"A Virtue Knight is essentially running a high-maintenance roleplay build. They accept self-imposed debuffs to project an aura of moral superiority, which in turn farms approval from the masses."

Edward paused, letting the concept sink in.

"And their cultivation method? It's a feedback loop. They harvest that approval, convert it into Faith, and then channel it through their 'Heart of Virtue' to power their abilities."

The disdain was gone from the Deputy Commander's voice. In its place was professional respect. Whatever he thought of the person, he respected the grind. Any path that led to power, no matter how tedious, was worthy of acknowledgment.

"Different mechanics, same engine," he mused. "We expand our Territory, manage our population, and optimize our infrastructure to harvest Faith Energy. They just skip the city-building and go straight for the cult of personality."

He waved a hand at the floating Relics.

"But here's the catch. This set has been attuned to eight specific Virtues. It's software-locked. Forget about you—even a standard Virtue Knight couldn't equip this without the right stat distribution. If you force it, the backlash will fry you."

That was the blocker. That was why Orion hadn't just equipped the loot immediately.

"If you want to wear this, you have to jailbreak it," the Deputy Commander said bluntly. "You need to Corrupt the virtues embedded in the metal. You have to rewrite the Rule Power governing the set. That's the only way to re-spec it into something compatible with your dark affinity."

There it was. The Deputy Commander had spent the last ten minutes deconstructing the philosophy of Virtue just to explain the mechanics of hacking the gear.

"Don't celebrate yet. Knowing how to do it is the easy part," he warned, seeing the look on Orion's face. "Actually pulling it off is a nightmare. You have to purge the existing Rules, Corrupt the Virtue aura, rewrite the Arcane Runes, and physically reforge the appearance with high-tier reagents."

Orion's enthusiasm flatlined. The Stoneheart Horde was wealthy, but they didn't have the kind of legendary crafting materials just lying around in storage.

"Option one," Edward said, holding up a finger. "The brute force method. I strip the Rules, the Aura, and the Runes. I wipe the drive."

"You'd be left with a blank slate. A clean, base-model Relic set."

He watched Orion closely, explaining the trade-off.

"The downside? The item level tanks. It might not even qualify as a Relic anymore. You could re-nurture it, imprint your own Rules onto it, but... trust me, you don't want to do that. Unless you have a few hundred—or a few thousand—years to waste grinding it back up to legendary status."

Orion shook his head immediately. That was a hard pass.

Neither he nor his "bros"—Arthas, Leonidas, or Alexander—played the long game like that. The Champions Alliance wasn't built on patience; it was built on aggressive expansion and high-risk raids. Why spend a millennium crafting a sword when you could just loot three of them from a dead enemy next week?

"What's option two?" Orion asked, discarding the first idea entirely.

The Deputy Commander smirked, pointing at the floating armor.

"Leave the loot with me. You go farm the mats. When you have everything, I'll call in a few favors—get some master smiths from my friends list. We'll use this set as a base chassis to engineer a top-tier custom Relic suit specifically for you."

It wasn't just charity. Edward wanted to reverse-engineer the Virtue Knight's gear. If they could crack the code on how these sets were built, the entire Champions Alliance could stop relying on random drops and start mass-producing their own endgame gear.

"Will it be as strong as a Demigod Artifact?" Orion asked.

The question caught the Deputy Commander off guard. He raised an eyebrow. "Oh? You know about Demigod Artifacts?"

Orion nodded, recounting the battle where the parasite inside the Virtue Knight had used a mirror—a genuine Demigod Artifact—to tank a massive explosion.

"Deputy Commander... just how overpowered are those things?"

Edward nodded, a look of genuine longing crossing his face.

"You know the loot tables. In the Survivor Chests, the gear that corresponds to the Demigod level is usually just Relics," he explained. "But true Demigod gear? That requires a Divine Spark."

He narrowed his eyes, staring into the middle distance.

"You can't even craft one until you hit the Fifth Stage of the Demigod path and ignite your Spark. The weapon relies on the Spark to exist. When a Demigod finally ascends to become a God, that weapon evolves into a true Divine Artifact."

This was high-level lore, the kind of info usually gatekept by ancient beings who had been stuck at the level cap for eons.

"Relics are just the standard loadout for Demigods from the First Step up to the Fourth Stage," he continued. "Since ninety-nine percent of Demigods get hard-stuck at the First Step, Relics became the industry standard."

Orion felt a wave of relief. He suddenly didn't feel so bad about missing out on that mirror. Even if he had looted it, it would have been a paperweight. He didn't have the Divine Spark required to equip it. That was gear for someone in the Commander's weight class.

"You want a Demigod Artifact? Simple. Use your Divine Power and Faith to nurture a Relic. Once you hit the Fifth Stage and grind for a few eons, it might evolve."

The Deputy Commander's tone was dry, effectively crushing Orion's daydream.

In short: Don't worry about it. You're not high level enough.

"So," the Deputy Commander gestured to the armor again, grinning mischievously. "What's the play?"

He was teasing him. He knew Orion had already made up his mind.

"Deputy Commander, just give me the shopping list," Orion sighed.

Edward didn't waste any more time. He pulled a scroll from his inventory and tossed it over.

Orion unrolled it and scanned the requirements.

[Crafting Requirements: Sacred Dragon Scales, Phoenix Blood, Nether Rot, Magic Crystals, Void Sand, Gilded Tinder, Jade Matriarch Stone, Aeris Nectar, Heart of Fire.]

Nine rare reagents. It wasn't impossible. The Stoneheart Horde actually had two of these in the guild bank already.

The Deputy Commander watched him, surprised that Orion didn't look like he was in physical pain from the cost.

"Take this, too. You'll likely need it."

He tossed a second scroll to Orion. This one felt heavy, humming with a thick, magical aura. The back was stamped with complex, glowing patterns.

"That's a Bounty Board access scroll from the Saint Gran Council. It tracks high-level commissions for Demigods. The rewards often include rare crafting mats. Keep an eye on the feed. The materials you're missing might pop up as quest rewards."

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