Chapter 330: Handyman
Kael noticed.
It was a chest armor displayed near the back of the list. The image showed black and gray leather layered over light metal plates, designed close to the body rather than bulky. The piece was heavily damaged, with long gashes across the front and several puncture holes near the ribs. One shoulder strap looked half-torn. The item would have been beautiful once, but now it looked like something had dragged its previous owner through claws and teeth before Baltak "preserved value" from the corpse.
Yenna stared at it longer than the rest.
Then moved her hand away.
"What’s wrong?" Kael asked.
"It’s not a bad piece of armor," she said. "But I’m not close enough to a portal floor to go back to Floor Two and repair it."
"But you don’t need to."
She frowned at him. "What?"
"You can buy the damaged one," Kael said. "I’ll fix it for you."
Yenna looked at him.
Baltak leaned forward, suddenly very interested again.
"You repair gear?" the imp asked.
Kael ignored him.
Yenna’s gaze moved to his gauntlets, then to the repaired seams in his armor, then back to the damaged chest piece. Trust did not come easily to her. It showed in the pause. In the way her fingers hovered near the purchase prompt. In the way she glanced at the honey badger as if expecting warning.
The honey badger sniffed. "Let him try."
Yenna exhaled.
Then bought it.
The damaged chest armor appeared in her hands, heavier than it looked. She handed it to Kael.
He inspected it.
[Nightingale’s Chest Armor]
[Condition: Heavy Damage]
[Grade: Rare]
[Effects:]
[+10% to all resistances.]
[Reduces emitted noise.]
[Can slightly lower one’s presence in shaded areas and remove their scent.]
[1% mana and health regeneration out of combat per second.]
[Lore:]
[A light armor that excels in keeping its wearer away from danger.]
[To walk unseen is not merely to hide from the eye, but to vanish from the senses of the wild.]
Kael’s expression shifted.
"That’s actually really good."
"I know," Yenna said. "That’s why the damage is annoying."
"Not for long."
Kael pulled out Brokk’s Hammer.
He then placed the armor carefully on a clear stretch of counter. The hammer sat comfortably in his hand, familiar weight settling through his wrist and into his arm. He had used it enough now that the first strike no longer felt like using a tool he did not deserve. It still felt legendary, still felt impossible, but it answered him with less resistance.
He tapped the damaged armor once.
A low sound rang out.
Not loud.
Deep.
The gash across the chest twitched.
Yenna leaned closer despite herself.
Kael tapped again.
The torn leather began pulling together, edges knitting as if time had been given a thread and needle. The puncture holes tightened. Bent metal wires shifted under the surface, straightening with faint clicks. He turned the armor slightly, tapped near the shoulder strap, then along the rib section where the deepest claw marks had nearly split the piece in two.
Each strike was careful.
The hammer did not simply hammer. It reminded things what they were before.
After several more taps, the last gash closed.
The armor’s surface smoothed.
The black-gray leather regained a subtle sheen. The light metal plates settled flush beneath it, flexible but strong. The shoulder strap restored itself completely. What had been a heavily damaged corpse-loot chest piece now looked pristine, almost new.
[Repair successful.]
[Nightingale’s Chest Armor condition restored.]
Baltak stared at the armor.
Then at the hammer.
Then at Kael.
"My dear client," he said softly, "you are becoming more interesting every time I see you."
"That sounds expensive," Kael said.
"It could be."
"No."
Yenna took the armor from him with both hands.
For once, she did not immediately say something sharp.
"Thanks," she said.
"Don’t mention it."
"I wasn’t planning to make it emotional."
"Good."
She equipped it immediately.
The damaged leather armor she had been wearing vanished into her inventory, and Nightingale’s Chest Armor settled over her body in its place. Unlike her previous gear, this one fit closely. Very closely. It hugged her torso with the snug precision of armor designed for silence and movement rather than modesty, shaping around her waist, chest, and shoulders as if it had been tailored after deciding extra material was a personal insult.
Kael looked.
A little too long.
Yenna noticed.
She coughed.
Kael looked at a shelf very quickly.
"That shelf is interesting," he said.
"It’s empty."
"Minimalist."
Yenna stared at him for another second, smiled, then pulled a cloak from her inventory and draped it over her shoulders. The fabric fell across the armor, hiding most of its shape while leaving the movement benefits intact.
"Anyway," Kael said, turning back toward Baltak with the composure of a man who had survived worse battles than embarrassment, but not many. "This is good. You need anything else?"
Yenna checked her remaining shards.
"Broke right now," she said. "Let’s leave."
Kael nodded and adjusted the materials in his inventory one more time.
Malachor Jade Ingot.
Porphyrite-Gloom Ore..
Some metal pieces of the golem and the creatures that had brittle metal for flesh.
He looked back at Baltak. "See you next time, Baltak."
The imp’s grin returned in full. "I hope so too, dear client."
"That sounds like a threat."
"It is customer service."
Yenna opened the shop door.
The warmth and neon gave way to the cold dark pressure of Vanitas Sector Three. The street outside waited under blue-black shadows, its silence heavier than before. Somewhere far off, metal shifted. Armor, perhaps. Slow, deliberate, trained.
Kael stepped out after her, torch in hand.
The shop bell jingled behind them.
Baltak’s voice followed softly.
"Try not to die before you can pay for more expensive things."
The door closed.
Kael looked at Yenna. "I hate that he knows exactly how to motivate me."
"By insulting you?"
"By having inventory."
Yenna shook her head, but he caught the faintest hint of amusement beneath the hood of her cloak.
Then both of them turned toward the next sector street.
The merchant was behind them.
The final safe zone was still ahead.
And Vanitas, clearly offended that they had survived long enough to shop, waited with trained knights in the dark.
***
At the headquarters of the Sun Clan on the second floor, with a desk full of documents and too many eyes looking everywhere but at the vice guild leader, Lucas sat behind the desk checking the information he just received.
"Seriously? Nothing, and it’s been how long?" Lucas asked.
"A month since anything was updated." One of the men in front of him said.
Lucas leaned back in his chair, "That doesn’t make any sense. We just got an update on another broken record, a month ago, and he just disappeared like that? You’re not trying to make me think that he died somewhere in the sub ten floors?"
"If anything, if he is alive, he should have been climbing higher. Breaking more records or at least appearing on the list of the top one hundred."
"Hmm... it’s fine, what about Yenna?"
"We received a report of her being in Vanitas, Second sector, a few members met her, they left us a small report, but..."
"No news after that."
"All presumed dead," the man said.
"Expected. She’s not someone you can take out with stragglers, it just pisses me off that she still has the same power after her death." Lucas would say.
"We can order the ones in Vanitas to spread the search more."
"No, entering vanitas is hard, leaving is easy, it’ll be a waste of resources. We can’t be chasing them from below, we need to start intercepting."
"You mean ask those on higher floors to wait?"
"Yes, which makes me ask, what is Iori doing right now?"
"He’s at the eighteenth floor."
"Not bad, he’s pretty fast."
"Yes, eighteen floor in a year is incredibly fast. But... he’s getting a bit too carried away, some of the members have complained."
"Leave him be, he’s a hound, you can’t restrict him too much, just let the members know to not agitate him too much. Also, this," he pushed a paper forward.
"Is this true? Confirmed?"
"Yes, Leonard failed again to proceed, and withdrew back to the fiftieth floor."
"Loss?"
"Insignificant unfortunately, with Tammy with them, they were able to withdraw before they wiped."
"Damn, he really is good at gathering talented people," Lucas sighed. "What about the newbies?"
"A couple of promising ones, but nothing too great, one of them made it to floor fifty-three in the Tower of Trials though. We don’t know if he was famous back then, seems like a new climber, but the people with him vouched for his leadership. He managed to take out the Ifrit in almost record time, twenty two days."
"Nothing compared to the record that the boy named Kael achieved..."
"The only difference is Kael is dead, and this guy is very much alive and had joined us..."
"That... is true."