The days quickly passed by as Dante spent his time studying at the Academy under instructor Giovanna, and before he could know it, the dungeon's expedition was setting off the very next day.
And since they didn't have any more time, Dante and Alexander had made their way back to Heitor's shop to pick up his suit of armor, which Heitor should've just finished a day ago. And when Dante saw it, oh, it was glorious.
First, it had a soft, full-body, insulating layer of fabric with compressive fabric that would contract upon tearing to block any bleeding immediately, and it was durable enough to withstand blade strikes. This was the armor's underlayer. With this, Dante shouldn't fear bleeding.
Of course, to Dante, death from bleeding wasn't an issue at all, as he is immortal. But passing out from blood loss was a whole other matter. If he lost consciousness and got eaten by some abominations, it wouldn't be that far off for him to wake up as a steaming hot piece of shit.
^Even if some people here call me a piece of shit, I shouldn't literally become one.^ The horror! Just imagining it had made the fine hair on his body stand up.
Then above it, a full-body, black spandex layer of woven carbon fiber alloy, consisting of over twenty layers of shock-absorbing intertwined fabric to be able to even stop lower-caliber bullets. That made a .22 round feel like a paintball. Of course, a bullet or a hard hit would still shatter Dante's ribs beneath the spandex, so he shouldn't rely on it that much.
Then, above all of that, several body parts were protected by thin sheets of silvery-gray and durable aluminum composite, which consisted of a cuirass, pauldrons, tasset, bracers, and boots with greaves. Lastly, a durable barbute helmet was fashioned with a droppable visor and internal reinforcement that could withstand the bite force of an adult caiman with ease.
Just to compare it to Alexander's armor, while Dante's plates were just two millimeters thick and could barely deflect a 9mm round, Alexander's 20mm-thick plates can easily deflect a .50 caliber if taken at the right angle. That was the difference between what the Blessed considered heavy and light armor.
And if that wasn't enough, they even had a green hydrophobic and insulating coat made for him. It even had a hood and several pockets hidden inside so he can store whatever he wants.
"You even got some pockets in it!" Dante was worried about having to carry a huge backpack on his back all the time or lose access to even small tools like knives or bullets, but here he is getting pockets in a cloak.
Heitor laughed. "Well, of course, you're a man, not a woman. I'll get you as many pockets as you want."
The armor looked impenetrable, but that couldn't be further from the truth. As impressive as it was, it was just a Mundane suit of armor, and it would get easily shredded by the fangs of Scarred abominations. And if Dante ended up facing a Cursed one, then he might as well fight naked, as this armor won't be able to stop anything.
What determines durability in this abomination-infested world isn't just the material's strength, but the mana quality of things as well. Mana could be seen as a mesh or rebar through concrete. It seeps through flesh and bones and reinforces them that way. That's why regular low-caliber bullets can barely hurt Scarred abominations and have almost no effect on higher-ranked ones.
That was also the reason Soul Foundation, in Dante's case, his Soul Harvest, could give him more mana and physical strength and speed, as it literally represents how saturated he is with mana. So when it reaches 666, he should be at the peak of his Mundane self.
This armor had a bit of mana flowing through it, as mana is now a part of everything, but the density was almost ten times lower than what a Scarred abomination would have. It would still help Dante survive Scarred abominations a bit longer, but it isn't going to make him leave a fight unscathed. It was the same with how you don't want to get shot even with a bulletproof vest.
It was common for the young blessed to get a nice suit of armor, think they are invincible, and go die in the maw of an abomination, so Heitor had to make sure Dante understood that this armor won't protect him from anything above the Mundane rank, and he repeated that more than once.
That was how Heitor lost both his younger brother and son.
In the past, when Dante and Alexander got attacked by Scarred wolves, Alexander's armor allowed him to survive the mauling with minimal injuries, but that was because his armor was extremely thick and heavy, unlike this one, which was light and mobile. So Dante could guesstimate what he could and what he couldn't fight.
What came next was the part that Dante was interested in: getting it integrated into his soul as a magic item, which still sounded weird to him, as the armor was made of several parts. But what he saw was utterly amazing. He had heard of it before, but still, this was his first time seeing it firsthand.
Heitor had called in a Touched who had learned Creation Magic, and the young man got to work immediately, not even talking with anyone. He made a wooden mannequin wear the armor, placed a Mundane Crystal core into its mouth, and then asked Dante to stand beside it and hold hands with it.
The Touched young man then handed Dante a Mundane Crystal core as well and asked him to put it in his mouth. From what Heitor explained from the side, Dante could get a vague understanding of what the process was, and it was better to experience it than read about it.
First, the wooden mannequin acted as the owner of the armor, and it had to be actively using said armor, so they made it wear it. The armor is Mundane in rank, so they had to use Mundane Crystals for the next step. They put a Mundane Crystal core into the mannequin to act as the energy source to send the armor to Dante, and the Crystal core needed to be inside the body, so the mouth was the easiest hole to use.
Dante himself was the recipient, and he had to hold the mannequin's hand to form a direct transfer link. Then Dante also needed mana to be able to integrate the armor into his soul, and for that, he could have used his own mana directly, but that was risky. If Dante didn't have enough mana, the armor would fail to transfer and be permanently lost, so they had him put a Mundane Crystal core in his mouth to act as the energy source.
When everything was set up, the Touched young man started working his magic. Using the mana of the Mundane Crystal core in the mannequin's mouth, he initiated the transfer. The armor started glowing, melted into silver dust, and sank into the mannequin's body before moving like a haze down its arm, to Dante's hand, and then up to Dante's chest where his soul was, all following the movements of the young man's hand.
When the haze reached Dante's soul, the Touched young man touched his chest and pulled mana from the Mundane Crystal core in Dante's mouth to fully fuse the armor with Dante's soul, finally turning it into a Magic Item that he could use. From what Dante felt, the fusion alone had used about a hundred droplets of mana.
Then, a voice rang in Dante's head.
[Notice: A new Magic Item 'Heitor's Light Armor' received]
[Notice: 'Heitor's Light Armor' had merged with the Watcher of Souls and turned into 'The Watcher's Custodial Uniform']
Dante blinked several times, and before even looking at his stats, he turned toward Heitor. "Say, why did you call it Heitor's Light Armor? Can't we change it to something cool?"
Heitor laughed. "Sadly not. The government has strict rules about man-made magic items. The name of the creator, then the item's type. Nothing more is allowed, besides numbers. That is so they won't mistake it for a dungeon item, and you can't resell it for a higher price than it's worth. If it was of the Blessed rank or higher, they might entertain the idea and let me give it a cool name, but sadly, a mundane is out of the question."
The Touched young man looked at Dante, finally speaking. "The government can take days to process such a request, and to rename it, we would need to remove it from your soul. All of that takes time and resources that you don't have. Aren't you setting up to the dungeon tomorrow?"
Dante smiled. "Yeah, who knows? I might get something better there. This is purely practical. At least it looks cool." But inside his mind, he was almost panicking. From this, he could guess that Magic Items aren't supposed to just change names on their own.
Dante then pulled his stats to see what changed. Armor was mundane in rank, so it shouldn't have any supernatural abilities and should just be a suit of armor that he can pull out of his soul whenever he wants.
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Magic items:
[The Watcher's Custodial Uniform] [Rank: Mundane] [Abilities: Curse of Binding, Mending]
The Watcher's Custodial Uniform description: [Once created as nothing but a durable suit of armor, but in the soul of the dreadful Watcher, it had been cursed to eternal service.]
The Watcher's Custodial Uniform Abilities description:
Curse of Binding: This suit of armor is bound to the Watcher's cursed immortal soul. It cannot be separated from it.
Mending: This suit of armor is bound to the Watcher's immortal soul. It slowly repairs itself when stored with its immortal embrace.
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"What?" Dante gasped audibly as he saw his stats, making everyone stare at him in silence for a second. He thought that Mundane Items don't have any supernatural abilities, so what's going on with this armor now?
From the description, he could at least deduce that it had something to do with his cursed soul, and only after looking at it for a long while did he understand what was going on. This had to be thanks to his Eldritch Curse, which should be equal in rank to a Divine Blessing.
He had planned to sell this armor later after ranking up to fund a new set, which was a common practice for many Blessed, but that isn't possible now. The Curse of Binding prevents him from transferring this armor to anyone else, thus making selling it impossible. But in exchange, this armor can repair itself when stored inside his soul and not in use.
Dante still doesn't know how long it would take to repair itself, but he was certain that the negative and positive abilities somewhat cancel each other in value, landing the suit of armor back at the Mundane rank.
So if the Curse of Binding is removed, this armor would be of the Touched rank. In Dante's case, the Scarred rank.
"Is there a problem?" The Touched young man looked at Dante's face for a second, prompting him to force a smile and ask with a confused face. "I was just thinking… can I summon it with my clothes on?" It was a half-assed, quickly baked lie, but the Touched young man bought it.
"Well…" The Touched young man scratched his chin. "Mundane equipment would tear your clothes apart… so I recommend stripping before summoning it. This isn't an issue for Touched equipment, as those displace your clothes aside instead of destroying them."
Dante immediately threw a glance toward Alexander, who was pretending to be oblivious in the corner of the room. "You knew about this, right?"
Alexander giggled. "Well… It's a sort of initiation ritual. Many Blessed get caught off-guard by it." It was common not to tell the new Blessed and let them embarrass themselves a bit. Alexander walked behind the counter and pulled a small black bag. "At least, I bought you a fresh set of clothes."
Dante growled, grinding his teeth. This bastard was about to embarrass him in front of everyone here… "Wait! This is why you refused to let Rain come with us!" Using one droplet of mana on his leg, Dante flew forward at blinding speed and aimed a fist right at Alexander's face, only to get weaved with ease.
"I'm going to kill you!" As Dante kept swinging at him, Alexander kept dodging while laughing his ass off until Dante finally managed to land a hit and knock him to the ground. "Wait! Stop! Stop! My stomach hurts. I can't laugh anymore."
As the two fought, Heitor shouted at them in distress. "You two fools! Don't fight in here, go outside!" He rushed in, grabbed one of the hammers he had on display, and went to beat some sense into them.
The old merchant and the Touched young man both watched and smiled. "Let them be, Heitor. Your shop is mostly empty anyway." The old merchant shouted with a grin, and only then did he rush to help.