Vol.6 Ch.4.2 – Treasury Of Olympus II

And so I set out to find a pair of necklaces for Melinoe and me. Only this time, instead of looking around, I decided to try something.

My Luck had clearly guided me toward the cloak of invisibility but it had also caught my eye for being a really good-looking cloak. But what if I decided to completely trust the Luck stat for once? Would that even work? And if it would, what would it show me?

And so instead of browsing I closed my eyes and let my feet carry me. I half expected to run into a pedestal with every step but it never happened. I just kept walking and walking, waiting until I felt something, anything, to indicate I'd found what I'd been looking for. I was about ready to give up, ready to admit that this had been a waste of time, when I suddenly felt it. A tingle to my left. I turned toward it and opened my eyes. And froze.

On the pedestal in front of me was a pair of necklaces.

I blinked, willing the appraising miracle Athena had cast on us to take effect, and immediately understood that yes, this hadn't been a fluke, this was what I'd been meant to find.

Blood Amber.

The charms were two perfectly shaped teardrops of a substance that looked like amber but was red as blood and encased within it was something that emitted a faint glow, just strong enough to make the charms sparkle in a gorgeous way. And their effects were similarly perfect.

For a mage it would augment any spell as if they had spilled blood to augment it. This would sound like nonsense but I had seen Melinoe cutting her own hand to augment her magic with blood before. I had to assume this was a technique taught to her by Hecate, goddess of magic, crossroads and blood sacrifice. And knowing what I knew about the nature of magic and life force I had to assume this technique functioned like an extremely crude form of Qi manipulation. Instead of controlling life force directly Melinoe could spill it in form of blood to achieve a similar effect. Though once we taught her proper Qi techniques I was sure the necklace would be even more effective for her, namely because of the second effect.

The second effect would work regardless of magic potential and it granted the wearer a font of life force that sped up their natural regeneration, which I assumed meant it augmented one's Qi.

Yes, these were just about perfect. They were gorgeous charms, truly befitting of a demigoddess, and they were perfect boons for the both of us. And, given that they had been on the same pedestal and that the appraising effect referred to them as 'paired necklaces' I was fairly certain these would only count as one magic item. Which meant I still had one left to choose.

But instead of looking for the final item I decided to check on the girls.

Walking with my eyes closed had carried me quite a ways and the closest to me right now was Anna. And so I made my way over to her.

The short bow she'd been holding before was nowhere to be seen and she was now eyeing a pair of fine leather boots.

“What you got there?” I asked as I approached.

“Oh hey,” she said. “Done already?”

“Two out of three,” I said. “You?”

“This'll be my second,” she said and I looked at the boots with the appraising effect.

Legendary stalker boots. I quickly read over the description and my first thought was: “Yeah, these are perfect.”

The boots would muffle all sounds the wearer made, would completely mute the wearer's footsteps, would not leave tracks on any terrain except snow and would grant true footing to steady an archer's aim. And of course they were also enchanted for durability but with legendary items that pretty much went without saying.

“What about the bow?” I asked.

“Hmm?”

“I saw you looking at a bow earlier. Did you end up picking that?”

She blinked, surprised that I had watched her with the bow. “I did.”

“Why?” I asked. “I thought you were happy enough with your longbow.”

She pulled the bow out of a bag of holding and showed it to me. It was a beautiful short bow, its arms decorated with a golden wing design. “The longbow is great when I want to eliminate targets at long range,” she said, “but I usually only get one or two shots off before the melee begins, at which point my bow becomes a liability. But this one is built for speed. I tested it out and I can nock and loose five arrows in the time it takes me to loose one with the longbow. Not only is it shorter and lighter, its draw weight is magically reduced and another enchantment speeds up your drawing hand.”

“That has got to feel weird,” I said.

“It did at first,” she said. “But I'm sure I'll get used to it. Or should I not pick this?”

“You need to choose what to pick,” I said. I could tell immediately by her frown that she'd misunderstood that so I clarified: “I can make suggestions and I can even help you look for things but,” I tapped her temple, “I'm not in here. I don't know how it feels for you to fight so I can't tell you what weapons would be best for you. I can tell you that you won't regret picking those boots but the bow? You have felt an issue in your arsenal and if that shortbow will help you then pick it. I'm not an archer and even if I was that doesn't guarantee that I'd feel the same problem.”

She stayed quiet and I got into the explanation:

“Take Selene. I am teaching her how to fight but even so she has to know what's right for her. I could never fight with a greatsword the way she does. It would feel weird to me. Similarly, you and I use swords but I know nothing about court fencing so if you wanted a sword I would have no idea what to look for. Only you can know that. I can help you find what you want but even that's only because of my luck.”

She nodded slowly and the frown bled off her face. “Thank you for explaining,” she said, then squished her lips to one side. “Mind if I take you up on that?”

“Finding you something?” I asked. “Sure.”

She nodded, then put the bow and the boots into her bag of holding.

Alright then, I'd never really done that for someone else, so... I grabbed her hand and laced our fingers, then closed my eyes and let my feet carry me again. Anna followed me, at first hesitantly but then with more confidence once she was sure I wouldn't run into anything with my eyes closed. Finally, after only a minute of walking, I paused, then turned to my right and opened my eyes.

“This is...” she muttered, then sucked in a breath. “Gods above!”

I looked at the thing and, after a quick skim of the appraisal, sucked in a breath as well.

The item was a sickle, made of a material that looked somewhat golden but wasn't, probably brass, and the handle was wrapped in fine leather. For an herbalist like Anna a sickle was already a useful tool but then there was the property that made this a legendary item. When harvesting materials this sickle would grant double the yield. Given the many rare and expensive herbs Anna came across while traveling this was already a boon beyond measure but the thing was also enchanted for durability, sharpness and bone cutting, allowing it to harvest materials from monsters as well.

This sickle, combined with a single dive down the Crystal Crown's dungeon, could set an entire group of adventurers up for life.

“I'm definitely taking this,” Anna muttered.

“And I'll pay your mom whatever she demands to run that through her duplicator,” I added.

“You think one won't be enough?”

“I think with the abuse we'll put that thing through, even a legendary item will one day break.”

“Fair,” she said, then pocketed it as well.

**

Once I was sure Anna was satisfied with her selection I found Yume, who was still wandering the rows of pedestals seemingly with no clear goal in mind.

“Can't find anything you want?” I asked as I fell into step beside her.

“Nothing has called out to me yet,” she admitted.

“Overwhelmed by choice?”

“No,” she said. “Now that I have my spatial ring back there's precious little I want. I have the best weapon I have ever held right here and the clothing and armor here are of no use to me.”

“Are you that focused on your kimonos?” I asked.

She chuckled. “It's not that.” She paused, then corrected: “Alright yes, I do vastly prefer them. But the real issue is that none of the clothing here was made for someone with my... attributes.”

“Ah,” I said, getting it. She could certainly wear a dress from our realm but her tails would get in the way with everything. And with her ears, wearing any kind of headdress was out of the question as well. But... “What about charms, then?”

“Nothing has caught my interest yet. An incremental boost to mana channeling here, a slight boost to Strength there, nothing that even justifies the added weight.”

“Want me to help you look?” I asked.

“Is that what you've been doing?” she asked. “Wandering around with your eyes closed?”

“Yes,” I said, then held out my hand. “Want to give it a try?”

She chuckled, then placed her hand in mine and off we went.

This time it barely took any time at all. And this time we ended up in front of... “Huh,” I said. It was a pair of lacquered sticks. Except Yume looked at them as though she'd seen a ghost.

“These are...”

“Wait, are these the sticks you told me about?” I asked. “The ones you use instead of silverware?”

She took a moment to shake herself out of it, then said: “No. I mean, yes, this is how they look like. But these are actually meant to be worn as hairpins.”

I frowned and she demonstrated, tying her hair up high behind her head and then fixing the up-do in place with the sticks. It looked amazing on her. And only then did I check to see what they actually did.

Yes, they were meant as hairpins and their first enchantment was to stay in place until removed by the wearer, keeping their hair exactly how it was styled. That was a cute trick but more importantly they allowed a mage to store spells, letting them save up half a dozen spells for later use. Yume would be able to cast the powerful fire spells that normally tired her out too fast and store them in the hairpins for later use. And so long as all six slots were filled with spells they enhanced the mage's casting speed and allowed the wearer's spells to pierce through weak wards. That last part was what cinched it, really. Yume would no longer be thwarted by even minor mind wards.

“I wonder why this was here though,” she said.

“I mean, I doubt all of these items are stuff the Olympians created themselves,” I said. “A lot of it was likely gained in trade or as gifts. So this likely came from your realm.”

“Possible,” she said.

I was about to suggest we go look for another item for her when I saw Alisha hurrying toward us.

“Something wrong?” I asked.

“Not at all,” she said. “But look at these. Aren't they just perfect?”