The Deceitful One

Inside the brown briefcase, placed on a red silk cloth, were four items in total. Two bracers and two curved daggers.

The two bracers were kept in the center side by side. And the two curved daggers were kept on both sides of the bracers, one on each side.

The blade on the dagger was grayish-silver in color with a black hilt. While the metal bracers were also grayish-silver in color as well. Bryan believed that both the blade of the daggers and the metal bracers were made of the same material.

Bryan only glanced at the daggers once. His gaze was completely focused on the bracers. This was the weapon that he had especially told Grace to get her grandfather to craft. He caressed the surface of the bracer gently as if he was touching his lover.

Looking at Bryan engrossed in the bracers, Grace smiled and said, "By the way, grandpa said that the design for these bracers was ingenious. At least, this was the first time he was making something like this."

Bryan looked at Grace in surprise and asked, "Really!? Hehe, well it makes sense. I am a genius after all."

Grace rolled her eyes at this narcissistic friend of hers and said, "Put on the bracers. Grandpa asked me to inform certain things about it to you."

"All right!" Bryan nodded his head excitedly, took off his tailored coat, rolled the sleeves of his shirt to his elbows, and picked up the left-hand bracer from the briefcase.

As he was putting it on his left hand, he heard Grace giving the description, "The inside of the bracers is made from black leather for the wielder's comfort."

After putting on the left bracer, Bryan picked up the right bracer and put it on. Grace added, "The plate is forged from Iku Metal, which is the 10th strongest metal in the world. It acts as a reinforced barrier on top of the bracer and it is strong enough to deflect bullets."

Bryan looked at the grayish-silver metal bracers which covered more than half of his forearms, in amazement. Then he looked at Grace and asked eagerly, "And what about the thing I told you about? How do I activate it?"

Grace smiled, "Just direct a little bit of your spiritual force toward the bracers."

Bryan nodded in anticipation and guided his spiritual force to the bracers. As soon as his spiritual force came in contact with the bracers, two slim and narrow blades extended out from underneath the bracers, one on each side.

"A concealable weapon that consists of the narrow blade placed within a channel that can be covertly extended or retracted from the underside of the bracer.

It has a trigger mechanism inside which allows the blade to extend with only slight spiritual force. Moreover, this weapon can also be used with a closed fist." Grace gave a detailed description.

Bryan was extremely satisfied with the weapon. He retracted the blade back into the bracers and then went toward the center of the room. After slightly bending his knees and taking a fighting stance, Bryan started to practice his close combat techniques.

Jab, hook, cross, uppercut, knife hand strike, claw strike, Bryan's hands were so fast that they formed afterimages. Grace was amazed by Bryan's display of combat techniques. All of sudden, Bryan extended the blades hidden within the bracers.

He displayed the Myriad Martial Technique, but this time there were short and narrow blades coming out from underneath his wrists. Silver flashes of light kept appearing and disappearing around Bryan as his hands moved at high speed.

In Grace's eyes, it looked as if thin silver streams of water were flowing around Bryan. She was totally mesmerized by the scene. After a few moments, Bryan retracted the blades back into his bracers and exhaled a long breath.

He had a wide grin on his face as he couldn't help but recite a poem,

"Under the starry sky, a shadow runs unhindered across the plains.

With every step he takes, empires fall in his wake.

The gods weep and the kings take their last breath.

Ah such a silent night, such a silent death."

Grace was slightly taken aback as she said, "Bryan, you're quite good at poetry!"

"Heh, of course, I am. I'm forced to study poetry by my teacher, after all." Bryan smiled bitterly.

Grace tried to comfort him, "It's not all that bad, you know. People really admire poets, sculptors, and painters, especially the nobles.

In fact, the children of all nobles are also taught all these things from a very early age. Me, for example, I'm pretty good at painting."

Bryan looked at Grace and raised his eyebrows, "Is that so?"

Grace nodded, "That's right. Anyways, aren't you gonna name your weapon?"

Bryan raised his forearms to look at the bracers. He smiled and said, "Mystiko! You shall be called Mystiko, an instrument of death shrouded in secrecy!"

The curved daggers and the Mystiko bracers perfectly complemented each other. Bryan had always kept this in mind when he had given Grace the details. The curved dagger could be used for slashing and Mystiko for pricing.

The function of the Mystiko bracers was to take the enemy by surprise and ensure instantaneous death. The bracer could be hidden underneath the shirt sleeves, drawing no attention to the wielder.

"In the future, you can continue to upgrade this weapon, should you find better materials. Currently, it could barely be called a Quasi-Rank 1 Artifact." Grace added.

Bryan nodded and then said earnestly, "Thank you so much, Grace! I mean it from the bottom of my heart."

"Don't worry about it. I owed it to you anyways." Grace waved her hands and smiled.

"By the way, you're leaving for Nadir tomorrow morning, right?" Bryan asked.

Grace nodded, "Yes, I'm going for good now. Leah's coming as well. Our college starts next week."

"Okay. I'll come to see you guys off at the train station tomorrow. Oh, and I'm sorry I wasn't able to find any potion recipes or meditation techniques. But I'll mail it to you through the postal service as soon as I find one." Bryan said seriously.

Grace smiled and replied, "It's alright. Come, let's go have some dinner."