Chapter 247: Zero Refining Equipment

"Phew...!"

Rhode collapsed to the ground after defeating the enemy. Although he wasn't injured, the amount of blood he had lost was plenty. The Crimson Blade carried blood-sucking attributes and with around 300 to 400 milliliters of blood lost, even he couldn't hold it together. Furthermore, the battle with the previous Runes Guards had used up a chunk of his energy.

"L-Leader!"

Gillian and Lapis hurried over and attended to Rhode's left palm, which was gushing with fresh blood. As pale as a sheet of paper, Lapis felt her heart almost stop. Luckily, although Lapis was always timid, she was only afraid of death in battles. It was due to this reason that the maiden always brought along backup potions and bandages. She immediately retrieved them from her bag and attended to his wounds.

After downing two bottles of healing potions, Rhode felt a little better.

"I'm fine now."

Rhode shook his head and gestured with his hand, at the same time unsheathing his sword. He was speechless as he gazed at the Crimson Blade. This wasn't the first time he had purposely cut himself for its absorption. Although this was indeed a great attribute, why did he always have to be the one sliced every time?

Rhode felt a little annoyed; his luck was hideous.

Actually, it wasn't to be blamed on Rhode's unluckiness. After all, the few times where Rhode had no choice but to cut himself, were when he faced monsters such as the Runes Guard, which didn't have blood flowing in it. As a result, the Crimson Blade's attributes were totally useless. Moreover, this blade was considered a blood-sucking weapon and it went without saying that it would reject any engine oil or calcium oxide...

"L-Leader. Sorry..."

Lapis stuttered. She gazed at Rhode with teary eyes. Previously, when Lapis heard of this battle as a test, she wasn't too mindful, because, after all, a test would definitely be safer than a real battle, right? However, she didn't expect it to be this dangerous. At this moment, Rhode's left palm was already drenched in blood. Lapis was restless and full of guilt. She was regretful as to why she had admitted when she heard those words from the voice... If she strictly denied it back then...

To the contrary, Gillian displayed a cheeky smile. Rhode's injury didn't seem to worry her at all, and she didn't even ask if he needed any help. No one knew if Gillian was totally confident of Rhode or if she was just unconcerned.

"It's okay."

Rhode didn't mind Lapis' apologies. He tapped on her shoulder and consoled her. Although Lapis was timid, she had a decent temperament and wasn't annoying to others. In the game, Rhode had seen many top-rated female players behaving arrogantly even though they were still newbies and only after their mercenary groups were defeated due to their mistakes would the female players start crying and beg to be forgiven. It wasn't even enough to forgive the female players because you would still need to console her. If not, she would continue to cry on and on. Rhode felt helpless toward such women and luckily for them, it was only a game. If that happened in real life, Rhode would have given them tight slaps. Everyone's time is precious. Must we waste it on your endless weepings?

Luckily, although Lapis was timid, she knew where to draw the line. After listening to Rhode's answer, she forced a smile and stepped away with her head down.

And at this moment, the voice finally sounded.

"You have passed the test, Successor... Behermes' future... will be all on you."

"I understand."

Rhode nodded lightly and answered. Although he didn't know what this 'Successor' thing was, it seemed to be something of importance to the Behermes. Moreover, Lapis was the heir of the Behermes Family, and if Rhode could bring the Behermes Family into his mercenary group using this special connection, it would be one of the best possible scenarios. This world didn't consist of players with the Production Class, so Rhode wouldn't give up when a chance to recruit natives with the Production Class came. Moreover, Lapis was the gem of the mercenary group. Even without the voice's reminder, Rhode still wouldn't let Lapis get into danger.

However, after hearing Rhode's answer, Lapis blushed and lowered her head. Rhode didn't understand what 'Successor' meant, but Lapis was very clear about it even though she didn't explain it to him.

At this moment, the broken pieces of the Runes Guard and the light dust floating in midair coalesced into a shining metallic item that emerged out of thin air. It was a metallic bracer emanating in a faint, magical radiance filled with mysterious aura. Small, expensive-looking gems were embedded on it, carrying a sense of beauty.

"Since you have passed the test, as a Behermes Successor, you have won the rights to have it. It's the emblem of the Behermes, and now, it belongs to you."

Really? Such great things exist?

Rhode twitched his brows as he finally knew he made the right choice to come to this place. Previously, he was feeling pitiful that the spoils of war from defeating the boss were absorbed by Lapis, but now, there was apparently still a chance.

Well, having something was better than nothing.

With this principle, Rhode quickly extended his hand and held the bracer. Quickly, a line of system prompt appeared before his eyes.

[Received Zero Refining Equipment]

Rhode was surprised and opened his eyes wide.

Wasn't this the Composition Adornment?

The Composition Adornment was a common artifact in the late game of the Dragon Soul Continent. Without this adornment, most players would face problems even in normal dungeons. Because of that, after Rhode led his men to take over all the production jobs of the Composition Adornment from the Ophenians, many players chose to join the Starlight Guild.

The Composition Adornment wasn't any ordinary artifact. It wasn't an armor, cloak, or shield. Instead, it was unique because of its strange attribute: Fusion.

In other words, it could allow all the weapons' attributes of the player to fuse into the best usage. In the game, unless its was a set of equipment, the numerical values of the equipment were always different. Whereas, the Composition Adornment's value was that every equipment would have a set attribute after equipping it. Not only that, but the Composition Adornment could also make adjustments to the attributes and numerical values of the equipment. That was why every player's set effect was unique. Some players preferred higher defense and after equipping the Composition Adornment, they would receive special defense enhancements. Others chose to boost their attack, which would increase the attacking attributes. And if some players had multiple elemental attributes equipment, then the Composition Adornment would increase the elemental attributes' set effect.

This was especially important when facing the Devils because the Devils from the depths of hell were mighty and normal players wouldn't be able to survive without the set attributes. Set equipment was difficult to obtain and not every players had the ability to craft them. Furthermore, the set equipment was job specific. A Ranger's set equipment with the high speed dodging attribute was something that Thieves would love to have. However, this was Ranger-specific, which wouldn't be suitable for Thieves as they weren't specialized in bows and arrows. However, the Rangers' set equipment could only be effective when paired up with the Guardian Bow. Wouldn't it be ridiculous if a Thief carried a wooden bow on his back all day?

However, with the Composition Adornment, as long as Thieves wore sufficient speed equipment, they would also be able to achieve high speed dodging. Of course, this counterfeit version would be less impactful as the original, but if the Thieves didn't need to carry a bow on their back all day, it would be good enough.

There were still flaws in the Composition Adornment, which was the restriction on the fusion rates. The fusion rates were directly proportional to the set equipment effect. In other words, the higher the fusion rate of the Composition Adornment, the higher the effects on the set equipment. However, in the game, the success rate of the strongest Composition Adornment fusion rate was still less than 90 percent.

This was why players treated the Composition Adornment's set equipment effect as counterfeit version. Compared to an authentic set equipment effects, the difference was at least 10 percent. This difference wasn't only in numerical values, but also fairly obvious in battles. However, to the normal players who didn't have the time and energy to hunt or craft set equipment, this counterfeit version was good enough.

However...

Rhode frowned.

The early and late stages of the game were totally different. This felt like from the very start, the hunters could crush the whole dungeon with a Fury Meteor. However, in the later stages, the Fury Meteor was everywhere, but there weren't many bosses that were readily available to be defeated.

But what did this [Zero Refining Equipment] mean?

Rhode decisively tapped on the details of this equipment.

[Zero Refining Equipment]

Fusion Rate: 100%

Additional Effects: Alchemist Technique LV 5

Set Equipment Attribute: 3

Aura Attribute: 1

Special Effects: Increase Magical Equipment Attributes by 15%

[This is the Behermes Family's painstaking production, the highest result of alchemy.]

Such great attributes!