"The gold look is actually pretty nice!" Isis teased with a grin from the side.
Altaïr rolled his eyes. "I'm not a heavily armored hunter, so why would I want to stand out that much? Besides, a mirror finish like that must be a pain to maintain, right? Doesn't it need constant polishing and waxing?"
He had seen the ceremonial armor used by nobility, it was blindingly bright, but the upkeep was an absolute nightmare.
"Correct." The old smith didn't hide the facts. "On a mirrored surface, even a tiny stain or a minor scratch will be incredibly obvious."
"Matte!" Altaïr decisively restated his choice.
The old smith naturally had no objections; he had only offered the option out of professional courtesy. "Well, that saves me the trouble of polishing then. Young man, go put on the Armor first and see if it fits.
Then, this old man will give you a proper explanation of the unique characteristics of this set."
With Sajji's help, Altaïr quickly finished changing and stepped out of the Changing Room.
This Armor set was noticeably heavier than the Skalda S Armor he had been using. He felt fortunate that he had never slacked on his physical conditioning; the increased weight of the armor wasn't enough to hinder his movements yet.
"Whew~" Isis whistled again.
"Are you finished?"
"Hehe, it really is quite handsome!" Isis said with a giggle. "That old blueish-black set had a visor that made you look like a scorpion's head, you looked like some kind of villain.
This set is just... very..." Isis struggled to find the words, "It's very righteous! Like a knight clad in golden armor!"
"What knight? I'm a Hunter..." Altaïr snapped back.
The old smith nodded, however. "There is a passage of descriptive text on the blueprints for the Seregios set.
'A golden army galloping across the land, attaining victory at the end of fierce battles, leaving behind ten thousand deeds as they advance along the path of brilliance and glory.'
So, the 'Golden Knight' description isn't entirely off the mark."
(This text is likely from the equipment descriptions in MHX; I didn't bother looking up the original Japanese text, so I'm quoting mushroom's video here.)
"Maybe I should just call you the Golden Knight from now on?" Isis grinned mischievously.
"Get lost!" After the joking retort, Altaïr looked back at the old smith. "Don't mind her, please continue."
"Seregios shells and scales have a very high metal content, making them exceptionally heavy and hard. The Defense performance of the resulting armor is outstanding, several tiers higher than your previous gear.
However, you must take note that because of that sapphire metal content, this armor is highly conductive and does not handle cold well. In short, its resistance to Thunder element and Ice is very poor. Make sure to remember that."
"Understood." Altaïr took out a small notebook and seriously recorded the weaknesses of the armor set.
"You've already felt the weight of this equipment. Without a sufficiently strong physique, just running in this armor will lead to exhaustion very quickly (Stamina-).
Fortunately, the structural design of this Armor is excellent, and I have fine-tuned it to your specific body type. Once you have adapted to it, you can try utilizing the armor's inertia to extend the distance of your rolls (Evade Window) and conserve physical energy (Constitution)." Hearing this, Altaïr moved his limbs and quickly understood what the old smith meant by "utilizing inertia."
It was like swinging a Hammer; the initial lift was heavy, but once put into motion with added force, it became increasingly easier.
"Alright, now for the two most important points." After Altaïr had experienced the sensation by moving his body, the old smith continued:
"You are skilled with the Long Sword, so you should understand the feeling when the blade leaves the scabbard, the friction between the edge and the sheath allows the arm to exert further force, indirectly strengthening the power of the unsheathing strike, right?"
"Of course."
"You've likely noticed that this Armor is covered in 'blades.' This is one of the two core characteristics of this set.
During movement, these bladed plates grind against each other, serving a function similar to unsheathing a sword, thereby enhancing the power of attacks during specific maneuvers."
At those words, Altaïr performed a few empty-handed sword swings. He quickly realized that the "specific maneuvers" the old smith referred to mainly meant the Draw Slash and Iai (Draw Skill).
This would provide a significant boost for a Blademaster who frequently utilized the Draw Slash.
"The function of the blade-armor doesn't end there. You hunted the Seregios yourself; you must have noticed during the battle that the Seregios likes to shake its body before firing its Bladescale.
After research, scholars discovered that this is done to create friction between the Bladescale, producing an effect similar to sharpening a blade.
By using Seregios materials, we have preserved this effect within the Seregios set and its weapons."
"Are you saying this Armor can act like a Whetstone?" Altaïr asked urgently.
"Mhm. It primarily concerns the pauldrons. The pauldrons of this set are forged from Bladescale; when you perform tactical maneuvers like rolls, you can consciously slide the blade against the pauldrons.
In doing so, you can restore the weapon's Sharpness without specifically stopping to use a Whetstone (Bladescale Hone)."
Altaïr's eyes lit up.
The weapons he currently used most were the Long Sword and Dual Blades, both of which demanded extremely high Sharpness.
Searching for an opening to pull out a Whetstone mid-combat was a major disruption to his rhythm, and the Seregios set solved this problem perfectly.
This effect could not be more suitable for him!
Seeing the excited look on Altaïr's face, a smile naturally appeared on the old smith's own.
For those of his craft, nothing brought more joy than seeing a user fall in love with their work.
"Don't get too excited just yet; there is still your new weapon." The old smith led the exhilarated Altaïr to a weapon rack.
A golden-yellow Long Sword lay horizontally across it.
The design of this Long Sword was traditional yet magnificent, with a slightly larger curvature at the pommel and a razor-sharp tip.
The spine, the hilt-end, and the crossguard were covered in golden-yellow Bladescale, looking every bit as aggressive as the Seregios armor.
"'Khanga Rebellion', that is the name of this blade," the old smith explained, standing by the rack. "The weapons of the Seregios series are all named after stars.
Khanga is a bright star within Orion."
"Khanga Rebellion." Altaïr repeated the somewhat tongue-twisting name. "It seems the designer of this weapon series really has a fondness for the stars." The old smith nodded and looked at Isis. "Speaking of which, you both know the designer of the Seregios set and its weapons.
It was that wyverian Master Craftsman back in Val Habar, the one who forged that Defender Gunlance on your back."
"Smithy?" Isis blinked, a look of sudden realization washing over her face. "Oh, right! Now that you mention it, I think the caravan was the first to discover the Seregios species.
And Smithy always loves staring up at the night sky, saying that the myriad stars are the best beacons for guiding one's way during a journey."
"I see." The old smith nodded slowly. "Did he hope the weapons in the hands of Hunters would become the stars that point the way forward?"
The three fell into a momentary silence.
"But Khanga seems to symbolize a 'female warrior', meow? Boss, isn't that direction a bit off, meow?" Sajji muttered from the side, scratching his head.
Thump!
Altaïr struck with uncharacteristic force, delivering a punch to the top of Sajji's head. "Shut up!"
The beautiful atmosphere of the designer's hidden hopes was completely ruined!
"Anyway," the old smith regained his composure and continued his explanation, "this Long Sword possesses no elemental energy, but the incredible hardness of the materials themselves grants it exceptional Sharpness (White Sharpness) and destructive power.
The distribution of its center of gravity is nothing short of perfect. In the hands of a Master Blademaster, it can strike precisely into weak points even within the narrowest gaps of a shell (Affinity 10-20%).
Beyond these traits, this sword possesses an extremely unique characteristic. The designer calls it 'Bladescale Hone' (Perfect Evade restores Sharpness)."
Altaïr had a hunch. "Are you saying that this sword, like the Bladescales on the armor, can act as a sharpening tool?"
"Something like that." The old smith nodded slightly. "However, the Bladescales on the armor sharpen other things through friction, whereas this sword uses other things to sharpen itself."
"Isn't that true of all weapons?" Isis asked, puzzled. "Don't you just use a Whetstone to sharpen a normal weapon?"
"It shouldn't be that simple." The elder Wyverian shook his head. "As for the specifics of how to utilize it, I am not certain. The designer mentioned this trait in the blueprints but did not provide a detailed explanation."
Altaïr, however, smiled.
Indeed, the old man was a smith, so of course he wouldn't know. But Altaïr was a Hunter, a Long Sword user skilled in precise evasion and parrying techniques like Foresight Slash and Iai.
In the split second of evading or parrying a Monster's attack, one could use the monster's own claws and fangs to sharpen the blade before launching a powerful counterattack.
Without a doubt, that was the true application of so-called "Bladescale Hone"!
*
Author's Note: The Seregios armor and weapons here are a synthesis of their performance from MHX and MHWilds. Some overly powerful abilities have been removed, as these are still only 5★ equipment.
As for the idea that the caravan's wyverian artisan created the Seregios equipment series, that is a headcanon. However, since the Seregios was a new species first discovered by the caravan in 4G, it seems reasonable that the smith would research and develop a set of equipment for it.
Furthermore, the naming of the Long Sword Khanga after a "female warrior (Bellatrix)" and the way Bladescale Hone perfectly complements a playstyle of constant Iai and Foresight Slashes coincidentally align, as if a familiar Hunter was used as the template when the equipment was designed...
(Translated by yourtl.app)