Surviving The Game As A Barbarian Novel 2025 - Chapter 690
Chapter 690: Mystery (4)
Following Baekho’s suggestion, we officially began our investigation into the armor we obtained, featuring two high-ranking wizards working with Baekho and I, who were gamers, and two more native, high-ranking adventurers.
Although none of us recognized the armor from the mystery box, we quickly obtained our first set of results once we were all set to work on it together.
“I’m sure that it’s a numbered item.”
“It is…? But I’ve never heard of anything like it.”
“I haven’t either, but surprisingly enough, there is no doubt in my mind. The way you identify numbered items is by testing for a specific mana reaction, after all.”
“But how could that be…?”
“If you look through the history of the labyrinth, you’ll find that not all numbers have treasures assigned to them. There was even a period where ‘numbers’ weren’t used at all.”
“Oh! An era without numbers? Something like that existed?”
“Yes. The numbers came to be after one appraiser compiled ten thousand of these treasures into a single book.”
“Then maybe this armor is a new numbered item that has never been discovered before.”
“A new numbered item…?”
“I feel like there will be more cases like that of this armor. With that, I propose we name them the no-numbered or, perhaps, the mystery numbered items…” GM suggested greedily.
Unfortunately for him, however, someone had beat him to the punch.
“The official name is secret numbered items,” I explained, cutting his path off before it could truly take shape.
“Pardon…?”
“Arua Raven discovered them first and named them as such.”
Yeah, she would be irritated if her discovery got swiped by someone else.
Rather than look sullen, though GM actually looked more interested. “So… There are more treasures like this?”
I took a moment to consider my reply, but since the information could help us out of this situation, I answered him honestly.
“Just one. One more has been discovered inside the labyrinth.”
“Could I see it?”
“Unfortunately, I don’t have it on me at the moment.”
“I-I see…”
Everyone seemed interested in what said item was, and I just told them it was something that was obtained during the underground floor expedition.
“A so-called secret numbered from a newly opened area… Maybe countless more numbered items have yet to be discovered.”
I thought the same thing, honestly.
First, the underground floor I’d been not long ago, and now, beyond the city walls—places that had long gone untraversed by adventurers were gradually beginning to reveal themselves over the past few years.
“Whoa, it was a binding item?”
In any case, the other piece of information we discovered about the secret numbered item was that it had already been bound to me.
“A-a binding imprint… Th-then I can’t get it back from you!”
GM fell into despair when he learned of it, but what could I do? I just picked my nose and acted like I didn’t hear him.
“Anyway, explain it to me. You say it’s a binding item… Are you sure?”
“Eh? Oh, yes… The automatic form adjustment doesn’t activate when someone else tries to wear it, and even if they force the unadjusted gear onto themselves, the armor displays no other special effects and operates only as an ordinary piece of gear. This is what all binding imprints entail…”
“So that odd wave of mana you and I talked about was the armor imprinting on its owner.”
“Yes, there’s a good chance that is the case.”
On top of the binding trait, it was also indestructible and featured a direct bonus to its wearer to boot.
Increase in all Regeneration speeds.
According to GM’s description, it was this characteristic that would earn the armor its laurels.
“It’s quite a rare trait. It’s not specific to Soul Power, mana, nor Divine Power—rather, any resource that can be ‘regenerated’ is boosted.”
This regeneration didn’t just affect finite resources like MP. The increased regeneration speed also affected Natural Regeneration and even boosted the regeneration of any special resources I might use if I got another skill.
“Still, it is a numbered item. Shouldn’t it have a fitting name?”
As Baekho said, we couldn’t just keep calling it “armor,” so we need to give it a proper name.
“Oh! Then can I name it something cool—”
“Dragon Plate of Aegis.”
“…Huh?”
“It’s the Dragon Plate of Aegis. That will be this armor’s name.”
Baekho nodded approvingly at my naming scheme. “Phew, that’s a pretty good name. And considering its color, these two look like a set.”
In contrast, Jaina just tilted her head in confusion. “I understand naming it Aegis, but why Dragon Plate? I don’t think it’s made from dragon leather or used a dragon heart in making it.”
“Uh…”
Considering how non-serious the question was, I was put into a pickle. But, to answer her honestly…
“Isn’t it a little boring to just call it plate armor?”
“Ah, I guess…”
Although Jaina didn’t seem convinced, the other men of the group nodded. They all liked calling it Dragon Plate rather than just chestplate or armor.
Yeah, women just don’t get what men want.
In any case, the item was named the Dragon Plate of Aegis, and oddly enough, we ended up finding out something else as a result.
“It’s quite fortunate. On the off chance that it was correct, I performed a comparison check with the Wall of Aegis, but they do, in fact, resonate with each other.”
“So what you’re saying is that this armor is a set item with the shield?”
“Yes. Dragon Plate of Aegis and the Wall… Both of them are resonant treasures.”
Resonant treasures just meant that they were items in a set that gave an additional effect when equipped together. For example, No. 7611, Deceit of the Necromancer—the numbered item used by Mr. Bear—would grant a resonance effect when equipped with the skull belt No. 7612, Pride of the Necromancer.
When either of them is used, it would regenerate an additional 50 percent of blood.
The more knowledge we worked to glean, the more information cascaded out of the item.
“Then what’s the resonance effect of the armor and the shield?”
“Hmm… In hindsight, I’d theorize the Regeneration increase is the resonance effect.”
The increase in all Regeneration speeds was the resonance effect of the Aegis set.
“Oh, then you’re saying it has a different passive effect?”
“Yes… It seems that it has one constant ability and one activated ability.”
To put it simply, the armor itself had one passive and one active, and we were able to discern the passive after a few trials.
[Yurven Havellion has cast the rank 5 attack magic Lightning Spear.]
The effect was quite simple.
[Yurven Havellion has cast the rank 4 attack magic Storm Slash.]
As expected of an effect applied to armor, it was a defensive ability.
[Yurven Havellion has cast the rank 4 attack magic Ice Sword.]
I mean…
[You have used the Dragon Plate of Aegis.]
The best defense was a good offense, right?
***
[Reflecting all accumulated damage.]
The active effect of the Dragon Plate was quite similar to the counterattack of the essence of Gachabone.
A summon appeared behind me, just like how a temporary skeleton would be summoned for a counterattack.
Those two characteristics made it pretty similar to Gachabone. However, there was one key difference.
“Why is it so big?”
It was comparably more powerful than a mere skeleton.
“Is it an ability to summon something?”
“Uh… But it’s moving?”
The huge, spectral Viking warrior swung down with its huge sword toward GM, the one who had attacked me as a test.
“Shit! Block it!”
At Baekho’s shout, Fallen Gramps summoned a mana shield and intercepted the slash of the sword.
Crunch!
However, since it was a hasty cast, the barrier wasn’t strong enough to fully block the attack.
“Move!”
At that, Aures quickly moved in front and raised his shield, successfully blocking the attack. After he blocked the attack, the situation ended as Lek Aures coughed up some blood.
Clang!
The huge shield, now featuring a huge dent, that Aures lugged around with him was sent clattering to the ground as Aures coughed up blood. The spirit giant that had swung the sword disappeared as if its work was done.
“A-are you alright?”
Our healer Jaina ran up to check on Aures’s condition, and only then did GM fall to his rear, having just then processed everything that happened.
“Whoa… This is amazing.”
Baekho’s eyes sparkled as he observed the situation’s close.
“It’s clear that getting battered is the activation condition. Does that mean it reflects damage relative to damage dealt? Or is it not relative and it just does flat damage after hitting a cap? Hmm, depending on which one it is, the way to fight it will change. Well, still, it’s not a guaranteed reflection, so I doubt it’ll be too tricky.”
I sighed. This was why I wanted to investigate it privately in my own time.
“Hey, hey! What’s everyone doing? No one got hurt! Stop making a fuss and let’s keep investigating it.”
“Huh? Baekho? Did you not see it? I just coughed up blood—”
“But you’re not anymore.”
Aures didn’t respond.
After that, the investigation continued at Baekho’s insistence, and we looked more into the active skill.
“So you get stacks every time you get hit, and depending on the stacks you have, it does a certain level of physical damage.”
“Its cooldown is only five minutes, and there aren’t any special resources that get expended. But even just at four stacks, it does enough damage to rip through twenty mana barriers like they’re paper?”
“Ah, yeah. Indestructible is a given since it’s a numbered item.”
“But since it’s an item in a set, you get increased Regeneration when you equip them together, and it even has an additional passive effect that we haven’t been able to figure out?”
Uh, yeah…
That was pretty much the summary of it all.
“What the fuck? What’s with this cheat armor?”
I had nothing I could say. I agreed with his assessment, after all.
Depending on what the passive was, my opinion of it could change, but its active skill put it on par with the single-digit numbered items. If the passive was also on the level of a single-digit, then that could very well be me getting another single-digit numbered item.
“I-it… It was mine…”
I felt guilt poke at me as I heard GM’s mumbling, but what could I do? It wasn’t as if I could give it back to him at this point.
“Yurven Havellion. Stop whining.”
“B-but…”
“It can’t be helped. I didn’t bind it to myself because I wanted to. Or do you think that this expedition will be the last time we ever work together?”
“Th-that’s not what I…”
“Then it helps you too if I become stronger. I am not someone who forgets his debts.”
GM clenched his jaw shut at my logical persuasion. He did seem to be sulking a little, but that would resolve itself with time.
“Wow, you’re a master gaslighter, Baron.”
I ignored Baekho’s comment and continued the investigation of the gear. I wanted to check the passive that we hadn’t been able to figure out yet.
One day, two days, three days…
However, no matter how much time we spent on it, the passive of the Dragon Plate remained a mystery.
“Hah… Maybe we’ll figure something out when we fight a monster.”
“I believe we’ve done everything we can without resorting to that.”
“Unless it is a very specific condition or an unknowable effect, we may need to be fighting a monster.”
With that, we gave up on trying to figure out the passive. However, our work coming to an end only illuminated the sticky situation we were in. The reason we began our investigation into the Dragon Plate was to find clues to escape this place, after all.
“Then we’re back to square one?”
Baekho’s dejected comment echoed out, ringing in everyone’s ears.
Hey, being a leader means acting like everything is fine even when it’s not.
“Let’s start over and slowly work through our options,” I encouraged, trying to motivate them all.
We resumed our exploration of the Golden Ruins, going through all the pathways one more time and even utilizing some physical methods like breaking down walls. We even went back up the stairs and visited the hidden secret of the Golden Ruins, the chamber of Macairo.
“Huh?”
But what was this?
“Whoa… This is getting spooky.”
The corpse of Macairo, which should be inside his coffin, had gone missing.