Ben then looked at Lumi, who was happily munching on a celestial energy stone Ben had given him.
He placed the little slime beside Morbius.
"Keep an eye on him," Ben said.
Morbius rolled his eyes but nodded.
He wrapped a ring of black flames around Lumi, gently lifting the little slime onto his back.
Lumi didn’t seem to care at all.
He continued happily absorbing the celestial energy from the stone in his tiny body.
"Okay then."
"Let’s fight."
With a thought, a flash of white light surrounded Ben.
A moment later, a magnificent suit of armor appeared around his body.
It was the Knight of Ruination Armor.
An Epic-rank artifact.
Ben had obtained the complete set from a system sign-in reward on the twenty-first day of his third month.
When he first received it, he had been amazed by its appearance.
He had worn it several times in his room, posing in front of the mirror and taking countless pictures.
He had even compared it with the best knight cosplays he had seen on the internet.
None of them came close.
Because this wasn’t a costume.
It was a real artifact.
The armor was primarily pearl white with thin silver engravings covering every plate.
Elegant black lines ran between the joints, giving it a refined yet intimidating appearance.
Faint white runes were carved across the breastplate, shoulders, gauntlets, and greaves.
They glowed softly whenever celestial energy flowed through the armor.
A long white cape hung from the back, reaching almost to the ground.
Despite being made entirely of metal, the armor felt surprisingly light, as if it weighed almost nothing.
The helmet completely covered Ben’s face.
Its smooth visor had no visible opening except for a narrow horizontal slit that shone with a soft white light.
At his waist hung a matching longsword.
The sword was nearly one and a half meters long.
Its blade was pure white with silver edges, while ancient runes were engraved along the center.
The crossguard resembled a pair of white wings, and the hilt was wrapped in black leather for a comfortable grip.
The weapon radiated the same aura as the armor, making it clear that both belonged to the same artifact set.
Morbius looked at Ben from head to toe.
"..."
For a few seconds, he said nothing.
Finally, he spoke.
"You have another artifact."
Ben nodded.
"Yep."
Morbius stared at the armor once more.
"It isn’t an ordinary artifact either."
"This armor... is at least Epic Rank."
Ben simply smiled behind the helmet.
Ben was glad he had finally found a chance to use one of the best rewards his system had given him.
Morbius looked at the armor before narrowing his eyes.
"So, finding a contract in an antique shop, mysterious scrolls... I knew that story was complete nonsense."
Ben shrugged.
"What if I told you I have access to one of the hidden, forgotten vaults of the universe?"
"What if I can exchange for anything I want from there?"
Morbius stared at him.
"Really?"
Ben grinned.
"No."
"I was just joking."
"Though I did obtain a strange ring that contains many treasures inside."
"Maybe one day I’ll show it to you."
"There are still many things inside that I don’t even understand."
Morbius looked at him suspiciously.
He clearly didn’t believe Ben’s explanation, but he chose not to ask any more questions.
Ben simply ignored his gaze and started walking toward the forest.
Morbius watched his back.
"..."
"It’s going to be like a wolf entering a sheep pen," he muttered.
With that Epic-rank armor protecting him, only a Gold Rank opponent could realistically injure Ben.
This dungeon didn’t even have a single Bronze Rank monster, let alone a Gold Rank one.
Gold Rank was several realms above the creatures living here.
Morbius shook his head.
"Just go on."
"I’ll wait here with Lumi."
Ben nodded.
"Alright."
Confident in the protection of his armor and his newly awakened abilities, Ben calmly walked toward the forest where the goblins lived.
He walked into the forest without any caution.
The surroundings quickly became quieter.
Tall trees blocked most of the sunlight, leaving only narrow beams of light shining through the branches.
Unknown to Ben, dozens of eyes were already watching him from the darkness.
The goblins had noticed the strange armored human the moment he entered their territory.
A few seconds later—
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Several poisoned darts flew toward Ben from different directions.
Ting! Ting! Ting!
The darts struck his armor one after another.
None of them managed to pierce it.
Instead, they bounced off harmlessly and fell onto the ground.
Ben looked down at the darts scattered around his feet.
"So these are the poisoned darts Morbius was talking about."
He looked toward the trees where the attacks had come from.
"I guess it’s my turn."
Ben slowly raised his right hand.
He pointed two fingers forward like a gun.
"White Ruination Missile."
Several small white projectiles instantly formed in front of his fingertips.
The missiles shot forward at incredible speed.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Each missile accurately struck a hidden goblin.
The moment they pierced the goblins’ bodies, white cracks began spreading from the wounds.
The White Ruination quickly eroded their flesh.
Within seconds, their bodies started turning into white ash.
The goblins screamed in fear as the decay spread through them.
One after another, they collapsed onto the forest floor before their bodies completely crumbled into piles of white ashes.
Ben lowered his hand.
At that moment, he felt a massive amount of celestial energy rushing into his body.
It was the same feeling he had experienced after killing the slimes, but this time the amount of energy was far greater.
The celestial energy flowed through his meridians, strengthening every part of his body.
His bones, muscles, and organs were rapidly refined as the energy continued pouring into him.
A few moments later, he felt something inside him break.
A familiar system notification appeared.
[Congratulations!]
[You have broken through to the Second Stage of the Grey Realm.]