RPG Life in another World

Arcane Explosion has been learned.

That sounds like it has potential to either do a lot of damage, or to be an aoe spell. Should I go out anyway tomorrow to test out my new toy, or should I stick with my plan of a day off?

I decided on having a day off. I wanted to check the city out too much. And though I’ve been waking up earlier, I wanted a day to sleep in as well.

I put a full hundred points of mana into a barrier in front of the door, and tossed the rest into another in front of the window. When I hit level 5 in Increased Mental Capacity, I could Sleep with two barriers up, but refrained from it due to how mentally taxed I felt the morning after. The majority of my barrier gains the last few days were thanks to that, but since I hit level 6 today, I decided to give it another try.

I doubted anyone would try to enter my room at night, but I still slept a bit better knowing that it would be made all the more difficult for someone to get to me this way. That and the training was too good to pass up.

The next morning I woke up bright and early. I decided to start waking up earlier so I could get more practice in during the day with Grifith the last few days. I guess the habit formed pretty quickly. I tried getting back to sleep, but just didn’t feel tired anymore. I recalled that the higher levels of Enhanced Body required less sleep to feel fully rested, so it made sense. I hope it didn’t mean i couldn’t sleep at all in later levels, because i frankly love my sleep.

If worse comes to worst, Theromear’s Fire would still probably knock me out pretty good.

I laughed then gagged at the memory of how crappy I felt the morning after.

I dismissed the two barriers I set last night and didn’t bother checking how much it leveled. I wasn’t worried about skill levels today. Today was my day to spend some money!

My first stop is going to be that enchanter’s workshop I've been seeing. Actually, before that, I should go to a tailor to get a better set of clothes for when I'm not out adventuring.

I went downstairs and got Thaggerd to bring me his best breakfast.

“That’s absolutely fine, but the best will be an extra 20 copper. If that’s fine with you, I’ll go fetch it myself.”

I nodded, not letting him know I was willing to pay up to an extra 10 more on top of that.

He brought back a large plate of green eggs and smoked green orc belly, and I did my best not to laugh.

I will not eat them, Claff I am.

I enjoyed every bite I had of it. The orc meat melted in my mouth. The eggs had an almost citrus aftertaste, which was complemented by the tall glass orange juice I had along with it.

I left the table wanting to eat even more. Thaggerd met me at the reception, standing next to his daughter behind the desk.

“You seem to be in a good mood today. You’re also not weaning your armor. Taking the day off?”

“That I am. I plan on going shopping. First thing I'll do is find a tailor for some outfits to wear when I finish working for the day when I go adventure. Then I'll look around to find somewhere that does laundry. The last thing i had planned was checking out the enchanters shop that’s on the way to the eastern gate. After that, I'm mostly roaming and checking things out.”

Thaggerd looked at Theona. She looked a little embarrassed. “I’m sorry I haven't mentioned it before, but we actually offer a laundry service here. If you want, I can take your clothes now and they’ll be ready before dinner. If you need them rushed, we can have it by lunch. The rush would be on me this time since I forgot to mention it. Next time, a rush will be 15 copper. I’ll get you a sack and you can put everything in there.”

She ran to the back and her dad just watched her go.

“Sorry about that. She can be a bit air headed sometimes. But if you want a tailor recommendation, there’s a good one a few streets north of here. Let them know I sent you, and you can get 10% off your first purchase.”

“I greatly appreciate that. What’s the name, so I know what to look for.”

“It’ll be Ered’s Threads. A nice elven couple run the place. Have been since before I was alive too. Good people. Especially for elves.” he shook his head a bit. Apparently he had some bad experiences with other elves. “But you’re human, so you shouldn’t have any issues going anywhere.”

“Here’s your bag. Let me write a tag for you real quick and you can go grab your clothes.” Theona got back carrying a small bag barely big enough for a grown man’s shirt to fit in. I had to assume it was a magic bag, otherwise there was no way I was going to be able to fit both sets of armor and all my shirts in there.

“Thank you. I’ll be right back then.”

Even though they both knew I had a storage skill, I still went to my room to keep up appearances.

I emptied my storage and put it all in a pile on the floor. One of the red shirts was still a little damp, even though I had taken it out a few days ago to air out overnight. After it was all out, I started shoving them all into the bag. As predicted, it was magic and felt rather bottomless. I wondered how much this could really hold.

I brought out the bag they gave me and handed it to Theona. She took it from me and left for the door to the back part of the first floor again. I bade farewell to Thaggerd and left for the tailor he told me about. He said it should have some purple drapes out front, as a notable marker to look out for.

I left the Half Moon Inn and headed north. It felt strange, since the Adventurer’s Guild Hall was to the south from the inn.

It took around 10 minutes to reach the shop. It was exactly how Thaggerd said it would be, but so much more extravagant than I expected. There were layers upon layers of darkening purple cloth with a golden trim. The whole ensemble made me feel like royalty was present. I almost didn’t want to go in, feeling inadequate to be in the presence of such greatness.

I was about to turn around and head straight for the enchanter’s shop when a soft voice called out to me.

“Hello there, young man. How may we be of service?” A beautiful blonde woman came out from inside the store. She made me feel small, even though she was barely 2 inches taller than me. She looked at me expectantly. I just stared dumbly at her taking in every detail I could without earning a slap.

She was wearing a white dress that went down to just shy of the knees, and it hugged her in all the right places. There was a small flower design running the entirety of the dress that looked to sway in the wind as she came to a stop a few feet in front of me.

Get it together dude. She is just an elf. A real life, flesh and blood elf. Why’d she have to be so beautiful though? It’d almost be better if she were ugly. At least I wouldn't be so nervous talking to her. Damnit Claff, say something.

“Hi, yes, hello. I’m looking for Ered’s Threads? Thaggerd recommended I come here for my clothing needs.”

“Oh Thaggerd, such a lovely boy he is. Please do come in. I would love to help you. You can call me Syndra. My husband is Ered. We run this lovely establishment together.” She turned and led me inside.

“Wow.”

The store was packed full of too many types and colors of fabric for me to count. The patterns I saw on some of the fabrics higher on the shelves left me a little dumbfounded. I could barely understand the patterns involved in making it. One looked like the living void, Pure blackness shifting around. I might have gone mad staring at it if it weren’t for Increased Mental Capacity and Syndra giving me a small shake of the arm.

“Sorry about that, those fabrics are for our more… Esteemed customers. We don’t sell that to just anybody. Anything below that though is for sale. Feel free to browse, or I can walk you through our collection.” She gestured to the main floor. There were racks of clothes that could be fit for a king.

If these are for everyday customers, then who the hell is ordering something made of that? And what even was it? It felt like looking into the void, and the void wasn’t happy to be seen.

“Would you mind walking me through your selection? I'd hate to get attached to something only to find out it costs more money than I've seen in my life.”

Her laugh sounded like a harp being played in a field of daisies. Her sun-yellow hair only added to the effect.

“Of course dear. Follow me. I’ll start by showing our cheaper products. Let me know if anything catches your fancy.”

She led me further in where I saw a man who could’ve been her twin working on hanging some shirts for display. He was just barely taller than her with the same blonde hair and blue eyes, though I could actually see his ears poking out a bit from his hair. He was wearing a green tunic with golden embroidery across the collar and tan linen pants with matching gold designs running down the outside creases. Quite frankly, he was almost as beautiful as his wife.

He waved to Syndra and went back to work.

Syndra showed me the back where there were some coarser shirts that looked about my size. They felt softer than they looked, but were still too rough for everyday wear.

“Maybe something a bit more comfortable. I’m looking for something to wear when I get done with my adventure work. I want more comfort than anything workable, if you get my gist.”

“I understand. How about these? They’re breathable cotton shirts that are still on the cheaper side. Everything on this rack is 30 copper pieces.” She walked to a rack a bit closer to the entrance.

“That’s a lot more my style and price range, thank you. Do you mind if I try one on?” I reached for a plain white shirt to feel its softness. It was exactly what I was looking for.

“Sure! You can take one to our changing room. But please be warned that there are wards and enchantments all over the store to prevent theft. I’m not accusing you, but we’ve had some unsavory characters try some things that they swiftly regretted.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it. I try my best to keep a clean nose. I will let you know now that I do have a storage skill I will be using for whatever I purchase. But you have my word only what i buy will be going in there”

She smiled and showed me to the room. “I appreciate your honesty. Go ahead and try it on and show me the result. Modifications won't take but a minute.”

I went in and stored my current shirt. I put the white shirt I grabbed on and came out to show her. It felt comfortable as is, but she asked so I’ll oblige.

“Looks good on you. Is this what you wanted?”

I nodded. “I’d actually like to make a small bulk purchase, if that’s okay with you. I’d like to buy 5 white, 3 red, 3 blue, and 5 purple shirts. I’d also like to buy around 10 to 15 pairs of pants as well.”

“I can absolutely do that for you. Give me a moment to grab my husband, and we can work on getting that all set up for you.”

She walked away and told him what was happening. He smiled and the pair came over.

“So I hear you need a bulk order. All of our products are made to size, so I'll need your measurements and we can have everything adjusted for you. Was there anything else you needed, or just what you mentioned to Syndra?” He looked eager to help, and his melodic tone put me at ease more than his wife’s did.

“I’d also like 5 pairs of boxers and some socks as well. If you don’t mind, I'd rather not have a lady do my measurements for that.” We shared a small chuckle.

“That won't be a problem. Come with me and we'll get you sorted.”

They worked quickly and efficiently. It made me wonder what level their skills were. And if they had more than tailoring at play here. The way Syndra called Thaggerd a boy made me think she was at least a hundred years old. If the pair had been running the shop since before he was born, they had to be old. That would have given them plenty of time to train their skills and reach an insanely high level.

Ered gave me a bulk discount on top of the discount for mentioning Thaggerd. He rounded it down to 10 silver for everything. After they finished adjusting all I wanted to buy to fit me perfectly, I put it all in my storage. As the clothes disappeared, the coins appeared in two neat stacks of five silver coins each.

I walked out of there with a total of 21 shirts, 10 pants, 5 boxers, and 5 pairs of socks. The boxers and socks fit into one slot labeled as underwear, so that worked out perfectly.

Storage

0 g 6 s 36 c

Bowie knife

5 rations (5 sandwich)

5 minor stamina potions

124 Cat Ears

21 shirts (varied colors)

10 pants

10 underwear (5 boxers, 5 sock pairs)

I decided not to look at my status today, but by the number of slots I had, I could tell my storage skill just leveled. It hurt a bit to see I was down to below 10 silver again, but I felt so much more comfortable knowing I would always have clean clothes.

It was still early in the morning so I left to go to a bookstore that was nearby. I decided to check out the enchanter’s shop after lunch, since I just blew most of my money.

Worth it. Can’t put a price on peace of mind. Well, I guess you can. It’s 10 silver.

I walked in and heard a bell ding as the door swung open.

Looking around, everything pointed to this being a normal bookstore, so that was a sigh of relief. After the weirdness of that void fabric, I needed a bit of normalcy.

I walked further in and waved at the cashier. He appeared to be a normal human man, no pointy ears, no patches of fur. Just a normal human man. Just what I needed.

He offered help finding anything and I let him know I was just here to browse.

“Take your time. We’re not exactly busy today. Feel free to ask any question about any of the titles we have or any prices you may want to hear.” He sounded genuinely nice and eager to please.

I found a shelf that seemed to be dedicated to geography, so I picked one of the books and flipped through it a bit. It had a couple of vague maps of the main continent, but more details appeared in the dwarven continent maps and that beast people continent that the elven one. There was absolutely no information on the demon continent. I wanted to ask why, but didn’t want to sound like an idiot.

I instead brought the book with me as I went to check out the history section. There were a few books that looked to mention various kingdoms and a variety of different kings.

Looks like the demons don’t get along well with anybody. They appear to be too militant. That might explain why I haven't seen any demons around, or heard of any for that matter. Maybe I'll venture up there one day to see what that’s about. But that’d also be the last continent I want to visit. Right now I'm torn between wanting to see more elvish babes, or going south to get a cat girl girlfriend.

I blushed a little at the thought of living every weeb’s wet dream. I am so loving this world.

I grabbed a book that looked pretty relevant to demons and what their relationship is with the rest of the world. After that I browsed for another hour or two before deciding to grab a book on popular skills that many people got on their choosing days and another book that was more of a bestiary with commonly spawned monsters, where to find them, and what weaknesses they have. On my way up to the cashier’s counter, I spotted a book that had the world dungeon on it. I almost passed it by before my brain registered what I just read. I almost dropped the other 4 books I had rushing to pull the new one from the shelf.

“Dungeon Delver’s Guide: A Guide to Popular Dungeons. Where to Find Them, How to Farm Them, and How to Form the Right Party for Them”

This is exactly what I needed. It’ll still be quite a while before I feel confident enough to actually attempt to find a dungeon, but when I do, I will be the most prepared adventurer around.

Armed with my light reading for the next few nights, I paid another silver for my 5 books. Apparently the first three books I grabbed were pretty cheap, at about 5 copper each. The bestiary was a bit more expensive at 15 copper, but the dungeon book was pretty popular, which is why there was only one copy left.

“Most adventurers don’t bother reading,” the cashier explained, “but this is one of the few exceptions. I’m considering ordering a few maps to be made that just outlines where to find the dungeons and selling them for half a silver each. It’s what most people use it for anyways.”

I paid my silver coin and put my books into storage. I’ll be reading them at night after I finish dinner and before bed from now on. It’s been nice being ignorant for a while, but I do need to at least learn the common knowledge of the planet I call home.

I left the bookstore and walked down some side streets. It was a little before I decided to look for lunch when I started getting the smell of cooked meat. I followed my nose and it led me to a long line of street vendors. There were stalls selling orc on a stick, stalls selling a variety of fruits and vegetables, and even the regular hawkers trying to sell all sorts of other things. I went straight to the meat vendors where I found a familiar gray wolf man standing in line in front of me.

“Hey, it’s Rooby, right? Funny seeing you here. You and Tavro taking the day off as well?” I tried being friendly again, since we didn’t seem to get off well last time.

He looked confused as to who I was before a little bulb went off in his head. “Oh it’s you. Yeah, I'm here for some food. About that time and all. This guy here has my 100% guaranteed satisfaction approval. You will NOT be disappointed.” He pointed to the stall we were in line for.

“I’m glad to hear.” I smiled a bit, trying to be friendly. “Since we got off on the wrong foot last time, let me get you a skewer, my treat.”

“Playing nice guy, eh?” He looked at me suspiciously, the fur on the back of his neck standing on end a little. “Alright, I'll bite. What do you want? Need a party to join? Well too bad. Tavro and I are a two man team. We don’t let no strangers in just cause they buy a single skewer. If you need hunting grounds, then go find one on your own. Other than that, I can't help you bud. Go bother someone else. I’ll pay for my own damn food.”

“How about some more food recommendations? You seem to have some good taste. Got any good spots I should know about?”

He gave a barking laugh. “Right right. There's a butcher on the west side of town, it has a great selection. Tell him I sent you and he’ll hook you up real good.”

I thanked him and he turned back around to order his food. He grabbed his skewers and ran off before I could say anything. Not that I was planning to, but still. It felt intentional.

I ordered one skewer and went to walk around for a bit. It was pretty damn good. The first bite was too hot to actually enjoy, but after cooling down, the orc meat was delicious. I regretted not getting two or even three.

I bought an apple and kept on my walk. I was in no rush today, so I looked at what some of the hawkers were selling. One stall seemed to have some necklaces and arm bands. Another had rings and brooches for coats. There were all sorts of goods being sold.

After I finished eating. I found a place to throw away my trash and headed in the direction of the enchanter’s shop. I was eager to see what was available.

“Hello! Welcome to my humble corner of paradise! How can I be of service to you my friend?”

The man looked to be human. He was tall, blad, and had skin darker than black, yet not quite as entrapping as the void cloth at Ered’s Threads. His purple robes had a black and gold threaded trim to it that had a captivating effect on me.

I tore my eyes from his robe and met his deep brown eyes. “Hi, I'm mostly interested in looking around right now. I haven’t the slightest idea of what I might want.” That being said, I had difficulty looking away from him.

“Oh don’t be that way, everyone has at least some idea of their desires.” The strange man took my hands into his. ”How about I start with this: What do you do? You have the hands of someone who knows his herbs, yet I sense a strong amount of magical power coming from you. Are you perhaps a caster? Or maybe a fellow enchanter scoping out his competition?” He chuckled but there was an almost dangerous look in his eyes. I cast a barrier in between us to separate us then immediately dismissed it. Casting only took a second, half as long as when I first started casting barriers.

“Ooh, very interesting! It has been many moons since I've seen a barrier caster.” He barely looked phased at having his hands torn from mine. “Now was that straight barrier magic, or was it some form of an air wall? I didn’t sense any elemental inclination, but it could be arcane in nature. That would explain the raw power I felt. But i]I’d have to see another look. Would you please?”

He didn’t have that look in his eyes anymore, so I obliged. I felt a little awkward showing off this way, but I decided to pump what felt like around 50 points of mana into it.

“Impressive! How expensive this must be! So let me ask, do you find yourself lacking in mana regeneration, or do you need more of an increased pool? I have rings for both, but they can misbehave sometimes when worn together.”

He moved his body out of the way and I finally got a good look at his shop. There were multiple display cases showing off a variety of jewelry. Some looked a lot more elaborate and therefore expensive than others. I was down to just shy of 5 silver, so I didn't have my hopes up on getting anything fancy.

He showed me to a case full of plain looking rings. None had any gems on it, which made a sense of relief flow through me. They were still probably expensive though.

“Over here I have a few possibilities for you to try on. Don't worry about damaging any of them. They’re more durable than one might think.

I picked up a brown ring and tried it on. It automatically adjusted to my size and fit perfectly on my left ring finger.

“The one you're wearing now has a physical defense enchantment on it. If you focus your magic on it, you should be able to get a vague idea of how it works, regardless of your skills.”

I reached out and tried touching the ring with my mana. It felt strange not putting it immediately into any specific pattern, but it did give me a sense of the ring.

There wasn’t much mana in it, but I did feel that I wouldn’t take much damage if Griffith tried stabbing me. That alone had me tempted to buy it. But i wasn;t much of a front liner, so I put the ring back.

The next ring I picked up felt warm as I put it on my finger. I reached out with a single point of mana and touched the red metal. I felt it start to corrupt and absorb the mana i was adding to it and i immediately recoiled at the feeling.

“That would be a ring of firebolt. It’s one of my pride and joys! And it’s a good thing you didn’t add any more mana. If you had, a firebolt would have shot out and likely singed away on the wall. It’s enchanted against most elemental damage, but I'd rather not risk it.” He took the ring off for me this time.

“Maybe give me a heads up on the next ring then? What does this blue one do?” I pointed to a deep blue ring.

“That would be one of the rings I mentioned earlier. It gives a ten percent boost to mana capacity.”

TEN PERCENT?! That would be huge for me! It’d be even better at higher levels too. Maybe I should buy it then?

I kept a cool face and nodded. “I see. That’s impressive. What does the mana regeneration ring give? Also ten percent?”

“Actually, that one gives twenty percent. Another of my prides from my early years. Most folks don't want it, since it would only increase regeneration by 2 points per hour for them. But I feel you might be different. What do you say? Care to try it on?” He handed me a dark blue ring with a black stripe through the middle.

Twenty percent would be amazing! That would bump me up to 118 mana per hour. Almost one every 30 seconds! Now how much does it cost? I’m a little broke right now after my tailoring escapades.

I slipped it on my left ring finger again and it resized itself. It was wonderful. I felt a small rush as I felt the power flow through my body. I wouldn’t have noticed it if I wasn't looking for it.

“Wow, that’s pretty nice. How much will it run me?”

“The regeneration ring will be 15 silver. If you want the capacity ring instead, that’ll be 10 silver. I don't recommend wearing both, as I said earlier, they can misbehave when they are together.” He gestured to the capacity ring.

Damn. too rich for my blood for now. Maybe I could see if he can hold them. I already know which one I want. But what does he mean misbehaved? Ah whatever, I'm too broke right now for either.

“Could you put the regeneration ring on hold for a week or so, so I can come up with the money? It’s a bit rich for my blood right now, but I still want to buy it.”

He smiled with pearly white teeth and nodded aggressively. “I can absolutely do that for you. It unfortunately doesn’t see much attention, given most people prefer to drink potions. But it truly is a ring worthy of being worn by the strong. You’ll see one day.” He winked and put the ring in a box off to the side.

“I see. Well, I think that’ll be all for me today, thank you. I guess I'll see you in a few days.”

I turned and left the store. He bowed behind me and said, “I wish you the best in your adventures.”

With all my shopping done, I went back to my room at Half Moon to get some reading done. I still had a whole world to learn about, and plenty of monsters to kill.