Replacement Boy That Lived Part 5 (Patreon)

"I'm running out of mana!" Scarlet shouted, trying to be heard over the goblin's screams of vengeance and rage as a massive goblin led the charge up the ramp towards where she was standing.

"Don't worry!" Myst shouted as he mentally combined the fire and wall runes. 'This better work,' he thought, doing his best to hold the image of what he wanted to happen in his mind as he pushed mana into his improvised spell, causing a wall of sickly flames to erupt from the floor and block off four fifths of the ramp, leaving a small lane next to the edge of the ramp free of flames. "Burn!" he shouted as he cast another flame wall, connecting to the edge of the first wall and leaving a path for the goblins to run next to the ledge.

"Fireball!" Scarlet shouted as she pulled a rock from her belt pouch and tossed it at the goblin smith that was charging her with a large hammer, causing the smith to duck and go tumbling off the edge when Myst gave him a telekinetic shove or at least she was assuming he'd had help being that uncoordinated, given the surprised look on his face as he went tumbling into the darkness.

Myst teleported across the pit, placing himself in front of Scarlet. "Death Slime!" he shouted as he cast his tapioca pudding spell to create a two inch tall 'wall' that covered the narrow space the goblins were charging through, causing the goblins to stumble and panic when they realized they needed to escape the cursed slime. He grinned as he used his telekinesis to start shoving the goblins, causing several of them to fall off the ledge or attack each other because someone behind them had tried to kill them.

Scarlet pulled another rock out of her belt pouch and hit a goblin between the eyes as he reached the end of the 'death slime', causing him to tumble into the fire and scream as he burned.

Myst knocked the last goblin off the ledge by hitting him in the face with five pounds of telekinetic force. "That worked better than I was expecting."

Scarlet watched the walls of flame as they flickered and died. "We'd have been screwed if they had ranged weapons."

"I wouldn't have tried my crazy idea if they'd had ranged weapons," Myst replied as he walked over to the edge of the ramp and looked down at the bottom of the dark pit, trying to spot movement in the patches of light the scattered candles and torches provided. "I think we got most of them."

"Do you hear anything?" Scarlet asked as she walked over, making sure not to get too close as she didn't want to startle him.

Myst listened to the faint sounds in the dungeon for twenty seconds then twitched when the spell holding the tapioca wall together fell apart and the offwhite sludge poured over the edge of the ramp into the darkness. "No but I'm not a dwarf."

Scarlet gave Myst a confused look. "What's being short have to do with it?"

'No dwarves? Or they don't live in caves, fair enough,' Myst thought as he saw a shadowy figure move in the bottom of the pit. "Looks like one of the goblins managed to survive the fall."

"I need a bow or more mana," Scarlet said as she caught sight of the large goblin walking up the ramp, obviously limping and looking like he wanted to smash someone to bits with his hammer.

"Unleash the jabberwacky!" Myst shouted as he raised his poison staff and started sending bubbles filled with a sickly green poisonous gas towards the ramp in front of the goblin, knowing it would take a couple of seconds to reach the ramp.

"New skill acquired: Poison, bubble unlocked." a female voice announced.

Scarlet waited until Myst's poison bubbles reached the goblin smith then used her last point of mana to send a firebolt into the closest bubble, causing a chain reaction when the bubble of poisonous gas exploded. "And I'm out."

Myst grinned when the goblin vanished and he heard a distinctive clang of metal hitting stone. "Give me a minute to collect the loot then we can head back to Diagon Alley and pick up some supplies."

"Sounds good," Scarlet agreed as she took a couple of steps away from the edge of the ramp.

Myst tossed another firebolt into the area where they'd killed the goblin to make sure there wasn't any poison left. "Remind me to look into bubblehead charms when we hit the bookstore."

"Sure," Scarlet agreed, not sure what bubblehead charms were but figuring they'd probably protect against poison or maybe the stench.

Myst took a breath then covered his nose with his t-shirt and teleported to where the goblin died, hoping they'd burned enough of the gas to keep from getting poisoned. He quickly grabbed the hammer and the key the goblin had dropped then teleported across the pit and down about twenty feet to another dug out section of rock that looked like a smithy.

He pulled his t-shirt away from his face then exhaled as he glanced around to make sure there weren't any goblins hiding in the area. He glanced between the pair of treasure chests that were being used as the base of a workbench and the rusty looking anvil before turning his attention back towards the obviously magical forge made out of blocks of stone. "Rusty anvil, shitty workbench and a magical forge complete with an exhaust pipe that goes into the wall," he mused as he stuck the hammer and key in his inventory.

Myst ran over and quickly transferred the crude tongs to his inventory along with several half finished knives then stuck the planks into his inventory, knowing that the longer it took to steal everything, the longer Scarlet was stuck up above waiting. He carefully poked the chests with his staff, ready to jump back or teleport out if anything jumped at him or exploded. He stuffed both chests into his inventory then walked over and put his hand close to the outside of the forge.

"So much for them enchanting the outside to stay cool," Myst muttered as he pulled his hand back away from the forge.

Myst stuck his gardening gloves on then touched the stone base the forge was sitting on and tried to shove it into his inventory.

"I'm sorry, the object you are trying to store is too large," the voice warned him.

Myst frowned as he looked at the forge that wasn't that much larger than the treasure chests he'd had no issues stuffing into his inventory. 'Too large? Or attached?' he mused as he walked over and dropped a treasure chest near the pipe that went into the wall. He pulled the plank out of his inventory and stuck the bottom of it against the chest then leaned the other end against the pipe. He gave the plank a shove then a couple of good shoves. 'Okay, now for the stupid part of the plan.'

He walked up the plank and jumped off when his weight was enough to rip the pipe out of the wall and out of the forge, a bit surprised that he was able to land on his feet.

"Agility increased by 1," the voice announced.

'Mental note, work on physical fitness,' Myst mused as he looked at the small indentation in the stone wall that didn't actually go anywhere. "So much for things actually making sense," he mused as he opened his inventory and grabbed his potion gloves, fairly sure they were resistant enough to fire to let him touch the pipe for a couple of seconds without getting burned.

He tossed the pipe into his inventory then walked over and quickly touched the bottom part of the forge and tried to shove it into his inventory.

"I'm sorry, the object you are trying to store is too large," the voice warned him.

"Okay, we'll do this the hard way," Myst grumbled as he walked over to the forge and dropped the other chest next to it. He walked around the forge and dropped one of his empty chests next to the forge then tipped it so the forge would fall into it when he shoved it into place. He walked back over to the plank and picked it up then stuck it under the forge and on the chest. "Just need a bit of leverage."

He carefully climbed up on the plank then stepped on the end, forgetting for a second that he weighed less than a hundred pounds and wasn't going to be able to move shit even by jumping on it. "Okay, new plan," he muttered as he jumped off, grabbed the other treasure chest and stuffed it into his inventory. "If I drop it on the plank, I can…" he trailed off as he noticed the thickness of the plank and realized he'd probably just break the plank if he dropped something on it that actually weighed enough to matter.

"Screw it, new plan," Myst muttered as he used his telekinesis to push down on the end of the plank, increasing the pressure until the stone forge tipped over and fell onto the chest with the sound of stone hitting stone, causing the chest to bounce backwards as the forge didn't fall into it perfectly. "Close enough," he muttered as he walked over and shoved the forge into his inventory, "for government work."

"Are you okay!" Scarlet called down, having heard the crash.

"I'm fine!" Myst replied as he stuck the anvil in his inventory, surprised that he'd managed to grab the forge but figuring it had something to do with it not being part of the room. He collected the chests and plank then teleported to the landing across from where Scarlet was waiting as he didn't want to accidentally teleport into her on the off chance that telefragging was a thing. "I found two treasure chests and a magical forge."

"Do you need help looting them?" Scarlet asked with a grin, looking forward to seeing what they could find.

Myst teleported across the pit now that he could see where he was going. "No, we're good. I managed to use a lever to move the forge enough that I could steal it and I stuffed the chests in my inventory."

"Do you want to grab all of the candles?" Scarlet asked, not really looking forward to tromping around looking for all of the candles.

"Not really," Myst admitted as he used the smith's key to unlock the treasure chest then pulled the chest out of his inventory. He took a step back and lifted the lid with his staff, half expecting it to spit acid or conjure a poisoned dart.

Scarlet giggled as she checked the chest once it was open. "Two books, leather pants, a crimson silk cloak and a scroll."

Myst stuck his staff in his inventory then walked over and checked the loot. "Secrets of Smithing, Transmute Ore, blacksmith pants: 5 points of fire resistance and double experience for the first five points of smithing skill, an ever clean cloak of warmth and dryness and a ritual for enchanting items to stay clean."

"What does it take to cast the ritual to keep things clean?" Scarlet asked, hoping they could put it on her dress before she ruined it running around dungeons.

Myst used the scroll then looked at the ritual on his display. "A hundred mana."

"That's double what I have," Scarlet complained.

"I can cast it a couple of times once I've had a chance to take a break, was there something you wanted me to cast it on?" Myst asked as he used the two books, picking up smithing and a transmutation skill. 'Iron to silver and silver to gold, that's like the book in Skyrim, similar goblins too.'

"My dress," Scarlet replied with a grin, knowing the maids were always complaining about her clothes getting dirty which annoyed her because they also complained when she skipped wearing them.

"Sure," Myst replied as he used the key to unlock the next chest. "Did you want the cloak?"

Scarlet grinned as she thought about running through the snow in nothing but a cloak and how red her mother would get. "I'd love a cloak that doesn't get dirty and keeps me warm."

Myst dropped the other chest on the ground and opened it from the side. He frowned when he noticed the silk and silver chain loincloth and the set of silver and ruby bracers.

Scarlet grinned when she saw the crimson loincloth. "Please tell me the loincloth does something useful."

"Armor and it boosts magic by 5 for female users," Myst admitted as he handed her the loincloth. "You'll probably want to save it until…" he trailed off as Scarlet swapped her dress for the loincloth, instantly going from fully covered to not.

"How do I look?" Scarlet asked as she stuck her dress in her magic belt pouch then spun around, showing off her behind as the silk was translucent and didn't cover all that much to start with.

"Not sure," Myst replied as he handed her the crimson cloak, doing his best to ignore her lack of clothes. "If you're trying for a naughty witch, you should probably complete the outfit," he explained as he quickly examined the bracers while she put the cloak on. "Better, but not quite there yet," he said as he handed her the silver bracers. "I'm going to need to borrow the bracers to learn the cleaning and repair spells, but they also boost your armor and let you deflect arrows."

"Nice," Scarlet replied as she slipped the bracers on, feeling slightly guilty that she was getting a large amount of the loot but knowing she needed the protection. "Now I just need to find a witch’s hat."

"Sure, let's go with that," Myst replied with amusement, not sure how he was supposed to talk her into putting something on that wouldn't cause the wizarding world to throw a fit for their trip to Diagon Alley.

Scarlet giggled as she ran her fingers over the cloak. "Clothes and jewels, you're my hero."

"Does that mean I can't be an evil wizard of doom?" Myst teased as he put the chests back in his inventory.

"Nope," Scarlet replied with a grin. "Speaking of loot, are we really not going to grab the ever burning candles and the rest of the loot that is all just sitting there?"

"I wasn't planning on it, but we probably should," Myst replied as he pulled a mana potion out of his inventory. He drank the potion then stuck the bottle in his inventory. "Just in case we run into more goblins."

"Do you have a sword I can borrow?" Scarlet asked, knowing her mana was going to take a while to refill.

Myst pulled a shortsword out of his inventory and handed it to her. "Hopefully you don't need it."

"With any luck, I won't," Scarlet agreed then followed him down the ramp.

0o0o0

Scarlet jumped when an owl carrying a letter flew in the open bedroom window and dropped a letter on the nightstand next to Myst. "Is that normal?" she asked as the owl flew back out of the window.

"Unfortunately," Myst replied as he picked up the letter and opened it, not surprised to see his Hogwarts letter. "Mr. Potter, Godric's Hollow, blah blah, blah, you're been accepted at Hogwarts' School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"When are you leaving?" Scarlet asked.

"September first," Myst replied as he glanced over the letter to make sure there wasn't anything surprising.

Scarlet opened her character sheet and looked at her magic stat. "I'm going to need to increase my magic stat if I want a ticket, are you sure I shouldn't spend my points?"

"We should probably wait until we can stab some hags in the goblin and hag dungeon with the magic stealing dagger, we can probably get your magic stat up to at least thirty before you spend your points," Myst suggested, figuring the adult hags would probably have a halfway decent amount of magic compared to children.

"What about increasing my strength or endurance?" Scarlet asked thoughtfully.

Myst shook his head. "Depending on the game system, we can probably increase your physical attributes by training, we might as well run some tests before we waste the points."

"How long will that take?" Scarlet asked.

"No idea, my power didn't come with an instruction manual," Myst admitted as he picked up a red dress off the bed that Scarlet liked, glad that Lily and James' bedroom wasn't under the damaged section of the roof and had been spared the water damage that plagued the rest of the house. He used the cleaning spell he'd learned from the bracers on the dress then handed it to Scarlet. "Freshly cleaned and minty fresh."

"Thanks," Scarlet replied as she dropped the dress on her chest slot of her equipment page, going from half dressed to wearing a dress that needed a belt but didn't look completely outlandish, mostly because of her broad shoulders and breasts.

Myst glanced at the dress that came down to her knees and was more than a little loose around the middle. 'Could be worse, she could be wearing the lingerie we found.'

"What do you think?" Scarlet asked as she looked in the mirror.

"I'm not a fashion expert but I think a belt would help," Myst suggested.

"Are you saying the dress makes me look fat?" Scarlet teased as she looked at herself in the mirror, the dress making her look like she was a kid playing dress up with her mother's clothes.

"Basically," Myst replied with a grin, not missing a beat.

Scarlet stared at Myst for a couple of seconds then started laughing. "I'm pretty sure you're supposed to lie."

Myst shrugged. "I've found a version of the truth works better. Generally speaking, it's rarely the dress's fault. In this case, it really is the dress."

Scarlet laughed as she grabbed her belt off the bed and dropped it into her belt slot on her equipment page, causing her dress to change from something comical looking to something that wouldn't look out of place at a community dance. "Better?"

"Much," Myst replied as he stuck his Hogwarts' letter in his inventory.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're too blunt?" Scarlet asked, studying his expression.

"More than once," Myst replied with a grin as he held his hand out. "Ready to deal with creepy shopkeepers?"

"To adventure!" Scarlet replied cheerfully as she grabbed his hand.

Myst made sure his hat was covering his scar then teleported them to Knockturn Alley and headed for Borgin and Burkes, hoping he wasn't making a mistake.

"Joking aside, what are we walking into?" Scarlet asked in a whisper.

Myst glanced around the alley. "The clerk is a criminal, he's run a questionably legal dark arts shop for over fifty years and he's not rotting in prison."

"Connections?" Scarlet asked thoughtfully.

"Most likely connections, bribery and blackmail," Myst replied as they walked up to the door.

"I'll be good," Scarlet assured him, figuring she could always drop a note about the place to her aunt if he caused trouble. 'Provided I can figure out how to get home.'

Borgin scowled when his door opened and two kids walked in. "You're in the wrong place."

"Does that mean you don't have a hand of glory to sell?" Myst asked, looking right at the old man and refusing to let the shopkeeper's scowl intimidate him, mostly because he doubted the man would actually attack him unless he did something idiotic.

Borgin glanced at Scarlet then focused on Myst. "I have one, do you have enough?"

"Unless you've jacked the price," Myst replied, unwilling to pay an arm and a leg for something he might be able to get elsewhere.

"Not recently," Borgin replied as he walked over to the shelf and grabbed the hand by the base it was attached to. "Will you be buying anything else?"

"Let's start with the hand of glory, then we'll browse. You have several things I'm interested in buying," Myst replied, wanting to have an acceptable reason to wander around the shop and see what he could find without the clerk trying to toss him out for 'wasting' his time.

"Works for me," Borgin agreed, deciding he'd give the kid a halfway decent deal on the hand that he was having problems selling to encourage them to buy more.

Scarlet kept her hands at her sides and her mouth shut as she glanced around the creepy shop, glad that her mother wasn't there to pick things up and look at them. 'Why would you want a shrunken head or blood stained cards?' she mused as she waited for Myst to finish his purchase. She grinned when she spotted a ship in a bottle on a shelf then frowned when she realized that there were tiny people on the ship and they were moving. 'Probably just magic,' she told herself, trying to convince herself that the people weren't waving, silently screaming for help and looking right at her.

Myst picked up his slightly overpriced purchase by the wooden base the hand was attached to and headed down the closest aisle, trying to make his way towards the cabinet he could see in the back of the shop without making it too obvious. He glanced at the cursed necklace on display that he'd love to have for dealing with corrupt politicians and kept walking past it, knowing that he couldn't buy it without a disguise. 'Just find something you can buy that doesn't scream dark wizard and check the cabinet, then you can find a nicer shop and buy a wizarding tent.'

Scarlet shivered when she noticed a creepy stuffed three eyed toad on one of the shelves looking at her. 'At least he hasn't started laughing maniacally,' she thought, trying to ignore the feeling of being watched as she followed Myst.