Second World

Jack checked his total defense after wearing the God of Courage's Divine Armor. His physical defense had shot up to 9491 while his magical defense was 8402.

"The defense values are almost twice the unique equipment," Jack remarked.

"That is not yet considering when you embedded the Orb of Taranis and Orb of Amun. They would go up even higher once you did," Peniel said.

The two armor orbs were still embedded in Jack's regal outfit. He had to go to the blacksmith workshop to etch his God of Courage's Divine Armor before he could transfer the armor orbs.

"Each piece of this armor has both a response skill and an active skill," Jack said. He decided to test some of the active skills. He tried using one of the two armor skills that didn't have cooldown or duration, which meant he could use them any time he wanted.

A pair of golden wings appeared on his back. The wings were slimmer than the wings conjured by a wings tool, but they were longer. Jack shot into the air and flew around in a circle. With this War God's wings, he no longer needed his wings tool. But since he could produce four clones, two clones could now use the different wings from his equipment.

"The speed almost rivals my speed in supreme dragon form," Jack said.

"Its advantage is not only its flying speed," Peniel said. "Anyone you pass through and is hit by your wings will suffer damage."

Jack looked at the wings. They didn't flap much. They were more like the wings of a plane. "They do look sharp," Jack remarked.

Too bad no enemy is in this space so he couldn't test the wings' offensive ability. He landed back and checked the next skill with no cooldown or duration. A shield of golden light materialized next to his left hand.

"War God's shield," Jack uttered. The conjured shield was slightly bigger than the magic shield and looked much sturdier.

"Hey, George. Hit me with something!" Jack called.

"Huh?" Paytowin was waiting for his turn to use the exchange list.

"If you want someone to hit you, I will gladly do it," Leavemealone uttered. He dashed in Jack's direction after finished speaking. His body burst into flames as he charged.

"Whoa! That skill again!" Jack exclaimed as he put his golden shield forward.

Leavemealone's flames gathered into his fist. They formed the shape of a tiger's head as his fist was brought forward.

"Tiger punch," Jack uttered when he saw the incoming fist. He had a brief thought of pumping mana manipulation into the golden shield. With his mana affinity and expertise in mana manipulation, it was easy to do so even when the War God's Shield was a new skill he used for the first time, but he decided to leave it as it was. He wanted to see how strong this shield was.

Leavemealone's tiger punch arrived. His flaming fist slammed hard into the golden shield, producing a loud clanking sound. The pressure from his converged flames caused it to burst into a fiery explosion. The shockwave from the explosion made him recoil. He had to step back three times before the force was exhausted.

Jack was still standing at his original place.

Nobody thought the result was surprising. Jack's stats were way higher than Leavemealone. It was not weird for him to not budge from Leavemealone's attack.

Jack and Leavemealone were silent, though. They understood the most about what happened during the exchange. It was true that if Jack wanted to, Leavemealone wouldn't be able to force him to move. However, when the fist collided with his shield, he didn't exert any force. He was relaxed. The shield somehow acted like a rubber. It absorbed the impact and then sent it back to the attacker. Leavemealone was the one who received the pushback force instead.

The skill description didn't say that it reflected damage. Leavemealone also didn't receive any damage. What the golden shield reflected was the force of the attack. This meant this shield should be able to negate all knockback effects.

Not only that. The shield was also very durable. Way more durable than the magic shield. Jack could sense Leavemealone's punch. Although Leavemealone didn't use a skill, he was going all out using his martial art. It was not an attack that could be blocked nonchalantly as Jack did just now.

"That is a nice shield," Leavemealone praised. He also knew how special the shield was.

"Thanks," Jack said. "Your flame suit skill is also good. I can feel the dense mana from the flames. It doesn't lose to your previous Flame God Suit."

"How many times do I have to tell you? It's not a skill," Leavemealone uttered.

"It's not?" Jack asked. 'It couldn't be a martial art, right?' Jack thought. Even Long's Nine Yang art didn't produce flames that intense.

"It's that bird's flame," Leavemealone answered.

"Bird?" Jack was confused.

"That firebird you and the dragon sealed inside me."

"Suzaki?"

"Right. That's the name. She never truly bothered telling me when I asked."

"You can use her flames?" Jack asked.

"More like borrowing," Leavemealone answered. "It's an exchange for letting her a small window to the outside world. She can see what I see. For that, she pays me with her flames whenever I need it. Her flames can enhance all my power. It increases my damage and also cushions the enemy's attacks."

"Wow! So, it's like a skill without any cooldown or duration, like my shield. Except yours is way cooler. Now, aren't you glad you had us seal her inside you, don't you say?"

"Well, the power boost is all right, but she is one grumpy bird. She kept on nagging in the first few hours after she was sealed. I had to keep on mentally beating her to shut her up. She was slightly calmer now that I let her see the outside world."

"So, she can see me now?" Jack asked.

"Yeah. She said f*ck you," Leavemealone replied.

"Really?"

"She didn't exactly spell it out like that, but the meaning is the same. She knows you are Broidrireg's bestie. She hates you for being the friend of the one who sealed her."

"Well, f*ck her back then. Who asked her to be an a*shole and collaborated with Master?" Jack returned.

"Haon! It's your turn. Everyone has taken their share," Domon called.

"Coming," Leavemealone headed to the exchange screen.

"You think he will be okay?" Jack asked Peniel after Leavemealone left.

"About what?" Peniel asked.

"What if Suzaki becomes stronger if Haon keeps using her flames? Can it happen like that?"

"How do I know?" Peniel said. "Suzaki is the first being to be sealed inside an outworlder. Who knows what kind of effects there might be?"