Chapter 110

Skill progression wrapped up, with Natalie not having enough points to funnel into another advancement. Following that, Natalie set out for the armory with Jordan to test out her new abilities. First and foremost, she needed to find a new weapon. [Bigger Is Better] was clearly urging her toward a style that utilized oversized weapons, and Natalie was happy to follow down that path. Her shield and hammer had been reliable, but nothing inspiring, either.

“So what are you thinking?” Jordan asked. “Warhammer? Great axe? Two-handed sword?”

“With the strength bonuses, I’m honestly thinking warhammer.” Her thoughts flicked to Otto, wearing his heavy platemail. “It’ll be good against armor. Plus we have that hammer drop from earlier, so I’ll be able to equip myself right away.”

“Figured,” Jordan said.

The two of them looked around the armory. As expected of an institution like Tenet, all weapons were accounted for, every shape, size, and type a person could imagine. Even she couldn’t name some of them, and Natalie was a person who’d grown up learning the ins and outs of combat.

Finding the appropriate section where ridiculously sized weapons were stored, she perused her options. Giant polearms, swords, axes, and every other sort lined the racks in rows, or hung on display.

Some were ridiculously oversized. Bigger by a significant margin to the unwieldy warhammer they’d found down in the dungeon. Natalie saw how Jordan’s attention fell to those, and she turned to Natalie and quirked an eyebrow.

“Well,” she said. “Let’s start big?” She gestured to the largest warhammer of the set—one that was easily twice her height and had a hammer head the size of half her body.

“There’s a point where it becomes physically unreasonable,” Natalie said, amused. She approached the weapon nonetheless. “This thing would not work well in hallways.”

She gripped the weapon’s haft, then grunted as she dislodged it from its resting place. Even with her recently boosted stats, easily doubling her strength when combining [Juggernaut] and her passive level boosts, the weapon was a nightmare. With a block of metal the size of her chest for its head, that was completely understandable. Jordan whistled, impressed that Natalie could hold the thing at all.

“Yeah,” Natalie said, muscles straining to hold the thing. “This’s probably meant for some of the upperclassmen.”

“You don’t say,” Jordan replied dryly. She eyed the bulky thing with an appreciative look. “Probably where you’re headed, though, long term. Imagine swinging that thing around. Pretty sure you’d pulverize even bosses.”

With some difficulty, she placed the weapon back. She picked a more level-appropriate warhammer. Still as tall as she was, and with an impressive block of metal for its head too, the weapon would be devastating in its own right. This one had a pointed end, intended to further help dig into metal.

No longer handling something ridiculously oversized, the giant warhammer felt much more comfortable in her hands. She gave it a few test swings, then rested it on her shoulder.

“Yeah,” Natalie said. “I could work with this.”

Just the day before, that certainly wouldn’t have been true. But her strength boost with [Juggernaut], and explicit bonus with [Bigger Is Better], made the weapon more than maneuverable—if admittedly less so than her previous shield-and-hammer set up. But when accounting for her level up, new weapon, and offense-oriented skills, her offensive capabilities had probably tripled at a minimum, and without her defenses taking too massive of a hit either. A solid smack with this thing would crack a good portion of her opponent’s HP, if not outright break it. The problem, of course, would be actually getting a good smack in; maneuverability would be difficult. Even glancing blows would be devastating, though.