Golden Carriage (5)
Fenrir continued her explanation.
"Huh...?"
"Hmm..."
That explanation didn't quite click.
Feed them, huh.
"Oh, reinforcement, huh..."
Time to reinforce the earrings, I guess.
Sacrificing my precious gear hurt down to my bones. But to snag that 120,000-gold knot belt, I had to get inside the carriage now.
Ditch the commons.
I handed the black horse—Ro—the [Adventurer's Ring] first, out of the three rings on my fingers.
Neigh!!
She refused. Turned her head away.
"Don't like this one...?"
I took off the [Obsidian Ring of Insight] and offered both together.
Then.
Snort!
She sniffed, nostrils flaring, then flicked out her tongue and swallowed both rings.
Just not enough quantity, apparently.
"Phew, glad common gear isn't beneath her..."
Looked like she rolled them around in her mouth a bit... then gulp! Swallowed whole, no chewing.
Neigh-!
She shook her mane and stepped aside, clearing the path.
Satisfied, it seemed.
"Sorry for working you so hard..."
But where did my dismantled items come out from?
No way.
"Ah... please no."
"Ah..."
"Eugh."
It was exactly as I'd imagined.
No filth on the results, but my stomach churned anyway.
"Gotta look away next time..."
Out came two stones of different colors.
"So these are reinforcement stones."
I picked them up. Now for the skeleton horse, Lu. I placed the two stones and my earrings—removed from my lobes—between its jawbones.
Clack clack!
The skeleton horse clacked its jaws, then crunched the earrings and stones in one bite. Crunch! Crack!
"Oof... this is fine, right?"
The brutal sounds made me worry the item was destroyed, but inside its hollow ribcage, blue and red lights swirled and merged.
Kaaaaang-!
Like a hammer strike, and the earring dropped out through the hole in its bony belly.
"Good thing it's just bones..."
The skeleton horse stepped aside. I picked up the earring and summoned the hologram window.
◈ Reinforcement Effect: Intelligence +2, Stamina +1
◈ Perception +2, Luck +1, Defense +2
"Whoa, that's amazing? 100% transplant?"
The random options from those two rings had compressed perfectly into my core item's stats.
That so? Feeding commons was actually a win then.
SSS Item Puller saw this far ahead...
I thought as I slid the earring back into my lobe. Finally, the Golden Carriage door opened.
"Alright."
I stepped inside. My eyes went straight to the top shelf.
Behind the glass display case waited the item I'd been eyeing.
"Heh... saved you."
Price: 120,000 G
"Purchase."
-120,000 G
Purchase complete.
Balance: 4,097 G
The glass vanished, revealing the pristine item.
It shimmered iridescently—a pure black so deep it tricked the eye into seeing erased space.
I picked up the knot belt. Smooth as silk.
"But where does this equip...?"
The moment I thought that, a hologram popped up.
'Synchronize' activated
Equipment evolves to match the user.
"What the."
The thick knot belt untied and reshaped itself...
Into some form.
A moment later, something adorable lay in my palm.
Two of them.
"Ribbons...?"
"Twin-tails...?"
Speechless.
"You want me to... put my hair in twin-tails with ribbons...?"
I froze, staring down at them. The design matched my gothic lolita reaper outfit perfectly.
"Evolving to match the user" meant this, huh. But I'd never done anything like this in my life.
Tried wrapping them around my wrist like bracelets.
"..."
Nothing happened.
"No choice, I guess..."
This was a 120k-gold unique with 90 raw mana and a 30-sec blink cooldown.
Pride meant nothing.
Carefully, I gathered my waist-length silver hair into two sections. Something I'd never done before. Awkwardly gripping the strands slipping through my fingers, I wrapped the black ribbons around once and tied them off.
Swish, swish. Each loop exposed my nape.
"Not easy..."
Trial and error took forever. Undid and retied countless times since I had no clue. About five minutes later.
I'd managed crude twin-tails on both sides.
That's when my eyes met my reflection in the carriage's sleek glass display.
"......"
My flowing silver hair now sprang up perkily on both sides, black ribbons fluttering gently.
"Agh... ugh..."
My exposed nape from the twin-tails burned strangely.
I pursed my lips, then yanked my gaze to the floor.
Then.
'Black Shift'
And next.
BOOM-!
In an instant, an ebony aura surged from the twin-tail ribbons, enveloping and rising from my body. Breath caught in my throat.
"Whoa, what is this."
The overwhelming sensation drowned out any embarrassment.
"Mana increase is palpable too, huh...?"
I felt the recoil of +90 mana all at once.
Hard to describe.
Like a new organ had grown in my body, with growing pains throbbing there...
Bad analogy... Wait, it's not an analogy.
Then it hit me. Just days ago, I'd truly gained a new organ in my body.
Swish. I closed my eyes quietly, focusing inward.
Deep in my dantian. The massive black circle I'd stolen from that nameless mage three days ago.
Vrrrrm-!
The enormous circle inside spun rapidly.
"Faster now..."
Like an engine with boosted torque.
I could grasp what mana was, but it was still idling.
I wanted to test it right away.
Instinct told me.
These ribbons channeled mana.
Steadying my trembling hands, I gazed at the wide marble plaza outside the carriage.
"Black Shift."
I whispered the skill name. Then.
Humm-