Chapter 1059: The Classification of Equipment
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 1059: The Classification of Equipment
After a long conversation, I finally finished my negotiations with Chushi Bulei, settling on a set of everyday casual wear and a formal gown I might need for special occasions.
The reason it took so long was mainly that Chushi Bulei kept drifting into other topics. According to her, this was the essential process of "communicating to understand needs" and "establishing trust."
"It is impossible for someone who knows nothing about you to design clothes that will truly satisfy you," were her exact words.
I agreed with her. More importantly, talking to her was "easy." There wasn't much calculation or hidden intent; her only pure desire was to know more about me so she could design clothes that would make me happy.
With my Heart Sense, I could feel this very clearly, which was why I admired her.
Pure people are rare, and Chushi Bulei was certainly one of the few I had met.
Once that was settled, she brought up the style for the United Club uniforms.
The United Club uniforms were divided into two sets: casual wear and combat suits. Although they were called "sets," the casual wear was just a standard clothing design with basic Beyonder enchantments. It didn't quite reach the level of "equipment," featuring at most a built-in Cleaning Spell to keep it free of dust and stains.
The combat suits, however, were where things got fancy. You could see clear differences between the various combat sequences, though the grade of the equipment provided was equally high across the board.
The Tailor Society only handled the design; mass production was left to a collaboration between the Alchemy Club, the Enchantment Club, the Forging Club, and others.
After all, the Tailor Society was only so large. They weren't machines; they couldn't work day and night to churn them out.
Only the leaders of the various combat sequences and the representative figures of the United Club's core Guardian Clubs could get her to personally craft their gear.
As the President of the Tailor Society, Chushi Bulei dealt with the high-ranking members of various clubs in the academy frequently, so she found this uniform task easy. The only one she found truly challenging was the representative from the Baking House.
That was a person she had never encountered before. When she first heard the other party had no such requirement, she had been disappointed for quite a while.
That was one of the reasons she had been so enthusiastic upon meeting me today.
As for the No. 0 Special Combat Sequence, Cleveland had already more or less finalized the general style. Aside from some minor adjustments for specific individual needs, there were no issues. The only real difference would be the club logos.
Although the No. 0 Special Combat Sequence was led by the Baking House, its member ratio wasn't as high as other combat sequences since it had started so late.
Still, it didn't matter much. I looked at the logo representing the Baking House: it was a Red Velvet Cake dominated by deep crimson tones, with a cake knife and fork crossed behind it to decorate the badge.
At least it looked decent.
I had no intention of changing it.
With that, the custom clothing process was officially over.
As for the cost?
That was no longer within my scope of concern.
In the coming days, Chushi Bulei would refine the design sketches and confirm material choices.
According to her, a full set of high-end private tailoring—from design to final inspection—usually took six to ten weeks.
That meant two or three months. However, as the top and most efficient students in the academy, possessing Transcendent powers and spells, they guaranteed they could compress the process to under a month.
Of course, that was for the casual wear. A gown for important occasions could not be rushed in the slightest; that might take even longer.
I didn't really mind. Honestly, I couldn't imagine an occasion so grand that it would require me to wear a formal gown.
After my experience wearing one to that auction, I had become quite disillusioned with such events.
What kind of amateur troupe is worth me taking so seriously? .JPG
After leaving the society, Sister Bai, the four little ones, and I went to a random restaurant for a simple meal.
It wasn't a high-end place. Compared to those, I found more "grounded" food to be more flavorful.
The shopkeeper was likely hosting Fool's Dream spirits for the first time; they even hastily modified four "Fool's Dream Special High Chairs" for them. Their hospitality was a bit over the top.
The waitress would come over every now and then to check on us, taking the opportunity to tease Yu Yun, who just happened to be sitting in the most convenient spot.
Our recent shopping experience became the topic of conversation at the table.
"Xiao Han, do you still have a prejudice against equipment?"
"It's alright... It's not like I don't use equipment myself. I have the Book in the Box, and I use storage cards all the time, don't I? Needs are needs. What I dislike is treating a temporary external force as one's own permanent power," I explained.
"Many people think like you, though they aren't usually as extreme about it. To use the words you once told me: prejudice, fear, and worship are feelings born only because one hasn't experienced something. How about this... after we finish this meal, I'll take you to experience it for yourself?"
"Oh my... I'm being lectured by Sister Bai, aren't I?"
"So, are you going or not?"
"Hehe~ Of course I'm going. We'll call it post-meal exercise."
* * *
After the meal.
Sister Bai took me to the arena—the Omni-Link Arena I was so familiar with.
The arena provided various combat venues, such as outdoor public fields, semi-open fields, or fields restricted to specific live-stream feeds.
Naturally, there were also free-sparring fields where one could freely set whether they could be watched, how many rounds to fight, and what spellbooks or equipment were restricted.
However, the fees for such venues were very high, as they didn't generate extra revenue for the arena.
After all, the arenas were operated and maintained by clubs within the Witch Academy. Repairs were a major expense, and if the academy held a tournament for a particular year's students, the arena had to cooperate fully.
Upon arriving, Sister Bai directly opened a sealed duel arena.
Due to the venue's constraints, this wasn't an open-air field but was located in the underground area. The internal space had been expanded using spatial rune techniques, and the runic zones were reinforced to prevent a tragedy where combat might damage the spatial expansion runes and cause the space to collapse.
Once we arrived, the first thing Sister Bai did was double-reinforce the spatial stability of the duel arena.
The arena's rune techniques were sufficient for Beyonder students from a Transcendent perspective, but she was a Transcendent herself. If she wasn't careful, things could go wrong.
Now, with the heavy doors sealed, the massive field held only me, Sister Bai, and the four little ones.
"Xiao Han, have you ever looked into the classification of equipment?" As we walked into the arena, the click-clack of Sister Bai's footsteps echoed through the space as she asked the question.
"Not in detail. I have records in my Tree of Great Knowledge, but they always felt a bit strange. The divisions are so meticulous, like one-star, two-star, and so on."
"It seems you only know the classifications used within the Main World. Actually, the system you're talking about only applies to those below the Transcendent level. Things like 1 to 10-star equipment are essentially all just categorized as 'Beyonder equipment.'"
"Oh, I see. It's like spellbooks, subdivided by 1-point or 10-point consumption. But for a Transcendent, those distinctions are meaningless, right?"
"Exactly. Though subdivision has its perks—the more detailed it is, the more intuitively one can understand a piece of gear's performance. But the classification I'm talking about isn't that. I'm talking about the major tiers. From the Main World's unified Beyonder equipment for those below Transcendent, to Transcendent equipment for Transcendent experts, and finally, equipment for the Saint Realm, which is called Saint Realm equipment, or Holy Artifacts." Sister Bai explained.
"Uh... I feel like I have a lot of questions..." I said.
"What's on your mind?"
"Two things."
"Two? Go ahead and ask. I might not know every detail, but I'm clear on the basics," Sister Bai said confidently.
"First... if gear for Transcendents is called Transcendent equipment, then what are 'Transcendent items'? Transcendent items vary in strength; the weak ones can't even deal effective damage, while the powerful ones can dictate the rise and fall of a world."
"You said it yourself—those are Transcendent items. The emphasis is on 'item,' not 'equipment.' While some Transcendent items are naturally equipment, equipment is not a Transcendent item. They are two independent systems. Xiao Han, surely you can tell the difference between the two?"
"I can now. So they're independent, but there's some overlap in common knowledge," I said, nodding immediately.
"More or less. Transcendent items are things you find, not things you seek, and finding one that's easy to use is even rarer. Equipment is the product of forging techniques. They are different, though they do overlap slightly in terms of usage attributes," Sister Bai nodded. "And your second question?"
"The second is about Holy Artifacts. I remember during the multi-Exchange Competition, the weapons forged by the dwarves were called Holy Artifacts. Is there a connection between those and the Holy Artifacts used by the Saint Realm?"
"Hmm... that's a tricky one," Sister Bai remarked, pausing to organize her thoughts. "Holy Artifact is just a synonym for Saint Realm equipment. The dwarves are the top race in the Void when it comes to forging—that excellence is even ingrained in their racial talents."
"The original Holy Artifacts were forged and defined by the dwarf race. There are many stories behind it that I haven't looked into individually. In short, the concept of a 'Holy Artifact' was taken from the name that specific dwarf tribe gave to their forged weapons. That tribe called every weapon they made a Holy Artifact. They had their own grading system, but it clashed with the mainstream Void classifications. So, some names were adopted and others discarded. Saint Realm equipment in the Void is called a Holy Artifact, and the equipment in the dwarves' advancement system is also called a Holy Artifact. You just have to distinguish them yourself."
"Wow! That's so casual!" I complained.
I wasn't the only one; the Fool's Dream beside me were also nodding in agreement. My Fool's Dream weren't just cute little things who knew nothing; they might look small, but their capacity for independent thought was no weaker than an average person's. They simply chose to act that way because they wanted to stay by my side.
All because... I liked it.
I couldn't stop them from acting like this even if I wanted to, so what else could I do?
I just had to spoil them.
Afterward, Sister Bai chatted with me about other classifications of equipment, such as gear for different body parts, universal components for humanoid races, and the different equipment and forging techniques for the Myriad Races of the Void—beasts, Alien Beasts, and special lifeforms.
But I would likely never encounter or need those, so Sister Bai only mentioned them in passing.
Then, she began taking pieces of equipment out of her storage equipment one by one.
These were very different from the equipment in my memory.
At first, they seemed ordinary—various styles ranging from rings to bracelets and necklaces. It wasn't until Sister Bai pulled out a piece that made my heart skip a beat that I realized some equipment could radiate a power so great it felt like a "threat."
"Do you feel it? This is an offensive piece of equipment suitable for a Transcendent expert." Sister Bai felt my internal trepidation. She held up a bracelet and said, "Offensive Transcendent equipment isn't necessarily a weapon; it can also be an accessory. This is called the Gale Blade Bracelet. It's inscribed with a Transcendent-level Gale Blade spell effect that can be used multiple times."
"Because it's a spell-triggered Transcendent equipment, it can also be called a magic tool. Of course, in the Void, other races call the magic tools of the witch race 'demonic tools'—magical equipment driven by mana. Regardless of the name, calling them Transcendent equipment is always correct."
As she spoke, Sister Bai slid the bracelet onto her right wrist.
"I won't use my own power. I'll fight you using only the equipment. How about it?" Sister Bai asked.
"Sure!" My eyes lit up.
I agreed immediately.
It wasn't that I hadn't fought Sister Bai before, but back then, I had been instantly crushed. That wasn't a matter of being unable to keep up; it was a pure numerical suppression. Of course, there was also the gap in combat experience, technique, and instinct.
As for the Transcendent wizard I had killed with a Void Rift, that had been a suppression of "fixed values."
The "Real Time" that a Transcendent steps into provides an all-around buff, from combat awareness to the level of their methods. Attacks that reach into Real Time deal "True Damage" to those at the Beyonder-level. Even Immortality is like a joke when faced with the tier-suppression of Real Time.
So, now that Sister Bai was restricting herself to only using equipment to fight me, I naturally wouldn't refuse!
I acknowledged that Sister Bai was a Transcendent, but facing a restriction where she could only use equipment, I had absolute confidence.