Chương 287: Intruder

The next few moments were quite agonizing for Damion. Normally, the Magic System took only a few seconds to announce the upgrade was complete, even when doing multiple artifacts at the same time. However, for Leland's Metamorphic Bracelet, the System seemed to be taking its time. Ding {Upgrade of Metamorphic Bracelet from F Rank to E Rank complete.}'Finally,' Damion thought as he took the artifact out of his inventory.

The bulky bracelet had been converted into a simple looking crescent bracelet with a flat surface the showed no signs of any enchantments. Rolling the artifact over, Damion found the enchantments on the inside of the bracelet which meant, once worn, the enchantments would be concealed. There was no point wearing a disguising artifact if people could just see the enchantments and know what it was.

With True Sight Damion could see the artifact was now E Rank and his spell also told him that the bracelet could now alter two aspects of the user for as long as it was worn. Slipping the bracelet on his wrist, Damion walked over to the mirror in his room and channeled mana into it. When the mana entered the artifact he gained the feeling he could change his appearance. Focusing on his hair, he willed it to change from his bluish white to plain brown.

Once his hair was changed Damion then grew his nose a few centimeters. For his hair, he felt nothing, perhaps just a slight itching of his scalp. However, when changing his nose, he could feel the area that was being changed itch as if something was under his skin, stretching the shape of his nose. After changing two of his features, he tried to alter his ears but received nothing from the artifact. Changing his focus back to his hair, he found he could not alter it further.

Apparently, the artifact was limited to changing two things once. He slipped the bracelet off his wrist and watched as his features returned to normal after a few seconds. Damion then put the bracelet back on and began altering his features again. Once again he was limited to changing two things and could not alter them again once he was finished. Even with the limited functionality of the artifact, it would still serve its purpose and, Damion hoped, would become better once he upgraded it to B Rank.

'System, upgrade the Metamorphic Bracelet to B Rank.' {Affirmative.} A few moments later the Magic System had done its work, and Damion was 535 credits poorer, but the Metamorphic Bracelet was now B Rank. True Sight told him now the artifact could change five of his features. Being able to adjust that many things would certainly allow him to completely change his appearance. Going into the A Rank dungeon under his James Picard identity now should be no problem at all.

Putting the Metamorphic Bracelet back on, Damion began to shift his features. The itching sensation around the areas he adjusted returned as he made the changes, but once he was finished, he felt nothing. He turned to Phil, who was happily playing with an Ice affinity Demonic Beast Core, to get the Snow Hawk's opinion. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

"How do I look?"

'Strange,' the Ferocious Beast sent back through their bond.

"Gee, thanks," Damion replied. Now that he was done upgrading the artifact, he went and got in bed for the night. Keeping the Metamorphic Bracelet on, Damion wanted to see if the change would remain if he lost consciousness. In the morning when he awoke, Damion looked in the mirror and found his altered appearance had remained unchanged. This was good news. A disguise that vanished if he slept or was otherwise knocked unconscious was not reliable.

Now that he knew as long as he kept the artifact on it would continue to work, he was confident in accepting the invitation to go to the Crimson Waste dungeon. Taking the artifact off, Damion let his appearance return to normal before heading out for his usual morning exercise. Since he was going to be heading into the dungeon, Damion did not want to leave Phil unattended in Leland's shop for who knew how long, so he told the Ferocious Beast to head to the Benault Forest for a few days.

'I can't take you with me into this dungeon, so go hunt in the forest. Maybe go pay Mr. Galen a visit.'

'When return?' Phil questioned.

'A few days probably. I will call you to return.' Phil appeared to think over what Damion told it before finally taking off and flying towards the Benault Forest. With the Snow Hawk looking after itself for the next few days, he headed back into Saung to eat breakfast with Leland and Flannery. After Damion returned to Leland's shop, he took the Metamorphic Bracelet out of the Magic System Inventory and put it on.

Changing his appearance, Damion headed up to the dining area to see how well the artifact really disguised him.

"Ha, foolish intruder, breaking into the home of two A Rank mages!" Flannery said, jumping up from his chair and rushing over to Damion. Damion immediately prepared to defend himself and was about to announce who he was when Flannery snatched the Metamorphic Bracelet off his wrist.

"Oh, not an intruder at all. Just young Damion Wells using an artifact," Flannery said after Damion returned to his usual appearance.

"I see you made some improvements," Leland said. He took the artifact from Flannery and began examining the enchantments and materials of it.

"Quite a bit of improvements."

"Yes well, I have an invitation to go into the Crimson Waste dungeon, but I can't go as myself. How did you know it was me?" Damion asked Flannery.

"Your clothes."

"My clothes?"

"You wear the same outfit every morning when you go out to exercise. If you want to fool people you know, especially those of us that know you were working on an artifact to disguise yourself, you will need to at least change your outfit."

"Fair enough," Damion admitted.

"What I was really wanting to know was, how did the artifact fair against you as A Ranks? I mean, could you see through the changes? Or did you simply deduce it was me from what you knew about me?"

"It was pure deduction," Flannery said.

"If I had not known what you were up to last night, I would not have been able to tell it was you. The artifact works, at least against A Ranks. It is hard to say if it will work against S Rankers though."

"Well, for now I just need to fool the people in my team and those around the Saung dungeons. No one in Saung is an S Rank, so I shouldn't have to worry too much."

"Quite right. What are you going to do for your customers?"

"I've updated the mission I posted in the Adventurer Association to not accept any new customers after today. Once I come back from the run I can repost it."

"Well, you seem to have thought of everything. What would you like for breakfast?" Damion helped himself to a hearty breakfast before heading back to his room to change into his normal clothes for the run and sent a message to the dungeon team that he was ready to go when they were. He just needed a time to meet them at the containment compound.