and finding that they each had a piece of a set. Those stories often ended in death and blood, though Kaius was of the mind that both were just that. Rumours.

    Still, even if it wasn’t part of a set, his Serelian scale had treated him well. It was a simple defence, but a stout one. Thankfully, it looked like it would fit over his leather reinforced trousers. They might have been comfortable, but they were a poor replacement for armour. He had been getting his legs cut up far more often than he liked recently.


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    Kaius slipped off his boots before hurriedly buckling on his latest artefact. Like everything else he had gotten from the depths, it fit like a glove.

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