Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
“It is an offline meeting about Satisfy… I guess it will match the nasty hobby of a rich man riding a private plane.”
A man sitting with his back to the window where skyscrapers were visible. The man who acted under the ID of ‘Knight’ in Satisfy wasn’t in a good mood. Ever since the release of Satisfy, human convenience had reached its peak. The restriction of ‘space,’ a mandatory requirement for meeting, had disappeared. Someone in the Middle East and someone on the Korean Peninsula could meet within seconds.
It was a phenomenon realized by Satisfy.
Yet they were sitting down to have a meeting in reality. It was taking away valuable time. Of course, it was an interpretation based on the difference in inclinations. There was no need to express displeasure. However, Knight expressed it blatantly. It was preliminary work to raise his price.
Lauel—the second-in-command of the Overgeared Guild and the prime minister of the great empire. He was high in the hierarchy of all people. He could achieve something as soon as he had the desire.
It was not an exaggeration. In a modern society that perceived Satisfy as a second world and another reality, the influence of Lauel, who controlled Satisfy, was beyond imagination. However, it was a great responsibility. He was famous for his busy schedule on behalf of Grid, who was indifferent to internal affairs. He was arguably the busiest man in the world. The president of the United States even joked that he would use Lauel as a role model.
Such a bigshot asked for an offline meeting. He flew all the way to the remote Middle East to meet Knight. It couldn’t be an ordinary day.
‘It is the 71st day since Kraugel’s whereabouts have been unknown and the 46th day since Grid’s whereabouts are bizarre.’
Was it a request related to them?
Knight’s mind was spinning busily.
Lauel smiled brightly. The keffiyeh worn on his head, as if to make him feel like a tourist, suited him quite well. It was simply because his original appearance looked so good. He would look good no matter what he wore. “Knight, I wanted to meet and chat with you in person. Thank you again for taking time out of your busy schedule.”
“To be honest, it is scary to see you chase me to a distant resort. Are you trying to threaten me to be prepared if the contents of your request are leaked?”
Knight’s nationality was Russian. It hadn’t been long since he arrived here. His fearful attitude toward Lauel, who followed him as if he had been waiting, was quite plausible. Of course, he wasn’t actually afraid. How urgent did it have to be to follow him all the way here? Knight was rather happy as he guessed how valuable Lauel’s request would be.
“Would I have risked a long flight just to entrust Knight with a request?”
“…It isn’t a request?”
A chill went down Knight’s spine. At this moment, he was genuinely intimidated. It wasn’t acting.
‘Did I ever do something wrong to the Overgeared Guild?’
There was no such thing. He always thoroughly researched it every time he received a request. Would the result of the quest cause losses to the Overgeared Guild and Overgeared Empire? It was a survival strategy. There was no reason for retaliation…
…No, was it really this?
‘I might’ve made Grid uncomfortable without even knowing.’
For a split second, all types of misconceptions crossed Knight’s mind. His eyes became dazed and shook. He was fortunate to be wearing thick sunglasses.
Lauel reached out to him, who was unable to speak hastily. The attitude was very polite. “To be honest, I want to welcome you as a colleague. Knight, please join us.”
“……”
The reason why the busiest man in the world crossed the sky by himself was revealed. A death god who consumed the target’s ‘soul gauge’ to deal a definite death—Knight was worth Lauel moving personally.
Lauel’s long persuasion began.
***
A fortnight for the concept and design of the work and a month for the production of the work. Grid spent more than 45 days in the tower. In the meantime, he stopped all external activities and disappeared from public view.
The empire was safe even in Grid’s absence. The remnants of the religions, including the Rebecca Church, refused to follow the Overgeared God and devised all types of schemes, but the security of the empire remained unshakable. The knights led by Mercedes thoroughly cracked down on the soldiers.
There were many negative rumors about Grid going missing after receiving divine punishment, but few people were agitated. Duke Grenhal and Duke Steim led the unity of the nobles and held the center well. Of course, they couldn’t control all the nobles. There were many nobles who acted as if they were trying to secure a share. They were properly stopped by the inspectors.
Lauel and Basara led politics and the economy correctly, while the powerful boss monsters that regularly appeared in certain areas were neatly handled by Grid’s apostles. The evil demons of hell had no time to turn their gazes to the surface due to dealing with the expedition led by Yura and Jishuka.
Thanks to this, Grid could concentrate fully. He smelted Xenon’s three scales into a total of 678 small scales. Then they were reborn as two pieces of armor. Nothing could disturb Grid.
[Overgeared God Grid has created a dragon’s body.]
It was a world message that could be misunderstood by anyone looking at it. It felt like the world was turned upside down.
A dragon’s body—there was a reasonable reason why the system judged the armor made by Grid in this way.
[Fire Dragon Ifrit’s Arms]
[Rating: Myth (Transcendent)
A set item.
Durability: 12,800/12,800 Defense: 1,895
* Strength increased by 300.
* Skill damage will increase by 20%.
★ Grip strength is greatly increased.
★ Absolute hit rate is increased.
★ The maximum attack speed is reached.
★ If fighting a great demon, archangel, god, or dragon, a portion of the durability is replaced by attack power.
★ The chance of an arm injury is reduced by 80%.
★ There is a 10% chance to trigger ‘Absolute Defense’ when hit.
★ There is a 30% chance to trigger ‘Dragon Fear’ when attacking.
★ The skill ‘Small Breath’ is created.
★ Magic power circulation will occur every time an arm is hit. Every five cycles of magic power circulation will reset the cooldown time for Small Breath.
★ The weapon attack power is increased by 20% when armed with a dragon weapon.
These are the arms of Fire Dragon Ifrit, which was realized by Overgeared God Grid after smelting Xenon’s scales.
Gauntlets made from weaving a total of 286 small scales, they give the wearer the power of a dragon.
★ Dragon Armor Set Effect
Every time additional armor made of dragon scales is equipped, the probability of Absolute Defense will increase significantly.
Wearing Conditions: Grid, Dragon Slayer, Dragon Knight.
Weight: 150]
[Cloaked Dragon Cranbel’s Pelvis]
[Rating: Myth (Transcendent)
A set item.
Durability: 19,370/19,370 Defense: 2,640
* The stamina stat is increased by 300.
* Skill defense is increased by 20%.
★ Complete immunity to restraint type skills. This includes physical restraints.
★ If fighting a great demon, archangel, god, or dragon, a portion of the durability is replaced by defense.
★ The chance of a lower body injury is reduced by 95%.
★ There is a 20% chance to activate ‘Stealth’ when the lower body is hit.
★ There is a 10% chance to trigger ‘Absolute Defense’ when hit.
★ There is a 30% chance to trigger ‘Dragon Rage’ when attacking.
★ The skill ‘Tunnel’ is created.
This is the pelvis of Cloaked Dragon Cranbel, which was realized by Overgeared God Grid after smelting Xenon’s scales.
A gaiter made from weaving a total of 392 small scales, it gives the wearer the power of a dragon.
★ Dragon Armor Set Effect
Every time additional armor made of dragon scales is equipped, the probability of Absolute Defense will increase significantly.
Wearing Conditions: Grid, Dragon Slayer, Dragon Knight.
Weight: 850]
Grid was heavily inspired by Ifrit and Cranbel, and recreated entire parts of their bodies. Of course, it was a size that suited his own body. Yet as far as the form and structure were concerned, it closely resembled the two dragons’ bodies he saw and experienced firsthand. To be precise, it was the armaments that surrounded a dragon’s body.
In other words, the pattern and structure of the scales were reproduced intact. The results were beyond expectations.
[Fire Dragon Ifrit’s Arms is equipped.]
Gauntlets that covered him from hand to shoulder. It was usually gray due to Xenon’s scale, but it turned a colorful red when the skill was activated.
[Cloaked Dragon Cranbel’s Pelvis is equipped.]
Gaiters that covered him from pelvis to the calves. It was also gray and boasted a gorgeous appearance like Ifrit’s arms. It was only when the skill was activated that it refracted light and shone transparently.
…Being transparent didn’t mean exposing the flesh. It was just a type of signal that generated all types of defense and resistance effects. In the first place, Grid always wore Beriache’s Underclothing. There was no need to worry about exposing himself even if he took off all his armor.
In any case, Grid interpreted that Cranbel was better between Ifrit and Cranbel, at least when it came to survival. This was why the Cranbel style was envisioned as gaiters, which had the highest defense after armor.
He suffered a lot. He made 678 scales of different patterns and bound them together. Grid’s concentration and patience were consumed at an all time high. He didn’t even get help from the God Hands. The God Hands had inherited some of Grid’s blacksmithing skills, but they failed to skillfully smelt the dragon scales. They couldn’t complete the task of making the scales into 678 different patterns.
Grid worked with a feeling of complete isolation. He thought about whether Pagma of the past would’ve felt like this.
[Two pieces of the dragon armor set have been equipped and defense is increased by an additional 400.]
[The effect of equipping two pieces of the dragon armor set has increased the probability of Absolute Defense by 20%.]
[Absolute Defense]
[Passive
The power of an absolute species.
There is a high probability of being completely immune to attacks from targets with a lower status than yourself and damage resistance will temporarily increase if the immunity fails.
Resource Consumption: None.
Cooldown Time: None.]
[Dragon Fear]
[The power of an absolute species.
There is a high probability that targets with a lower status than yourself will lose the will to resist. Targets that lose their will to resist will have their defense and magic resistance significantly reduced and their weaknesses will be exposed.
Resource Consumption: None.
Cooldown Time: 1 minute.]
[Small Breath]
[Magic power is fired.
It causes fixed damage proportional to 20 times the user’s intelligence. The higher the user’s status, the higher the damage. The absolute hit rate correction is obtained due to the high speed.
Resource Consumption: 10,500 mana.
Cooldown Time: 30 minutes.]
[Dragon Rage]
[Passive
The power of an absolute species.
During the duration, all attacks (including skills) of the user will stack two times. The same effect can be stacked.
Duration: 10 seconds.
Resource Consumption: 1,000 mana per second.
Cooldown Time: 2 minutes.]
[Tunnel]
[Break through the ground and dig underground.
At this time, you will be fully immune to all types of attacks and can detect the location of enemies on the ground. Once activated again, you will appear at the rear of the designated target.
Duration: 5 seconds.
Resource Consumption: 5,000 mana when activated. 3,000 mana per second.
Cooldown Time: 10 minutes.]
The gauntlets and gaiters moved like waves in sync with Grid’s movements. Each of the 678 scales seemed to be living and breathing. It took more than 30 minutes to make each of these small scales. From the first design phase, it really felt like he was dying for 46 days, but it felt incredibly rewarding once he finished.
Grid smiled widely.
Snap!
Then the door was opened without any knocks. The tower members rushed in while armed with weapons.
“……”
“……”
The eyes of the tower members gradually widened as they looked at Grid. There were a number of people who couldn’t close their mouths. The dragon radar in their hand was still flashing loudly. Grid was designated as the target.
“Which son of a b*tch dares to use Polymorph to turn into Grid…?! Is Grid in your stomach?!!” Sword Saint Biban yelled with a red face, but he was immediately restrained by the other tower members.
