Vampire Princess Guide in Progress - Volume 1 Chapter 22

Chapter 22: Black Swordsman

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Besides the first-kill reward equipment with fixed values, equipment dropped in the wild, starting from green quality, will have random attributes in addition to the fixed main attributes, which are equivalent to “attribute modifiers.”

These random attribute modifiers determine the attribute preferences of the equipment.

“Did I hear that right?” Equipment merchant Gob pushed up the monocle he had obtained from some quest reward.

“What’s wrong? Didn’t you claim to be the merchant with the richest equipment selection on the first floor? Can’t you provide such equipment?”

“No, I’m just surprised. When everyone is scrambling for equipment with HP and defense modifiers, suddenly someone shows up wanting equipment with all attack attribute modifiers. Is there some business opportunity I haven’t discovered?”

“There’s no business opportunity. I just need that kind of equipment,” Nolan replied calmly without further explanation.

This is really strange, someone picking up trash. Equipment merchant Gob couldn’t help thinking.

Currently in the market, equipment with HP and defense modifiers is in high demand and usually commands high prices, simply because people fear death. Having slightly lower attack is completely acceptable, but HP and defense tangibly enhance survival ability.

Regardless of the type of equipment, it generally needs to have some defensive modifiers to fetch a good price.

Equipment with attributes that are all attack or agility values tends to be much cheaper. At most, people might wear one or two pieces as a limit. To have all six pieces of equipment apart from the weapon with attack attributes, this was indeed his first encounter with such a request.

How fragile would that make someone? Wouldn’t they die after just a few hits from monsters on the second floor?

“Are you sure you want all modifiers to be attack, without a single defense entry?” Gob asked again to confirm.

“Yes, not a single one,” Nolan answered.

Gob couldn’t help but give Nolan a strange look, then opened his equipment warehouse and filtered according to Nolan’s requirements. To his surprise, he had actually collected a few such pieces.

He had acquired them when he wasn’t familiar with the market. Nowadays, he definitely wouldn’t pay high prices for such unsellable items.

He thought he had taken a loss, but unexpectedly Nolan would buy them.

“Take a look, see if these are what you need.”

Gob took the equipment out of his warehouse one by one. They were the 【Night Cloak】, 【Fury Leg Armor】, 【Fury Wristguard】, 【Wind Walker Helmet】, 【Fury Boots】, and 【Fearless Necklace】, all of this equipment main attributes included some attack and agility.

Nolan’s finger tapped on those pieces of equipment, and their details immediately appeared before him.

On the glowing screen in front of him, a 3D image of the equipment slowly rotated at the top. Below the equipment description on the right were the various detailed attributes. He checked them all and confirmed they were indeed “full attack set equipment.”

“Hmm, I’ll take them all. How much are you asking?” Nolan inquired.

“Tsk, kid, you really don’t value your life, do you?” Gob’s gaze examined the young man before him. He suddenly felt familiar, as if he had seen him somewhere before, but couldn’t quite place it at the moment.

Judging from Nolan’s demeanor, he didn’t seem like someone unaware of equipment attributes.

Gob wanted to dissuade him somewhat, but as a merchant, not prying too much into customers’ affairs was professional etiquette, so he could only say:

“Fine. I don’t know what you’re planning to do with this equipment, but remember not to wear this set to the second floor. I don’t want people saying someone died after buying equipment from me, which would affect my business reputation.”

“Mm, name your price.”

“These are just items nobody wants anyway. I’ll give you a 20% discount, 24,000 Star Coins for all 6 pieces.”

The transaction was completed smoothly, and Nolan stored the equipment in his inventory.

Just as he turned to leave, Gob’s voice suddenly called out behind him: “Hey! Black Swordsman.”

“Anything else?” Nolan stopped and turned his face sideways.

“I don’t know what’s driving you, whether you’ve lost friends and want to fight monsters in a death match.” Gob looked at his solitary figure in the black robe, his eyes growing more serious. “But please don’t get yourself killed.”

— That night, after returning to the inn.

Nolan sat on the bed in his room, his fingers constantly clicking on the screen floating before his eyes, configuring the equipment piece by piece. Apart from equipping the Swift Wind Sword in the 【Main Weapon】 slot, he filled all the 【Standby Weapon】 slots.

Not only was he wearing a full set of all-attack green quality equipment, but he had also used up all the Basic Enhancement Stones he had obtained from killing monsters to enhance all his equipment to +3.

For his weapon, the Swift Wind Sword, he had spent a high price to buy two Intermediate Enhancement Stones from someone else and enhanced it to 【Swift Wind Sword +4】, improving all its stats accordingly.

Since all of Nolan’s equipment had attack modifiers, his HP value barely changed despite the full-body enhancement.

Enhancement stones, being a relatively rare resource in this game that only drops from elite monsters, are usually considered wasteful to use on green quality equipment. Typically, players wait until they have blue quality or even purple quality equipment before enhancing.

But now Nolan needed to maximize his stats by any means possible, not missing any opportunity.

His HP value decreased from the original 2,760 points to 1,550 points, and his defense also dropped from 220 points to 102 points. However, his physical attack increased from 422 points to 886 points, and his agility value reached 150 points.

“This should be barely enough. According to intelligence, that guy’s HP boost isn’t much, but his attack value increase is astonishing.”

Hmph, just like me?

But this was not to be viewed as a duel between blades.

Nolan abandoned all defensive attribute stacking, opting for complete offense. His error tolerance would be reduced to an extreme minimum, while the agility value was to increase his operational space, a hard requirement for his various combat techniques.

It was also his only possible way to win tonight.

System chimes and clicking sounds rapidly filled the room.

After checking his item bar one final time, Nolan stood up, raised the collar of his black robe, strapped on his sword, and walked out of the inn alone into the deep night.

…………

“Hmm? Nolan?” In her room, Cross was drowsy.

In her sleepy dream in the deep of night, she seemed to hear footsteps leaving outside her room door.