The last class of the day went by quickly, and before he knew it, they were being excused for the weekend. Unfortunately, with how densely information-packed the last class had been, Nate hadn’t had a chance to ask Lindsay or Angie what that girl had wanted at lunchtime. Now that class was over, he had to rush to the parking lot and his waiting parents.

He gave them both hurried goodbyes, along with well wishes for their expedition that weekend, and then vanished down the hallway.

Nate rushed through the crowded hallways and out the front doors of the school. Once he was clear of the main crowd and closer to the parking lot, it only took him a few moments to find his parents. The SUV had the storage box on the top for all their shopping and equipment needs, while the back had some rather distinctive features of its own.

It looked like the sort of vehicle that people would have taken off-roading in his past life. Though he honestly wasn’t sure why. He didn’t think his parents ever took it outside the city. It went from their house to the parking lot where the truck and trailer were, and then all around for shopping, but that was it. It needed a good suspension to carry the heavy gear and extra storage they put in it. But some of the other mods that had been done to it made less sense to him.

Then again, for all he knew, maybe this was what they had been using before they could afford the rig and trailer. There was a lot he didn’t know about their early days.

He opened the back passenger door and slid in behind his mother. “Hi, thanks for picking me up. Where are we off to?”

“Well, I guess that depends on you. Your mom said you had a surprise you wanted to show us after school. Something that would affect how we shopped.” His dad said from his place behind the steering wheel. He started the car and slowly maneuvered them out of the crowded parking lot.

“Right, um, in that case, let’s get my new kukris first. I’ll show you what I have prepared once that is done, just uh… park in the back corner or something,” Nate finished uncertainly. “Someplace where we’ll be out of sight.”

“That’s easy enough to do,” Nina told him as she retrieved a wrapped present from underneath her seat. “They were one of the things we picked up before coming to get you. We hope you like them.”

She passed them back to him as Niall took a turn and guided them to a parking lot for what looked like a church. His family had never been particularly religious before, but considering what had happened to him, that might have to change. Or maybe not. It wasn’t as though he had met some all-powerful figure that had given him a name to worship anyway. For now, all he could say was that there was definitely some sort of higher power, nothing more.

Shaking his head to dispel the onslaught of weird thoughts, Nate turned his attention back to the present in his lap. He waited for his father to put the car into park, before tearing into the wrapping paper. It would be a terrible idea to handle a dangerous weapon like his new kukris while inside a moving vehicle.

“What are these made of?” He wondered aloud, as the dark gleaming blades came into view.

They were sitting on top of their respective, though somewhat cheap looking sheathes. He flicked a fingernail against the edge of the blade and then brought the finger to his mouth with a surprised hiss. On a metal blade, that move would have produced a music note of some kind and nothing more. With this blade, it produced more of a full thrum noise that he didn’t know what to make of. More importantly, it had cut through his fingernail to the soft skin hidden underneath.

The angle shouldn’t have been right for it to cut him like that. However, due to how sharp it was, the minor contact he had made with the edge had been enough to cut him.

“Yeah, you’ll need to be careful with those. I’m honestly not even sure the sheathes they gave us will stand up to their edges.” His father told him with a chuckle at his son’s minor misfortune. It was no less than what he had experienced when he was younger. Some things were better taught through pain and action than by words and warnings.

“As for what they are made of,” Nina pulled out a sheet of paper that had been folded up in her pocket. “Primarily the scales of an armadillo that had begun the third stage of cultivation, along with a few other parts from lower realm beasts. Then there was the primary binding agent, which is needed for any weapon using parts from a beast, though it isn’t listed for some reason.”

Nate inhaled sharply at that declaration. The third stage of cultivation began with the eighth realm and continued to the tenth realm.

“When you say it had begun the third stage of cultivation… are you saying that it had entered the eighth realm? Or that it had been in that realm for a while?” Either way, the cost of these two kukris was astronomically higher than what he had been expecting his parents to spend.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“We have no way of knowing since it isn’t listed. Either way, the overall quality of the blades was brought down when they chose to also include parts from lower realm beasts.”

“Still, these must have cost almost as much as your own weapons!” He protested.

“Having a good, trustworthy weapon is essential if you want to stay safe while you are out on an expedition. You saw what happens if your weapon fails on you and you can no longer count on it last time. Luckily, we and the others were there to make sure nothing terrible happened. However, that might not always be the case. It is better to buy the best weapon you can and know that you will be able to depend on it when the time comes.” His father said, becoming suddenly serious.

Nate nodded, remembering the terrible condition of his metal kukris when the expedition had finished. They hadn’t even managed to last the entire weekend. Regular metals just couldn’t compare with the strength of beast’s bodies.

He carefully put them inside their sheathes. A frown came to his face as he felt them cut into the material, the fibers parting effortlessly beneath the extremely sharp blades.

“Well, if that isn’t a sign to move on to the next item of business, I don’t know what is,” He muttered.

His mom winced. “Um, maybe you can just keep them stored in your storage bracelet most of the time?”

“It’s fine. Like I said, this goes into the stuff I had for you two anyway.” Nate took a deep breath, and paying careful attention to keep up the illusion that he had a storage bracelet, began removing the first of the items from his storage. “So, remember how I told you before that I was able to train in my dreams, and that I could occasionally get items from it as well?”

Niall sort of bobbled his head from side to side as he twisted around in his seat to face his son. “I remember the conversation and the items you had. But we never went over the frequency, and I don’t think we should now either. Some things are best kept to yourself, and this is probably one of them.”

Sitting just a few inches away from her husband, Nina nodded. “I agree Nate. The less we know, the less we can accidentally let slip during a careless moment, or that might be overheard during a private conversation. As I said before, when you first told us, I’m sure you have more secrets. Keep them. We don’t need to know them all. Just know that we love you.”

Nate sniffed and twitched his nose a few times as the sudden urge to hug them both overcame him. Unfortunately, the SUV wasn’t quite large enough for him to do that, so he had to settle for a slightly watery smile.

“Right, well, while you two were off playing Tarzan and Jane in the forest, I managed to get a couple of items for you.” He had pulled out two completely different-looking bracelets first. One was a little chunky looking, while the other was more svelte and streamlined. They were covered in runes and glyphs, and each of them worked in such a way to appear beautiful instead of merely functional. Both bracelets were works of art in their own way.

“What are those?” His mom asked softly.

“The first of many surprises,” He said. Nate extended the chunkier-looking bracelet. “This one expands out into a shield. I’m not sure how much use it will see, but I got it and now you’ll have it in case of an emergency. This second one is a storage bracelet. You’ll be able to carry a decent amount of stuff in it.”

He passed them both forward so they could look them over.

While they were doing that, he pulled out a pair of matching sheathes and transferred his new kukris into them. The sheathes were mostly normal looking, but the effects they came with were anything but. There were three of them, repair, sharpen, and clean. Given time, they would repair any minor damage done to the blades seated within them. The sharpening and cleaning were supposedly done much quicker.

With these, he wouldn’t need to worry about his new blades meeting an untimely end anytime soon.

Up front, his mom had slipped the storage bracelet on, while his father had taken the shield bracelet.

“Okay, I have one more item for each of you, and these are the big ones,” Nate told them as he pulled out the two weapons he had gotten for them. “Unfortunately, I don’t have sheathes for these dad. Hopefully, your old ones can be made to work for the time being.”

While he was talking, Nina was stroking her new bow, feeling the smooth lines and the power it contained within. Just like Nate had been forced to do with the crossbow, she would need to cover all the runes and other symbols that covered the inside of the bow. The bowstring was a metal cord she had never seen before, with a wrap where her fingers and the back of the arrow would go. It was different from what she was used to, but it was gorgeous and held more than a hint of restrained deadly power within.

Niall was doing something with the two-bladed tonfas, inspecting every inch of them, and feeling how they felt in his hands. The only thing he barely restrained himself from doing was pulling the triggers they both had.

“Nate, these are…” He began after a minute of drooling over his new toys.

“They’re too much. I think they might be better than we deserve at this point,” Nina muttered.

“No, they’re exactly what you two need to keep yourselves safe. Same rules as you gave me. Don’t go flaunting them around. Hide the runes and other markers. If the time comes, then these will save your lives instead of leading you into more danger.”

“Well, I can definitely see why you wanted to stop us from buying certain things now,” Niall said, leaning back into the driver’s seat. “The arrows we buy normally for your mother’s old bow would probably shatter if she put them through that thing. With the storage bracelet, we can also change up what sort of supplies we carry and the amount. It will need to be discreet though.”

He continued to mutter to himself as his eyes took on a distant look.

Nina, meanwhile, stored her bow and his tonfas in the storage bracelet with a satisfied grin. An act that Nate mirrored with his kukris and his own storage.

There was one more item he could have given them, but it could wait until later. It was something that he could use as well, after all. He wanted his parents to be safe, not to short-circuit their minds.

A short while later, they were back on the road and headed toward their first destination. It was time to get some bolts and arrows, among other things.