"So, what exactly are you testing out?" Raise asked as they walked into one of the empty training areas.
There were some targets placed around at various distances, and a few distance markers. Clearly, this was an area used for range and accuracy training.
"A few things." Place stated as he scanned the area. "I myself am not too sure about them."
"Okay, where are they?"
"With me."
Place lifted one of his hands in front of him and held open his palm.
"What do you me...Where did that come from?"
A length of rope with something metal attached to one end had materialised in his open hand.
"From inside another gift." Place started examining the item in his hand.
"I thought you didn't have magic."
"This wasn't magic."
"What was it then?"
"I have no idea."
Raise's face twitched as Place nonchalantly looked over the item in his hand.
"Alright," Raise decided to focus on that later. "What is that?" He asked, referring to the item Place was giving a few test swings.
"A meteor hammer."
"A meteor what?"
"It's a weapon, consisting of a length of rope and a weight attached at the end."
"Never heard of it."
"It is easy to hit yourself with it, and it requires quite a while to get proficient with it."
Place frowned as he cast it forward, then pulled it back into a continuous spin.
"I can see why we do not use this kind of weapon."
He stated as he brought the spin to a stop.
"Want to give it a try?"
He offered it to Raise, who took it.
"Doesn't seem that hard." He remarked as he swung it slowly.
'I have the bat's guidance.' Place took a few steps back. 'I know what to do and what not.'
Raise swung it in a circle.
"Ooo..." His face scrunched up. "This can do some damage."
"I just said that it's a weapon, it's just not suited for our kind of combat."
"I heard you." Raise pulled it in and looked forward. "Let's see what you can do."
He cast it forward underarm, and Place immediately flinched as he did so.
"OH SHIT!" Raise cursed as the weight swung up and whipped back towards his face.
He managed to move the side to avoid the blow to his face, but the rope wrapped on his shoulder, and the weight struck his side.
"Ungh!" He grunted.
"You held the rope taut. What did you expect?"
"Well, how else am I supposed to pull it back in time?"
"It's not supposed to be as fast as swords, and it has no way to be effectively used for defence, it exchanges all that for offensive power, and you can see how effective that is."
"Hn." Raise rubbed his hurting side. "I can see why I haven't heard about this thing. It would be very easy for the rope to get damaged, wouldn't it?"
"It's not a good matchup against magic," Place admitted. "But this one is special."
"How so?" Raise asked as he handed it back to Place.
"It's indestructible." Place rubbed the weight between his fingers. "And it has a few nasty abilities."
Raise stared in silence, giving Place and his new weapon a look over.
"Normally, I wouldn't believe that, but you are something else. Who did you get it from?"
"Thank you for your trust, I don't know exactly who gave it to me, but there seems to be a name etched here."
And so there was.
"Bensei?"
"That's what it says."
"Never heard of meteor hammer, or Bensei."
The meteor hammer vanished from his hands.
"So, what weird thing is next?"
"This." Another item appeared in his hands
...
"A traveller's belt?"
The belt in his hands had about a dozen different pouches attached to it, and as far as Raise knew, a belt like that was used by travellers and used to store multiple things they might need.
Things like monster repellent powder, potions, some tools and the like.
"Similar, the name I know for this, is the 'Ninja's dream'."
"I see, and I'm sure you don't know who Ninja is either."
"From what I know, Ninja is a job."
"Really? What do these 'Ninjas' do?"
"They're spies and assassins combined."
Place put the belt on.
"And this belt, contains an unlimited supply of some of their favourite weapons and items."
"Unlimited?"
"They disappear after a while."
"That makes more sense."
Place reached into each of the pouches and brought out their contents one after another.
"Shuriken, or throwing stars, Senbon, or throwing needles, Kunai, a multi-purpose tool."
He began naming the things he brought out.
"Smoke bombs, poison pellets, steel wire, irritant powder, camouflage cloth,"
Raise was speechless as he watched Place pull out an entire bedsheet-sized piece of cloth.
"Grappling hook, blow darts, blowgun, hand and foot claws, lighter, fireworks, bombs."
"Is that all of them?" Raise looked at all of the things that Place had just tossed out of his belt.
"There are some more things, but I can't seem to grab them." Place was much more relaxed as he spoke.
The things he had just tossed out started to fade away into nothing.
"And there they go." He said, and the belt he was wearing also disappeared.
"A lot of things in that." Raise observed. "But they don't seem very useful for you."
"I will agree with that, but you never know."
"Anyway, is there anything else?"
"There are a few more."
"Oh, dear. Let's get it over with."
The next item was much smaller.
"I can't use this thing as much as the others."
"It's... a rod?"
"You activate it by twisting the top." Place gestured to show how it was supposed to be used.
"And then you throw it at the enemy, who should be at least fifty meters away."
"What does it do?"
"It calls in something called 'Artillery support'."