Chapter 744: Upgrade
The two things Sylas had taken out were the thick hide of the Scorpion King and the small husk that remained of the Glass Monkey after it had been sucked dry of all its Essence.
The Scorpion King was basically no more after Sylas used it to protect his life against the Rotten Serpent in the Split Realm. Back then, it had been blasted to pieces and Sylas hadn't been able to scrounge up much of it at all.
However, given how large the creature had been, just having a pierce or two of its remains was invaluable.
By extension, the fur of the Glass Monkey spoke for itself. It was beautiful, like millions of tiny little fiber optic cables weaving together to form a soft mesh in one direction, and a prickly death trap in the other.
"You are close to a breakthrough, right?" Sylas asked.
Maya was heaving for breath, looking at the hides as though she might make sweet love to them right in front of everyone's eyes.
Rather than replying to Sylas, she looked toward Cassarae. Sylas didn't mind it, just waiting patiently.
"What do you want to do, Sylas?" Cassarae asked.
"I just want some normal clothing. No need for Runes or to forge it into a treasure. I just want you to weave out some normal wear for me."
The more Sylas learned about the Scorned Wraps, the more he understood about intention and the value of it. In fact, there might come a day where his Will was strong enough that he could overwhelm the rules of the Scorned Wraps entirely.
Somewhere deep inside, he even felt that that was the original purpose of the Scorned Wraps. By the time he was strong enough to ignore it, it would have already done its job of making him strong.
This was all to say, the dividing line between what was clothing and what was considered Treasure had blurred considerably.
Would the Scorned Wraps consider kevlar a Treasure? Technically, it shouldn't. But a bullet could harm the current Sylas, while a kevlar vest could block one. Who was to say it wasn't a Treasure?
In the end... all it came down to was intention.
All this time, Sylas had been restricting himself to clothing that had basically no Durability of its own. But this seal skin skirt wasn't rejected by the Scorned Wraps, and it had also lasted the longest out of all his clothing.
When he realized this, the answer was obvious.
However, when Maya heard his explanation, she actually became disappointed. What was the point if she didn't go so far.
Rather than trying to convince her, though... Sylas said something unexpected.
"Sometimes you have to take a step back to take a step forward."
Maya's head ripped toward Sylas' direction, confusion and a fiery light in the depths of her eyes.
With only a brief instant of thought, she rushed up, snatched the work pieces from Sylas unceremoniously, and charged over to her workbench, not caring who she knocked over in the
process.
"What did you just do?"
"It wasn't me." Sylas said lightly. "It was Morgan."
A realization came over Cassarae.
Morgan had only been here for a little over a day so he had yet to integrate properly into the village. But if Sylas was telling the truth...
It seemed that other than Tasia, Sylas had brought her another valuable asset. It was just that Tasia was far more proactive than Morgan was.
Without the restriction of having to make it a Treasure, Maya was lightning fast. As she moved, Sylas' eyes glowed and he felt the changes taking place within her in real time.
In not even 20 minutes, she stood, slamming her small palms onto her workbench with a reverberating BANG!
"Come, come, come. You're a man right, try it on right here. Don't be shy. Hurry. Hurry."
Maya threw the completed work at Sylas' face.
Catching it out of the air, Sylas gazed at it for a moment and then obliged, slipping on the pieces.
Without even having to measure him... the fit was absolutely perfect.
Cassarae's eyes glowed, seemingly having a hard time hiding how much she liked it. It certainly was better than Sylas walking around like he was a equipmentless hobo.
It also helped that Sylas was still mostly shirtless, but she would never admit that. Not out in the open, anyway.
The top of Sylas' body was adorned by a single sleeve and pauldron, a leather strap crossing his chest to attach it securely to his body. The sleeve was formed of the thick, dark, red-violet hide of the Scorpion King, a joint at the elbow and shoulder allowing Sylas free movement while almost giving the sleeve a half fantastical, half futuristic look to it.
The pauldron itself was formed of a bright white fur that clearly came from the Glass Monkey. Sylas's legs were covered in the same almost mechanical joints that his single sleeve had, formed by the Scorpion King Hide as well. A white fur belt wrapped his waist, and a heavy leather apron fell between his legs from the front and back.
Sylas nodded. It passed the test and did what he needed of it. It would definitely last much longer than his other clothing. As for how long that would last...
That was a different matter entirely.
'Seems about time.' Sylas thought to himself.
Instead of thanking Maya, he brought out another set of beast hides. This time, the smell was even more suffocating, some of Maya's workers directly passing out.
Rotten Beasts.
Two of them.
"I don't think I need to-."
BANG!
A rush of Aether swirled around Maya. Just staring at the two corpses, she seemed to have grasped something and the world became brighter to her.
This breakthrough was witnessed by all those surrounding the shop, eagerly waiting for their
turn.
But instead of gaining what they thought they would, they instead saw a spectacle they never thought they would.
[Maya Sinclair (FFF+)]
[Level: 37]
[Profession: Armored Seamstress (Silver)]
Her Profession upgraded from Bronze to Silver in a single bound.