Start of Flashback
"Hey, Mizuki," Rohan said, his voice quiet but firm. "Give us some time to plan, alright? It's not every day we get to gamble with the great Mizuki the Mischievous."
Mizuki smiled, a low, purring sound. "Alright, alright, but just don't run away, nyow. You look like someone who would cry in the bathroom the second you're alone, nya."
Rohan ignored her taunt. Her overconfidence was a weakness he could exploit. He had a plan. Or, at least, he had an idea.
He pulled Lyra outside, leaving Liriel to his drunken slumber. The cool night air was a stark contrast to the stifling heat of the tavern. "Lyra," he said, his voice low. "Check all of my equipment."
"I can help, but how will that help us?" Lyra said, her voice filled with a new kind of determination. "We already know its basic abilities."
"My Tome-Key," Rohan explained, his programmer's mind working out the logic. "I think it unlocks an equipment's or artifact's true potential."
Lyra's eyes widened. Her inner Lore Hunter was showing, and her excitement was palpable. She was dying to see the Tome-Key's power. He deactivated the Aegis of the Fallen King and gave it to her. When it was deactivated, it wasn't just an invisible shield anymore. An intricate armor of pure golden light appeared in Lyra's hand.
Lyra held the glowing shield, her eyes wide with professional, nerdy excitement. She closed her eyes for a moment, her face a mask of intense focus. A ghostly script, appeared before her. It read:
Artifact: Aegis of the Fallen King
Passive: Shield of Kings -
Creates a shield that protects the user from all physical attacks.
Skill: Malicious Intent -
Detects if a person or entity has hostile intentions towards the user.
"The passive is a shield," she said, her voice a soft, gentle whisper. "It can protect you from all physical attacks. But the skill… it's a detection of malicious intent. It can sense when someone is about to attack you."
Rohan's eyes widened. This was a game-changer. He was no longer just a passive shield. He was a walking alarm. Now he can alert his friends if someone with malicious intent is nearby, problem is he would need to be equipped with a key which looks like a dagger all the time.
Lyra then looked at his Ethereal Boots. Her eyes, narrowed in confusion. She closed her eyes, and a new script appeared before her.
Artifact: Ethereal Boots
Passive: Skill Evasion -
Detects if the opponent is using a skill.
Skill: Phase Shift -
Allows the user to briefly pass through physical attacks.
"The passive of the boots… it can detect if the opponent is using a skill or not."
Rohan knew it was useful to know if she is cheating but if he can't prove it, It would be basically useless.
Lyra's eyes, filled with a newfound awe, turned to his Tome-Key. She held the simple knife in her hands, her face a mask of intense focus.
Artifact: Tome-Key
Passive: Full Potential -
Unlocks the skill or passive of all other artifacts belonging to the user when the artifact is equipped.
Skill: Nullify Skill -
Nullifies a skill with a spoken incantation or a mental command.
Lyra's eyes, narrowed in confusion.
"But there's something else," she whispered, her voice filled with a raw, defiant hope. "The skill... it can nullify a skill with a spoken incantation or a mental command."
A low hum of triumph resonated in Rohan's mind as his thoughts began to click into place. He'd been given the components he needed to solve this particular puzzle. He held a simple knife in his hand, a dull artifact that held a hidden potential he was now realizing.
With his Aegis of the Fallen King, he could detect an opponent's malicious intent. With his Ethereal Boots, he could detect a skill about to be used. With his Tome-Key, he could nullify that skill entirely. The pieces of the puzzle weren't just powerful, they were made for each other.
The key and boots were like a one-two punch. The boots would act as a pre-emptive warning system, detecting if a foe was about to use a skill. Then, before the skill could be fully cast, the Tome-Key could nullify it. The boots would detect the skill, and the Tome-Key would nullify it. It was a perfect combination of defense and offense.
He had become a walking debugger, a living anti-cheat program. Mizuki's overconfidence was no match for this. Mizuki, with her playful taunts and predatory smirk, thought she had the upper hand. Little did she know, her tricks, her skills, were now just another bug in the system, waiting to be debugged.
Lyra's face, a mask of intense concentration, contorted in a silent struggle as she tried to make sense of the new information. She had just discovered the true power of Rohan's artifacts, but she also saw their inherent weaknesses.
"The Tome-Key can nullify a skill with a spoken incantation or a mental command," she whispered, her voice filled with a raw, defiant hope. "But if you don't know when the skill is cast, it's useless. You'd be trying to nullify an attack that hasn't happened, or a skill that has already hit you."
Then, her eyes, turned to his Ethereal Boots. "The second skill of the boots… it can detect if the opponent is using a skill or not." Her voice was a soft, gentle whisper, but the frustration was palpable. "But it's just a detection. You'd know the skill is coming, but you can't do anything about it. You would just be a sitting duck. But ofcourse it's the key afterall."
The raw truth of her words hung heavy in the air. The boots could only provide a warning. They couldn't stop the attack. The Tome-Key could stop the attack, but it needed a warning. It was a chicken-and-egg situation. The skills were useless on their own, two pieces of a puzzle that couldn't be solved without the other. They were two sides of the same coin, two lovers destined to be together, but forever separated by a thin veil of uselessness.
But now, the puzzle was complete. The veil had been lifted. The lovers had been reunited. And Rohan, the man who saw the world in logic and patterns, saw the synergy, the beautiful, terrifying synergy that was now at his disposal. He was a living paradox. He was a man who could see the future and change it. He was no longer just a programmer. He was a walking anti-cheat program. He thought about how lucky he was that he had them both.
"What's next?" Lyra whispered, a professional, nerdy excitement in her voice. "What other mysteries are you hiding?"
Rohan, a man who saw the world in logic and code, pulled the Sylvan Potion Pouch from his belt. The small, unassuming leather bag felt insignificant compared to the power of the other artifacts, She closed her eyes, and a new script appeared before her.
Artifact: Sylvan Potion Pouch
Passive: Infinite Inventory -
Holds an infinite number of potions.
Skill: Alchemical Synthesis -
Can combine two or more potions to create a new concoction of unpredictable effect.
Lyra's eyes widened in shock. "It's a gamble!" she gasped. "You can combine two potions, but you don't know what you'll get! It could be a potion of invisibility, a potion of strength, a potion of healing, or a potion of poison!"
It was good, but not for Rohan. The infinite storage was useless if he didn't have any potions, and it seemed he didn't. The skill was just as useless. He didn't know what the result of combining them would be. The skill might help him in the future, but for now, it was a liability. He thought to himself, ' It would definitely fit that gambler more wouldn't it ?'
He then looked at the tavern door, his face a stoic mask of determination. "Tonight," he said, with a smirk in his face. "We will definitely get the rifle back."
End of the flashback