Clamshore is renown by their mixed culture since they are the centre of the trade. As such the merchants introduces new fashion style or different styles from other countries. Creating lavish & beautiful looking dresses. So much so that nobles used it to tailor their own dresses.

“I’m just looking for a nice high-quality robe. Preferably not enchanted so I can enchant them myself” Evan look around the area using his invisibility spell to make sure he’s not being noticed. Until he encounter a shop that deals with textiles & craft them into clothing.

Dispelling his invisibility he enters the ‘ store as he’s greeted with a figure. She’s wearing an apron and a headdress. There’s a measuring tape hanging loosely around her neck, on top of her headdress there are two cat-like ears. She appeared to be around 40 to 50 years old with bushy black tail.

“Ah! this is the beast-kin race, I believe they are cat sub-type having night-vision and have keen sight & agility” Evan looks in wonder & amazement seeing it for the first time as she just chuckles before asking.

“Is there anything I can help you?” She politely ask with Evan taken aback for a bit but seems to calm himself down from his own anxiety. Before long, he write something on his notepad as the cat lady looks confused with her ears twitched a little bit.

Displaying the notepad, the cat lady pull forth a small reading glasses as she look at it and begun to read as she nods. “We do have high-quality fabric, in fact you’re in luck! We recently restock our fabric.” She went to the back side of the shop before she stopped and turn around seemingly waiting for Evan to follow.

Evan put the notepad on his chest as he follow along the cat lady, looking to the side he can see there are many workers in this shop currently focusing in their work.

One caught Evan’s attention with his eyes twitched for a second “Is that? huh? A player is here too” Evan tries to stay away from that unknown player as he passed without being known.

“Ah… I forgot… you can get a ‘job’ here too if you don’t want to grind or crafting stuff to get GC” Evan mind wanders quickly as it is interrupted with the cat lady opened a door leading to several fabrics being displayed.

“Whoa… its pretty!!” Evan look at the display accompanied by the constant sounds of sewing machine & scissors clipping through the fabrics echoes from the room he just passed.

 There are many colours striking his eyes, from sunset orange, rose red, sea blue, winter’s white, and et cetera. Certainly it is different compared to robes Evan bought from general store that contain a single colour. These fabrics have gradients in them and different shades, there are also laces & type of embroidery being display for players and NPCs alike to pick.

In this room, Evan can see several NPCs with mixed genders all looking at the different fabrics and laces as they chatter and seems to be in deep thought about what they choose. Judging by the fine clothing they wore; the NPCs are low ranking nobles. So, Evan doesn’t pay too much attention but make sure not to caught their attention either.

Before long, Evan write another on his notepad and the cat lady smiles & wait patiently until he finishes writing. He displayed it again and with that the lady begun to read before her lips curved upward. Clasping her hands together she smiles.

“I see, you’re looking for a robe with a hood made from high-quality fabric. We recommend silk” The cat lady said as Evan nods to her suggestion and write another thing in his notepad then display it again. Her cat-like ears twitches as she reads then grinned with her eyes gleaming

“I see, I see… its up to us for decorations but the main colour would be forest green. Hehehe…. It would be interesting challenge for us tailors.” The cat lady tone went one note higher as her hands twitches already eager to work on it. She uncoils her measurement tape as she led Evan to a raised stand. He looks momentarily confused as she picked up on it and begun to explain.

“We need to take your measurements to make the robe. Relax its going to be quick and easy” Evan seems unsure by her explanation as he took off his blue robe and put it on his storage. In this case, he’s only wearing simple white tunic and beige pants since he cannot wear armour. He quickly write something too to the cat lady with her patiently waits.

Her ears twitched again as if seeing a jackpot as she reads what Evan displays. “You also want a shirt and breeches to be made to complement the colours eh? Hehehe… for 1000 GC we will do our utmost ability” Her tail swishes around as she quickly measure Evan’s body.

“There… there… and… there! Done” She work with extreme efficiency, finishing in just few minutes as Evan follow along the process. Before long, she calculates everything in one go as Evan paid 1000 GC upfront.

“Please come back here after 3 days, the robe will be ready for you” the cat lady smiles before turning around to the back room and shouted. “Everyone!! We got an order for 1000 GC, freestyle anyone want to join beside me?” She smirked after finishing that sentence.

Her words echoed through the room and simultaneously some tailors stop what they are doing and approaches her as they begun chattering. The conversation turn intense as Evan quickly tip toe his way out from the shop. Weaving the mana around him and putting the hood up, he went invisible again & moving through the back alley

“Hmmm... first job done. I have 1248 GC left. I guess I’m going to keep it since I can convert 1200 to 120 dollars with the addition of my original amount. I would make it through the second week with no problems.” Evan smiles, he also think about adding in the Crystal Aster Flower.

They aren’t much but they can be sold gaining 200 GC to 400 GC per day isn’t bad. The 400 GC option though, Evan need to stay around 14 hours so it’s quite unlikely.

“Alright! Let’s go to the alchemist shop! I’m pretty sure its around here” Evan moved through the back as he noticed a building with a sign depicting a cauldron. He made sure to dispel his invisibility on somewhere secluded then enter the building.

Upon entering, he held his breath as a sharp tang of medicinal herb smell overpowering his nose. There are also other strange smells that Evan doesn’t want to know where it is coming from. Slowly but surely, Evan getting used to the smell as he look at the shop.

It is a simple building where the infrastructure are mostly wooden shelves displaying potions and herbs. Evan can see price panel displayed on each of the items displayed. There are also hanging plants being dried near the windows.

He also spotted a long bench and atop it there are mortar & pestle, distillery, a burner, and at the back of that table he can spot a big cauldron and peddle to mix. He approaches the long bench to see further wanting to check what’s inside the cauldron.

“Welcome…” A figure appeared beneath the table. Catching Evan off-guard and made him flinch, his body stiffen up as if like a frozen rabbit for few seconds until he relaxes for a bit.

 In front of Evan, is an old lady probably already around 70 to 80 years old and have the same height with Evan although she’s a bit taller.

She has warts on her nose, wrinkled saggy skin, and incredibly pale. Her voice when saying ‘welcome’ is in high tone and breaking similar to the stereotypical witches in children fantasy movies that Evan watched.

“Kekekekeke….” the old lady began cackling, taking quite a delight in Evan’s reaction. His body & mind composes after a while as the old lady still cackling and wipe a single tear.

“Haah… Haah… Forgive me darling, these old bones need some joy once in a while” She waved her hand as the knick-knacks on top of the bench clean themselves up. Evan can see the weaves of mana being handled by the old lady to gives a semblance of life to the inanimate objects.

“Now, now, what would this old lady can help you with?” She smiles while displaying all of her wares. Evan writes something on his notepad as he display it to her. The old lady grinned as she used her index finger to touch the notepad.

*Poke*

Upon contact, the words coming from the notepad suddenly comically walk themselves out and enlarges in front of the old lady. “Ah! I see… I see… You want to buy an alchemy set?” She snapped her fingers as the shelves behind her suddenly moved apart revealing a storage room.

She went into the room and clapped her hands twice. “Come one! Light up, I can’t see!” In doing so, several sconces lighten up by themselves and brightening the room with her began to look around.

The sounds of clanging, something falling off, and her short remarks such as; “Nope that’s not it” “Nah... not this one either” “Huh? I wonder where it has disappeared to, but it’s here all along”.

“AH! There they are!!” She clapped her hand thrice with the item ‘sorted’ themselves. Although it is not a neat type of sorted, its more like they jumble against one another. She flicks out her small wand before twirling it around for a bit. Then several hands appeared and carry the alchemy set to the long table.

“I always have them in hand, they are pretty handy right? Kekekeke…” She cackles after delivering that pun pointing to the disembodied hands that put the item on top of the long table gently. Evan internally face palm but still chuckle as it does tickle his funny bone.

The alchemy set consists of two beakers made from glass, a metallic frame to hold those beaker, a burner that goes below that frame so Evan can use it to heat the beaker, a stirring rod, a small pestle & mortar made from black coloured stone.

She began calculating the price before looking at Evan top to bottom. Making him a bit unnerved as she decided something in her head. “That would be 48 GC!” as Evan bring out his money and pay the appropriate amount. He also write something on his note pad as she flicks her wand aiming at that note pad when he finished.

In doing so, the words come out and enlarges for her to read. “Aww~ No problem at all darling. Since you’ve been a good boy, I’ll give you this book too” The words contained in the notepad is words of thanks and gratitude as Evan took the set & book to his inventory panel.

You have obtained [Alchemy Set] & [Alchemy for Dummies]

 

Evan smiles seeing that on his inventory. “The book gives alchemy skill if I remember. What a nice luck!” as he bid farewell to the old lady. Moving out to the streets, Evan quickly go to the back alley and went invisible. Looking around, Evan is trying to find a place for him to settle. Preferable a nice quiet place where no one is around.

He decided to check outside of the city, he uses the east gate where he came in from Novitas. Looking at his right side, he can see the shore where players hunt the giant hermit crab and flying jellyfishes. Since it is crowded as usual, he look to his left seeing just a deep forest that lead to mountain different that snow-top mountain at North of Novitas.

“I’ll go here then” Evan stray from the beaten path as he went to the forest. Dispelling his invisibility, he activates his ‘radar’ to sense any entities as he found several of them. Although he cannot know if it’s a player, NPC, or monsters. But he knew it’s a living being as he opted watch behind a tree.

What he found are roaming monsters with their size around 90 centimetre in height, green skin humanoid appearance, pointy ears, and jagged teeth. Their eyes have no pupils just red sclera, each carrying iron weapons.

 

There is a taller figure that seemed to be their leader since they are chattering in unknown language to one another. Evan take a good look at it as well, bearing similarities with the goblin but much taller probably higher than Evan. It also wear a chainmail and spiky looking helmet carrying a big mace on one of his hand.

 

They did not notice Evan’s presence as he muffled his own footsteps and cast invisibility on himself for a good measure of stealth. He looked at those creatures as they walk & delve deep into the forest presumably towards the mountain.

“A patrol group then? They really make this game realistic” Evan find another small glade in the forest as he’s going to try something new. He’s going to apply what he learned about magical circle to create some kind of protective field making his very own ‘safe spot’ safer.

“Let’s see here… a magic circle or magic circuit contained a spell and it is activated depending on what the user wants. Usually it is when being stepped on or something passed in front of it like those in mage’s archive. Maybe I can try something different, like constantly active” Evan uses his pointy end of his beginner’s staff as he began to draw on a piece of stone.

He infused mana into the pointy end of the staff as it carves through the stone. He wrote several words; ‘Protect’ ‘Field’ ‘Wide’ to create the circle as he continuously weaved the mana in and process it to what he wants.

“This mana circle will be Abjuration base like a force field I see in movies” He put one on the ground. Upon doing so, a shift in the air begun to happen as an invisible force field have been deployed. “its weak due to the ‘wide’ word I put on the circle, but its enough to deflect arrows or a sword.”

The next step is that he pick another stone and begun carving words in as well mainly of; ‘Field’ ‘Wide’ ‘Disillusion’ ‘Stealth’ ‘Silence’ creating a magic circle that focus on Illusion as he put it side to side with the Abjuration magic circle. “It won’t be able to trick players, but at least normal monsters wouldn’t be able to realize. The hobgoblin would notice it as well I think”

The other step is the most important one, as he sharpened his senses and feel a little bit guilty in what he’s going to do. Rather than infusing mana to a living being to heal, Evan did the opposite. He tries to drain the mana as a patch of grass withered and turn to dust.

Leaving Evan with an icky feeling “Blergh… never want to do that again. Just feels wrong” The reason he did that, is because he needed a flat surface not impeded with any vegetation. He began focusing mana on the tip of his staff and draw a large circle on the ground rather than a stone.

The words containing inside the circle consist of; ‘Anchor’ ‘Space’ ‘Teleportation’ ‘Connection’ as he let it settle for a while until it clicks & stick to the ground finally stabilized. He’s satisfied with his work until he opens the time panel.

“AH! Its already 6 days, I forgot the time carving these magic circles.” Evan spent around 5 to 6 hours carving those circles as he decided to press the recall function while turning invisible.

Arriving on the plaza of Clamshore invisible, Evan quickly go to the shop where his clothing is being made as he dispels the invisibility prior entering. “Ah! there you are customer, I have been wondering where you are. Here’s the robe, tunic, and long pants you ordered. You can try them on the dressing room” The cat lady point the direction as Evan nods and go there.

--

Wearing the clothing, he see himself in the mirror. “Whoa… I’m ugly but the clothing looks amazing although a bit ironic considering what I just did”

 It is a sophisticated looing forest green robe with its edges have been embroidered by golden threads mimicking laurels. The chest part of the robe also have golden curves with leaves growing on the side of it. As what Evan requested, the robe have a hood that’s able to be pulled up to hide his face.

The tunic itself is beige in colour and have its edges embroidered, looking like runes clearly inspired from Celtic or Nordic. The soft silk feels nice & cool on Evan’s skin and the pants are brown in colour with the same inspiration of embroidery.

Evan himself didn’t know any of those runes mean only appreciating how pretty & amazing it looks. “I don’t know these shapes, but it looks nice” He smiles before an idea popped in his mind.

“What if I use made up language to make my circles? Only I know the intent and people doesn’t know. Oh my gosh, too many goals! Stuck with alchemy first then infusing this clothing, then I can think about the made-up language” Evan thought as he came out from the fitting room looking like a new man. He gives a thumbs up on the cat lady before tip toeing his way out from the place.

Moving to a quiet alleyway he began weaving the mana and it is clear on his mind where he wants to go. He’s going to try a long-distance teleport, as the space folds his figure vanishes and reappear right on where the magic circle for teleport is.

*TING*

A sharp numbing ache hit his head with Evan clutching his temples for some time. He glances to the side at his status panel and it indicates his MP already went below 10% as it slowly regenerate back.

“Yeah… it costs a lot of MP to teleport with that distance” Evan compared it to when he uses short-distance teleport or what he knew as ‘Blink’. “Hmm… there must be a way for me weaving mana to reduce the cost” Nevertheless Evan arrived at his intended destination.

Quickly, he pull out the alchemy set and arrange them as he summons Umbra. The dog emerges from his shadow as he look up and sniff the air.

“Woof…” Umbra grunted, he circling the glade before finally settling down crossing his paws enjoying the fresh air. Thankfully, the small glade is enough to house Umbra with Evan brought out his dog treats using magic to keep it hovering on the air. “A practice in my controls. I need to do it until it becomes a second nature” Evan decided

Umbra sees this as a reward seeing the hovering treats bee-lining to his mouth as he noms them all. With Evan reading a book ‘Alchemy for Dummies’ upon opening it, there are sets of instruction he need to follow.

“Hmmm… I think I set it up correctly, Let’s see here… to create your first potion. You need to boil water first. After that, add the ingredients, two ingredients that bore the same effect would create a potion when mixed. Now you wonder, why don’t I just use one ingredient? Well that is a realm for master alchemist to ponder you dummy~” Evan chuckles a little bit before he realizes something.

“Why I didn’t get the alchemy skill? The book ‘Alchemy for Dummies’ automatically give alchemy skill. Does that mean I can’t use alchemy?” Evan starts to panic a little bit with Umbra noticing and move closer to him and snuggle reducing his stress as he calms down.

“Thanks Umbra” Evan said in his mind as the dog huffed and look to the side. “I’m not going to give up just yet!” Evan decided to continue in his goal in making a potion.

“I guess, I need to look for some kind of ingredients that works with Crystal Aster Flower first. Oh what’s this?” Upon looking closer to the alchemy set up, he missed a single pouch inside the beaker as he take it and the notification panel appeared showing him several items newly added to his inventory.

 

 

 

 

 

*Plop*

A note fall off from the pouch as it vanishes to thin air and large words emerge from it. So Evan read it. ‘Hi darling, I put these in to help with your alchemy! Try them, its going to be fun’ “Hehe…” Evan chuckles internally said thanks to the old lady.

He weaved mana to produce water as beakers being filled by it. Snapping his finger a small flicker of flame triggered the wick as the burner set aflame. Evan uses magic inspired by the granny as the burner moved itself to the metal frame that held the beaker atop.

“By mixing two ingredients that have the same effect, right?” Evan thought as the water begin to boil. He added [Red Flower] and [Leven Berry] and stir it together. An idea strike his head as he begins to weave mana together to pour it to the mix similar to how he did with enchanting. While mixing… a stray thought appeared in his mind.

“Come to think of it, I can make magic items is already weird. Eh~ I can’t complain if I can make potion without using skill” He felt something hot touching his wrist as he flinched for a second. Due to his blunder, the beaker overflows as it spill everywhere.

“Sigh… I guess it’s a failure. Focus!!” Evan retries again, as he weaved mana into the water, [Red Flower], and [Leven Berry] for minutes until it is done. The waters did not overflow rather it settles into a bright red coloured water. As a flask appeared on his hand surprising him. “AH! oh… it’s the container” Evan doesn’t ask any further about the logic as he transferred it to the flask.

You have obtained Health Potion

 

“??? Why there’s no indicator? Like (S) for small, (M) for medium, and (L) for large?” Evan looks confused for a second as he open the inventory panel to check.

 

“Isn’t there something missing on this?” Evan thought as he look at his very own (S) Health Potion. His hunch is correct, the cooldown is gone. “Does that mean I can chuck this down several times?” Evan widened his eyes as he make another one copying the same method with the mysterious appearance of a glass flask each time he finishes.

“I used all my [Red Flower] and [Leven Berry]. So, I have 5 [Health Potion].” The five flasks lies bare on the grass patch as he sat and decide something. “Here we go!” Evan chuck one down and it tastes sweet like strawberry flavour as he chuck another one.

“Yes! I can chuck them without worrying the cooldown.” Evan smiles as he put them in to the inventory back. “No wonder the price is a bit more than normal potion although they have the same effect. I’m assuming rarer ingredients can make powerful potion. Hehehe… I wonder how many people will buy these?” Evan ruefully smiles.

“Alright! Based on [Red Flower] and [Leven Berry] Information. They commonly grow on forest, mountains, and prairies for red flower. To think I keep ignoring them while moving around, sigh… I better pick some then” Evan stands up as Umbra follow him. The pair left the safety of the enchanted forest glade towards the depth of the forest searching for alchemical ingredients.