Gabby and Benny’s eyes darted from the brother’s Watcets to their own. Unlike their blue Watcets, which signified they were A-Rank, the Sanford siblings couldn’t help but look at Cynrik and Brance’s wrists with a tinge of jealousy.
“If you see anyone wearing the same color as Brancie and me, don’t draw attention to yourselves but make a mental note of their physical appearance. Also, keep your ears open; odds are people S-Rank or SS-Rank will be arrogant enough to blab out their names or brag, so keep your ears perked up.” Cynrik looked at Gabby before continuing.
“Especially you little rabbit, we will need your perfect memory.”
“Teehee, yeppers.” Gabby giggled, excited to be given a task, and saluted Cynrik.
“Benny, watch over your sister, Brancie, and I will be distracted and trying to keep a low profile as much as possible, so we won’t be able to keep tabs on everyone easily.” Cynrik directed his attention at the silent Benny, who nodded in reply.
“Good, remember everyone, the most important thing is we stay together, do NOT get separated, there will be many people there, and we don’t want anyone getting swept away by the crowd.” Brance stepped forward and patted Gabby’s head gently as he added in his own two cents.
Cynrik’s hypothesis had him on edge, but he tried not to show it to the Sanford siblings. However, with the potential presence of other LCs running around the immediate area, Brance felt the pressure of being targeted for an attack at any moment.
“Kids, it’s almost time to go; we need everyone to gather in the garage.” Cinyah’s voice came out of the intercom system positioned in the room corner, and Cynrik closed the party briefing.
“One last thing, guys, if for any reason you feel suspicious that someone is targeting you or another party member, come up to either Brance or me, and grab our hand; two pumps mean you see someone with a Golden or Platinum Watcet, three pumps mean we are targeted. If it does occur, try making it look natural, this is more so for you, Benny, since we both know Gabby will act all lovey-dovey with our Little Brancie.
Cynrik smirked before tossing a glance at Aiden and nodding. Although he wouldn’t be joining them at the Academies and staying with the parents during the Selection, Cynrik still tried to keep him involved; after all, Aiden was the first like-minded weeb he had come across since his rebirth and the unofficial party BlackSmith.
Brance and Benny laughed at Cynrik’s light bullying of the little girl and ignored her puffed-up cheeks as the party moved from the training room, down the hall, through the house, and into the oversized six-car wide garage.
Seeing the children’s arrival, Jessup stepped up first, drawing everyone’s attention.
“I was able to get everything adjusted to your request Little Cyn; send over the trade.” Jessup got straight to business as a man of few words and extended his hand to Cynrik.
Understanding what Jessup meant, Cynrik caught Brances hand first.
[Send me over 50 SP and one mill. But, of course, we have to cover the kids’ equipment, so let’s split the cost.]
Brance complained and simply sent over what his older brother was asking for. When the brothers broke off their handshake, Cynrik stepped up to Jessup and shook his hand. Upon contact, he imagined a trade window similar to video games and willed it to appear. No sooner than Cynrik had willed it into existence within his head, a system window popped into his and Jessup’s vision, and the two started filling up the inventory slots in the trade window. As someone who was OCD with inventory management, Cynrik knew precisely where everything was placed, so he easily located all the higher Tier pelts, claws, and fangs he had stored from the Egress and tossed them into the trade window.
Cynrik didn’t stop at just creature materials; he even tossed several Tier-1 Codexes into the trade. But, even though he had been the one to negotiate prices with Jessup, it still hurt Cynrik’s heart to give away his loot. So, once all the items were in place on his side, Cynrik then placed two million credits and 100 SP into the money slots at the bottom of the screen.
Once everything was in place, Cynrik finally looked away from his window towards the one floating beside it, which belonged to Jessup. Then, with his eyes scanning like radar, Cynrik glanced over the contents that Jessup had painstakingly worked on and upgraded, and he had to admit, the man was known as the best for a reason. Benny now had a similar yet significantly smaller shield to Brances and a CS slightly longer Short Sword; not only that, but Jessup had made him similar armor to what Brance had, the only difference being it was a vibrant shade of blue. In addition, the jacket, pauldrons, shin guards, and boots all matched in an almost uniform manner to what Cynrik and Brance wore, making Cynrik chuckle lightly.
Next up was Gabby’s new gear. Jessup had scrapped her old bow for a new Cold-Steel Alloy Compound bow. Adorning the tips of each bow arm were fist-sized wheels and a small lever, which would allow Gabby to adjust the tension on the weapon at will. In addition, Cynrik had Jessup add in a unique option specifically for Gabby’s convenience. Although Cynrik knew it would be a challenge for the old man, he requested that the bowstring have an inner core that could channel Mana; this would allow Gabby to fire Affinity arrows when her Cold-Steel ones ran dry, opening up more options in more prolonged battles.
Looking away from the fierce-looking bow, which stood at just about the same height as the little girl, Cynrik set it aside and checked her armor, and he almost let out a chortle. Then, with widened eyes, Cynrik noticed the lithe armor matched his own, just more petite and with bunny ears attached to the hood. It brought a smile to his face seeing the miniaturized feminine version of his own loadout in a medium amethyst shade reflecting her Psychic Affinity.
Since archers and Assassins relied on their movement speed and hiding abilities, Cynrik had opted to toss a bone to Gabby to see if she was interested in learning from him; this armor was the fastest way to do so. The critical difference between his and Gabby’s new armor was that the pauldrons were slimmer and hinged differently, allowing for a broader range of motion not to impede her shooting.
Pleased with the gear for the Sanford siblings, Cynrik quickly checked over the gear for Brance before moving on to his own. Jessup only needed to make slight adjustments to the two sets of equipment, such as working on the flexibility and adjusting the gems on Brance’s shields. When Cynrik had informed him he wanted an option for using the fourth Affinity, he thought the old man was gonna keel over then and there. Still, Jessup finally caved after some coaxing and promises of many materials. Stored under each pauldron was a small clear gem. All it took was for Cynrik or Brance to input a small amount of their own Mana into this gem to allow for the introduction of a new element.
The same went for each of their weapons, including Gabby and Benny, whose gear right now only could store their current Affinities. The gem was part of Cynrik’s advanced planning. The most significant factor with the whole upgrade was the need for Tier-2 equipment, as it wouldn’t be long until the four children proceeded to their subsequent evolution.
Once Cynrik finished checking over everyone’s upgrades and the work done on his Kodachis’, he saw a large crate in the final trade slot. This was his last surprise for everyone. Unfortunately, it would take some time for him to get it ready, but he could already see the stunning look of confusion on their faces. When he conceptualized this plot, nicknamed “Operation Side-Arm,” he requested a lot of individual parts and specialized materials only Jessup could acquire. Unfortunately, these supplies cost him the bulk of his cash and resources. However, Cynrik felt it was an acceptable loss of funds at the end of the day and didn’t dwell on it too much.
Seeing everything was in order, Cynrik completed the trade before moving toward his party and handing over their new equipment. The following minutes were as expected. Everyone tried on their new armor and weapons gleefully, especially Gabby, who instantly fell in love with her new jacket and bow, so much so that she was rubbing her cheek along it while mumbling.
While everyone was in the process of slotting their gear into Loadouts, Benny, who was wearing his upgraded armor, noticed an emblem on his chest and ran his fingers along with the embossed threading. Then, with shining eyes, he ran up to Cynrik and smiled for the first time in a while.
“Big Bro Cyn…is this our Party’s Emblem?” Benny couldn’t hide the excided cadence to his words, making everyone look down to the Emblem placed over the left side of their chests.
“WOAHHH, IT LOOKS SOO COOL, BRANCIE LOOKIE LOOKIE!” Gabby instantly became the loudest person in the room, shouting while bouncing around, making the bunny ears on her hood flop around.
The Emblem wasn’t overly flashy or intricate. Two Black flaming blades crossed behind a silver teardrop shield. On the face of the shield were the letters “ML,” with M being in black flames and L being in shining silver.
“Hahhh, seriously, yall, look at yourselves, then each other; why must you be attracted to the little things and not the overall big picture.” Cynrik smacked his forehead with an open palm before making everyone realize their new gear matched with the other members of the party.
“This will be our Party Uniform from now on; everyone’s armor reflects their Affinity, Gabby’s Amethyst (Google this Color Code