*groan* "Feels good to be back into the game once more." Soren commented, as he started stretched his body and planned for the goals he wants to accomplish on his current play session, mainly figuring out the alchemy resource collection and hunting down a Cutter, since grinding for the usual critters was an activity he was already starting to get sick of. This time, he intended to get to the bottom of this problem, even if it was the last thing he would do tonight. As for the usual quests, he only intended to do the vermin quest for the free potion and would completely ignore the other quests, since he had no intention of hunting more critters.

After making his planning, he decided to go through his inventory and sift through his current supplies, which amounted to 5 Trainee Health Potions and his handcrafted one, a wooden training sword from the tutorial, his iron sword and a few Roller corpses. From his current amount of supplies, he doubted it would be enough to deal with the Cutter and not only that, but he was also unarmored and despite not requiring armor to deal with the critters he had been dealing with for the past few days, he knew he needed some level of protection, so the blacksmith's shop was his first stop.

Although he had explored the shop before, he couldn't help but wonder why its shop owner would leave it unattended. Not only that, but he also wondered if the shop had any armor pieces for sale, since there were only weapons on display. "Hello? Is anyone here?" Soren called out, as he looked around, before a high-pitched voice startled him, causing him to turn around and witness a tiny humanoid creature with glowing red wings and hair and a brown apron, floating in front of him. "Hey there new customer, how can Maybelle help you? From simple repairs to custom-made equipment from the best materials, Maybelle can handle anything."

"Uhh... Hi there..." Soren greeted back awkwardly, as he wasn't sure how to react in front of the creature in front of him and his mind was nearly frozen from the shock of witnessing it.

"What? First time seeing a faefolk?" Maybelle asked curiously, as it flew around Soren and examined every part of his body.

"Um... Yeah.. So, you're a faefolk, right? Is it like a fairy or something?"

"Please do not call us with such a derogatory name ever again." Maybelle stated coldly, as it summoned a stone needle and aimed it right between his eyes.

"Sorry! Sorry! I won't call you a fairy. So... what exactly are the faefolk?" Soren asked curiously, as he examined Maybelle in front of him.

"Umm... Faefolk are faefolk, so I'm not sure how else to explain it really... Anyways, are you going to buy something mister?" Maybelle asked, as she tried giving her best explanation.

"Right... Do you have any armor for sale?"

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Armor? I do have have some, but it's mostly failed pieces. To be honest, I haven't had much luck finding good materials to make good armor. I've tried to collect a few pelts myself, but I always end up ruining them and I haven't even found any decent ore deposits, aside for a poor copper ore deposit and even that's not enough for a decent helmet."

"Hm... Weren't there any other ore deposits nearby?"

"No. The closest one after that is nearly three hours away on foot and it's also protected by a pack of kobolds, so that would require to organize an expedition, at the very least."

"Hmm... Think you can use these then?" Soren asked, as he pulled out the rollers from his inventory.

"Oh, Rollies! And their shells are in a pristine condition! Please! Please! Please! Let me have them!" Maybelle desperately requested, as she shook violently Soren's shirt with a tearful expression.

"Alright! Alright! Here you go." Soren then swiftly gave the Rollers to Maybelle, before she swiftly dashed towards the back of the shop with the rollers on her back and loud banging sounds echoed inside the shop for the next few minutes, before she came out holding a leather breastplate, covered with a thick plating of the Roller's shell.

"So, how does it look? Not too shabby right?"

"Honestly, it looks very tough and durable." Soren voiced out his opinion, as he contemplated about its durability and if it would be enough to handle the Cutter's attacks.

"Good to know. So, will you pay for it? You did provide the materials, so I can give you a discount about that."

'Right... The clerk did mention that...' Soren thought to himself, before asking a bit nervously. "How much will it cost?"

"Hmm... Well, you provided me with good quality materials and with the discount on top... I believe five Bronze coins should be a good enough price. So, are you willing to pay for it?" Once Maybelle stated her offer, Soren couldn't help but feel apprehensive about the price, since it was nearly most of his cash. But after thinking about it for a few seconds, he decided to buy the Roller armor immediately, since the armor looked fairly durable and he knew that if he missed out on this, he would never get such an offer and would regret it for a long while.

"Thank you for your patronage. I hope this armor keeps you safe." Maybelle stated in a business-like manner, as she pocketed the bronze coins, while Soren decided to check the breastplate, before wearing it over his shirt.

Roller Breastplate:

Type: Light Armor

Quality: Excellent

Equipment Bonuses: +5 Vitality, +1 Agility

Description: A handcrafted breastplate made out of the leather of fallen Rollers, plated with their hard shells and crafted by a master blacksmith. Despite its hard interior, it's lightweight enough to not hinder the wearer's movement.

"Holy... This thing's cracked and then some. 5 Vitality... But why hasn't my HP increased at all?" Soren wondered, as he looked at the unchanged 20/20 HP stat, despite wearing the armor.

"Hello? Hello? Soren, can you hear me now?" An unfamiliar voice echoed inside Soren's head, causing him to nearly jump out of fright, before remembering that it was Neil's voice.

"Yes! Yes, I can hear you loud and clear...Hah... Could you give me a heads up next time? I think I nearly felt my life flash before my eyes."

"Sorry for the scare there. It took me a good fifteen minutes before I got the microphone setting to work. I swear, how did Lucas even manage to set this up within a few minutes?"

"Fifteen minutes isn't exactly that long..." Morgan's voice echoed in his ears as well, albeit being more distant from Neil's voice.

"Anyways... Since I've managed to establish communication, we can actually get started with the work. I've already been updated by Lucas on your last couple of days of tests, but for safety reasons and as a way to slowly set things up on my side, just stick to 40% for the first couple hours and afterwards, we can finally get started on some tests." Neil explained calmly, as he was currently calibrating Soren's parameters and needed his physical data on a neutral state, before starting the proper testing.

"Got it." Soren responded, as he made his way towards Manny's shop and silently voiced in his mind. 'Guess I'm running on a timer tonight. I'll need to be faster.'