"Those daggers look sick." I couldn't help exclaiming.

  "Sick? How can a dagger become unwell?" Xyn twirled a dagger and then turned to me, frowning.

  "Sorry for the lingo. It's a phrase where I come from, meaning something is good." I explained.

  She nodded, accepting my explanation. We had returned to the safe house, as I was calling it. We were just dividing the loot, which was mostly taken by virtue of dibs. Yeah, I had killed a few that had some minor items, but the cool stuff was on the dudes that the others took down. Which was okay, since I wasn't keen on getting new stuff, anyway.

  "Look at this armour! It is beautiful." Rak raised the steel plate curaiss above him, displaying it for all to see.

  Uncertainty briefly flickered through his glee. I could see it cross his expression, a brief grunt and longing in his eyes. The armour was something he wanted, but he knew he couldn't use it. It interacted with an integrated person. Why is that an issue? Since he could just put on the armour and use it. The reasons are threefold. First, any enchantment that requires activation needs a system to turn it off and on. Second, the basic features of enchanted gear, such as resizing, need to be configured through the system. And third, inspecting the gear details would be impossible.

  At best, Rak could don the armour and hope it has a passive effect that's fueled by ambient mana. And the gear would be ill-fitting armour. Now, you could resize it at a blacksmith, but that could break the enchantments, at least I think it would. Honestly, this is all based on basic system knowledge and speculation.

  "Yeah, but you can't use it." Xyn bluntly dashed his enthusiasm with the cold water of logic.

  "Like Hades, I can't." He cursed.

  The locals mentioned Hades again. I knew he was an associate of the company, but for him to be mentioned by locals means he probably had some involvement in the ancient lore. Last I recall, the gaming gods established this world's history. They wove the early ages to their needs. Nothing god-like, just involved setting up the pieces, playing for fun and waiting to see what happened. But I suppose this world needed an established belief in an afterlife, and they probably called upon that god. Especially since Ludus was a former Roman god.

  Quickly, I got out of that mental minefield. I really needed to put that life behind me, forget about the gods, the company and my life before I came here. Grimgard was my home now, warts and all. Xyn and Rak were arguing; it had become a thing with them. Amusing in its own way, but not terribly constructive.

  "Guys, guys... and lady," I nodded to Xyn, who just scowled at me, "I have a solution for that." Rak immediately perked up, like a kid who just heard the word candy.

  "What solution?" He went from excited to suspicious.

  "Just give me the armour for ten minutes, thirty tops." I suggested, while begrudgingly thanking the gaming gods for standardising time.

  It took a while, but I got him to part with his gear. So now I was sitting in a bathroom because I needed peace for my work. Looking around at the modestly clean washroom, I endeavoured to secure an official laboratory away from this hellhole. Not this room, just the temple at large. Carefully, I placed the curaiss onto the ground and gave it a quick inspection.

  [Curaiss of Might. Description: Enchanted steel plate forged by a magesmith to augment the wearer's physical power. Effects: +20 Strength, Enchantments: Power Strike.]

  The basic information was pretty lax, but what can you expect for a basic inspection skill? The overall effect of the armour was quite something: a base plus twenty to strength and an additional active enchantment. Stroking my non-existent beard, I pondered if this would even work. It's certain I couldn't use it, since that power strike enchantment clearly requires mana infusion to use. I could burn exp into mana, but that would be wasteful. Besides the attribute effects would have no effect on me. But we weren't customising this for my use but for Rak's.

  "Could he even use it?" I mumbled, thinking hard.

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  Flipping the piece of armour over as if I could find the answer on the other side. I really thought hard about the question. With some tweaking, I could set up a user interface for him to activate the enchantment. He can use mana, so it should be pretty easy to piggyback on the natural mana channels. What about the attribute buffs? Would they still work? Surely they should, even if he isn't system-integrated. He is a natural-born Grimgardian; he should have inherited the same metaphysical biology as the rest.

  Frowning, I could sense something wrong with that statement. It is strange that system-integrated attributes could be inherited. Surely, the integration itself is what establishes these channels? Unless they just establish links to pre-set-up biological receptacles for energy. Instead of creating the attributes, it opens them up for augmentation.

  I rubbed the bridge of my nose, getting a headache just thinking about this. Tapping the steel plate, caressing the fine craftsmanship, I speculated on many things. After a good half hour of thought, I concluded. That I had no clue what would happen and so experimentation was a must. It was time for the systemific method. Oh, I loved this part.

  First, I needed a hypothesis. Changing the interface of this artefact would allow non-system users to utilise all of its effects and enchantments. Keeping my goal in mind, I thought it was time to begin experimentation. But first, something was missing, something that was a must for any endeavour of substance.

  "Play some music Jen, it was time to experiment." I requested aloud.

  The song she chose was Unstoppable by Sia, and I couldn't help but rock with the music. I manifested my keyboard and went to work. First, I stripped away the operating system. It was pretty simple to wipe out that portion and keep the rest intact. That was the simple part. Now the item was ready for a new interface.

  As the music reached a crescendo, I finished up the preliminary code for a basic interface. Very easy to use, since it was practically a command line. Now the tricky part was at hand, the moment the music ended. Integrating telepathic circuits into the design. Lucky I only needed to program single commands.

  That took a full hour to do, way harder than I expected. Since I had to incorporate the new system practically as a second enchantment. Yep, I just took up one of the armour enchantment slots. Bit of a waste now any future enchantment efforts will have one fewer slot to fill.

  Raising my work to eye level, I marvelled at the new achievement. It was time to test. And with a thought, I willed the basic interface to appear. Instead of linking to a system user, it displayed a holographic screen that anyone could see. The interface outlined the basic information, including a few command phrases to activate features.

  [Curaiss of Might. Description: Enchanted steel plate forged by a magesmith to augment the wearer's physical power. Modified to perfection by the best in the business, Joey Brask, system extraordinaire. Effects: +20 Strength. Enchantments: Power Strike. Commands: Resize, Power Strike On, Power Strike Off.]

  "Damn, I am good." I exclaimed, eager to show it off.

  Bursting out of the bathroom, I practically ran straight to Rakshur and presented my work like an artist with a canvas. Showcasing my next Picasso, I laid the piece of armour at the feet of my audience... metaphorically. He looked at it sceptically but with a little prodding; I got him to pick up the armour. Only a second in his hands did the screen pop-up, he shuddered at the unfamiliar appearance.

  "Must be weird to see a prompt, huh?"

  "How is this possible?" The look in his eyes said it all.

  Shocked and appalled, it took me a second to really figure out why. He probably thought I somehow integrated him into the system. However, Xyn came in with the save. Saddling up beside me, her eyes were wide and glued to the floating hologram.

  "How in the system can I see that?" She all but demanded.

  "Okay, dudes, before you freak out, I need to explain a few things." I raised hands in surrender, and thankfully they didn't immediately get all up in my face. "The prompt you are seeing is not your system; it results from... my crafting ability. It's just showing you how to use the armour."

  "Crafting ability?" Xyn frowned at me.

  "Yeah, I can make modifications to stuff, and this way Rak can use the gear." I gestured for him to put it on, and he did, albeit cautiously.

  It took a while, but luckily the armour was one size too large and fit awkwardly over his torso. He looked ridiculous with the loose curaiss, Xyn couldn't help but snicker, eliciting a glare from both of us.

  "Now just think resize and it should react."

  Eyes closed, Rak seemed to be deep in thought, frowning in concentration. The armour slowly shrank to become his perfect fit only after he looked constipated for a few minutes.

  "Yes!" I couldn't help but cheer. "Now do you feel any stronger, like a noticeable increase in your physical strength?" I couldn't wait to hear the news, like a giddy child.

  "I feel something..." he grunts, not in indignation, but in pain. "It's getting tight," he growls.

  "Should be resized to fit." I inspected the armour and noticed it was still shrinking.

  Was he a lot smaller than I had expected? That was when I noticed his face going blue and the uncomfortable twitching. What followed was a lot of growling, yelling, me nearly getting a claw to the face before I disabled the resizing feature and returned it to a comfortable fit. Luckily, I added a little back door for me to make slight adjustments at range. Being a devious little bastard, I pretended it required physical contact.

  "All good, dude, sorry about that," he grumbled at me, but soon contented himself with my work. It was a good day.

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