Custom Equipment

"Sir, is there anything I can help you with?" A fairly neatly dressed middle-aged man opened the door. His brown eyes swept over Aster's appearance before he calmly led him inside.

With a glance, Aster took in the room's furnishings: there was no coffee table in what should have been the reception room, only a processing table that smelled of ink. What appeared to be metal components were piled in a corner, while the bedroom door was covered in intricate mechanical blueprints...

The room was unexpectedly tidy, unlike the filthy, cluttered homes of certain bachelors.

"Master Roland, Swain referred me here. I'd like to commission a Beyonder item." Seeing the familiar face of the middle-aged man, Aster smiled faintly.

Roland's shoulders sagged, and his whole body seemed to relax from its tension at once. "Swain referred you? Well, just call me Roland. And what should I call you?

"Also, my rates are expensive. Swain should have mentioned that, right? If he didn't, then I'll emphasize it again now."

"You may call me Aster. As for payment, I'm afraid it'll be difficult for me to provide enough cash to meet your needs. Would you accept barter?" Aster's smile remained unchanged as he began calculating inwardly. I'll unload those two pieces of trash on this money-grubbing lunatic in a moment...

Roland was an unofficial member of the Machinery Hivemind, mainly responsible for transactions that could not be brought into the light... For example, crafting Beyonder items and charms for Beyonders outside the Steam Church. Of course, he was still an official Beyonder. In principle, unless someone had been introduced by a veteran official Beyonder or was an official Beyonder themselves, Roland would not accept their commission.

Naturally, Swain had never told Aster about Roland. But Aster did not need Swain's introduction. In the end, being able to speak Swain's name meant that Aster was qualified to ask Roland to craft Beyonder items for him.

And in the game, Roland had been responsible for buying back white-tier equipment and accepting players' equipment-crafting commissions.

To encourage players on the Artisan Pathway to actively craft equipment, the prices for having NPCs make equipment or buy back Beyonder Characteristics had been set outrageously high. Now it seemed that Roland in this world was also a money-grubbing old bastard... There was no helping it. Who told those Artisan Pathway people to monopolize equipment production?

This profiteer had kept his purchase prices absurdly low. At first, Aster could only foolishly sell equipment to him in exchange for a few gold pounds. It was only after an experienced player reminded him that Beyonder Characteristics were best sold to other Artisan Pathway players that Aster realized how much money he had lost.

Back then, the enraged level-50 Aster had directly flattened Roland and this entire place with a full barrage of attacks. But it had been useless. As an NPC, Roland had been refreshed here by the system less than five minutes later, continuing to sell his wares.

"Yes."

Just as expected, Roland readily agreed to Aster's request. "First, take out the material you want made into a Beyonder item and let me have a look. Then tell me what you need."

"This one." Aster took an iron box from his backpack. He ran a hand over it, dispelling the Wall of Spirituality covering it.

The box opened, revealing the dagger Aster had named Soul Stealer. "Mr. Roland, I hope to obtain a weapon with powerful burst damage."

Aster did not currently lack damage output. What he lacked was the ability to stay alive. But a Sequence 7 Serial Killer Characteristic clearly could not be made into a Beyonder item suited for defense, so Aster could only settle for the next best thing and request equipment with high burst damage.

This was also the attack method Aster lacked the most right now.

Whether it was the ability attached to the Witch's Kiss gloves or the abilities of a Spirit Medium, both leaned toward sustained damage rather than burst damage. Aster had once used threads produced by Witch's Kiss as a cutting method for an instantaneous burst, but the results had been meager—the class template was right there. Controlling the target and dealing damage over time was the Demoness's mainstream playstyle.

The threads Aster created with the gloves could only instantly kill beings with the constitution of ordinary people, such as that unlucky stalker who had been beheaded. In stark contrast stood Sequence 7 Rawlins—Rachel had expended a considerable amount of spirituality on that thread-based ambush that day, yet it had merely sliced Rawlins's arms. Though the wounds were not light and had indeed affected Rawlins's later combat condition, Aster was still dissatisfied.

Whether one restrained opponents for steady damage output or suppressed enemies with rapid bursts was merely a game build. Neither was inherently superior; it was simply a matter of suitability. Now that he had become a Beyonder of the Death Pathway, Aster had naturally tried hard to adapt to this Pathway's combat style, but unfortunately, he was not used to it.

That was why Aster longed for equipment capable of inflicting extremely high burst damage in an instant. It suited his fighting style better.

Roland pushed up his black-framed glasses and leaned closer to inspect it carefully. A faint white light flowed through his eyes, and in less than a minute, he shook his head and rejected Aster's request. "No. This material cannot meet the requirements you proposed."

"No..." Aster had already expected that answer.

He had looked into the Serial Killer's related abilities and knew that it was indeed difficult to create the high-burst equipment he wanted.

So Aster smoothly raised his second question. "Then, Mr. Roland, do you have any ready-made Beyonder items here that meet my requirements? Something that can improve my survivability would also work."

In truth, after experiencing Version 6.0, Aster was somewhat dismissive of such low-level equipment. The only things that could catch his eye were demigod-grade equipment with a required level of 60 or above.

"No, but I do have a material that might be able to produce a Beyonder item matching your requirements." Roland pondered for a moment, then quickly recalled a Beyonder Characteristic he had obtained long ago. "I'll first briefly explain the traits it may possess. If you find them acceptable, I'll quote you the cost of purchasing it—crafting fees included."

"Please, go ahead." Aster's financial pressure was not too great. At this stage, as long as it was not demigod-grade equipment, he could afford it. The only question was whether it was worth the price.

It'd better not be too expensive... Otherwise, I might have no choice but to give up... Aster felt a little anxious.

In fact, with his current equipment and strength, he might not be able to swagger through Tingen City unchecked, but he could at least protect himself. Yet protecting himself alone was not enough for what he sought.

After all, Aster still carried that mission from the True Creator. He still had to go to the Church of River and Sea to seize 1-27... This mission, which exceeded the game version's intended capabilities, had severely disrupted his growth plan, forcing Aster to search early for equipment that suited his fighting style.

"If that material is made into a Beyonder item, there should be two possible directions: survival and offense." Roland closed the box containing the dagger again. Aster noticed fine scars on Roland's fingertips. "If it's crafted according to your requirements into a weapon that can deal tremendous damage to an enemy in an instant, it will at least have specialized abilities such as Condense Weapons with Dawn to Attack Targets and Storm of Light."

As a veteran PvP player, Aster immediately guessed which Pathway that material belonged to. "Dawn Paladin?"

Roland gave Aster a surprised glance and replied, "Yes. It seems you know a few things. That'll save me a great deal of effort explaining the terminology."

Roland is probing me too... Aster did not continue discussing the Dawn Paladin. He understood well that the more one said, the more likely one was to slip up.

Seeing that his visitor would not reveal any more information, Roland could not be bothered to investigate further and continued his introduction. "If it's made into a Beyonder item specializing in defense, it will most likely grant you abilities such as Armor of Light and Break Illusions. Choose a direction."

"Mr. Roland, can't it cover both?" Aster was puzzled. Almost all the equipment he had used before directly came with the skill tree corresponding to its Pathway and had been quite comprehensive in function. Yet Roland had split the Dawn Paladin's offensive and survival capabilities apart, leaving Aster only one choice.

"No, because I don't have that ability." Roland spread his hands frankly. "For mechanical experts like us, the negative effects of the Beyonder items we create are often proportional to their usefulness. If you want it to possess both powerful offensive and survival capabilities, I can actually do that, but I suspect you wouldn't be able to bear such severe negative effects... Those Beyonder items with great power and weak drawbacks are mostly made by higher-ranking Beyonders of the Savant Pathway."

"So, in order to reduce the intensity of the negative effects, the Beyonder item's own abilities have to be weakened as well..." Aster fell into thought. This was indeed the first time he had heard such a claim.

After thinking for a few seconds, Aster decided to ask about the price first.

"Mr. Roland, if I want this Beyonder item, how much would I need to pay?"

"Four thousand pounds." Roland answered with a smile. When he saw Aster's slightly distorted expression, the smile on his face deepened. "Believe me, that's a very fair price."

Yeah, it was very fair... If he bought a level-40 piece of equipment from another Pathway, it would probably cost about that much. But this was custom-made, and he did not even need to pay an additional crafting fee... From that perspective, Roland was not quite that black-hearted...

But Aster did not have much money left, and besides... Having grown used to prices in player-to-player transactions, buying things from NPCs again was truly uncomfortable... The markup was ridiculous!

In the game, similar level-40 equipment could be bought for less than a thousand pounds, while four thousand pounds... That price could buy two high-quality pieces of level-50 equipment!