Even without the fancy “Relic-tier” label, the Rune Gauntlet was beautiful. Its gold metal had a soft, matte finish, with Magic Circuits running along the surface like veins. The empty spaces were etched with fine runes that pulsed faintly with light. When Do-Jin slid his hand inside, the silk glove he wore brushed against the cold metal. A sharp, stinging jolt shot through his fingertips.

Right then, the gauntlet tightened perfectly around his hand like it had been made just for him. “So this is the default form, huh?”

If not for the joints around each finger, it almost looked like a simple leather glove. It was thin, clean, and practical. However, using it like this was like trying to swing a sword still in its scabbard. The gauntlet’s real form only revealed itself when a mage was ready for battle.

“Well, let’s see what you’ve really got.”

As Do-Jin pushed mana through his circuits, the Rune Gauntlet reacted instantly. Threads of golden metal snapped out like wires, shot up his arm, and wrapped tight. In a flash, what used to stop at his wrist now covered his whole forearm. It had turned into a full vambrace.

“Shit.”

Even Do-Jin was impressed. He’d seen gear with transformation features before, but this one was on another level.

It looked so thin that it barely wrapped halfway up the forearm, but I guess even with the seal still in place, a relic’s still a damn relic.

Magic gauntlets were a practical weapon type, designed specifically for mages who fought on the front lines. They amplified magic, increased casting speed, and reduced mana load, all while keeping both hands free. Their relatively broad metal surface also allowed for additional functions through engraved runes and carvings. In the worst-case scenario, they could even serve as a small shield during close combat. That was the original purpose behind magic gauntlets.

They weren’t that popular, though, since their mana amplification wasn’t as efficient compared to other weapons.

However, no weapon came without trade-offs. Magic gauntlets generally had lower magic attack stats than other types of gear. While they could be used defensively, that feature wasn’t all that useful either. Just a few hits were enough to damage the gauntlet and reduce its performance.

But if it’s a relic-grade magic gauntlet, that changes everything.

The typical downsides only applied to gear up to S-rank. Once it reached Relic-grade, which was considered outside the standard classification system, it became an entirely different kind of weapon.

Just the fact that the Ultimate Rune gave him a guaranteed crit rate meant this thing had more firepower than most S-rank gear could ever hope to compete with. On top of that, there were the bonus stats that provided +100 to magic attack, physical defense, and magic defense. This was with the seal only partially removed, so there was no telling how much stronger it would get once it was fully unsealed.

A weapon that grows with me... This is what dreams are made of.

Staring proudly at the Rune Gauntlet that wrapped tight around his arm, Do-Jin felt a sharp itch to level up.

“Just you wait. I’ll get that seal off soon enough...”

Leveling up came before anything else, especially with his next destination being the Forest that Sings of Eternity. Just setting foot in that place would instantly kill any players under Level 90.

“Ah, I need to redo my whole gear setup too.”

Just as he was about to charge forward and blast a spell straight into a monster’s face, Do-Jin was hit with a very important realization. He had his hands on such a legendary weapon, yet his gear setup looked like a patchwork of trash he had picked up along the way. Until now, he had been in a growth phase, so he’d been fine with buying whatever was cheap and good enough. Now that he had a Relic-tier weapon, it was time to put together a proper setup.

Normally a full crit build is nearly impossible for a mage... Now that I have it, I really should gear up properly.

Mages were notoriously disadvantaged when it came to critical hits. Since magic was already specialized for sheer destructive power, allowing spells to crit too easily would send the damage output straight into the stratosphere.

Hence, the system was designed to make crits almost nonexistent for mages. Even if a mage were to stack crit rate buffs on every single gear slot, the best a mage could usually get was around ten percent. Thanks to this ridiculous Relic-tier weapon, Do-Jin had a full 100% critical rate, something even physical damage dealers would struggle to hit.

If I balance the stats across each gear slot and build this right... I might actually end up with a completely broken-ass character.

Do-Jin started mentally piecing together possible stat combinations. No matter what setup he imagined, it all sounded glorious.

***

Back in his previous life, he had to figure out his builds alone, sort through what gear and stats he needed, then scour the marketplace or Lotranet’s trading boards to hunt it all down by himself. However, that wasn’t the case anymore.

“Do-Jin, here’s the list of items,” Chun Ji-Hyun said. “I went through every single mage gear set for the Level 70 range posted on Lotranet and sorted them by the options you wanted. For anything I couldn’t find at that level, I added some Level 60 substitutes at the bottom.”

LOST was a massively popular game. If someone said they played a VR MMORPG, chances were nine out of ten they were talking about this game. Of course, there were people at Rael Entertainment who played it too.

Knowing that, Do-Jin just dumped the whole job on the company instead of running around to find the gear he needed on his own. What he got in return was a large, comprehensive list of items that Chun Ji-Hyun put together in just two days.

“Holy shit, that’s a lot.”

It looked like she had noted down every single piece of gear listed on the exchange, and this was apparently the condensed version. Do-Jin checked the specs of the top-listed gear and gave a satisfied nod. It was laid out exactly the way he wanted, clean and clear with only the relevant details.

[Red Sand Lizard Scale Robe]

Grade: A

Required Level: 75

Required Stat: Intelligence 200

Options:

+15 Magic Attack

+100 Physical/Magic Defense

+5% Casting Speed

Seller: Lotranet

Price: 13 million won

The stats are exactly what I asked for... though the price is kind of rough. Or is it? Then again, Level 70 gear is pretty rare these days.

He began studying the list carefully, mentally fitting different gear pieces together.

I’ll give up on offensive stats for the top and bottom pieces and go all in on defense instead. Magic attack can come from the robe, and the rest should be focused entirely on casting speed.

The theme Do-Jin had decided on was speed. Up until now, thanks to the Grimoire of Truth, his casting speed had been way faster than most mages, so he had focused more on offense. But now that he had an artifact weapon, even a minimal investment in offense would be enough to hit hard. That freed him up to push his casting speed to the absolute limit.

With Mana Delay now in the mix, mana management’s easier than ever. Time to go all in on speed. His Tier 1 spells were already near-instant. If he reworked his gear for speed and also kept grinding mastery through casting, even Tier 2 and Tier 3 spells could be fired off incredibly fast. It was like swapping out a medieval cannon for a modern-day, rapid-fire missile launcher.

“Alright. This should do for now. I’ll have to replace it all once I hit higher levels, anyway.”

The list had been so neatly organized that even picking gear at random would have landed him with solid equipment.

“Chun Ji-Hyun, go ahead and buy this stuff for me. Take the payment from my earnings balance.”

“Huh? The director said that since you mentioned you needed gear, he was going to...”

“Just tell him I wanted to pay for it myself. I feel bad constantly taking handouts.”

“Still, the direc—”

“I’m paying for this one.” Do-Jin cut her off firmly.

“Alright... if that’s how you feel, I’ll report it that way. Is there anything else you want me to do?” she asked, checking off the gear list he had chosen.

“Remember the weapon I used before this? Sell that and put the money toward the gear. It’s an S-grade item, but it’s Level 53, so it won’t go for much.”

“How much should I list it for?”

“Just ask the employee who put together the list. They’ll know the going rate and handle it.”

“Okay, got it.”

“How much is all this going to cost me?” Do-Jin asked, realizing he hadn’t even checked the total price.

“Uh, give me a second. The currencies are all mixed, gold, dollars, won, yen... So, if I convert everything into won...”

Chun Ji-Hyun did a quick calculation, and when she saw the final number, she sucked in a sharp breath. “It’s a little over 140 million won.”

Do-Jin froze. That’s... steeper than I thought. Even though I already skipped all the S-grade stuff and stuck to A and B-grade.

The urge to go back and pick cheaper items hit him, but he held himself back. His channel had just crossed five million subscribers and it was still growing fast. His views were through the roof, so unless something went horribly wrong, he wouldn’t need to worry about money for a while. Probably. The only hiccup was that his monetization still hadn’t been approved, but that was because the channel hadn’t hit the three-month mark yet. That would get resolved soon enough.

They say it wasn’t this damn hard to get the channel monetized back in the day. This is exactly why monopolies are a problem.

Grumbling about MeTube’s stranglehold on the video content market wouldn’t do anything for him right now. Do-Jin shook off the lingering thought.

“Just take care of it.”

***

A few days later, he was able to pick up all the items from the Adventurers’ Guild, boxed and labeled under his name. Having completely overhauled his gear, Do-Jin headed to the hunting grounds to test it all out.

[Red Mountain Boar: Lv. 85]

His first test subject was the Red Mountain Boar, a monster infamous for its massive health pool. It was the kind of beast that took a full five-man party at Level 75 over a minute to kill. Despite being a normal monster, it was so tanky that people basically treated it as an elite one.

The Red Mountain Boar was lumbering along when it turned its head. It had spotted Do-Jin, let out a short squeal, and started stomping its feet in anger. The hardened earth caved in with each stomp. Watching that display, Do-Jin calmly opened his Magic Circuits. Black threads unfurled and wrapped around his arms, and his golden mana briefly shimmered across the surface of the fully activated Sealed Rune Gauntlet before fading.

“Come at me, fatass.”

The Red Mountain Boar charged, or rather, launched itself like a cannonball. Do-Jin opened the Grimoire of Truth and prepared for combat.

[Fireball]

In the same moment Do-Jin moved to cast the spell, flames erupted. The Tier 2 Fireball had been cast at a speed almost equal to a basic Flame Arrow. Right after forming, it shot forward like a bullet.

BOOM!

The boar’s final squeal overlapped with the explosive impact. The perfect harmony of his maxed-out crit rate, boosted magic attack, and increased critical damage resulted in absurd firepower. Despite having three times the health of other monsters in its level range, the Red Mountain Boar went up in flames and flipped over, charred black.

“Seriously...?” Even Do-Jin was stunned.

He’d expected to land at least two hits, even factoring in the World Event buff. But the monster infamously nicknamed “meat tank” had just died in one blow. Left speechless, Do-Jin stared at the corpse for a moment.

“I knew this magic crit was broken, but this is just insane.”

The boar might’ve been Level 85, but its bulk was on par with those at Level 90. Yet, it had gone down to a single Tier 2 spell. With a hidden class, a Relic weapon, high-end gear he got through literal cash, and buffed stats from the event all stacked together, the result was overwhelming, almost too much.

Do-Jin stared at the roasted boar for a moment before muttering under his breath, “If the seal had been fully lifted, I could’ve done that with a Tier 1 spell.”

There was not even a hint of shame in his voice. He acted as if this was actually disappointing.