"Hmmm. I doubt you have the gold to afford heavy armor right now. Remember how much just the gauntlets cost for you. Heavy armor is certainly not cheap," Jaq responded.
"I think it might be best to just outfit them with the armored pants and shirt combo that you sold me. Unless you have something better for a rogue or caster?" Beth said.
"I might have something. You are just at such a low level that we don't really have much stock," Jaq replied. "Let's get them measured first. Surely you remember the details; it was just yesterday you went through the process."
"Right, no problem,” Beth said. "Hey! Over here!"
The rest of the group moved over to her after she called and waved, trying to figure out what was going on. She told them, "This is Jaq. He's in charge of the commissary, or shop, here. So, when we need to either buy or sell stuff, he's who we'll be working with. He has a machine that can measure our basic size and shape so they can get clothes and armor that fits."
Jaq gestured as he had the day before, starting the measuring machine. The machine awoke from its hibernation state, the platform and arms extending. Kim stepped up first, embodying her role as leader, though usually it was when Beth wasn't around to take charge of them. The machine quickly performed its task, scanning Kim and updating the database and her emblem with her current dimensions. The girls followed in order, Sabs next and then Soph afterwards. Once they were all measured, Jaq produced sets of clothing for the three the same as he had for Beth.
He then disappeared into the backrooms, searching for armor that would fit the three of them. The three first grabbed their new clothes, but they soon realized there wasn't really a point to either changing or holding them and set them on the counter for now.
Jaq returned after a minute and, with a gesture, made a number of sets of armor appear on the counter in front of them. He clearly had a high-level storage item or power of some type and used it naturally to move and handle items without even a thought. The items he brought out were a set of boots, pants, gloves, and shirts for three people. He gestured at each of the girls and one of the sets of armor, indicating what was for whom.
The three pulled the armor on, able to equip it with very little fuss thanks to the simple but elegant design of the items. The armor fit quite well, all three of the lower leveled girls now being fully kitted out with the exception of helmets, which nobody currently had. The three moved around the shop a little, testing the fit and how free their flexibility remained in the armor. Once they determined everything was good, they returned to the counter with nods, quietly discussing how nice the gear was.
"And how much is all this?" Beth asked Jaq with a bit of a skeptical look.
"I really should add a surcharge for you, but for my favorite customer, I will price it at one gold and eighty silvers. You can afford that much, correct?" he replied.
"Yeah, yeah. I can afford it," Beth replied a little sullenly, making the coins appear on the counter. "I was rich there, for a few brief hours," she continued wistfully, staring off into the distance.
"Ten gold coins and she's a nouveau riche. Far be it for me to discourage you," he replied.
"Anything you have that a sorcerer can use?" she asked, ignoring his commentary.
"No," he said coldly.
"No?" she asked.
"No," he repeated, deadpan.
"Well then, I'll take my silver elsewhere," she said.
"Good luck," he replied, slightly adjusting the position of his beret as the group left.
They walked down the hallway back to the elevators, and Sabs said, "So that's Jaq. Not the friendliest customer service."
"Considering he's the only customer service for possibly hundreds of miles, depending on where the other CRA Halls are, I think we're stuck with him," replied Beth.
"So, ah, we're just supposed to carry these clothes and things?" asked Kim.
"Yep. Put 'em away once we get home," Beth replied.
"What about that pouch you have?" Soph asked with a frown.
"It doesn't have much room in it, and I currently have my stuff in it. Also, if you want one, it's only one-and-a-half gold," Beth continued.
"And we don't have any money left?" asked Sabs.
"If by 'we' you mean me, then no, I have less than a gold now. And if by 'we' you mean the rest of the group, I'm pretty sure you all have a few silvers between you," Beth answered.
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In the meantime, they had taken the elevator back up to the first floor and moved to the lounge. They entered to find the senior members inside, minus Baelvyr, who was still taking over Navere's place at the front counter. Beth dismissed the rest of the group to their respective trainers, some of them still nervous, but they would have to get used to the new strangeness eventually.
She made her way up to the second floor, followed by Blood, and to the front of the building, entering the library a moment later. She avoided the books for now, sitting at one of the open computer terminals in the front center of the room, she began searching around on the wider 'net. In particular she was looking for information on the Endless Trial she had already done, as well as information about different skills and abilities.
Beth only realized that several hours had passed when Blood nudged her, causing her to check the time and realize that it was now evening, darkness setting in outside. She logged out of her session on the computer, which really just meant closing everything she had been browsing through, and stood up with a stretch, several joints lightly popping. She turned and ruffled Blood's mane, leading the way out of the library and down to the lounge, looking for the others.
She found the three of them sitting at Baelvyr's table with the ogre in his usual spot. Kim and Sabs were draped across their chairs, seeming to be made of gelatin rather than flesh. It was pretty clear the two of them had had a rather rough first day of training with their instructors. Soph, on the other hand, was bright eyed and bushy tailed, looking very excited as she read through a small book, not much bigger than Beth's hand and about two inches thick. It seemed likely Soph had had a much more theoretical lesson, which would have suited her just fine since she had always had a keen interest in study.
"I take it yer gonna bring these layabouts back tomorrow?" Baelvyr asked her as she proceeded to rouse Kim and Sabs.
"Yeah, and hopefully I can finally have some time that we can go over some things," she replied, getting the group moving toward the far door while she stayed for a moment to speak.
"No rush, girlie. It's only been a couple days, ya got centuries ahead of ya. Can't get it all done in a week," he responded with a shake of his head, slapping his massive gut to emphasize the point.
"Well, we'll be here tomorrow. See you then," she said.
"Ya know where to find me."
She hurried her steps for a moment, catching up to the others in the hallway outside the lounge, their speed being rather low with the two exhausted girls dragging their feet. They made their way to the front lobby, finding their mother still there, somewhat to Beth's surprise. She was not pestering the counter personnel, Tazeen and Navere again, but was instead reading through a large book that appeared to have quite dense text inside. She stood as the girls approached, casting a critical eye over them.
"And what exactly brought them to such a state?" she asked Beth slightly coldly.
"No idea. They got instructors who will teach them, at least for a while, for free. I went to the library and studied in the meantime, so I have no idea what happened. Probably practice fights or something like that," Beth replied, her last sentence eliciting a slight groan from Sabs and Kim.
Rachel eyed the group critically for another moment before saying, "It's getting late, so time for us to head back. And that armor stays in the mudroom when we get home."
As confident as Rachel was, she still let Beth take the lead as the teen stepped in front of her, happy to have the high leveled girl lead the way home. The going was slow at first, but Beth stopped and walked back to the others after a moment. She grabbed Sabs, who barely squawked at all, and set her on Blood's back, before repeating the process with Kim, setting her sister behind her girlfriend. Soph started grumbling about unfair treatment, but Beth ignored the youngest while she made sure the two were holding on securely before setting off again.
The group still wasn't able to make very great speed, what with Rachel's low level and Soph's low physical stats, but progress they did. In an encounter very reminiscent of one a number of days ago, they ran into one of the wandering boars in the area just outside the neighborhood, Rachel calling out a concerned warning as Beth seemed to obliviously approach the massive beast. Her cry cut off midway as she watched Beth dart forward at an immense speed, slamming an armored fist into the creature's head, her mouth dropping wide open as the hog's skull exploded into a gory confetti.
"Oops. Zack and Bill aren't gonna like that," Beth said a little sheepishly, scratching at her neck with her un-bloodied hand.
"What was that?!" Rachel exclaimed in shock.
"It's a boar. Not very high level, but pretty good meat," Beth said a little obliquely.
"You know what I meant, young lady. How did you do that?" Rachel continued in a stern tone.
"Identify me," Beth answered calmly.
"W-what? How is that possible? You're level twenty already?!" Rachel exclaimed again, more surprised now that she had much more information from her earlier talks with Tazeen and her reading. She knew that getting to level twenty took a lot of effort and danger, so seeing Beth at that level was quite the surprise.
"I said yesterday I have over sixty STR stat. How did you think I had so much if not for being a higher level? This is what that looks like in combat, by the way. Well, sort of looks like; I didn't have to go all out for something this weak," Beth explained, gesturing lazily at the massive corpse.
"You should all head back, I'll bring the body along behind. Can you tell Zack and/or Bill that I have yet another one?" she continued.
"S-sure. Just, ah, be careful," Rachel replied, still a little dazed from what she had just witnessed and learned.
The group continued on without Beth, entering the backyard with Rachel again being the only one that had any struggle with the defenses. Sabs and Kim slid almost bonelessly off Blood's back before staggering over to empty chairs to collapse. Soph ignored everyone else and retreated into the house, clearly eager to continue her studies in private. Luckily for the group, and perhaps unluckily for the men, Zack and Bill were both in the backyard, along with rest of Bill's family.
Rachel informing them of the fresh kill roused a groan from Bill, but Zack was on his feet and moving right away, a lifetime of training and go-get 'em attitude on display. He went to get his knives and tools, issuing orders along the way. It was only a minute later that Beth appeared; the massive corpse fairly easily slung over her shoulders. Zack and Bill re-entered the yard just in time to see her effortlessly leap the ditch, berm, and a good fifteen feet besides, landing in the middle of the yard. Bill directed her to somewhat sheepishly leap back across the defenses with the carcass, as they still had to drain it first. Once that was done, she hoisted the boar corpse again and took it back into the yard.
Zack quickly spread out one of their large tarps, allowing Beth to set the body down somewhere that wouldn't lead to the yard becoming a bloody mess. Blood had moved over and hovered nearby, clearly hoping to snatch a tasty organ or two for herself.
As the men began to disassemble the kill, Zack said to Beth, "We ought to establish some kind of hunting schedule. It's a pain in the ass, you bringing these things in just whenever."
"We could take a day to hunt in a few days," Beth said, starting to grin evilly. "I know the perfect place."
"Well, I don't like that look," said Bill from where he crouched by the boar's side.
"I found the area I think these are coming from the other day. It's not a dungeon, but it is a huge field with a shit-ton of these things in, including an alpha the size of a house," Beth answered him, her grin widening. Bill groaned at that, but Zack just snorted as he continued working.
"Let's hold off on that, much as you seem keen to break our backs there," Zack said. "We need to set up areas in the development to be able to store that kind of meat. We're already packing Bill's shed and a ton of people's fridges full with everything we're getting now. No reason to hunt more than we can even store at this point."
"Right. I've just killed them as I stumbled on them. I haven't gone out of my way to hunt them down," she replied, moving over to one of the tables once the butchering was well underway.
The group fairly quickly ignored the spectacle, not the first time in the last week the hunters of the neighborhood had butchered something someone had killed. Rachel stepped up at this point, beginning to go over some of her findings at the CRA Hall, which prompted Thomas to quickly go fetch their laptops and several notebooks. The computers were still functional for now, but they had already started to act a little glitchy from time to time as the ambient mana continued to rise. The only solution they had found to the problem so far was physical notetaking, keeping detailed notes in several binders and notebooks.
A good bit of what Rachel started discussing was news or a surprise to many others, but Beth had lived through a lot of it already. She absent-mindedly wandered away from the conversation, poking around the tables for a moment before heading inside the house. Having not really eaten at the CRA Hall during the day, she was immediately poking around in the kitchen, slowly shifting into cooking a full-on meal.