“How much for all these?” Luci puts her sack of enemy drops on the counter. The shopkeeper looks at the items with a scrutinizing look. “My, these are in pristine condition. Most people bring this stuff to me in a sorry shape. I’ll pay you 2 gold and 50 Silvers for these.”

Luci nods and takes the money. It’s probably too good of a trade on her end for just the stuff she’s collected on the way to town. After getting her money, she heads over to the tailor located on the other side of the path.

“Welcome! You need some new clothes made, young miss?”

“Mmhm, I’d like something stylish and suitable for a mage like myself.”

“I’ve already got some ideas on the design, but first let me get your measurements” She takes out a strip of marked tape and proceeds to measure Luci. “Alright, I’ve got them recorded. Based on your measurements, I think 30 Silver will cover the cost for your new outfit. It’ll take some time, so please go see the town while you wait.”

“Actually… can you also make me some underwear to go with it?” Luci starts blushing when asking the question, to which the tailor looks at her puzzled.

“Well, yeah I guess I can make some for you as well. That’ll be an additional 20 Silver, though.” Luci hands over the entire 50 Silver coin payment and leaves the store while the tailor works on the new outfit. “Odd girl, not sure why that request was so awkward for her.”

Luci then heads over to the blacksmith looking to finally get a weapon to fight with.

“Welcome, welcome! Lots of great pieces here, some of the finest in the kingdom.” The blacksmith gestures around the shop to various weapons and armor pieces before returning to his smithing. “However, I doubt you'd be able to wield much of what's on offer here. With that said, I think I have something for you.” The blacksmith lifts himself up from the anvil and walks over to a table labeled “Catalysts”.

“These weapons are all fitted with doohickeys we call Catalysts. Catalysts aren't as efficient as a staff or wand, but they'll let you cast higher tier magic just the same. These specifically are fitted with “Lite Catalysts” which enable access to Tier 2 spells only.” He picks out a small dagger on the table, a jet-black dagger with a red gemstone inlaid in the handle. He gives this to Luci, who looks at the weapon with fascination. "

“I think it'd be perfect for you, and if you decide to buy it, I'll even give you a discount. 2 gold pieces.” The smith gives Luci a thumbs-up and walks back to the anvil to resume working.

Holding the dagger in her hand she nods and hands over the money “I'll take it!”

“Pleasure doing business, lil’ missy.” The smith gives a hearty belly laugh while continuing to work the metal on the anvil.

Since the new outfit isn't finished yet, Luci takes another look at her skills to view the Tier 2 Spells, however only one really piques her interest.

Since she only has 4 skill points, and this spell cost 2 of them, she decides to spend her last two on basic skills. First, she gets “Light Regen” and then shifts over to the Vanguard skill tree to find a skill to use with her new dagger.

“This should help offset my low strength stat.” Now out of skill points, she decides to check back on the tailor to see if her new outfit is finished.

“Thanks for coming back, Luci. I've just finished your new clothes.” She shows the completed outfit resting on a mannequin while handing her a brown bag for the other request.

Luci looks at the tailor, astonished at the speed at which she completed this outfit. “You know, I did not expect this outfit to be completed this quickly. I was gone for only an hour.”

“This is a town of mages, you know? A little magic to swiftly make some clothes is child’s play.” Luci removes the outfit from the mannequin and adds it to the bag. “You can change upstairs if you like, don't worry it's empty.”

Luci walks up the stairs to the upper floor and looks at the clothes. It's a white cloth shirt with long sleeves and a small red sleeveless open chest leather vest. Then a red skirt complemented with a pair of white thigh-high stockings and red boots. Lastly, there is a red cloak that covers the entire body. Then at the bottom of the bag is the underwear she requested. A black bra with red trims with matching panties.

She stares at her new clothes, blushing slightly at what she's about to put on. “My first set of… women’s clothing.” She starts to get visibly excited and begins undressing to put her new clothes on. 

When she finishes getting dressed, she walks back downstairs, the tailor sizing her up. “Yeah, I did really well on that one. Good job me!” She looks very proud of herself.

Walking back into the town square by the fountain, Luci finally reconvenes with Louis.

“Ended up buying a bunch of new healing items after getting my blade repaired. And…” he looks at Luci “holy shit.” He stares at her, speechless. He coughs to clear his throat. “You look… amazing.

“Hehe. I quite like this outfit as well.” She puffs out her chest. “... but now after all that I'm flat broke.”

“Ha! Not to worry, I bet we’ll find plenty of loot in the second stretch of the forest. From there we’ll be in the capital city rather quickly.”

“Do you happen to know what's in this part of the forest?”

“Yeah, actually. I hear there's an ancient temple there, an old cult used it to perform their rituals. They were wiped out ages ago though.”

“Creepy. Hopefully we'll steer clear of it.”

Louis gives her a nod and starts walking off towards the end of the clearing. The fog setting back in as the two walk back into the forest for the second leg of the journey.

iMidnighte

Time to get to writing for the first big story moment which may come with a surprise for our friend Louis.