Fight. Level. Survive.

Chapter 13 - Pink Power ranger

Armed with almost 5 silver coins, Mason and Mayry set out.

As they left the Inn, Mason saw that it was still early morning, so naturally, the first thing on his mind was, “What would you recommend for breakfast?” He asked Mayry.

She cocked her head at him and replied, “Whats Break fast?”

Mason stopped walking and, with a desperate look at Mayry, said. “Please tell me you’re joking?”

Mayry looked at him with a confused expression, shook her head, and said, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Mason dramatically dropped to his knees, looked up into the sky and whispered, “Why? Why would you bring me somewhere that doesn’t have breakfast….”

Mayry, ignoring his antics, walked up to the nearest stall and asked loudly, “Can I get two breakfast specials, please?”

Mason froze. Stood up, gave Mayry a death glare, and then said, “I hate you.”

Mayry, trying her hardest to hold back laughter, said, “Well then, I’ll just eat yours too.”

“Let’s not be hasty now. I didn’t mean hate hate….”

Rolling her eyes at him, she sat on a bench to wait for the food.

“We never did finish our little lesson,” Mayry said thoughtfully.

“We may have been distracted by the giant snake that wanted to eat us.”

“I mean… It did eat you.” Mayry scolded.

Rolling his eyes, Mason asked, “Whatever. What else was there to talk about?”

Trying to remember what they had and hadn’t discussed, Mayry replied, “Um, just geography and politics.”

Remembering something Nays had said when he had just woken up, he asked, “Ok, can you give me a quick run of each? Also, what’s a Class?”

“Your world doesn’t have Classes?”

Unsure, he explained, “Kinda, but it’s like Science, Maths and English, but I don’t think that’s what you mean.”

“I’m sure sometimes you just make words up.” She sighed. “No, a class is usually the type of general magic you practice. You can have more than one, but concentrating on one is usually best. Viv is a Master Alchemist, and apparently, your Elf friend is a novice rune practitioner. I have dabbled in rituals, but I wouldn’t even say I’m a novice. Some people include Hunter as a class, but it’s not a type of magic, so there is some debate.”

“Oh, okay, I have a spot in my menu for it. I wonder if it will change when I officially become a Hunter.” He mused. “So geography? I’ve just realised apart from Sparksford, I have no idea where I am.”

“Sparksford is in the Kingdom of Theyna, which pretty much encompasses this whole country. The nearest city is Trilil, about 8 hours away by horse or about a day’s walk. Trilil is a huge city with the 3rd largest Hunters Association and a massive shopping district. Then you have mostly farmland and smaller villages in the other direction.”

She stopped speaking as the food came. It was basic bacon and eggs breakfast, but the bacon tasted far sweeter than usual, and the egg was too huge to be from a chicken. Curious, Mason had to ask. “These eggs aren’t from a chicken, are they?”

“What? No, are you insane? How would that even work? Have you ever seen a chicken?!” Mayry said franticly.

“Are we talking about the same thing here?” Mason flapped his arms like wings. “Like buck buck?”

Getting more annoyed now, “That is not funny, Mason. Please stop”

“Are you messing with me again?” he asked, genuinely unsure now.

“Drop it, please!” she said.

“Oh wow, you’re scared of chickens!”

“I said drop it! Let’s go!“ she hurried off.

He ran after her, shouting, “Fine, It’s dropped! I’m sorry.” Making a mental note to bring it back up at a later time.

As they walked towards the shops, she started lecturing again. “Apart from Trilil, there are a dozen other cities much further away and just as many smaller towns. And then you have other countries, the closest being Lyan, the motherland of the Gnolls. Apart from that, I don’t know much else.

They reached their first stop, a small building with its doors and windows wide open and an intense heat radiating out—a huge man standing outside tending the tables with all sorts of amour on display. In a thick accent that sounded Scottish to Mason, he bellowed, “Hello there,” as they approached. “Welcome to the best Armour shop in town! The name is Geraint. What can I do to be helping you today?”

Mason looked up at the colossal man wondering if giants existed in this world. “Hey there, my name is Mas….” The giant man grabbed and hugged him, lifting him off the ground before he could finish talking.

Excitedly the man said, “You must be the one who killed the Basilisk? Yes? Brought me the skin have you? Well! Let me see it.”

Mason struggled a bit before the man realised he was still holding him and set him down.

With Mason breathing heavily, the giant looked over to Mayry, who stepped back. “Not a hugger, eh?” Geraint said.

Recovered enough, Mason took out the Basilisk Hide from his inventory. While he didn’t get the entirety of the thing’s skin, he got a lot. It appeared in his arms and completely buried him.

From under layers of the, luckily light and flexible, hide, Mason shouted, “Sorry, I didn’t expect there to be this much!”

The armourer reached into the folds and plucked Mason out with a single hand. “Not to worry now.” He set Mason down and took a handful of the material, running his hands over it.

“This is impressive stuff. I’ve worked with Dragon before but never Basilisk. This won’t be as tough, but it will be more flexible and able to hold more enchantments.”

“That sounds great. Will you be able to make a few sets?”

The man laughed, replying, “There is enough material here to outfit a small village. The only problem I can see is I won’t be able to change the colour. Otherwise, it will lose some of its inherent resistance to magic.”

“Damn, I really am going to look like the pink power ranger.” Mason sighed in defeat.

The man looked confused. “What’s a power ranger?”

Sadly Mason replied, “A group of supernatural ninjas who fight evil and can turn into huge metal death machines.”

“That sounds amazing!” Mayry exclaimed.

“Yeah, it is, but it’s gonna be pink.”

The armourer was looking between them, not knowing if they were insane or just weird but shrugged and kept rubbing his hand against the dead snake’s skin.

“Before I forget, I wanted to know if you’d be interested in this?” he pulled out the Drake hide from his inventory, and the armourer’s eyes widened.

Looking between the Drake Hide, the Basilisk hide, and Mason, he said. “You have been busy, haven’t you? I’ll tell you what, I will make you 3 sets of Basilisk leather armour for free if you give me the Drake Hide. Deal?”

“If you throw in a set of armour for her, it’s a deal.”

Noticing Mayry’s shocked look, Mason Preemptively said, “if I have to look like an idiot, so do you.”

She stared sheepishly at her feet, saying, “Thank you.”

Geraint nodded. “Ok, sounds fair, but I would also like to keep some of the leftover hide from the Basilisk, If that is alright?”

“Sure. What kind of enchantments are we talking about here?”

“Enchantments are a blend of rituals to strengthen the material beyond what it can naturally do and runes to give the material added benefits. I can do the self-repair and the featherweight enchantments, but I can also get you a toughness boost and a strength boost enchantment, but that I’ll have to charge you for as I’ll need to call in a better ritualist.” Geraint enthusiastically explained all this, showing how much he enjoyed his work.

“We’ll take it all. How much will the extra enchantments be?”

Thinking a moment, he replied. “Let’s say 3 Iron coins. The work should be done in 3 days. Come back here, and you can try it on. Before you go, step into the circle on the floor, and it will take your measurements.”

Handing over the coins, Mason said, “Sounds good. See you then.”

They left, making sure to step into a chalk circle drawn on the floor.

Stepping away from the shop, Mason stretched and declared, “That was great. I only had to spend 3 Iron.”

Mayry walking beside him, spoke quietly, “Why did you buy me that armour? I know you didn’t pay much, but it would have been wildly expensive without that Drake hide. I mean, thank you, but why.”

Mason paused. Had he fucked up? He had only wanted to do something nice for the girl who had been helping him since she had found him naked and covered in blood. Was it too much? Too presumptuous?

“I… err, we’re friends, aren’t we? I mean, you’ve been helping me, and I just thought it would be nice, and it would protect you if you got into trouble, and I don’t want anything to happen to you, but if we you don’t think we’re friends, or if I’m assuming too much you don’t have to accept it.” He rambled, his confident, carefree, sarcastic asshole attitude breaking down.

Mayry just hugged him and said, “We’re friends. Thank you for thinking of me.” She smiled and changed the subject. “Where to next?”

Rapidly trying to rebuild his persona, Mason said, “Books?”

They changed directions and headed towards the bookstore. A few minutes of awkwardness occurred until Mason asked, “So… what is it about chickens that scare you so much?”

Mayry just turned to face him and smacked him upside the head. “I said drop it, Idiot.”

Approaching the bookshop, Mason saw something else that caught his eye. A sign above a shop said:

Treylors Magical Trunks

Intrigued, Mason approached and entered the shop. Mayry trailed after him, asking, “I thought we were going to the bookstore?”

Replying to her, he said, “We will. I’m just looking for something.”

He saw a bell on the table and dinged it. Moments later, a very short man appeared. Mason wanted to ask if the man was a dwarf but felt like it would be rude.

The short man had bright orange hair and a bushy beard to match. In an oddly high-pitched voice, the man said, “How can I help you?”

“I was just wondering what kind of magic can be added to a trunk. I once read about a magical trunk that was the size of an apartment on the inside.”

“Yes, sir, we can do that, no problem!” Pausing, looking at the cheap clothes Mayry had bought him, “assuming you have the money?”

Pulling out a few silver coins, he showed the maybe dwarf man, which prompted him to continue.

“Of course, sir, you seem like you would be interested in our deluxe package. 4 compartments, A library room, a bedroom, a storage room and a customisable room, sir. We have one already pre-made, sir. Or if you prefer, we can make you one new.”

Looking down at the man, he said, “I’d like to take a look at the premade if possible?”

The man scurried off and left Mayry and Mason alone.

“Why are we here? You have storage power. Why would you need a trunk?” she asked.

Taking a deep breath, Mason started to explain. “Well, In my world, there is something called a ‘fan fiction’, and I remembered one where a boy got a magical trunk big enough to live in. If I’m going to be out hunting monsters all over the place, I might as well be comfortable, and I can’t exactly store myself in my inventory, can I? Also, I didn’t want to ask in front of him, but is he a dwarf?”

“That’s a fair point, but it’s probably going to be really expensive! And yes, he is a dwarf,” she said, rolling her eyes.

Mason shrugged, “I have plenty of money left! Don’t worry. It’ll be worth it!”

The dwarf returned to the room with a trunk floating before him. The workmanship was amazing. It was made from rich mahogany wood and meticulously carved and polished to a lustrous shine, highlighting the intricate details of the runic patterns etched into its surface. The brass fittings gleamed in the light. It was a truly beautiful chest.

“Wow, this is some truly beautiful work” Mason dipped his head respectfully to the Dwarf.

“Thank you, sir. It also comes with featherweight, unlosable, and basic defensive enchantments.”

“I will take it! How much?” Mason said, ready to open up his inventory.

“With all the enchantments, it comes to 1 and a half silver coins, sir.” The dwarf had a huge grin on his face.

Shocked at the price but already committed, the money appeared in his hand. Mayry stepped in front of him, shook her head and said, “1 Silver or no deal.”

Through a forced smile, the dwarf growled, ”Surely, you wouldn’t let your woman negotiate for you? Would you?”

“Of course not”, Shooting a look at Mayry. He saw the Dwarf’s smile deepen. “But she isn’t my woman.”

Mayry took another step forward, “Do you want to make it 90 iron coins instead?”

Sighing with annoyance, the dwarf man growled and stuck out his hand. “1 Silver.”

Paying, he took the chest and added it to his inventory. They quickly left the shop as the dwarf glared at them.

“Onto the bookstore!” Mason declared