Forged Destiny [Book 5: Ch. 5, Ch. 6, Ch. 6 Authors' Notes]

I couldn't use my Runesmithing to put runes onto armour, not yet, but that didn't mean I couldn't take advantage of ones that already existed. I slapped it against my breastplate, over my heart, and activated my one true skill.

The metal began to heat and soften. Yang hit the Nucklelavee's side. I concentrated and splayed out the edges of the square plate, less forging it to my breastplate as welding the edges down, fixing it in place. It took less than three seconds. In that time I'd closed the distance.

The Nucklelavee's back twitched. Its legs moved away from Yang, toward me. "Look out!" Pyrrha yelled.

The kick came faster than anything I'd dealt with before. I managed to get Crocea Mors in its path, but only because I was ready for it. I couldn't parry it, nor hope to, but I was able to divert its path a scant few inches, and to turn my body. The hoof crashed into my breastplate at an angle. It would have been enough to puncture through and gore me, but the armour glowed blue and held.

What was more, a little bit of ice spread out over the Nucklelavee's leg, a consequence of hitting the now magical armour. I'd tested the runes. I knew what they did, and I'd chosen this one specifically. With the leg outstretched and me already off balance there wasn't time for finesse. I caught my sword by the blade, holding it more like a stave, and slashed it down onto the frozen skin and muscle.

—Forged Destiny [Book 5: Ch. 5]



The theory, or my theory, was pretty clever, or at least I thought so. If I couldn't attach more than one rune to my armour – and when I'd tried they'd simply overrode one another and not worked – then that meant I could at least stick one on. But picking between the three wasn't easy, and each did different things. If I knew what I'd need in advance then great, but if not then I'd be screwed if I'd put the wrong rune onto my breastplate.

So, why not have the versatility of all of them? Sure, I'd have to switch them during battle but it gave me options and that was the main thing. Ideally, I'd be able to keep collecting more too as I found or bought new armour, adding to my collection and welding on whatever I needed at the time.

I had a feeling this wasn't how I was supposed to be using my Runesmithing Skill, but meh, it worked. Even if I could forge one onto my armour myself, this would probably work better in the long run. Why have one rune when I could have a choice of three – or, in time – thirty? It also helped that since these weren't made by me, they could technically be far stronger than my weapon runes were. This one, which I'd made up the name `Cold Steel` for, increased both my Constitution and added some kind of ensnaring ice effect to whatever struck my armour.

—Forged Destiny [Book 5: Ch. 6]



Rune of Cold Steel - +16 Constitution, Inflict Ice-Based Damage on Retaliation

—Forged Destiny [Book 5: Ch. 6 Authors' Notes]