Rewind: A Grimdark LitRPG Series (Pyresouls Apocalypse, Book 1) by James Callum (reading tree .txt) 📕

without a doubt, that he would never take off the [Ring of Blameless Guilt]. Without testing it further - which he had no inclination to do – it appeared that it lowered the guilt of equipped items by half.

That was a massive boon that nothing else in the game could come close to equaling. Armor and weapons all had varying amounts of Guilt but the best ones were soaked in it.

The amount of guilt was, after all, what made the weapons effective. Items had a way of soaking up the experiences and memories of their wielders. In particular, it was the guilt these people possessed as they fought, lived, and died with the items in hand.

Guilt strengthened the items, nobody could ever quite figure out how. Only that it did.

Without any Souls to reinforce TMP, Jacob was left with a strong set – he still couldn’t believe he had the entire set – of armor but without the parameters to wear it properly. No matter what pieces he tried to swap around, there was no getting around it. The Guilt on each piece was simply too high.

Grumbling to himself about his lack of reinforcing TMP when he had the Souls, Jacob turned his attention to the rings.

One of them, he knew he would need to wear before long, but the other four he could only guess at.

[Ring of Broken Vows]

Intricate band of gold and silver threads with a single, cracked black diamond at its center.

The once-great Sir Gailsyn wore the ring of his betrothal into mortal combat with the Gnawing Hunger, so confident that he would be the victor and return to his beloved. A promise he, in depths of his pride, broke by falling to the creature. Allows the wearer to survive harsh environments.

 

[Ring of Calamitous Intent]

A heavy black metal ring with sharp spikes that prick the owner. A red jewel is set beneath narrow bands of metal that give the ring an appearance of an angry red serpentine eye gazing out. 

Ring belonging to Sir Gailsyn, an overly prideful knight of great renown. It was this pride that was the man's downfall when he sought to clash with the Gnawing Hunger. Increases damage to the wearer while increasing Counter, Riposte, and Backstab damage.

[Ring of Covetous Breath]

A ring fashioned into the likeness of a silvery serpent coiled about itself, a peerless pearl grasped in its mouth.

The Slyhalthans were an ancient enemy of Lormar, often striking from the depths of various waterways to ravage and plunder ships and to raid towns reliant on the waterways. An ambitious enchanter created this ring in their silvery serpentine image, mocking them as it provided its wearer the capacity to pursue the slippery creatures into their watery home where they were utterly destroyed. Provides breath.

[Ring of Boundless Fury]

A ring fashioned from cracked black stone. Ruddy light peeks out from the cracks in a wave of unbearable heat. 

In times long past, Lormar was host to the Eternal Pyre. When that fabled flame went out, many tried to replicate it. This ring was fashioned from the dying embers of that flame and imbued with the anger of a people betrayed. Imbues the wearer with great strength even as the dying embers burn them.

[Ring of Opportunity]

Gold ring with deeply etched symbols running on the inside of the band, leaving a perfectly smooth exterior.

The old faithful believed gold to have extraordinary powers to channel the miraculous prowess of Clemency. The many faiths also believed that ostentatious display of wealth was a sin of pride and thus kept their empowering and flashy sigils hidden from view. Increases power of Clemency spells.

Jacob held up the silvery serpentine ring to the Fire Oppa. “Is this the one you were suggesting I find?”

“It would appear you have found quite the treasure trove,” the Fire Oppa said, eyeing him. Jacob thought the small thing still looked rather forlorn and sad after taking the shield. “But yes,” he managed to say after a lengthy pause. “You found that in the catacombs? Strange. I had it on good authority it was within the Drowned Halls....”

He guessed he would too if he was in the Fire Oppa’s place. Reaching into the comforting fire, Jacob pet the Fire Oppa and took a moment to draw comfort from the Pyre’s strength.

The Fire Oppa stokes the embers of your conviction.

Health, Stamina, Ampoules and Spell Gems restored.

Each ring he found was useful, except the [Ring of Opportunity], he’d sell or trade that away as soon as the opportunity arose. If it had boosted Sorcery instead of Clemency, he would have instantly equipped it.

That left only two rings that had any discernible effects, the [Ring of Calamitous Intent] and the [Ring of Boundless Fury]. He didn’t like the look of the former, and the liked the description of it even less.

He didn’t understand the exact mechanics behind it, but taking more damage when he could barely survive a single hit seemed idiotic at the present.

The [Ring of Boundless Fury] was something known to him, though. It caused a constant health drain but increased the damage output of the wearer.

That might be useful before going into a big fight but it would be useless for his purposes, which now that he thought about it, he wasn’t sure what his purpose was.

To beat Alec to the Burgon Beast and to defeat it, yes, but that was still some time away. Given that he couldn’t pull himself out of Pyresouls to speak with Alice or Alec again, their earlier plans were now altered by Jacob’s foray into the pit of the Desecrated Catacombs.

The fairly detailed plan hinged on Jacob only skirting the upper levels of the catacombs, to return later once he was much stronger. But that wasn’t necessary anymore.

Arriving at Hollow Dreams early might not be a bad idea, it would allow him to capitalize on the growing market and the flocking merchants before everybody grabbed all the good items.

But in order to do that, he would need an ample supply