Leon’s eyes widened in excitement as he stared at the ring’s description floating in front of him. He had expected a good reward from his legendary talent extraction, but the sheer scale of the stat attributes before him was breathtaking.

It might not boost as many attributes at the same time like Excalibur, which distributed its massive bonuses across every single attribute on his status window.

However, the few specific attributes that were going to be boosted by this ring would be quite significant to his overall combat capability.

The monumental addition to his Vitality, Endurance, and Mana pools instantly transformed him into a walking fortress, giving him the massive staying power he sorely needed for high-level raiding.

There was also the incredible list of skills tied to the artifact, which were one S-rank, two SS-rank, and one SSS-rank.

’But then... I still haven’t unlocked its full power yet.’ he thought with a slight frown on his face.

His eyes flicked down to the final warning label at the bottom of the glowing display window. The reminder served as a small reality check, dampening his initial rush of excitement just a bit as he realized the true potential of the item was currently held back.

It was a very similar problem to what he had encountered with Excalibur when he obtained the legendary blade.

Except this time, instead of earning its acknowledgment, he had to gradually increase his affinity with the ring so he could fully unlock its true nature.

Even the SSS-rank skill, Gorgon’s Gaze, was sealed to him until he fully unlocked the ring’s hidden parameters.

It was a bit frustrating to look at such a powerful skill right in front of his face without being able to activate it in battle. He could only imagine the kind of world-bending effects an SSS-rank skill would possess once the seal was broken.

The only major difference between the two items was that Excalibur’s SSS-rank skill was displayed as ’???’, not even allowing him to see the actual name or description of the ultimate power.

The ring at least gave him a clear target to aim for by revealing the name of the skill.

He looked closely at the ring again, shifting his hand slightly to let the faint light of the cave catch the dark metal.

He began noticing something highly specific about the strange patterns intricately carved along the surface.

The green inscriptions were not just random magical runes; they were detailed depictions of ancient legends.

Some of them looked like tiny, writhing snakes inscribed perfectly along the sides of the band, their bodies twisting together in fluid motions.

Right next to them, some of the carvings looked like noble horses charging furiously into the heat of battle, their hooves raised as if trampling invisible enemies.

The craftsmanship was impossibly fine, capturing an immense amount of historical detail on a very small space.

The head of the ring itself had the face of a beautiful woman with hissing snakes as her hair.

The miniature sculpture was crafted with such lifelike precision that it felt as though the green eyes of the woman were staring directly back into Leon’s own soul.

’What do these inscriptions even mean?’ Leon thought.

He had never heard about a woman with snakes as hair anywhere in his life, so it felt rather odd to see it inscribed so prominently on the head of the ring.

To his knowledge, standard monster designs in this world consisted of things like goblins, orcs, and the sabertooths he had just incinerated.

The concept of a beautiful female figure possessing living, hissing reptiles for her hair was entirely foreign to him, standing out as a bizarre and unique aesthetic choice.

He didn’t think too much about it though, simply believing that it was only like that due to its legendary status.

High-tier artifacts of the Legendary grade were universally known to possess highly unique visual designs and thematic elements that set them far apart from rare or epic items.

’And also... the goddess of wisdom and war, Athena... I’ve never heard anything about someone like that at the academy.’ he thought.

The instructors at the academy had thoroughly covered all the known high-ranking entities, historical heroes, and powerful dungeon monsters in their curriculum.

Yet, the name of this specific deity had never once been mentioned in any of his extensive lectures or textbooks.

He had never been someone who dabbled into mythology during his free time, so things like that were quite strange to him.

He decided it was time to test the capabilities of his new item rather than stress over its origins.

Leon stretched his fist out directly in front of his body, clearing his mind as he focused his intent on the ring.

He wished for the shield to manifest into the physical world right before his eyes, and a light green shield immediately manifested out of the head of the ring in response.

The transition was instantaneous, accompanied by a soft, humming sound that echoed through the quiet cave.

The green light coalesced rapidly, shifting from a loose ethereal mist into a solid, tangible barrier that hovered steadily just inches away from his knuckles.

The shield was remarkably large and circular with a diameter of about five feet, providing more than enough surface area to protect his entire torso from oncoming attacks.

It possessed a heavy, defensive presence that felt completely unyielding.

Leon noticed that the structural layout of the barrier was highly sophisticated, featuring two distinct inner circles perfectly etched within its main body.

The outermost circle of the shield had detailed inscriptions of horses and warriors charging furiously into battle, perfectly mirroring the designs he had seen on the band of the ring itself.

The tiny, glowing figures looked as if they were frozen mid-stride in an eternal, holy war. To add to its grandeur, its outer rim was lined with small, diamond-shaped crystals that shone brightly like brilliant stars on the surface of the green shield.

[Kindly Check Author’s thoughts]