Bracelet Hero Part 2 (Patreon)

Myst resisted the urge to do something stupid as he walked into the tent filled with people in cages like animals. 'I'll come back when I get higher level and make sure things improve.'

"Ah, guests and potential customers," a man dressed like a circus ringleader said cheerfully as he stepped out of the shadows.

"We're looking for assistants," Myst said as he glanced around the various people in cages, knowing he couldn't help most of them without helping himself first.

"What type of assistants?" the man asked as he studied the two heroes.

Myst smiled when he heard a girl caugh, remembering that Naofumi's girl in the anime had a cough to start with. "The shield hero needs someone with a weapon and I need someone that can keep me alive," he explained as he walked over to where a scared looking girl with raccoon ears and a tail was curled up coughing. "How much for the raccoon girl?"

The man shook his head. "I doubt you want that one, she's not long for the world."

"How much?" Myst asked, doing his best to keep his temper.

"Thirty silver," the man replied with a shrug.

Myst nodded. "We'll take her. Do you have any slaves with magic and melee skills for a reasonable price?"

The man considered the question. "I have a failed apprentice mage that I'll sell you for fifty silver."

"What's wrong with her?" Myst asked.

"Her affinities aren't particularly impressive and her class is a joke," the man admitted as he walked over to one of the cages and pointed at the purple haired girl in a simple black robe that had seen better days.

"What class?" Myst asked as he looked at the girl with adorable cat ears that was probably in her early teens, if that. 'I'm going to have to rip the government apart when I get the chance or at least make sure the queen gets back so she can fix his stupidity.'

"Fumbling Magic Squire," the man admitted. "It doesn't give any dexterity or defense to speak of and very little attack power despite being a knight class."

"Forty," Myst offered.

The man snorted. "She's attractive and smart."

"Forty five, she's a kid," Myst argued.

"Seventy five for her and the raccoon girl," the man offered.

Myst focused on the cat girl. "Are you willing to work for your freedom?"

"What type of work?" the girl asked suspiciously.

"Hunting monsters. If you can help me get to level 30, I'll set you free any time you want and pay you for your help," Myst offered.

"My class sucks, are you sure you want me?" the girl asked, surprised that he'd make the offer.

"I'm willing to help you improve if you're willing to put forth the effort," Myst assured her, fairly sure they could fix her class with enough work.

"Okay," the girl agreed as she nodded, figuring a chance at freedom was better than staying in a cage.

"In that case, I'll take them both," Myst told the man, wanting to leave before he ended up spending everything he had rescuing people, mostly because he still needed equipment.

The man looked at Naofumi. "What about you?"

Myst shook his head. "We're good, the raccoon girl should be fine with a bit of training."

"What he said," Naofumi said, not particularly comfortable with the idea of owning someone.

"Excellent, pleasure doing business with you," the man assured them as he walked over to the cages to collect the girls.

Myst would have objected to the slave seals the man stuck on the girls but he knew that the girls would get a stat boost every time they leveled because of the legendary weapons or at least the shield gave a boost. 'We can always break the seals once they get a couple of levels and deal with some of their mental trauma.'

"Now what?" the cat girl asked once they left the tent.

Myst gave her a smile. "Let's grab a snack from a food cart then we'll buy some equipment, you need armor if you're going to fight and Raphtalia needs a sword and some armor if she's going to help Naofumi."

Raphtalia stared at Myst. "How did you know my name?"

"I'm a hero, I saw bits and pieces of the world before I was summoned," Myst explained as he started walking, not actually sure where the blacksmith's shop was as he couldn't recall the man's name, just that it started with an E.

"Does that mean you know my name?" the cat girl asked.

"Nope, I just know bits and pieces, I'm missing a lot of important details," Myst admitted. "What should I call you?"

The cat girl considered the question for a couple of questions then shrugged. "Anna works."

"Cool." Myst frowned as he glanced around. "We might need to ask someone how to get to the blacksmith shop."

"You should probably ask, most people in the city don't like demihumans," Anna complained.

"Don't worry, I'm not planning on sticking around more than I have to," Myst assured her as they continued walking.

"Am I going to have to fight monsters?" Raphtalia asked nervously.

"Technically, you could ask to go free and Naofumi would probably let you but I suggest sticking around for a couple of days or weeks while he kills some low level monsters to get enough experience to protect yourself. Mostly because we need to figure out how to make some medicine for your cough and you're going to need a profession. You made a fantastic sword girl in the visions I saw and you helped Naofumi save the world and kept a bunch of people from growing up without their parents. Are you brave enough to try?" Myst asked, hoping she'd agree because Naofumi was going to need the help.

Raphtalia glanced at Naofumi then nodded. "I'll do my best."

"That's all we can ask," Myst replied as he walked up to an older man. "Can I get directions to the local blacksmith's shop?"

The old man stopped and looked at Myst then gave the girls a dirty look. "Which one? There are three of them."

"Which one has the best smith?" Myst asked, wishing he remembered the man's name.

"That would be Erhard's shop, it's just up the way," the man explained.

"Thank you," Myst replied as he continued walking. He focused on his inventory and nearly tripped when he found several items already in his inventory. 'Ring of Might: All stats up, Ring of Experience Boost, Bracelet of Skill Focus Enchanting, all intermediate grade and an always full bowl of poisonous berries that restores MP and SP, provided you don't die.'

Myst glanced at his poison resistance stat. 'Huh, at least the ROB gave me immunity to poison and alcohol with a decent resistance to disease. On second thought, he probably didn't want me drinking myself to death to escape, assuming I didn't just get summoned.'

He reached into his inventory and pulled out one of the berries and fed it to his bracelet.

[Poison Bracelet unlocked] appeared on a translucent popup in front of him, explaining the details of his new bracelet. 'It increases my poison affinity by a small amount and gives me access to a poison breath attack that does nonlethal damage based on my mag stat. It would be nice if it didn't eat SP for breakfast.'

'At least it's an attack,' Myst mused as he pulled his rings out and slipped them on, ignoring the way the gem in his bracelet lit up indicating it could eat his rings. 'Sorry, those are mine.' He pulled the bracelet out and started to put it on when it shocked him, tossing up a popup with a warning label about not being able to wear other bracelets.

Naofumi blinked as Myst witched and lightning crackled over the bracelet. "What was that?"

"My weapon is a cranky bitch," Myst complained. "She doesn't like bracelets."

"She?" Naofumi asked.

"Do I really need to explain jealous women to you?" Myst asked as he fed the bracelet to his bracelet, causing a screen to pop up. [Enchanter's Bracelet unlocked] 'Magic increased by 10, Enchanting improved by 10%, Enchanting skill acquired? Give me an inch, I'll steal a mile. Give me a halfway decent enchanting system and I'll steal the world.'

Anna raised her eyebrows when she noticed the look of delight on Myst's face. "What did you learn?"

"How to enchant things," Myst replied with amusement as he continued walking, looking forward to learning how to demolish the monsters attacking him.

Anna grinned. "This is going to be fun."

Naofumi shook his head. "Where did you get accessories?"

"They were in my inventory, did you check yours?" Myst asked.

"I didn't get shit," Naofumi complained after taking a second look at his inventory.

"No clue, maybe it's just part of the magic bit," Myst offered as he opened the door to the blacksmith's shop.

Erhard looked up as two young men and two demihumans walked into his shop. "What can I get for you?"

"Armor and the girls need weapons and armor," Myst replied as he looked around the weapon shop with a smile.

"Budget?" Erhard asked, glancing between the two heroes.

Myst shrugged. "Let's call it, three or four hundred silver for myself and Anna, that leaves me with one hundred and fifty to two fifty for spells and other bits."

"Seems reasonable," Naofumi agreed.

"Excellent," Erhard replied with a grin. "Most people don't bother with decent armor to start with, most adventurers end up wasting more in potions or coffins than if they'd bought better armor to start with. Of course, that won't get you the top of the line armor but then you shouldn't need the top of the line to start with."

"I wouldn't think so," Myst agreed. "As long as I can move around and cast spells, I'm reasonably happy." He gestured at Naofumi. "He needs heavy armor."

"Hey!" Naofumi complained.

"What? It's true, it's your job to get hit, how much it hurts is up to you and your gear," Myst pointed out.

Erhard grinned at Naofumi. "Don't worry, I have a couple of ideas. What about the girls?"

Myst gestured towards Raphtalia. "I suggest something light and protective for Raphtalia and I'm not sure for Anna, what works for magic knights?"

"Chainmail isn't a bad investment but brigidine isn't bad either, it's a bit cheaper but it's pretty easy to move in and even more protective," Erhard suggested. "It also has better weight distribution and makes a whole lot less noise if that matters to you."

"If it's cheaper and better, why sell chainmail at all?" Naofumi asked.

Erhard sighed. "Because you can put gold wash on the chainmail and nobles care more about looks than effectiveness at points. It's basically armored plates under monster hide."

"You're the expert," Myst replied, sort of glad that he didn't have an entire party to equip as the money was quick to vanish. Thankfully, equipping everyone didn't take all that long, mostly because the smith was competent which was a nice change from everyone else he'd run into.

Myst wasn't particularly surprised that Naofumi had ended up in what was effectively a breastplate combined with monster hide. It had plenty of ability to move and a decent amount of protection. While it certainly wouldn't have been his first choice, it seemed to work for Naofumi well enough and the girls were comfortable in their armor so he wasn't going to complain though he was certainly going to enchant it to reduce weight and increase protection when he got a chance.

"What about weapons?" Naofumi asked, looking at the man's collection of swords.

"I suggest commissioning a bladed shield or something with spikes," Myst suggested as he looked over the collected weapons.

"How come you can touch the weapons?" Naofumi asked.

"Because I'm not planning on using them," Myst replied as he handed Anna one of the swords. "What do you think?"

"I think it's an expensive blade," Anna replied as she looked at the exquisite shortsword he'd handed her.

"It's also effective and within the budget," Myst replied.

Anna turned and took a couple of test swings. "Okay, we'll take it."

Erhard grinned. "Excellent, that's two hundred and fifty silver. Can I help you with anything else?"

"It comes with a sheath, right?" Anna asked hopefully.

"It does now," Erhard replied with a grin as grabbed its sheath off the wall.

Myst grinned as he started counting coins on the table, more than happy with their new equipment.

"How much would a bladed shield cost?" Naofumi asked, wanting something he could use to attack with.

"I could rig something up for cheap or I could make something decent for thirty to forty silver," Erhard offered.

Naofumi nodded. "Let's do that."

"Where are you going next?" Raphtalia asked Myst.

"I'm going to see if I can buy some combat spells and a healing spell or a couple of potions in case Anna and I get hurt. Oh, that reminds me, you're going to want to set Raphtalia as your companion so you'll share experience," Myst suggested.

"How do I do that?" Naofumi asked, wishing his shield came with an instruction manual.

"Check your companion screen," Myst suggested as he checked his own status screen.

Naofumi grinned when he opened his companion menu and realized that everything was already set up. "Okay, everything is already set up."

"In that case, you should be good to hunt balloons, they're a decent starting monster as your durability should make you immune to their attacks which means you can just collect them for Raphtalia to stab," Myst explained as he finished counting the coins.

"What are you going to do?" Naofumi asked.

"Grab a spell and burn them or blast them," Myst replied as he pulled a berry out of his inventory and tossed it at his shield. "Here."

Naofumi blinked as his shield ate the berry, giving him a poison shield that let him use a poison attack. "What was that?"

"It was a poisonous berry, they're so alcoholic they're basically poison. I figured if my bracelet unlocked something your shield probably would," Myst explained. "Either way, we'll see you outside the city, best of luck."

"Thanks and take care," Naofumi offered, glad to have the help and trying not to think of how bad things would have been with the crazy princess around.

"How do I get to the magic shop?" Myst asked the smith.

Erhard gestured at one of the walls. "Seven doors down."

"Thanks, I'll be back when I need upgrades," Myst assured him then left, eager to pick up some magic spells so that he didn't feel quite so helpless and because magic was awesome.

"Stay safe Raphtalia," Anna told her then hurried after Myst.

Raphtalia nodded. "I'll keep Naofumi safe."

"You're in a good mood," Anna said as she caught up with Myst, her old robes draped over her arm.

"I'm trying to stay positive. I have nearly three hundred silver to buy spells and then we get to blast things and turn them into magic items," Myst replied cheerfully.

Anna shook her head. "I don't think it's going to be that easy."

"Probably not," Myst admitted. "I'm just trying to stay positive and not worry about the fact that we're stuck in a death world."

"What happens if you can't use magic?" Anna asked.

"One of my weapon's abilities should cover the basics, beyond that I should be able to grind my affinities up to something halfway decent with enough work, it's just going to take work," Myst said, hoping he wasn't deluding himself.

Anna grinned. "You're going to have to explain all of your tricks."

"Eventually," Myst grinned. "Speaking of tricks, do you need your old robes?"

"No, why?" Anna asked.

"Because I might be able to unlock a profession," Myst replied.

"How?" Anna asked as she handed him the old robes.

"My bracelet eats things," Myst replied as he touched the robes to the bracelet and thought about it absorbing them, causing the robes to vanish and for a popup to appear informing him that he'd unlocked the mage profession. He pulled up his status screen and looked at the profession tab. "Mage: Gives access to random spells based on level and affinity, mastering the spells allows them to be cast when you're not a mage."

"Can I use that?" Anna asked.

"I'm not entirely sure how I'm supposed to share that," Myst admitted as he looked at the various options under his strengthening method. "There's an option for sharing with companions, I just need another set of mage's robes, probably used."

Anna grinned at Myst. "We'll have to keep our eyes out."

"Sure," Myst agreed as they reached the magic shop or at least what looked like a magic shop from the stuff he could see in the window. "Is this it?"

"Yep," Anna replied as she opened the door and headed inside.

Myst followed the cat girl into the old fashioned shop and glanced around, trying to figure out what he could afford and what he needed because there were a lot of books and strange trinkets.

The old lady smiled at Myst. "How can I help you hero?"

"I need magic and something to translate the books," Myst admitted, hoping he didn't have to learn an entire language to learn magic because he sure as hell didn't have his friend Charles' ability with languages, he preferred anthropology to linguistics.

"How much do you have to spend and which spells do you want?" the witch asked with a grin. "I have a decent number."

"That depends entirely on our affinities," Myst replied, hoping she'd tell him without charging an arm and a leg.

The witch studied Myst for a couple of seconds. "You're exceptionally talented with enchanting, jewel magic, healing and support Magic, not so much with ritual magic or any of the elemental affinities for that matter."

"So much for making things go boom," Myst muttered. "Can I use reverse healing spells?"

"The healing affinity covers all sorts of healing or life magic, including the reverse," the witch assured him.

"Nice, what do you know about jewel magic?" Myst asked, wishing he could remember the anime just a little better.

"It involves gems and using them to cast spells, more than that, I couldn't tell you, it's not one of my specialities," the witch replied.

"Do you have a book?" Myst asked hopefully.

"I believe I have a book on the subject, unfortunately, I don't have anything that will translate it," the witch admitted.

"Do you have a translation guide for any languages?" Myst asked hopefully.

"I have a guide for one of the trade languages but I doubt it will help you if you can't read the local language," the witch admitted.

"How much?" Myst asked.

"It's a pamphlet, consider it a gift for dealing with the idiots in town," the witch replied as she pulled out a couple of sheets of paper sewed together and handed it to him.

Myst touched the pamphlet to his bracelet and grinned when it vanished he got a translation bracelet unlock that would allow him to read the local language. "That solves the translation problem. How much for healing spells, books on draining the life out of monsters and enchanting things?"

"How much gold do you have because you have expensive tastes?" the witch asked with a grin.

"How much of my list can I get for three hundred silver?" Myst asked.

"I can certainly get you the basics for healing and draining life, the real problem for your coin purse is enchanting, the books are quite expensive," the witch admitted.

Myst pulled up his enchanting skill on his status screen. "I have a mana boost enchant and that's about it."

"Oh, you already have the enchanting skill, that makes it a bit cheaper. We'll toss in a couple of books for support magic and boosting enchants," the witch said cheerfully as she started collecting books.

"I get to read them next, right?" Anna asked hopefully, looking forward to continuing her magic studies now that she wasn't getting shouted at every couple of minutes.

"Yep," Myst agreed, looking forward to having her help with magic.

The witch paused as she saw a small book on her shelf. "Did you want a cheap book on alchemy?"

"Is it inexpensive because it's bad or because it's cheap?" Myst asked as he swapped his bracelet for the translation bracelet.

"It's just basic and short, the price has nothing to do with the quality of the recipes present as they're mostly common yet useful," the witch replied. "Minor healing potions, antidotes for common low end poisons and basic mana potions."

"In that case, sure," Myst replied, wanting to make sure he could pick up the skill.

"Can you tell me what my affinities are?" Anna asked.

"You have a decent talent in lightning, dark magic and enchanting," the witch replied.

"That would explain my trouble with my old master, he hated darkness magic and couldn't zap anyone to save his life," Anna grumbled.

"Not everyone is good at the same things," the witch assured her. "The world would be a boring place if they were."

"There's that," Anna admitted.

Myst pulled five silver coins out of his coin purse then set it on the table. "So much for having enough money to pay for things."

"That's why adventurers hunt monsters," the witch replied with amusement as she started stacking the books and journals on the counter.

'Having the gamer ability would be really nice right now,' Myst mused as he started moving the books to his inventory. "Thanks for the help, I'll be back when I get more money."

"That is the way of it," the witch replied with amusement.

"If I get the enchanting thing going, where would I sell my stuff?" Myst asked.

"At the accessory shop or if you're selling weapons Erhard has been known to buy some if the base weapon meets his quality standards and they're rather high," the witch explained. "As for alchemy, you might try the alchemist but his standards are also high so you'll want to put in some effort."

"Thanks," Myst replied as he finished moving everything he'd purchased to his inventory.

"You're quite welcome, just doing my part," the witch replied, happy about the sale.

"Let's go stab some balloons," Myst told Anna as he headed for the door. He paused as he had a sudden thought. "Do you know what the balloon monsters are used for?"

"Waterproof clothes mostly," the witch replied.

"As in you sew them together?" Myst asked.

"No, you basically soak the clothes in a solution made from the stuff and they'll repel water for a couple of months depending on wear," the witch explained.

"I don't suppose you have a recipe for that?" Myst asked.

"Not that you can afford," the witch replied. "I like you but I'm not in the business of giving things away."

"Fair enough," Myst replied in amusement as he left.