System Change

“Void’s Embrace?” Shaemus asked. After a few moments, his smile grew wider, and he nodded his head. “Void’s Embrace… That is a grand name. It is fitting for such a set of armor.” The smith held his palm out, then stepped forward. “If you would please be still for a moment,” he said as he placed his hand on the chest of the armor. “This armor will forever be known as Void’s Embrace.”

An almost imperceptible shot of mana flowed between the man and the armor. The glowing veins of void energy slowly dimmed until only a faint outline was left. Then he brought his hand back and said, “Congratulations, Derek.” He sighed. “You are the official owner of the greatest set of equipment that this old man has created in his entire life. Void’s Embrace is my masterpiece. I dare say that there isn’t a single piece of armor in this world with the abilities and protection that it provides.”

Derek smiled back at the man and said, “Thank you… I will put it to good use.”

“I’m sure you will,” the smith replied, then stepped back. “Go ahead, take a look at its information. I think you will be pleased.”

“Of course!” Derek replied, then, with a lot of anticipation, he viewed the stats of his new armor set.

…

Void’s Embrace

Durability: 5,000/5,000

Void’s Embrace is the pinnacle set of armor created by a blacksmith in a system tier where such a creation is almost impossible. With the help of an anomaly, the conductivity for the void element was able to push the armor from legendary to mythical rank. The creation of this low-ranked mythical set of armor will lead to the ascension of said blacksmith to a higher tier system, and thus, the ability to create even better items in the future.

Due to reaching mythical status, this armor has obtained the intrinsic repair function that all mythical armor has, and an innate ability.Void Absorb: Upon activation, any magical or kinetic energy of equal or lower quality than the armor aimed at the user will be absorbed and nullified.

Length: 2 Minutes

Cooldown: 2 Hours

Expel: Any energy taken in by Void Absorb is nullified and sent back into the user as mana—regenerating mana reserves.

Note: If user’s mana is full, the mana will be stored inside the armor until needed or until Void Absorb cooldown is over. If mana is not needed, pure mana can be expelled through armor in a single burst attack.

Note: Due to the armor’s intrinsic repair function, any damage taken will automatically be repaired over time.

…

“Wow…” Derek muttered, ignoring the fact that the description he received was from the Origin System format instead of the Davenresh one. He thought that may be the case—seeing it there confirmed it.

“Those are quite the abilities, are they not?” Shaemus couldn’t help himself once he saw Derek’s face.

“They are,” Derek said. The armor is basically a walking Absolute Nullify with the ability to attack back with any of the nullified attacks. I wonder what this burst attack of pure mana will be like. With Greater Meditation, I don’t usually have a problem keeping my mana pool up, so that attack may come in more handy than I think.

But it also says kinetic energy, so… does that mean that it will absorb physical blows along with magical attacks? Will I be able to get hit by a hammer and absorb the blow before converting the energy from the hit into mana and using it against the enemy?

“I think…” Derek started. “I think this armor will basically make me completely invulnerable for two minutes.”

“Yes,” Shaemus said. “You should be untouchable by anything in this world for that time. You will quite literally be the safest person in the world for two minutes.”

I bet it could also protect from a fall, too, Derek thought. Well… if it was a forceful fall. I already know that my stats make a regular fall at terminal velocity harmless. But if I were swatted into the ground or somewhere where… I don’t know… gravity is higher…

“Wait,” Derek said. “This says any magic or energy aimed at the user. Does that mean that it covers my head even though I don’t have a helm?”

“Hmm…” Shaemus rubbed his chin. “I am unsure. Would you like to test it out?” The man summoned a hammer from his storage and smiled an evil smile.

“Uh…” Derek thought about all the people who had been enjoying hitting him lately so he could increase his new resistance skills, then shrugged. “Sure, why not?”

“Go ahead and activate the ability.”

Derek focused on the armor, and in the same way that he would activate Material Drain for Harbinger, he was able to activate Void Absorb for the armor. As soon as he did, the glowing veins that had disappeared once the smith completed the gear by naming it appeared once again—though this time, they were very dim. “I think it’s ready,” he said.

“Great!” the smith replied. “I’m going to strike the armor first.”

Seeing Derek’s nod, the smith lunged forward and, with a heavy swing, struck Derek center mass. When the hammer met the armor, all Derek saw was a quick purple flash, then nothing—nothing at all. Derek didn’t even feel the force of the blow trying to make him step back. The armor had not only absorbed the energy, but it had absorbed all the impact.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Interesting!” Shaemus howled. “You are not only invulnerable, but you are unmovable!” The smith confirmed Derek’s thoughts at that moment. “Okay!” Shaemus yelled. “We’re going to go with some magic now.”

“Go ahead,” Derek replied.

Shaemus then held out his hand, and a stream of fire shot out—surprisingly, the fire was completely white. It seemed like it was just one step below the fire that Kelvin had used in their battle. It’s no wonder the other smiths were complaining about the heat that Shaemus uses in his forge.

While Derek was thinking, once again, when the attack collided with the armor, a small, almost imperceptible shield appeared less than a millimeter out from it. Since this attack was a sustained one, they were able to see more than the quick flash. It was like as soon as the fire hit the purple shield, it was sucked in without leaving any remains.

“Nice!” Shaemus shouted as he stopped the flame. “Oh! Look at the armor!”

“Huh?” Derek frowned, then looked down at his armor. “Oh, wow,” he said. The glowing veins that were originally dim when he activated the skill had increased in brightness. They were almost back to the same brightness as when he first put on the armor. “I guess the veins are showing the armor’s charge.”

“That seems to be the case,” Shaemus said. “Are you ready for the head?”

“Sure…” Derek replied.

“Okay!” Shaemus brought his hammer out again and swung it up and toward Derek’s head.

Derek couldn’t help but let a small smile break out on his face. He saw that the smith hadn’t even put half the strength into his current swing, as he had during the first one. He was going easy because he wasn’t sure if the armor was going to provide any protection. However, even if it didn’t, Derek felt that he’d be able to easily tank the blow anyway, so the man was worrying over nothing.

Still, just as the hammer reached Derek’s cheek, the same purple glow appeared before it and protected him. “Awesome!” Derek called out. He wasn’t exactly expecting it to work, but he had hopes that it would.

“It is very interesting,” the smith replied. “It doesn’t even repel the attack. I would expect my hammer to at least bounce off the shield, but instead, even with the sudden stop, it is almost like I’m hitting a cushion or muddy ground. Though, my hammer does not get stuck either, so maybe that is not the correct example. It is the oddest feeling because it is such a sudden stoppage of my attack without any repellent force.

“Though, if I were not as durable as I am, I surely would have dislocated my shoulder or elbow because of the sudden stop,” Shaemus continued. “It is such an odd feeling. I am sure that you can use this against any enemy that is physically attacking you. I bang around on armor each and every day, so the feeling may be more prevalent for someone like me, but I’m sure it would throw off any attacker.”

“That’s cool,” Derek said. “If nothing else, it will create some confusion.”

“Exactly!” Shaemus replied. “Now… now that we have tested that, how would you like to see how much energy that armor can hold?”

“I was just waiting for you to ask,” Derek said with a laugh.

“Alright!” Shaemus downed a mana regeneration potion, then held out both hands before shooting two jets of flame at Derek.

Derek could only stand stoic and watch as every drop of flame was absorbed by his armor. Every once in a while, he looked at the armor covering his arm and saw the purple glow growing brighter and brighter. Eventually, the purple hue of the glow began fading and was slowly replaced by a bright blue—it was close to the same color that he would see when activating a teleportation circle.

Eventually, Derek was hit by the flames, and as soon as he felt the heat, Shaemus withdrew his attack.

“I am sorry,” the smith replied. “I was not counting. I did not know the skill was coming to an end.”

“That’s fine,” Derek said while waving his worry off. “It didn’t even leave a scorch mark on the armor. I don’t think I have to worry much about flames or many attacks in general when they only hit the armor.”

“I see,” the smith replied. Then, his eyes widened, and he said, “The patterns… they aren’t glowing purple anymore.”

“I know,” Derek said. “I think the armor nullified any properties of your fire, and it is just charged up with pure mana. The glow is so bright that I think it’s even more pure than a teleportation.”

“I’d say so,” Shaemus replied. “Have you tried absorbing any into your mana pool yet?”

“No…” Derek said. “That would be kind of hard. My regeneration is so high that I would only absorb a very small amount and wouldn’t know how much was coming from the armor.” Derek thought about all his skills, and, other than his Chain Lightning skill, he really didn’t have any that would give him a good idea of everything. “Wait a second…” he thought out loud. “If you could stand back for a second.”

Shaemus shrugged and moved away from Derek. Derek looked around and was happy that the room he was in was big. He moved to a space where he had plenty of room around him, then said to the smith, “Don’t be alarmed by anything.”

After that, he ripped the space in front of him open with a big tear created for an oversized Time Prison door, then he turned and tore the space open for Void Travel, then he ripped it open for his Void Storage. He heard a shocked sigh come from behind him, then quickly viewed his mana. Nice! he thought. There’s a good chunk missing now. With a thought, Derek activated Expel and directed it into himself. He thought it would be hard to do, but it wasn’t. As soon as he activated it, he knew how to control it.

He watched as his mana didn’t just tick up, it instantly filled up. “That works really well,” Derek said as he started closing all the rips in the void except for the one for Void Travel. The skill that would have taken the biggest chunk out of his mana was Void Call, but he didn’t think that would be a good idea.

“It replenished your mana?” Shaemus asked cautiously as he walked back toward Derek, but hesitated because of the Void Travel portal still sitting open.

“It did,” Derek said. “And instantly.”

“Amazing!” the smith replied.

“It was,” Derek said. “Now, how about we see what it’s like to unload it all in a single blast?”

“In here?”

“No,” Derek said. “In there.” He pointed at the portal in front of him.

“Oh,” Shaemus said. “I see… go ahead if you don’t think it will damage anything in the smithy.”

“It won’t,” Derek said. He then thought about the ability again and felt all the mana coalesce into a single spot on his chest. “Get ready,” he said, and Shaemus braced himself. Derek looked down and saw that the vein-like pattern on his armor had all dimmed except in one place. Then he released it.

A powerful beam shot out of his chest and into the void. Even in the endless dark of the void, he was able to see the beam travel for a long time before it disappeared.

“Wow…” Derek heard Shaemus mutter from behind. “The feeling of that energy… It made all my hair stand on edge… well… it would have if I had hair…”

Derek snorted, then closed the portal in front of him. When he turned to look at Shaemus, he saw that the man wasn’t actually kidding. The pure aura of the mana had actually overpowered the dreadful aura from his Void Travel skill. And when he saw the man, he noticed that every part of his skin that was visible had goosebumps.

“Yeah…” Derek said. “That packs a punch.” He smiled. “If only it wasn’t so telegraphed,” he said. That was the only disappointing thing about the ability. Though, if he wished, he felt like he could actually control it much faster and send the attack out before others may realize what was happening. “Well… it may not be so bad.”

“At the very least,” Shaemus said, “anyone on the receiving end—even if they manage to dodge—will be embarrassed because of the fact that they just pissed themselves in front of you.”

“Yeah,” Derek chuckled. “That is certainly something to look forward to.”