The Garbage Collector Who Stumbled Upon Mythical Weapons! - Chapter 2
“Hey, no way! What the hell is this?”
The names on the weapons and armor displayed before him were those of heroes and monsters from fairy tales his parents had told him as a child.
Equipment bearing the names of legends—names whose existence was uncertain.
“Well, they might just have fancy names to look impressive, and I don’t even know if the appraisal is accurate…”
Garm cautiously picked up the sword. As he drew it from its sheath, a dazzling double-edged blade gleamed mysteriously in the light.
“This is unbelievably beautiful…”
Out of curiosity, Garm gently pressed the tip of the sword against the desk. It sliced through effortlessly, like cutting paper.
“Whoa!?”
Startled, he let go, and the sword fell to the floor. But instead of bouncing off, the blade sank smoothly into the floor, stopping only at the guard.
—What the hell is this thing?
Garm snapped back to reality and grabbed a small hand mirror from a dresser in his home. He looked at the helmet he was wearing, and as expected, words from the appraisal appeared.
[Helmet of the Wise General Frawgan]
Defense: SSS
Self-repair
Weight reduction
[Abilities]
Appraisal
Night Vision
Search
Wise General Frawgan—he was the legendary hero and general of the empire that once unified the Seven Continents.
—Is all of this real!?
Garm was confused, but at the same time, he was excited. If this equipment was truly amazing, he could sell it for a huge amount of money.
He decided to try wearing all of the equipment. Even if he planned to sell it, he had to verify its actual performance first. Carefully, he put on each piece one by one.
“This fits perfectly.”
The armor seemed to be made just for him—it fit him like a glove.
Since he only had a hand mirror, he couldn’t see his full appearance, but he felt like he looked pretty good in it, which made him quite pleased.
Outside, the sun had set, and darkness covered the surroundings, ensuring no one would see him.
“Let’s give it a try…”
Without even eating dinner, Garm stepped outside discreetly. He didn’t want his neighbors to see him fully armored, thinking it would be too embarrassing, so he ran away from his house at full speed.
—My body feels so light… My legs are moving at an incredible speed, kicking off the ground effortlessly. It’s like I’m flying.
Garm sprinted through the city at a tremendous speed.
The place he was heading to would normally take hours on foot, but at this speed, he would get there in no time. He pushed himself to run even faster.
Before he realized it, he was kicking off the air and running in the sky. When he reached about ten meters above the ground, fear finally struck him, and he stopped running.
“Waaaaaahhh!”
Just when he thought he was going to plummet, his body suddenly floated gently in the air. “Huh!?” He let out a surprised yelp as he realized he was hovering in the sky.
—Am I really flying!? This must be the ability of the cape I saw in the appraisal!
Garm was beginning to believe it—his equipment was truly extraordinary. He adjusted his balance mid-air and started getting the hang of flying.
“Wow, this is amazing! I’m actually flying!!”
Feeling exhilarated, Garm soared through the sky towards his destination—the Demon Realm.
◇◇◇
The “Vizal Forest”—a vast, deep forest located about three miles north of Garm’s hometown. It was teeming with monsters and fiercely resisted human intrusion.
No adventurer was unfamiliar with this place. While strong, mid-to-high-level adventurers would sometimes enter to collect monster materials, many who stepped in never returned.
Because of this, many adventurers referred to Vizal Forest as the Demon Realm. Garm, having landed in this dangerous forest, looked around cautiously before heading deeper inside.
“I think I’ll be fine with this equipment, but…”
Normally, Garm would never have dared to enter such a place. He felt a bit uneasy but activated “Appraisal” while looking at his hands.
He had started to gain some control over the ability and decided to check his own status.
Garm Orlando Lv.14
Life: 18
Magic: 10
Strength: 21 (210)
Defense: 14
Agility: 15 (150)
—Level 14… This is my current strength. No matter how hard I worked, this was my limit.
The status shown by appraisal was said to be a revelation from the gods, quantifying a person’s strength. The church that taught appraisal claimed it displayed accurate stats.
No one knew if the numbers were truly precise, but adventurers took them seriously. The jobs available at the guild were determined by adventurers’ guild ranks, but some quests required a certain level to accept.
Level 1–10: Ordinary civilians
Level 11–20: Standard adventurers
Level 21–30: Elite adventurers
Level 31–39: Legendary adventurers or soldiers
Only a handful of people had been confirmed to surpass level 31.
And those at level 40 or above were believed to exist only in myths. No one knew if such beings were real. One of them was—
“Atlas the Hero…”
The very name of the armor he was wearing. He had no way of knowing if the person actually existed, but Garm was starting to believe in the power of his equipment.
“For now, I’ll test the sword and armor here in Vizal Forest.”
Garm had that thought but then noticed something strange in his status—numbers in parentheses next to Strength and Agility.
He had never seen such figures before.
“What are these… (210) and (150)? They’re exactly ten times my base Strength and Agility.”
—Could it be…?
Garm looked down at his gauntlets. He used “Appraisal” once more on the ability of the Oni God Vedernes Gauntlets—“Vajra Guardian.”
[Multiplies Strength by ten]
“I knew it… Then what about this one—”
[Ivadaten] [Multiplies Agility by ten]
“This is insane. If this is real, then…”
Garm was astonished. The average stats for a normal man were said to be around 10. His were 15–20 times that amount.
There were many other abilities he wanted to test, so he drew his sword.
—I’ll figure out the details as I use them.
As he walked through the dark forest, two white wolves emerged from the bushes. Tension ran through Garm’s body.
—Dire Wolves… These monsters are pretty strong. And there are two of them.
The beasts licked their lips and lunged at him. But instead of feeling fear, Garm blurted out, “Huh? They’re so slow!”
The two wolves seemed to be moving in slow motion. Realizing this must be the effect of Ivadaten, he raised his sword.
Effortlessly dodging their attacks, he swung his sword in a flash.
Though he had never properly learned swordsmanship, his strike was unbelievably fast—cleanly decapitating both Dire Wolves in one swing.
Looking down, Garm saw their lifeless bodies lying on the ground.
“Haha… I actually won.”