Chương 21: Apparently, Three Cleaves Are Better Than One

Matt woke to Ironvale's usual soundtrack. Heavy engines moved through Camp. A reversing truck beeped somewhere outside. Metal struck metal in one of the warehouses. And beneath everything: THUNK. THUNK. THUNK. The Dungeon apparently believed silence was inefficient. Matt rolled out of bed and started the coffee maker. Once the coffee was ready, he briefly slotted Perfect Temperature, corrected the mug exactly where he wanted it, then switched into the morning Crafting setup.

All four copied Crafting Skills had reset overnight. Vital Imprint. Elemental Ward. Weighted Edge. Quickened Temper.

"Let's get to work." He had restocked the cheap clean Bases and common Crafting Currency from Ironvale's commodity market the night before. The established Life-and-Resistance line came first. Matt equipped Vital Imprint and Elemental Ward and worked through ten ordinary beginner Bases while eating breakfast. Prepare. Life. Resistance. Record the result. Next. By the time the coffee was half gone, ten beginner Rare items were ready for consignment. The economics were no longer surprising.

ESTABLISHED DEFENSIVE CRAFTING LINE Typical Full-Day Gross Sales: ≈ $4, 000–$4, 500 Gross. Not profit. Bases, Currency, Marketplace fees, and taxes all existed. Still, the line was predictable enough now that Matt could use it when comparing serious purchases. Vital Imprint and Elemental Ward were both exhausted for the day. Yesterday, Matt had deliberately left his weapon-Crafting capacity untouched because the market was still too unfamiliar.

Today he finally had enough information to begin collecting real production data. He switched to Weighted Edge and Quickened Temper. Ironvale had supplied a few usable weapon and Glove Bases through normal drops. Matt supplemented those with cheap clean market stock rather than pretending the Dungeon had personally donated a manufacturing warehouse. Added Physical Damage could be guaranteed. Attack Speed could be guaranteed. Increased Physical Damage still could not. Tempered Edge remained B-rank.

Weapon Crafting was therefore exactly what Matt had called it yesterday.

"Manufacturing with gambling attached." He used the available charges across cheap eligible weapons and Gloves, recording each result. Some pieces came out useful. Some merely sellable. A few went into the experimental pile. The spreadsheet still said: WEAPON CRAFTING — ECONOMIC DATA Sample Size: Insufficient Good enough. By the end of the session, all four copied Crafting Skills had been exhausted for the day. Matt restored Anchored Step, Quick Frame, and Overmuscle for combat. Then his phone chimed.

PACKAGE READY FOR PICKUP Support Socket Expansion Orb I Added Fire Damage Support Life Leech Support Life Gain on Hit Support Multistrike Support Increased Attack Speed Support Increased Area of Effect Support Fortune's Harness Matt smiled.

"Christmas." Then remembered what he had paid.

"Twenty-two-thousand-dollar-plus Christmas." Before collecting it, he loaded the morning Crafting batch into padded containers and stopped at Ironvale's Marketplace Dispatch Counter. The clerk verified the Item IDs, sealed the pieces into insured consignment, and activated the listings. Only then did Matt head to Camp Receiving. ◆ The order came in a locked security container. Matt carried it back to his trailer and opened it on the table. Fortune's Harness came out first.

For a twenty-thousand-dollar Unique, it looked disappointingly like a Belt. Dark leather. Heavy metal buckle. Thin golden lines visible only when the light caught them correctly. Matt held it up.

"You do not look like twenty thousand dollars." The Belt declined to defend itself. Possibly because it had no combat stats. Matt removed his normal Combat Belt and equipped Fortune's Harness. Items Found: +50% Increased Rarity Several defensive values dropped. Not catastrophically. Noticeably. Nothing else happened. No golden aura. No sense of destiny. No vision informing Matt that the next Scrap Hound had a Unique lodged inside its rib cage. He simply felt slightly less protected.

Matt checked the rest of his setup. Ironvale was familiar. His defense remained strong. His weapon was dramatically better than when he arrived. For routine farming, the trade looked reasonable. Unknown content or an unfamiliar Boss? Combat Belt. He folded the old Belt and packed it into his equipment bag.

"If this gets uncomfortable, you go back on." Fortune's Harness remained silent.

"Excellent conversation." Matt turned toward the rest of the package. ◆ Six Support Gems rested beside the Expansion Orb. Matt picked up the Orb first. SUPPORT SOCKET EXPANSION ORB I Required Character Level: 10 Effect Adds 1 Support Socket to an eligible Active Skill. Cleave remained the obvious first test. It was his ordinary pack-clear Skill. If he wanted to understand what Supports actually changed, he wanted a Skill he used constantly. Matt activated the Orb. It dissolved into light.

SUPPORT SOCKET EXPANSION COMPLETE Cleave Support Sockets: 0 → 1"There." One socket. Six Supports. The internet had failed spectacularly at agreeing which was best. So Matt was going to stop asking. ◆ He chose a Boss-Defeated Ironvale Instance. Instance 143 — 31/64 — Boss Defeated No race. No Shift Supervisor. No reason to hurry. Just familiar enemies in a familiar environment. Matt wanted practical information. How quickly did things die? How did Cleave feel? Did the Support solve a problem he actually had?

Did it create a new one? That was enough. He stepped through. CLANG. HISS. THUNK. Matt drew the Foundry Longsword.

"Now we're doing science." ◆ The first test was Added Fire Damage Support. A Scrap Hound appeared in a maintenance corridor. Matt stepped into range and used Cleave. The familiar physical sweep carried a wash of flame with it. Sparks and heat burst across the Hound's damaged plating before the Construct collapsed. Matt lowered the sword.

"… Cool." Not a useful technical observation. Still true. He found a larger group farther ahead: two Scrap Hounds with a Press Walker behind them. Cleave cut through the front pair with visible Fire damage layered over the physical strike. Both Hounds died. The Walker took damage and continued forward until Matt finished it with another attack. Clear improvement. No mystery. More damage. Different damage component.

Matt recorded: Added Fire Damage Damage: Better Sustain: None Current Problem Solved: None obvious That was the issue. The Support was good. Matt simply wasn't currently short on routine damage. Against something especially vulnerable to Fire? Potentially more interesting. In normal Ironvale farming? Useful. Not compelling. He removed it. ◆ The second experiment was Increased Area of Effect Support. This one did not promise more damage.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Just more Cleave. Matt found a pack spread loosely across a loading platform. Three Scrap Hounds. Not clustered tightly enough for the ordinary arc to catch all of them without better positioning. Perfect. He let them approach without deliberately funneling them together. Then used Cleave. The physical sweep extended noticeably farther than normal. All three Hounds registered hits. Matt stopped.

"… Oh." No extra damage per target. One extra target inside the answer. That was different. Matt found another irregular pack near a conveyor junction. This time two targets stood comfortably inside his usual reach, with a third near the edge. Area Support caught all three. Without it, Matt would have needed to reposition, accept a partial hit, or spend another action. He immediately understood the appeal. This wasn't a damage modifier in the obvious sense. But if a larger arc converted two hits into three?

That was more total damage. More importantly, it was more throughput per activation. Matt smiled.

"Bigger Cleave is offensively obvious." He wrote: Increased Area of Effect Damage per target: Unchanged Pack Coverage: Excellent Positioning Tolerance: Improved Current Problem Solved: Loose / imperfect grouping Very good. Not flashy. Operationally excellent. Matt liked it. He removed the Gem. ◆ Life Leech Support required a different test. Matt found a Scrap Hound and deliberately allowed one manageable bite to connect. Armor absorbed part of the hit. His Life dropped.

Master of the Arena immediately began its usual regeneration. Matt attacked with Cleave. The Hound died, and another restorative effect layered over the regeneration already working.

"Okay." He repeated the experiment against a tougher Press Walker. Take controlled damage. Attack. Watch recovery. Life Leech contributed clearly during sustained exchange. Useful. Especially if future enemies survived long enough for extended fighting. Ironvale's current normal mobs did not. Matt recorded: Life Leech Damage: No major offensive purpose Sustain: Strong potential in extended combat Current Problem Solved: Not currently needed"Maybe when things actually hurt." Out.

◆ Life Gain on Hit Support needed multiple targets. Matt found a wide factory floor and deliberately gathered several Scrap Hounds. One attack slipped through Evasion. Another connected with Armor. His Life dropped enough for the test to matter. The pack closed. Matt stepped into it. Cleave. The sword swept across multiple targets. Several successful hits registered. Several recovery triggers followed. Matt watched his Life rise.

"…Oh." That was noticeably different from Life Leech. One cared about the damage dealt. The other cared that Matt successfully hit something. Cleave could hit several enemies with one activation. Several targets meant several recovery events. Another pack confirmed the behavior. Against one Scrap Hound? Fine. Against a clustered group? Much more interesting.

"That one actually has a reason." Matt recorded: Life Gain on Hit Damage: None Sustain: Particularly strong against packs Current Problem Solved: Potential swarm sustain Then his eyes moved to Multistrike. Life Gain on Hit. Multiple enemies. Multiple attacks. Matt stared.

"…Wait." Then remembered: One Support Socket.

"Right." Not today. Later? Absolutely worth remembering. He was beginning to understand why Support combinations consumed entire forum careers. ◆ The next test was Increased Attack Speed Support. Matt already suspected he would like it. Speed had become a recurring theme. Windrunner Boots. Attack Speed on the Foundry Longsword. Quickened Temper. Now this. The first Cleave felt immediately cleaner. Not transformed. Faster.

The windup, strike, and recovery tightened just enough that Matt noticed it without needing to stare at numbers. He pulled another group. Cleave. Move. Cleave. Reposition. Combat flowed more naturally from one action into the next.

"This feels good." Matt ran several more packs before recording the result. Increased Attack Speed Damage: More attacks over time Sustain: None directly Combat Feel: Excellent Current Problem Solved: General responsiveness"Very strong candidate." That was going to be difficult to beat. Then Matt took out Multistrike. ◆ The Gem looked innocent. The description did not. MULTISTRIKE SUPPORT Supported attack repeats twice after the initial attack. Total: 3 attacks per activation. Matt reread it. Initial strike. Repeat.

Repeat. Three. The internet had spent years screaming about this Gem. BEST SUPPORT. NOOB TRAP. NEVER REMOVE IT. STOP RECOMMENDING MULTISTRIKE TO BEGINNERS. There was only one reasonable response.

"All right." Matt socketed it. ◆ The first victim was a lone Scrap Hound. Probably unfair. Matt stepped forward and activated Cleave once. First strike. SLASH. The Hound staggered. Second. SLASH. Its plating tore apart. Third. SLASH. The remains broke into pieces. Matt stopped.

"…Oh." The Hound had been reduced to scrap so thoroughly that the word Construct felt generous. Matt lowered the sword.

"That's not a Cleave anymore." He stared at the wreckage.

"That's a food processor." One weak target was not enough. He found a Press Walker. Better. The Construct advanced through a doorway. Matt waited until it entered range. Then pressed Cleave once. The first strike buckled armor. The second broke the front plating. The third collapsed the entire section. The Walker fell with it. Matt stared.

"…Oh." He looked at the Skill. Then at the dead Walker.

"Oh, that's strong." Not theoretically strong. Not spreadsheet strong. Viscerally strong. One activation. Three attacks. Very easy to understand. ◆ The downside appeared almost immediately. Another lone Scrap Hound. Matt activated Cleave. The first strike already did most of the work. The next two continued anyway. Three attacks were excellent when Matt genuinely wanted three attacks. Less elegant when the target was functionally solved after one. The full sequence also took longer than a single ordinary Cleave.

Matt could move with the repeated attacks and adjust his facing somewhat, but committing to all three reduced his freedom to instantly disengage when a mechanic changed. Not helpless. Noticeably committed.

"Overkill." Matt considered the timing.

"And commitment." Useful information. He wasn't ready to call the Support a trap. Not even close. ◆ A proper pack settled the argument. Three Scrap Hounds. Two Press Walkers. One Rivet Drone above them. Matt activated Quick Frame and Overmuscle as the Hounds charged. He entered Cleave range. One activation. Three rapid attacks tore across the ground pack. Hounds shattered. One Walker lost most of its front plating. The second caught the edge of the final sweep.

By the time Multistrike ended, the ground group had been devastated. The remaining Walker needed only a follow-up. Above him, the Rivet Drone fired. Matt raised the Foundry Longsword. Blade Projection. The Drone dropped. Silence returned. Matt looked around.

"This is ridiculous." He tried another pack. Then another. Same conclusion. Against Ironvale's routine groups, Multistrike turned Cleave into an extremely efficient clear tool. Matt laughed after the third test.

"Multistrike is strong." Another pack disappeared.

"Really strong." He thought about the forum.

"The internet was right." A pause.

"Half of it." ◆ Matt updated the Support notes. CLEAVE SUPPORT TEST — SUMMARY Added Fire Damage — Straightforward additional damage Increased Area of Effect — Excellent pack coverage and easier positioning Life Leech — Sustain during extended combat Life Gain on Hit — Strong pack-based sustain Increased Attack Speed — Excellent responsiveness Multistrike — Extremely strong repeated clear pressure; increased commitment and possible overkill There was no universal winner. For routine Ironvale farming?

There was a winner. Matt left Multistrike socketed. The other five Gems went back into the padded Support case in his loot bag. Not failures. Tools. If recovery became the problem, Life Leech or Life Gain on Hit could become better. If an enemy punished long attack sequences, Increased Attack Speed offered more freedom. If packs were loose or difficult to group, Increased Area suddenly looked excellent. If extra elemental output mattered, Added Fire remained available. The sensible forum comment returned.

What is your build currently missing? Add that. Matt nodded.

"That guy was right." Unfortunate. The internet had contained wisdom after all. He resumed farming. ◆ With Multistrike socketed, the Ironvale route developed a new rhythm. Pack. Cleave. Move. Press Walker. Heavy Strike. Move. Drone. Blade Projection. The Support wasn't replacing Matt's existing toolkit. It was making one part of that toolkit substantially better at its job. Matt moved through another pack. Three Cleaves followed one activation. Metal scattered.

"This is starting to feel like a build." That pleased him more than it probably should have. Then Matt stopped to collect a Mana Stone. His hand touched the Belt around his waist.

"Oh." Fortune's Harness. Fifty percent Increased Item Rarity. Matt looked at the morning's haul. Mana Stones. Crafting materials. Normal Bases. Another Normal Base. Nothing spectacular. He picked up one of the white items. Then looked down at the Belt.

"…Working great." Fortune's Harness declined to comment. That was the problem with Item Rarity. Movement Speed could be felt. Attack Speed could be felt. Multistrike was impossible to miss. Life recovery could be watched. Item Rarity? A monster died. Something dropped. Would it have been worse without the Belt? No way to know. Matt frowned.

"This stat is terrible for mental health." He kept wearing it. ◆ The Combat Belt remained packed in Matt's equipment bag. That was non-negotiable. Fortune's Harness was acceptable here because Ironvale had become familiar and Matt had defensive margin to spare. He still took occasional hits. An Arc Welder caught him as a Multistrike sequence finished. Life dropped. Regeneration repaired it. Another mixed group pressured him enough that the missing Combat Belt became noticeable. Not dangerous. Noticeable.

Matt touched Fortune's Harness.

"Still keeping the other one." Unknown content. Unfamiliar Boss. Anything that made his defensive margin uncomfortable. Combat Belt. Fortune was for converting excess safety into loot potential. Not for dying richer. Good rule. Multistrike soon demonstrated the same principle from another direction. An Arc Welder appeared ahead with a Scrap Hound beside it. Matt used Cleave. The first strike landed. The second followed. During the sequence, the Arc Welder began preparing an attack. Matt saw the tell.

The third Cleave completed. Only then did he move. The incoming attack missed narrowly. Matt stopped.

"…Right." He had been able to respond. But not as freely as he could after a single Cleave. Against ordinary packs? Worth it. Against something dangerous with tight timing? That could matter a lot. Matt smiled.

"So that's the trap." Not Multistrike itself. The trap was assuming that something powerful in the correct situation had to be correct in every situation. The forum had managed to be both right and unbearable. Impressive. ◆ Matt kept farming. One loop became another. Then another. Fortune's Harness continued offering absolutely no proof that twenty thousand dollars had been well spent. Normal Base. Mana Stone. Crafting material. Normal. More normal. Matt stared at a white Hammer Base.

"Fifty percent." He picked it up.

"Very impressive." The Belt remained unmoved by sarcasm. At least Multistrike was honest. Press button. Three attacks. Immediate visible result. No philosophy required. Matt preferred that. A later group contained two Press Walkers and several Scrap Hounds. Matt entered with Overmuscle active and Quick Frame sharpening the flow of movement. Multistrike Cleave tore through the pack. One Walker survived. Heavy Strike finished it. The System chimed. Matt stopped. LEVEL UP Matthew Hayes has reached Level 11.

His expression slowly changed.

"Eleven." He waited. Nothing. Waited another second. Still nothing. No golden COPY window. No new function. No fourth slot. Matt sighed.

"…Right." Level Ten had been a milestone. Level Eleven did not owe him another SSS upgrade. He gained another Passive Point instead. That made two currently unspent. Matt opened the Passive Tree. Then immediately closed it.

"No." Research first. He had learned that lesson. Then Matt paused.

"Research first" was also becoming a very comfortable way to avoid making decisions. He added one line to his planner. Read the next section of Rook's tree tomorrow. Better. COPY remained unchanged. Three active slots. C-rank ceiling. No surprise. Matt checked his Flasks and the remaining space in his physical loot bag. Plenty for another loop.

"One more." The classic lie. ◆ The next loop was profoundly ordinary. Scrap Hounds. Multistrike. Mana Stone. Press Walker. Heavy Strike. Normal equipment. Rivet Drone. Blade Projection. Crafting material. Nothing. Matt touched Fortune's Harness.

"Good Belt." Another hallway. Another pack. Still nothing exciting. The longer it continued, the more ridiculous yesterday's purchase felt. Twenty thousand dollars. For a statistical argument. Matt could already imagine Ethan. THE BELT WORKS.

"No evidence." A lone Rivet Drone hovered over an inactive conveyor farther ahead. Not Elite. Not Boss. No unusual visual effect. Just ordinary flying Ironvale trash. Matt raised the sword. Blade Projection. The projected weapon struck. The Drone crashed onto the metal floor and dissolved. Matt had already begun turning away. Then his peripheral identification prompt changed. He stopped. Looked back. UNIQUE ITEM Matt stared. Then slowly walked toward it.

"No way." A short wand rested on the grating. Dark polished material. Compact grip. Blue crystal mounted at the end. Matt picked it up. RELAY WAND Rarity: Unique Required Level: 10 Effect After using a Movement Skill with the Magic tag, the next Magic Skill you use gains reduced Mana Cost and increased damage. Flavor Text Every station passes the current forward. None asks where it began. Matt read it twice. Magic-tagged Movement Skill. Then an improved Magic Skill. His thoughts immediately went to Ryan. Blink.

Arcane Economy. Ranged Magic. A Mage could teleport into position and immediately follow with a stronger, cheaper spell. Matt looked at his Foundry Longsword. Then the Wand. Physical Warrior.

"… Not mine." No emotional conflict whatsoever. Recent market sales placed Relay Wand in the low thousands. Matt pulled out his phone. Matt: you use Blink right Ryan: yes Ryan: why Matt sent a photo. Three dots appeared. Vanished. Appeared again. Ryan: where did you get that Matt: rivet drone Ryan: a WHAT Matt: ordinary rivet drone Ryan: I have killed nine hundred of those Matt smiled. Matt: market rate. first refusal A pause.

Ryan: can't Ryan: spent everything on gear last week Ryan: sell it before I do something stupid Matt: noted Ryan: I hate you Ryan: genuinely Matt put the phone away. Fair enough. He secured the Relay Wand inside the padded section of his loot bag. Then his hand stopped. Fortune's Harness sat around his waist. The Drone had been ordinary. The drop was not. Matt touched the Belt.

"…Was that you?" Nothing.

"Or was that going to happen anyway?" Still nothing. Of course. No alternate timeline. No receipt reading: FORTUNE'S HARNESS UPGRADED THIS DROP. Maybe the Belt mattered. Maybe it didn't. Matt stared at it.

"I hate this item." He paused.

"… I'm keeping it on." ◆ Matt returned to Ironvale Camp later and sorted the ordinary loot first. Mana Stones. Bases. Crafting materials. Then Relay Wand. Ryan couldn't afford it. Matt didn't need it. Someone else would. He took the Unique to Ironvale's Marketplace Dispatch Counter. The staff verified the Item ID, sealed the Wand into insured consignment, and cleared it for sale. Matt opened a short auction. No fixed price. Let the market decide.

By the time he had eaten and finished updating the day's records, the auction had ended. AUCTION ENDED Relay Wand Sale Price: $2, 500 Dungeon Loot Tax — 5%: -$125 Net Proceeds: $2, 375 Matt smiled.

"Nice." Not life-changing. Not Vein's Echo. Still, an ordinary trash monster had dropped something worth twenty-five hundred dollars gross. That was exactly why people kept clearing Dungeons. Matt almost looked at Fortune's Harness. Almost.

"No." One sample. Meaningless. He opened the Black Hollow Group instead. ◆ Matt: unique dropped today Ethan responded with terrifying speed. Ethan: THE BELT Matt stared. Matt: sold for $2500 gross Matt: not huge but nice Chloe: First day wearing Fortune's? Matt: yes Ethan: THE BELT WORKS Matt: or random Ethan: THE Ethan: BELT Ethan: WORKS Matt laughed. Chloe: Could be the belt. Chloe: Could have dropped anyway. Matt: helpful Chloe: That's Magic Find. Exactly.

Matt: I hate magic find Ethan: YOU LOVE MAGIC FIND NOW Matt ignored him. Then Chloe sent another message. Chloe: Be careful. Matt: why Chloe: People turn Fortune's Harness into a cursed item. Matt looked down at the Belt. Matt: it's actually cursed? Chloe: No. Chloe: Psychologically. Matt frowned. Chloe: You wear it and something good drops. Chloe: Then every time you take it off, you start wondering what would have dropped if you'd left it on.

Chloe: Eventually you're outside a dangerous Boss wearing MF gear instead of your real combat setup because "what if." Matt stopped typing. His Combat Belt sat beside the equipment rack.

"…Oh." Ethan arrived to make everything worse. Ethan: YOU CAN NEVER TAKE IT OFF NOW Matt: shut up Ethan: FIRST DAY Ethan: UNIQUE Matt: you do not know that Ethan: IT KNOWS YOU DOUBTED IT Chloe: This is exactly what I mean. Matt set the phone down. He removed Fortune's Harness. Placed it on the table. Looked at it.

"It's a Belt." A pause.

"A very expensive Belt." The golden lines glimmered faintly.

"That may or may not have just given me a Unique." The trailer became uncomfortably quiet.

"…That's worse." ◆ Matt opened his planner. TOMORROW Continue Ironvale farming Keep Multistrike on Cleave for routine packs Remember Increased Area for loose groups Use Fortune's Harness during safe farming Keep Combat Belt available Read the next section of Rook's tree Track drops Do not become superstitious Matt read the final line.

"That shouldn't need to be on the list." He did not delete it. Two of yesterday's purchases had dominated the day. Multistrike was easy to understand. One activation. Three attacks. Strong. Useful. Potentially awkward when timing mattered. Fortune's Harness was worse. One day of farming. One ordinary Rivet Drone. One Unique Wand. Proof of nothing. Unfortunately, also enough to make removing the Belt feel suspicious. Matt hated that. He picked up Fortune's Harness. Looked at it. Then put it back on.

His phone buzzed. Ethan: THE BELT KNOWS Matt muted the chat. Unlike Fortune's Harness, Multistrike asked for no faith. One activation produced three attacks. Matt smiled.

"Apparently, three Cleaves are better than one."