Around Midday, Naofumi and Motoyasu finally took a break. They had reached level 4, even finding a couple yellow balloons and taking care of them easily.

They were able to swap to the balloon weapon forms once they levelled up, but they still couldn't swap to the iron weapon forms.

Naofumi wasn't sure when they would be able to, but he was hoping it was soon.

None of the weapon forms they had unlocked had any equip effects for Weapon Synthesis, or and skills they could use.

"Do you think we should head further into the forest?" Naofumi asked Motoyasu.

"Hm… We could. Probably a few stronger things in there but we could deal with it. Probably."

Naofumi gave Motoyasu a disappointed look, and he raised his hands.

"It's not my fault I don't remember much about the early game! It's usually just a blur to me because I prefer getting to the harder content! Look!"

He gestured towards the forest, and Naofumi watched as a mushroom looking creature stumbled forward.

"As far as I remember, that's the strongest thing in the woods closest to the city, so if we can take care of that, then we can deal with anything in the woods."

"Are there different coloured ones like with the balloons?" Naofumi questioned, even as they walked closer to the monster.

"Yep, but they are still the same strength. I'm not even sure why they are different colours." Motoyasu answered with a shrug.

Getting closer, the name of the monster was finally revealed to the pair.

[Loomush]

"That's…" Motoyasu trailed off, looking at the Mush in surprise.

"I think it's a pretty decent name. Gets straight to the point." Naofumi spoke with a shrug.

Motoyasu only stared at Naofumi. "If we ever get a tamed monster, I'm not letting you name it." He spoke simply.

"Really? Are you saying your naming sense would be better?" He asked with a raised eyebrow as the Mush lumbered towards them.

"Better than yours!" He declared, lifting his hammer up. "You would probably name a balloon 'Bloony' or something!"

Motoyasu brought the hammer down, leaving the Mush on the floor for a moment. Naofumi finished it off with a quick punch, ignoring the experience notification he got from it.

"Yeah? There's nothing wrong with that! It's a balloon, it's simple and easy to remember."

"Again, not letting you name anything." Motoyasu spoke with a sigh, handing the Mush over to Naofumi.

He gratefully accepted it, absorbing it into his gauntlets.

Mush Gauntlets

(Abilities Locked) Equip Bonus: Plant Appraisal 1

[O]

Naofumi hummed, swapping to the new gauntlets.

"Anything interesting from it?" Motoyasu asked, noticing the new gauntlets. "Skills, Equip Effects?"

"Just something called Plant Appraisal 1. Not sure what it actually does."

"Well, obviously something to do with plants." Motoyasu answered with a smile. Naofumi simply rolled his eyes.

"Never would have guessed that." Naofumi responded sarcastically. "Come on, it was your idea to head further into the forest, so let's go."

He moved forwards, and Motoyasu followed beside him.

They encountered a few more mushes and balloons, but none of them gave the duo any trouble.

The mushes were good because they gave more experience, as well as being different variations. They had only found two other variations of Mush, those being Blue and Green Mushes.

They had also found out, thanks in part due to Naofumi accidentally pushing at a low hanging branch with the back of his hand, that they could absorb things other than monsters into their weapons gems.

This had them quickly absorbing anything they could get their hands on, namely wood, leaves and grass. They did try absorbing dirt, but it didn't end up unlocking anything.

Naofumi also tried absorbing a bronze coin, hoping for some sort of bronze gauntlets, but all that happened was a small jingling sound, and then a pop up saying that his total was '1G' He did play around with the idea of putting more money in it, but he pushed it back for later.

"Man," Motoyasu spoke, admiring the wooden hammer for a moment before switching back to his Mush weapon form. "I'll be honest, if I was alone, I don't think I would have even attempted to absorb leaves or wood."

"Guess that's a bonus, but it's going to be awkward having these on my hands the entire time."

"You could always reposition them?" Motoyasu offered. "I mean, I'm holding the hammer now, but if I do this…" He put it on his back, showing both his hands as the hammer stayed glued to him. "As long as it's touching me, then it's fine."

Naofumi hummed, looking over his gauntlets for a moment. "I should be fine for now. I'll probably just move them about when I go to sleep."

Motoyasu nodded. "That's fair. Though we could ask Erhart to work on a small version of our weapons? Like a bracelet or something."

It wasn't such a bad idea in Naofumis mind, but he knew it was going to be pretty pointless if they wanted to keep unlocking new weapon forms. Doing it whilst asleep would be the best for them. At best, it would probably be better for looking like normal adventurers.

Eventually, after traveling a bit further into the forest, they came upon a campsite that looked like it had been abandoned.

The tarp that had been used as a cover had seen better days. Small holes were scattered across it that looked suspiciously like bite marks.

The rope used to keep it tied to the floor on both sides was frayed, seeming ready to snap at the smallest interference.

The bolts that were stuck into the floor were in better condition, but not by much. A thin layer of rust had covered them, and Naofumi wasn't sure if he wanted to risk grabbing it out of concern for cutting himself.

"Wonder where the person went." Motoyasu spoke out loud, using his foot to nudge a small rock into what looked to be a small fire pit.

"Hopefully back to the city? I mean, it's not that far. Maybe they thought they could camp out but realized it was beyond them." Naofumi offered.

"Maybe."

The duo looked around the abandoned campsite for a bit longer before Naofumi pulled at the rope.

The tarp fell to the floor immediately after Naofumi did that, and he raised the rope to his gem.

"I'm not even sure what good a rope weapon form would do." Motoyasu spoke, watching as Naofumi absorbed it.

Rope Gauntlets

(Abilities Locked) Equip Bonus: Skill; "Erst Rush"

Equip Effect: Rope

[O]

Looking at the weapon form, Naofumi noticed a new symbol above the synthesis slot. He assumed those were the 'charges' that Motoyasu had mentioned before, and that they only showed up when there was an equip effect they could synthesize.

"Anything good from it?" Motoyasu asked curiously.

"Yeah, I got a skill and an equip effect. Not sure what either of them actually do though."

"Why don't you just try them out then? I'm gonna absorb the other piece of rope, see if it gives me the same sort of thing."

Motoyasu moved to the other side of the tarp, tugging at the rope as Naofumi considered what to use first.

"Rope" As soon as he spoke the word, a strand of rope shot out from the gem of the gauntlets, and wrapped around the tree he had been focusing on.

Naofumi could think of a couple of uses for it, and for the first equip effect, it wasn't that bad.

As the rope disappeared, a balloon bounced into the area, giving Naofumi the perfect thing to test out his new skill on.

He stepped forward, catching the balloon's attention, and it started bouncing towards him.

Much like before, Naofumi waited until it was mid hop so that it couldn't doge before punching.

"Erst Rush"

His punch connected with the balloon, and Naofumi could tell that it was stronger than before. The balloon popped immediately as Motoyasu let out a laugh.

"I got the same thing. except mine is Bash instead of Rush. Also got that rope effect as well."

"Well, from what I could see, the rope effect looks like it could be pretty useful. And it seems pretty easy to unlock, so it seems like a good choice for synthesis."

Motoyasu tested it himself, nodding at the rope that wrapped around a branch of a tree. He tugged on it, and seemed to find it good enough.

"Yeah, you're right. Only issue right now is that we don't really have any great weapon form to use it with." Motoyasu pointed out. "And I can't add any points to my skill yet."

Naofumi tried to add some points to Erst Rush, but found himself in a similar situation to Motoyasu.

"Maybe we need to unlock it first?" Naofumi asked curiously.

"Possibly. Well, let's just keep them equipped for now, and see how it goes? Motoyasu offered.

Naofumi nodded at that, willing to try it out.

"Hey, do you think it's better to focus on unlocking skills instead of the smaller boosts?" Naofumi asked suddenly.

"Huh? What's got you asking about that?" Motoyasu asked him.

"Just a thought. I'm not sure which would be better, so I wanted your opinion."

"Alright. Let's see… Well, I would personally say the first priority should be skills. From what it looks like, it locks them out of one method entirely, that being Skill Reinforcement. Skill Mastery still works on them, sure, but if we don't have the equip bonuses for this specific weapon unlocked, then we can use the skill without switching to it." Motoyasu explained.

"But what about the stat boosts from other weapon forms?" Naofumi asked. "Surely they have got to be worth something. Or even those technical skills, like Plant Appraisal."

"They are good, but we can unlock them at other times. I mean, I doubt every weapon form is going to give a skill, and between one skill and the next, we will have plenty of time to unlock the stat boosts. Plus there's the entire thing of leveling, giving us better stats."

Naofumi thought about it for a moment before nodding his head.

"I guess that makes sense. I can't see us getting like, 100 skills we have to master incredibly soon."

"Exactly! We aren't going to be overwhelmed with skills, so don't get worried about it. Now come on, we still have a bit of time left, we can kill some more Loomush and level up a bit more. Maybe we will be able to unlock the iron weapons before the end of the day."

As the sun began to set, the duo walked back into the city, with Motoyasu taking the lead and leading him towards a place to rest for the night..

They had made decent progress, in Naofumis opinion. They had reached level 8 on their first day out, found a weapon form that let them actually begin to use Weapon Synthesis, with the added bonus of said weapon form being easy to get.

All in all, Naofumi thought they were doing pretty good for themselves. He hoped that Ren and Itsuki were doing as well as they were.

"Come on!" A person shouted out to their left. "Hurry it up, or we won't be getting to Lurolona anytime soon!"

Naofumi and Motoyasu slowed down, looking around to catch sight of where the voice came from.

It came from a group of people, loading up a few carriages. One of them was tying up some sort of lizard towards the front of one of them, and it was obvious that they were finishing up their preparations.

"Hey!" Motoyasu spoke quietly to Naofumi. "You think we could get them to give us a lift to Lurolona?"

"Maybe? Give them a bit of money or something?" Naofumi responded just as quickly.

Motoyasu nodded and stepped forward, waving his hammer in the air.

"You lot! You're going to Lurolona, right?" Motoyasu called out.

"Eh? What's it to you?" One of the people sneered at them.

"We wanna get to Lurolona as well. We are willing to pay if you take us." Motoyasu gestured to himself and Naofumi.

"50 silver each, upfront." The man demanded immediately. "And your reasons for going."

Naofumi frowned at the price, almost certain they could probably get another way to Lurolona cheaper elsewhere, but he reluctantly nodded his head to Motoyasu.

Whilst Motoyasu was getting the silvers out of their combined funds, Naofumi answered the man's questions.

"We want to see what the site of a wave looks like." Naofumi answered easily. It wasn't exactly a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth either.

The man looked Naofumi over, not accepting the money Motoyasu held out.

"We can also cook?" Motoyasu offered a hint of false desperation in his voice, which got the man to finally give in. He snatched the money from Motoyasus hand.

"Good enough for me. You'll get to see how those damned beasts deserve it all…" The man murmured the last part to himself, but Naofumi and Motoyasu still heard it.

They looked at each other in confusion, but were distracted by the man speaking again.

"Get in that one there. Both of you on your best behaviour, and keep to your word, alright?"

Both heroes nodded, making their way onto one of the wagons. They positioned themselves in the corner, away from the rest of the people who were happily chatting away to each other, and simply waited for them to set off.

Once the wagon had set off, and they had been traveling for a short time, Naofumi and Motoyasu were dragged into a conversation by one of the two people sharing the wagon with them.

"Yo. You two are the people who are coming along with us?" The first person gave them a lazy wave.

"We are." Naofumi confirmed.

"Cool. The name Aston." He introduced himself lazily before sitting up straight. "Got an important question for you. Heard from the captain that you are gonna be cooking for us all. Can you actually cook? Or did you just say you could for the ride?"

"Gods, please say you can cook. If I ever have to deal with Lia and Cyrus cooking again, it will be a lifetime too soon." The other person in the wagon spoke, their hands pressed together as if they were praying.

Both the men shuddered at that, and Naofumi imagined that if they could see the person at the front of the wagon, they would be as well.

"They can't be that bad?" Motoyasu spoke slowly.

"Trust me, if you want a piece of meat with a hot center, but a cold outer layer, go to them. It's gotta be one of the wonders of the world." Aston spoke, earning a frown from Motoyasu.

Naofumi also frowned at that. Just how was it possible? He shook his head as the other man introduced himself.

"My name's Clind, nice to meet you both. Guy managing the wagon out there is Osvald, leader of our small group." He explained easily. "Never answered the question though. Can you cook?"

"Yep! We can both cook pretty well. As long as we have got something, we can probably do well, right Naofumi?" Motoyasu asked, directing the question towards him with a grin.

"Yeah, what he said. As long as you have something to work with, I'm sure me and Motoyasu can come up with something. And I can promise that I have never made anything like what your friends have."

"Thank god. Here, let me just invite you to the party real quick…"

They both quickly joined the party, earning a surprised noise from Aston.

"Huh, you're pretty low level." He mentioned. "Doesn't matter though. I'm sure we will be fighting a bit before we actually get there, so you'll get the chance to level up a bit."

"Sounds good! Can't wait to fight alongside you." Motoyasu spoke with a grin, earning himself a raised eye from Clind.

"Not at the beginning at least." He answered, shrugging when he saw Motoyasus frown. "I don't want you being taken out by a monster you aren't prepared for. At least let us level you up a bit before picking any fights."

Motoyasu sighed, but nodded his head, whilst Naofumi simply accepted it. If they were offering to help them level up, he was going to take it.

"So what is everyone doing, going to Lurolona anyways?" Motoyasu asked curiously.

The two men looked at each other, suddenly nervous before Clind spoke up.

"Ah, just…profiting off a trade, you know?" He answered with a nervous laugh.

"Oh, that's cool! What sort of trade?" Motoyasu continued his line of questioning, with both men shifting nervously.

"Its fish, right?" Naofumi spoke up. "Lurolona is seaside from what I remember on the map, so it makes sense."

"Ah, you're right! How could I forget that?" Motoyasu spoke, putting an arm around Naofumi.

"Haha, yeah… that's it. The fish trade, can't believe you guessed it." Clind answered with a nervous laugh.

"Got some stuff to deal with out here boys!" Osvald called out from the front, followed soon by the sound of a sword being drawn.

"Right, be back in a few moments I guess." Clind spoke with a small smile, nodding his head to the duo.

"You sure we can't come out with you?" Motoyasu asked quickly, receiving a shake of Clint and Astons head as they left through the front.

Once they were out, Naofumi turned to Motoyasu,

"That was weird, right?" He asked the hammer hero, getting a nod in response.

"A little, yeah. But would you really want to reveal what your special trade opportunity is to a couple of strangers?" Motoyasu pointed out.

Naofumi nodded, but he still felt like he was missing something from it all. He went to speak up again, but the experience pop up appeared.

"You think they would let us absorb the monsters?" Motoyasu questioned, making Naofumi pause.

"Maybe?" He said slowly. "I mean, they don't know we are heroes, so…"

"True, but think of the weapon forms Naofumi! What if there is some stuff we can synthesize?"

Motoyasu was using his own reasoning for going to Lurolona against him, and Naofumi hated the fact that it was working.

It took him a few more moments to finally agree. "You know they are gonna realize we are heroes?"

"That's fine. Just think of it this way, as long as we get some decent weapon forms, it will be worth it."

Naofumi sighed, but nodded his head. "Fine, come on. Let's get out there."

It took them a few moments to get out the front, but when they finally did, they were greeted by a voice they didn't know.

"Eh? The hell you two doing out here? Didn't Clind and Aston tell you to stay in- No, never mind. If you're gonna get out, you can help put the Usapils in the wagon. Can use them for later."

Naofumi guessed the person speaking was Osvald, and nodded his head at the instructions. The duo went towards the closest Usapil, looking it over.

"Strange." Motoyasu spoke curiously, picking one up by the ears. "They kinda look like rabbits, don't they?"

"Yeah, a bit." Naofumi agreed with him.

He watched as Motoyasu absorbed the Usapil, frowning slightly as he did.

"No good weapon form. Just an attack bonus." He said after a moment, getting a nod from Naofumi.

He went to absorb his own Usapil, but was stopped by hands on his arm.

"What are you doing? We are using them for later!" Osvald spoke quickly.

"Sorry, sorry. We were just absorbing them into our weapons." Motoyasu explained quickly, earning a confused look from the man.

In return, he swapped his hammer's weapon form, confusing the man even further. "Transforming weapons? There's only a few people who can do that…"

His face paled considerably before he laughed, slapping Naofumi on the back. "Ah, yeah you two stay out here. Ab… Absorb as many Usapils as you want! We are gonna have more than enough if the others kill some as well. I'll… I'll call you back into the wagon in a minute."

Osvald retreated back to the wagon, bringing both Clind and Aston with him, leaving both Naofumi and Motoyasu to look at each other in confusion for a moment before they got back to absorbing the Usapils.

Once Aston and Clind had gotten into the wagon behind him, Osvald pushed them towards the back, speaking in a hushed voice.

"You two! How did you not figure out that we had two seven star heroes coming along with us?" Osvald spoke quickly, his eyes continuing to move back to the front of the wagon.

"I was more focused about making sure they could actually cook!" Clind spoke back in a hushed voice. "Not like Alton was any help when they were trying to question me on why everyone was heading to Lurolona!"

"What did you say?" Osvald asked, hoping that the man didn't reveal anything.

"Nothing! I just went along with what they said, I ended up saying that we were taking part in the fish trade."

"The fish trade? I mean, I guess they probably have some aquatic demi-humans, but really? You couldn't have done something more believable?"

"I tried my best!" Clind spoke

"Back on topic, what are we gonna do about the heroes? I mean, they presumably won't want to enslave people, right?"

"No idea. I guess we just keep an eye on them? But maybe don't alert the captain yet…" Osvald spoke slowly.

"Alright, that sounds good to me. Just don't tell the captain and feel them out." Clind answered with a nod.

"Well, I might have to leave this entire thing if they can actually cook…" Aston spoke with a grin. "Hell, imagine working with people who can actually cook!"

"I can understand that. If they actually deliver on their promise to cook, and it's good? I'll work with them for as long as they want." was Clinds response.

"Much as I hate to say it, I agree. Let's see how they cook, then go from there, yeah?"

It was much later, with the moon high in the sky that all the wagons finally stopped.

Naofumi and Motoyasu promptly got to cooking, with Motoyasu acting as Naofumis assistant. It was a simple stew they were making, but the way people were talking about it would make people think it was some sort of feast.

In the furthest corner of the makeshift campsite sat two people, grumbling as they ate their own stew. "Why doesn't everyone act like this when we cook, Lia?" Asked one of them.

"I don't know. I think we cook pretty well!" She responded quickly. "Ooh, maybe we should sort out a celebration meal after we have captured all of those demi-humans? What do you think Cyrus?"

The people around them gave them a terrified look before moving further away, but the duo didn't pay any attention to it.

"Great idea! This will show we are better than those two! Who are they anyway?" He questioned, continuing to eat.

"No idea. Captain said he just picked them up for some silver and the promise to cook." Lia responded with a shrug.

"Maybe we should challenge them to a cooking competition? Make sure they know who's better?" He suggested.

"Yeah! After everything is done though." Lia agreed.

Cyrus nodded at that, and both returned to eating.

Naofumi and Motoyasu finally finished serving the last of the stew with a relieved sigh, They grabbed their own bowls heading a short distance away from the group of people before finally sitting down and speaking.

"So, I unlocked the iron gauntlets," Naofumi began.

"Same here, I got a new skill. Called Stunning Bash" Motoyasu answered.

"Different from mine then. Mines called Rapid Strikes." Naofumi responded.

"Huh, any idea why they are different?" Motoyasu questioned him, earning a shrug in response.

"I assume it's probably just because of the different weapons. I imagine if Ren or Itsuki copied some iron weapon, they would get something different as well."

"True. Just odd, but I guess we are bound to get different skills. Have you tried adding any points to your Erst skill yet?" Naofumi shook his head, and Motoyasu continued.

"Well, I tried whilst we were in the wagon. I could only get it up to III, but decided I would save the points for Hammer Bash. Still not sure if it would be better to spread the points out, or group them all up on one skill."

"You could have always removed some later on." Naofumi pointed out. "As for right now, I would say it's probably better to group it up one? It's not like we have a ton of skills, is it."

"Ah, true. I forgot about removing points. Should also mention I synthesized rope onto the iron hammer as well."

Naofumi nodded, already moving to do it for himself as well.

Iron Gauntlets

(Abilities Unlocked) Equip Bonus: +3 defense, +1 attack, Skill; "Rapid Strike"

[O]

He tapped on the synthesis menu, quickly transferring the rope effect onto the Iron Gauntlets.

Iron Gauntlets

(Abilities Unlocked) Equip Bonus: +3 defense, +1 attack, Skill; "Rapid Strike"

[Rope]

Once that was done, he took a quick look at the Rope Gauntlets, noticing

Rope Gauntlets

(Abilities Unlocked) Equip Bonus: +2 Attack, Skill; "Erst Rush"

Equip Effect: Rope
●○

[O]

"Yeah, I just did it myself as well." Naofumi spoke with a nod. He hadn't seen Motoyasu use Rope yet, so he had just assumed he hadn't done it yet.

There was a lull in the conversation before Motoyasu spoke once again.

"Now, what's the plan for when we actually arrive tomorrow?"

"Well, I'm not sure how much support they have been given since the wave, so I guess just take a general look around, see the state of everything, and go from there?" He suggested getting a nod from Motoyasu.

"Hopefully it's not too bad…" Motoyasu spoke quietly, and Naofumi found himself agreeing.

"That food was great!" Osvald spoke quietly, putting his bowl down.

Aston and Clind nodded their agreement, still eating as Osvald thought about something.

Once the other two had put their bowls down, Clind spoke up.

"I wasn't kidding, you know." Aston spoke slowly, looking at the other two's responses.

"Knew you weren't." Came Clinds immediate response. "Question is, do you think they could actually win against everyone?"

"I for one think they can." Osvald spoke. "If it was just one of them, then I would be a bit more hesitant, but it's two! Two seven star heroes! I think it's clear who the winning side is gonna be."

Aston and Clind nodded at that, before Aston spoke up. "So what now? Do we just… tell them what's going to happen tomorrow? Won't they be wary of us?"

"They might." Osvald conceded. "Hopefully our short time together is enough to convince them. I don't wanna be on the wrong side of this battle, but if, no when, those two win? They are gonna be set for a bit. I can imagine the queen would probably assist them when she gets back, which would lead to a better position for us three."

"Its gonna put us in the sights of the church." Aston pointed out. "Not that it matters much to me, I have no one else alive to care about except for you two."

"If no one returns, then we can try and get anyone we care about into Lurolona." Clind pointed out.

"Cleo never did care about the three heroes church propaganda…" Osvald mused with a smile. "Right, we tell them tomorrow in the wagon, when we know no one else is gonna overhear us, and plan from there, alright?"

Clind and Aston nodded their agreement, and after that, it was a matter of clearing up before heading to sleep.

Woo, end of another chapter. Apologies for being late, I completely rewrote my other fics chapter, which caused me to delay this one.

Naofumi and Motoyasu finally getting a weapon form to synthesize from, as well as a couple of skills each. Also catching a ride to Lurolona and amazing people with their cooking. Who could have seen that 2nd part coming I wonder.

Not 100% sure how many skill points each skill takes to go up a rank, but from what another person has said, Naofumi had enough for two V skills, and one IV skills below level 40 from a reprise loop that I had forgotten about initially. So I imagine it's a decent amount to level up a skill, so don't expect any skills above V any time soon, I suppose.

Also not sure why the initial charges aren't showing up on here, but on the 2nd viewing of the rope gauntlets, there is little circles to show how many charges there are/how many have been used up.

Once again, thank you for the continued support and comments, I enjoy reading them all, even if I don't respond to them. I should mention the next chapter will probably be delayed a little bit due to life stuff.

Until next time.