Chapter 1: Prologue
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Equipment matters.
You know it, that guy knows it, and even Baron Ferguson’s hopeless youngest son next door knows it.
Gloves, pants, accessories, clothing. Hell, even underwear is called equipment here.
Maybe that is only natural. It is the clothing that stays against your body the longest.
Then...
What is the most important factor when choosing equipment?
The equipment’s grade?
Its materials?
The owner of the shop next door insists it is the craftsman’s personal touch, but those are exactly the kinds of craftsmen you need to watch out for.
In my opinion, there is only one thing that matters most.
Compatibility with the wearer.
The wavelength and rhythm of their mana.
No matter how top-tier a piece of equipment may be, it is ultimately meaningless if it does not suit its user.
Conversely, the moment the compatibility lines up perfectly, that synergy can raise the wearer’s standing by several levels.
Even if only a single piece fits.
Some people call this superstition.
I understand.
There is no way anywhere in the world to determine that compatibility.
Which is why only a tiny handful of lucky people ever get their hands on equipment that suits them perfectly.
A post from an online community.
[✪] [What if we’re actually wearing equipment that doesn’t fucking suit us at all lol]
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Honestly, we only look at an item’s stats.
So we just brute-force it with higher grades.
What if equipment is actually poison?
The compatibility theory may be superstition, but honestly, you can’t deny that something feels off.
When they were clearing the 201st floor last time, Sword Empress and Levatein had their equipment switched, and they did not even notice lol.
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Yeah: I think they just did not notice because their builds are similar lol. Bang hahahaha.
└ Yeah1: For real hahahaha.
└ Yeah2: But I’m a newbie on the 7th floor—is there really no way to check compatibility? I’m fucking suspicious of my equipment.
└ Yeah1: If you’re a newbie, just raise your gear grade. Compatibility itself is superstition.
There was not a single wrong thing in that.
But what if...
What if there were a way to see that compatibility?
What if you did not need to buy a hundred good pieces of equipment, nor put on and take off a hundred of them while relying on your half-baked intuition?
"Now, behold. This is a top-tier upper-body piece I personally received from the royal treasury."
Its surface looked like solidified red-hot lava.
Mana overflowed from it, visible even to the naked eye.
The problem was...
[Compatibility 3.1/100][★★★★★]
[Slot: Upper Body / Lava Full Plate Armor]
[The user’s innate flame mana and the properties of the lava material are mutually incompatible. Wearing it continuously will cause mana reflux. Long-term use guarantees an internal injury debuff. Are you seriously going to keep wearing this?]
"I hear those scoundrels have lately been saying things that cast doubt on my equipment. Ridiculous, is it not?"
So, to sum it up in one line...
‘Take that shit off already.’
My role was to phrase this utterly hopeless compatibility issue as tactfully as possible.
Or make them something new.
There was one thing that surprised me.
"Take it off."
"What did you say?"
"Your skin stings when you wear that, doesn’t it?"
"How do you know that?!"
The compatibility of Tower rankers’ equipment was far more catastrophically awful than I had expected.
"Aren’t you going home?"
"I’m absolutely not leaving until you make me gloves and a necklace too!"
They thought nothing of pitching tents and staging sit-ins just to get a single piece of equipment.
"Kill me if you want. Do you think I’m moving from here?"
"If you don’t leave, I’m going on strike."
"...Watch yourself when you sleep. When you open your eyes, you’ll be in the bed in my room."
"Craftsmen are not public property."
"Hmph. What a joke."
Big shots with nothing to fear... did not hesitate to make threats, either.
I became the only equipment maker.
No, more precisely...
A blacksmith, tuner, enchanter, and...
Anyway, thanks to that, not a single day passes quietly.
I did not know.
That it would be this bad.
[Custom Crafting]
[Do not put too much faith in the equipment you are using. I’ll check its compatibility.]
[Fee: 1 kg of special mineral]
I should not have advertised.
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