Zaion stood before a table, magic items sprawled all over the table as he carefully eyed them. Rings, necklaces, earrings, crystals, and clothing items. Each was a magic item that guaranteed specific effects and phenomena that would aid him in combat.
It was imperative that he pick and choose the perfect items for the job, ones that would not only aid him but also ensure he gets the advantage throughout the battle and eventually allow him to grasp victory.
His opponent would be an Explorer, a possibly rusty and out-of-practice Explorer but an Explorer nonetheless.
Ideally, he would have loved to have a potent negative status item(NSI), specifically one that would induce fatigue on his opponent for a specific amount of time.
Unfortunately, he took this job without knowing much about its specifics, meaning he did not prepare as much as he could have.
Of course that in no way meant he didn't have enough items to work with, it just would have been much better to have a powerful Negative status item(NSI), emphasis on the word powerful.
In any case, he was here now, there was no turning back. So he had to work with what he had, and if his assumption about the Explorer was correct, then it should be enough.
He had specifically asked that no one be around while he made the selection of items he would be using for the battle.
This was a quirk that most Mercenaries had, as they believed the less people knew about the item they would be using the less likely it would be for the enemy to find out.
It was difficult changing items in the heat of battle, so it was better to just make sure your enemy never figures out what you're using.
His eyes glanced at the silver ring near the corner of the table.
The ring was a middle-tier, Negative status item (NSI), that would induce a sense of dizziness and nausea to his opponent for 30 seconds, however, it had a 1-minute cool-down.
Zaion let out a sigh before he took the ring and equipped it on his pinky finger. A one-minute cool-down was egregious but it was better than nothing.
"Not the best but it will do"
He wasn't exactly short on items however he hadn't stocked up more recently, which was the reason he was in the Lionheart kingdom to begin with. Marquis Bearheart was selling some of his items and Zaion hoped to buy some.
"Plus, I heard a rumor that he had the [Shining Star]"
The [Shining Star] also known as the [Eye of Sol], is a named item that would make things so much easier for him for the foreseeable future.
If he had that kind of item on his hands, his head wouldn't have to be so scarred and he'd probably still have his hair.
After having equipped the silver ring, his eyes wandered over the table once again. This time he spotted another ring, this one was made of copper, and was sitting right in the middle of the table right beside an iron necklace.
The copper ring was a High-tier ring, a Positive Status item ( PSI). A positive status item was any item that boosted specific stats like strength, speed, durability, etc, any item that would increase an attribute.
The ring would increase his awareness and instinct, allowing him to perceive and react to anything moving too fast for the eye to see. The effect would last 5 seconds but the cool-down was 10 seconds.
The longer the cool down, the lower the tier of the item, although this wasn't a rigid rule as it often depended on the effect of the item and its potency. Although most items with short cool-downs were considered high or middle tier.
Explorers tended to be fast so a ring to help with perception and awareness would be indispensable.
After the copper ring, he immediately took the furred belt that was hung at the bottom edge of the table.
The belt was another Positive Status item(PSI). The [Windeer belt] was a high-tier item that granted users incredible speed for a full 20 seconds, with a 45-second cool-down.
The belt was made from a monster's hide, specifically a Win-deer. A creature despite its name, was more of a predator than prey.
In terms of speed, it was extremely fast, a good estimate of its speed was that the creature was at least several times faster than some of the fastest animals, like lions.
Having a magic item made from its hide, would allow Zaion to be able to run at the same speed.
He quickly put on the belt and also equipped a stamina ring, to help manage his stamina. The belt was not exactly meant for long runs but more like short bursts of speed
From there he equipped three more rings, a Damage reduction item(DRI), a ring to shield against blunt force attacks, and another ring to protect against bladed attacks. The third ring was a strength boost ring.
All three rings were mid-tier items with 10-second cooldowns and 5 5-second effect window. Despite their short cooldown, they weren't exactly potent.
"What else do I need"
He took stock of what he already had equipped, an NSI ring, to make his opponent disoriented, a PSI copper ring for awareness and instinct, the Windeer belt, as well as rings to protect against blades and blunt weapon attacks with an additional strength ring.
"Alright, I should take the Anti-effect bracelet"
With that said, he quickly equipped a single golden bracelet on his wrist. It was a mid-tier item with 10 seconds of effect and 25 seconds of cool-down.
Anti-effect Items, negate the effect of any items whenever it is activated. This means it can cancel out the effects of your opponent's items. The downside was that your own items were also subject to its effects so you had to use it carefully.
With that Zaion was set for battle. All that was left now was to meet with Bulat for the final debriefing of the strategy.
Zaion didn't have much against Explorers, no, he just hated the fact that Mercenaries like him were considered Explorer wannabes, posers that played pretend because they wanted fame and glory.
He hated that, just because Explorers had magic in their veins all of a sudden they get to get their dicks sucked everywhere they go. Kings bow to lick their boots, and the people treat them like they're disciples of Sol himself.
No, Zaion did not have a grudge against Explorers, he just hated the condescending and arrogant attitude they carried with them everywhere they went as if they were the chosen ones and that it was a privilege only they could enjoy.
"I may not have the best of the best but I'll show you, I'll show you that you're not better than me, none of you are."
With that, he immediately scooped all the leftover items into his Holding sack and tied it to his belt before stepping out of the room.
.....
..
"Are you certain of this Captain?"
Bulat questioned the captain of the Knight guard, his face taking on an expression of worry and apprehension.
"I'm positive boss, anytime I brought up the word Explorer, every just became shifty and tight-lipped, I'm certain there was a gag order regarding the Explorer"
Luke Witherspoon, and Captain of the Knights guard, spoke. Having spent some days at Central gathering information on Arthur, he hadn't managed to find much information regarding the man, however, he did find some interesting information.
"Damn, that means he's caught the eyes of the nobles, if I were to get rid of him things would be complicated"
A sigh escaped his mouth, he felt a little relieved that he had chosen to try and control Arthur rather than try and get rid of him.
Getting rid of an asset to the nobles were waiting to use would have untold consequences on his business, as much as he was powerful, he did not have the power to contend against the nobility.
"Did you find anything else? Something that would work to my advantage?"
"I'm afraid not, Boss. Nobody seemed to know of the couple, when I asked about the husband very few people knew him. In fact, I doubt he lived in any of the districts in Central, the only people who had an idea of him were the Inns"
Bulat absorbed the information he was given and scratched his chin as he began to think.
It didn't make much sense, no one knew of the two, and the husband was only known to the inn.
If they're newlyweds then surely there would have been instances where they were seen together, going on dates and doing activities typical of a man and woman in a relationship.
Someone would have seen them together or they would have some friends or acquaintances who know of them but they had none of that, it was almost like they just dropped in from nowhere.
"If they didn't live in Central before moving here, then where did they live?"
Luke was about to answer but Bulat quickly raised his hand to stop him, signaling that the question was more to himself than anyone else.
"Hmmm"
The loan shark/crime lord hummed to himself as he tried to figure out the puzzle, unfortunately, he would be unable to figure it out today, as his thoughts were interrupted by the sudden knock on the door of his study.
"Enter"
And in walked the two Mercenaries he had hired followed by Gus and Leo. The latter two were unexpected as they weren't really needed, unless the couple they were watching made a move.
Looking at their faces a bit more closely he saw that they had pensive expressions, indicating something had happened.
"Gus, Leo, what happened?
The two glance at each other for a moment, almost as if deliberating who should speak; however, Bulat gestured with his hand for them to carry on, forcing Gus to be the one to speak.
"Uhm… Boss. Darren ran"
"Ran? Where?"
"No… he disappeared, it was his turn to keep watch but this morning he never came back. I think he ran"
Another sigh escaped his mouth, he had thought Darren would be smarter than that after what happened to his friends.
The man figured that Darren had made the assumption that things would be too busy dealing with the Explorer and that Bulat would be unable to dedicate resources to chasing after him.
"I don't have time for this, get Charlie and Mike, they're responsible for finding that idiot and breaking one of his arms."
With that said the two young men were rudely told to leave the room, leaving Bulat, the two Mercenaries, and Luke to discuss their next move.
"Excuse the little distractions, gentlemen, now let's go over the plan once more."
Bulat didn't think it was a particularly difficult plan to understand, however, it was important that everyone understand their roles and what was required of them.
....
....
….
..
.