105 Chapter 51: Gearing up for the Next Expedition

Joshua woke up to the satisfying smell of a nice home cooked breakfast that seemed to drag him out of his bed even after a long night of sparring with his father. He forced himself to head to the bathroom first to clean himself up with a shower and a trimming of his beard so that he wouldn't get to rugged looking while out exploring. He made his way down the stairs and to the kitchen to help his mother start putting plates on the table before his father made his usual sleepy eyed entrance. He was sure that Amy had gotten most of her morning temperament from their father since the both of them might as well have been dead to the world for the first half hour or so that they had gotten up.

The heavenly scent that Joshua had smelled from the kitchen was actually some fried alligator meet that his mother had decided to try out alongside some waffles for their breakfast. Joshua had saved pretty much all of the alligator meat for his group instead of selling it off and sold most of the other important parts to Nathan to use at his shop for equipment. He had done the same with the iguana that they had killed over and over again, but from the smell Joshua could tell that the iguana wasn't nearly as tasty as the alligator was going to be.

Soon his father made his way down to the room for breakfast and they all started eating the meal together. After the first bite of alligator meat both Joshua and his father started guzzling down the stuff at a pace that only full time athletes or people who eat in food competition would be used to. Joshua's mother smacked them both over the head to get them to settle down and eat properly, but neither one of them talked much since they were too busy gorging themselves with food. By the time they were finished all the food on the table was gone and they were both pleasantly full as they rubbed their stomachs looking like near mirror images of each other.

"That was the best meal I've ever had. Next time you find something like that to hunt down make sure to bring some of its meat home to eat." Joshua's father said getting a nod from his son in return. "How long do you plan to be out this time around?"

"Probably a couple of weeks at the most if everything goes as planned. We've got more than enough supplies to last us a month, but I highly doubt will stay out there that long." Joshua replied.

"Good make sure to take care of yourself and that girl as well. I expect nothing but the best from you son. Got to get you in shape for when the arena tournaments start up and all." His father said getting a look of confusion from Joshua.

"Arena tournaments?"

"Yep. Starting sometime next year there's going to be arena combat to get points from the system. I'm sure a lot of people are going to use it to get fame and money and improve their system rankings. You might be low level right now, but I know by next year you will be more than strong enough to kick any one of those pompous kids' asses. Amy plans to join them as well so that should be fun." Joshua's father said. He was surprised his father wasn't planning to join in as well.

"Enough about that, just make sure you keep yourself safe honey. By the time you get back we should almost be done setting up the first hospital for the support guild so I want you to come and check the place out when you get back." Joshua's mother said.

"Sure thing mom. I'm going to head out so you two make sure to take care of yourselves. Oh and dad, try not to beat all of your gym members up this time around. You're scaring the living daylights out of them." Joshua said as he stood up and headed for the door.

"How the hell else are they going to learn how to fight. Everyone's got to start out getting beaten down at some point. That way they learn how to dodge and react quickly!" His father shouted towards him as he made his way down the hall and out of the room. He shook his head at the remark before waving towards them as he made his way through the door that lead to the destination he typed in. He found himself standing in the city just outside of Nathan's weapon shop and could see Lilly waiting for him at the entrance. He made his way over and smiled at the energetic girl that seemed to be tapping her toes in excitement.

"Well, you ready to get your new gear before we head out?" Joshua asked the girl who seemed to brighten up even more at the question.

"You bet, I can't wait to see what kind of things Naomi and Nathan have come up with for me." Lilly said as Joshua opened the door and lead her inside. The place was rather crowded for such an early time of day which was a great sign for business. At the counter Joshua could see some new workers that Nathan had hired to help out around the store, they were friends and family from guild members of the alliance so they didn't have to worry about them being dangerous to hire.

"Well let's head to the back and meet up with them there. I'm sure they've already got our stuff ready." Joshua said getting a nod from Lilly as they both made their way through the clutter around the store and the people looking through the equipment available. They made their way through the back door and down into the working basement that seemed even more cluttered than the store. Joshua could see Nathan working with some enchantments on a piece of gear that seemed to be designed for a heavily armored person while Naomi was even further back hammering away at another piece of armor that she was busy fixing up.

This time around Nathan actually took notice of Joshua before he was able to make his way all the way across the room and waived at the both of them. "Hey you guys here to pick up your order? I've got it all right here just let me finish this real quick so that I can explain things to you guys a little bit."

"Sure, don't mind us." Joshua said as he stood off to the side while Lilly looked around the room at all the projects the twins had been working on. While Nathan could hear them and took notice of their presence Naomi was completely clueless as she hammered away at the dented armor trying to repair it. She had headphones on to reduce the sound sense she was so close to the loud clanging, but for everyone else it was fairly loud. Joshua was surprised that Nathan could concentrate so well on his enchantments with all the noise going on. After a while Nathan finished up and set the piece of armor aside before popping up from his seat and rushing over towards a closet at the back of the room. It was surprising how easily he made his way around all the stacks of books and armor in the room without bumping into anything while doing so. For Joshua it would be nearly impossible to do such a thing at his size.

"Alright I've got all of your stuff in here I think. I probably should have just thrown it into my inventory to make things easier, but I like to keep everything I've been working on recently out in the open so I can easily make a few tweaks to it without moving anything around if possible….Ah, here it is!" Nathan nearly shouted as he brought out a few weapons and a set of leather armor and robes for Lilly. "Here's everything you two have asked for."

Joshua grabbed the short sword, dagger and new side arm that Nathan had got together for him. While Lilly picked up a rather intricate looking staff with a somewhat snake like twirl to it. It glowed a bit the moment Lilly grabbed it as if it was getting use to her aura. She also got a dagger from Nathan along with a set of leather armor that was similar stats wise to the one that Joshua had so it would be able to protect them decently all the way up to level fifty, especially against opponents that relied on magic. In Joshua's case his aura was his main form of defense and it grew stronger as his will grew stronger so he had no problems when it came to defense, especially when he used aura. Now Lilly had a state that was rather similar in that regard whenever she synchronized with Tank her vitality would shoot through the roof and be about twice as much as Joshua's base Vitality without using his aura. That alone was pretty close to thirteen hundred so that was her greatest defense.

The last thing that Nathan handed over to Lilly was a cloak that could cover her shoulders and head a bit if she pulled the hood up and over her hair. The first thing Nathan did was walk Lilly over to another room so that she could change into her new gear. While she was doing that he came back to explain all the stuff he had given Joshua. "Alright the short sword is rather basic, but is far more durable than the one you were using before. It's a little more conductive to aura so you can use that to improve its capabilities. I also set an enhancement on it that will make it nearly weightless while channeling aura through it. This will make it a good slashing weapon for you close up."

"So it's the opposite of the charm placed on my scale blade. That's interesting, it will be good to deal with smaller and more speed driven opponents." Joshua said nodding at the fine work that he was sure Naomi had a hand in making.

"The dagger I gave you and Naomi are the same. They are pretty much completely made for piercing attacks, so if you need to stab an eye or another weak spot they're fairly useful. If you add aura to them they elongate with an aura blade to pierce in even deeper." Nathan explained getting a nod from Joshua before moving onto the last thing he had for him. "Lastly this gun is rather simple, but it carries more rounds than the last one you had. Plus it's enchanted so that any bullet placed in it will have a hire piercing power. The higher level you get the more likely the beast you will face will have some type of armor to protect themselves. This should help in that regard."

"Thanks Nathan, this all just what I needed." Before Joshua continued to speak they both heard the door open and turned to look as Lilly came back into the room fully geared up and ready to go. The armor she wore was similar to Joshua's as it covered up all of the important places well enough while giving a free range of movement unlike the heavier stuff that most armor wearers liked to use. Lilly wore her cloak over it which gave her the looks of a warrior version of red riding hood when Joshua thought about it.

"This feels great, it doesn't hinder me at all." Lilly said as she walked over to the two of them.

"Great I'm glad that you like it. Now here are the other two things I got for you. The dagger is the same as Joshua's and is meant for piercing enemies up close more than anything. It should be a last resort in your case." Nathan explained getting a nod of understanding from Lilly. "Now this staff is special it's one of the most fun things I've had the pleasure of enhancing up to this point. It's extremely sturdy so you don't have to worry about it breaking unless you're fighting something way out of your league. Its enchantment allows it to change its properties based on what type of aura is flowing through it. So if your aura's more geared towards healing it will support that, if it's geared towards magic it will support that, and so on. I thought it would be the perfect enchantment taking your abilities into consideration. Oh and the cloak works in the same way as Joshua's scarf."

"Thank you so much. This thing is amazing, I'll make sure to get the most out of it." Lilly said with a blindingly bright smile for such a dark and shadowed room.

"Alright then, thanks for all the help Nathan, we're going to head out there before the location I've got in mind becomes too crowded. Tell Naomi hi for me, I'm sure she's concentrating over there." Joshua said as he started to head out with Lilly.

"No problem, you two stay safe!" Nathan shouted over the clanking from his sister's work. With his visitors gone he got back to working on another project that had gotten his interest over the past couple of days settling into a comfortable silence alongside his sister nonstop clanking.