Glenn paced in front of the Armory, his annoyance-meter climbing with each passing second.
"When did you order your suits already?" Nelg asked with barely hidden mockery. Glenn bit down on his lip.
'Two weeks—no, that makes three with today.'
Diamanes laughed loudly at his host's expenses, 'Well, well, well, it does seem like you got ripped off, didn't you?'
The young man dismissed the two entities' jest with a wave of his hand, before entering the shop. The buffed, muscular old man, which he came to know under the name of Toran Dias, was picking his nose with the least amount of interest for the client who entered his business. Glenn restrained a sigh and walked up to the counter, slamming his hand against it.
"Hey, Mister Toran, I came to pick up the Soulbound suits I ordered three weeks ago," Glenn demanded with a considerable amount of anger in his voice. Had it been Rusty instead of this old fart, he would have gotten his suits when he was supposed to get them, three damned weeks ago. Toran Dias looked at his finger and the thing he took out of his nose intently, before flicking it away.
"Oh, yeah, yeah, I know. Well, I've got a lot of work right now, so perhaps you could just come another day?" The shopkeeper didn't even bother looking at Glenn and stretched lazily. The young man closed his eyes and took a deep breath, before smiling. He reopened his eyes back up and crossed his arms.
"Ah, that's too bad. I guess I'll have to go tell Sir Reginald the reason as to why I can't go take care of his three Corrupted. They'll just have to send some Gold Fixers, I suppose, right?" He shook his head dejectedly with faked disappointment. The shopkeeper grunted and forced himself into the back of the shop. Glenn grinned and waited patiently. Toran Dias came back, transporting a large, black suitcase. He threw it on the counter with as little respect as he could. Glenn couldn't say whether the Toran disliked him for some reason, or was just a dick. Maybe it was a bit of the two.
"Thank you, finally."
Toran waved at him dismissively, freezing when he realized Glenn was opening the suitcase right in the shop.
"Wait, what are you doing? Don't you want to open up your new clothes in the privacy of your suite?" He asked nervously, a bead of sweat pearling down his ball head. Glenn pressed his lips together in a wry smile and shook his head.
"Come on, I waited three weeks for these suits, I have to see what they look like."
Toran grunted and leaned back, his eyes glued to the suitcase. Glenn opened it up, and, to his disappointment, instead of the black suit made out of Nightweaver Spider's silk, there was...nothing. It almost made him laugh, as did the shopkeeper's poor attempt at fleeing, but Glenn was too annoyed to laugh. The buffed old man, who was trying to jump in the back of the shop, floated back to Glenn, pulled by his Gravity Manipulation.
"Mister Toran, what—what is this?" Glenn pointed at the empty suitcase, his face blank with emotion. Toran Dias looked to the side awkwardly and rubbed the back of his head.
"Well, uhm, I've looked into the order you had with Rusty previously...The whole kingdom has placed an embargo on merchandise from beyond the Black Wall. That batch of Night Silk he used to make your suit back then was the last one. It's been..." The shopkeeper scratched the top of his head, "...At least six months, maybe more since we received merchandise from there."
Glenn looked at Toran Dias with empty eyes, before shaking his head.
"But why didn't you just use another material? Are you fucking stupid?" He blurted out, before grimacing. That came out by itself. Toran Dias moistened his lips and shrugged.
"Well, you basically told me you wanted the same thing as you used to have. Without Night Silk, I can't produce that. So, I'm stuck waiting for the next delivery, unless we change the base material."
Glenn sighed and crossed his arms. "Why didn't you tell me that three weeks—sigh, just tell me what are my options."
Toran Dias smacked his lips. "Sure, but can I get back on the ground now?" The whole time they had been speaking, Glenn had been holding him in the air with Gravity Manipulation, to make sure the shameless shopkeeper wouldn't try running away again. Toran grumbled something inaudible, probably some insults at Glenn's regards, but the latter acted as if he heard none of it. Toran Dias went back to the back of the shop, bringing back three new suitcases. He placed each of them on the counter with care, nothing like how he previously acted. He opened one suitcase after another.
The first was filled with raven black fabric, somehow even darker than the Night Silk. The second one was moon-like white, with a strange hue coming off it. The third and final one was grey and seemed to mold with the color of the suitcase. Toran placed himself behind the suitcases, sweating a little when he saw Mana continue to swirl around his customer. Rusty wasn't someone who could be impressed by such a show of strength; Toran was, though.
"So," He drew a deep breath and pointed at the first suitcase with the black fabric, "This one is actually leather from a snake living hidden in the depth of the earth, an Underworld's Imoogi. It's hard to come by, but not as hard as Night Silk. It's also less versatile but strengthens itself when in the dark. You lose most of the protective properties under the sunlight, though, so that's a thing to think about. No matter its state, it can effortlessly stop mundane attacks, like a knife from a normal person or the claws of a wolf. Oh, and there are rumors it enhances the user's ability the deeper he is in the ground, but that's not a rumor I verified."
Toran went in front of the second suitcase, with the bright white fabric. "This is very special silk, produced by the complete opposite of the Nightweaver Spiders; the Lightwalkers. They're also spiders, big ass ones too, but use light itself as a web to move around. Scary stuff, but I prefer them to the Nightweavers. The Nightweavers are always hidden in the dark, while the Lightwalkers are some of the brightest entities in this world." He picked the fabric up and showed it to Glenn. "As resistant as the Imoogi's leather, with the addition of being extremely resistant to light-based attacks. Putting this shit on makes you tough to kill; you just need to funnel some Mana in, and..." The fabric in his hand lit up like an overpowered lightbulb, blinding Glenn for a second, "...There you go, you become the sun. We can enchant it with blind resistance, so don't worry about blinding yourself."
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He moved on to the last fabric and patted it roughly. "That's my favorite of the three. Mimetic Pelt from a Mimic. Very, very rare, and very expensive. It acts as the perfect camouflage device, allowing you to blend in anywhere you'd like. It's tough too, and can harden itself with Mana. Besides that, it doesn't have other abilities, but the ability to camouflage is already great enough to explain the price."
Toran Dias sighed and stepped back into the center, waiting, "So, which one would you like?"
Glenn rubbed his chin, pondering for a little second, before grinning.
"All three will be perfect, with Soulbound, Self-Repair, and Self-Cleaning as enchantments."
The shopkeeper blinked and opened his mouth in confusion, before closing it.
'Yeah, I think he got the message,' commented Diamanes.
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"...This is so much better compared to normal clothes," Glenn muttered as he stepped out of the Armory, adorning the black suit. He didn't make the mistake of leaving and trusting Toran with the work since the latter already proved himself unreliable, so instead he waited patiently in the shop until he was done. It took a bit more than half a day — most of that was spent Meditating, so it wasn't that much of a loss — but it was finally done. The Imoogi's pelt had transformed into a combination of black pants and a vest very similar to the suit he used to have, only he had no white shirt or tie to go with it. At least it came with black gloves, which was nice.
The Lightweaver silk turned in a very beautiful, luxurious-looking full white suit which will be perfect for special occasions, like weddings. Or noble ceremonies. Glenn was pretty sure he would see more of the second instead of the first. Finally, the Mimetic Pelt turned out to be a large hooded, gray plain robe, perfect for stealthy operations. Stealth wasn't Glenn's strong suit, but it could be fun playing Ninja. And combined with the Happy Mask he got in the Eastern Town, that'd make for a perfectly mysterious outfit. Excellent.
"Are you evaluating things based on how cool they are, instead of their actual usefulness?" Nelg questioned with slight disbelief. Glenn shrugged.
'Why, is it wrong?'
Nelg laughed and didn't even bother replying. Glenn went back to the Dormitory, where normally, Milena and Liara should be waiting for him. They had agreed to a time for a small meeting, just to decide what was the next objective, the next goal to pursue. Both of the ladies were Black Gold Fixers now—Glenn was right when he thought Liara would quickly climb the ranks. Milena also got much stronger and was way more invested in training her powers. What happened with the Occult Wanderers had changed her way of thinking completely, and it seemed like she recognized a need for power.
Which Glenn could perfectly understand.
After all, he was in the same boat as hers. On the other hand, the Black Heiress, Liara, still couldn't utter a word to him. And him only, since she could talk without an issue to Milena, as long as they were alone together. This cultural thing preventing her from literally communicating with him was a little annoying, but it was how it was. Nothing much he could do about it. At least she would still shake her head for yes or no. And she looked much better and happier now that she had time to rest and eat normally. The Liara they had saved from the slavers was nowhere to be seen.
Glenn entered his Black Gold suite and headed straight for the living room, where the two ladies were lounging on the comfortable sofas. Liara's eyes widened in appreciation at his new clothes, while Milena whistled, impressed.
"Wow, you look good with nice clothes, Glenn."
Glenn smiled, "Thanks, you too." Milena blushed and looked at her clothes, some plain beige pants and a wool pullover.
"...Are you mocking me?" She muttered with a bit of disbelief. Glenn looked at her and blinked, before turning away.
"Guess."
She sighed and shook her head. Glenn went to the bar, where multiple bottles of different alcohol were waiting for him. He took half a dozen with his hands and moved the other dozen with Gravity Manipulation, transporting the whole to the coffee table, right next to the holy mini fridge that turned wine to soda. The two girls had practically forced him to leave it there for their convenience, so Glenn left it there. Who would steal a mini-fridge anyway?
He brought three glasses with him as well and began to pour.
"So, if I remember correctly, whisky for you Milena, and bourbon for you, Liara." He asked for confirmation. The two nodded in agreement. Glenn poured his glass as well, some spicy tequila. He then shoved the three glasses in the fridge and funneled some Mana in. Once the operation was done, he took the glasses out and sat on the nearest sofa, opposite Liara and Milena, who were sitting on the same one.
"Well, cheers," He raised his glass and drank it. It was lime-flavored and slightly sweet. He didn't know of a soda on Earth that had this taste, but someone who knew better than him would probably compare it to Jarritos Lime. Milena's whisky should have transformed into some higher quality Coke Cola, while Liara's bourbon became Dr Pepper. Glenn was still playing around with the different possibilities, but it seemed like the two ladies had already settled on their tastes.
"So, let's discuss the future, shall we?" Glenn announced when everyone was done enjoying their drinks. Milena leaned forward and placed her glass down, while Liara remained comfortably lofted in the sofa. The young man crossed his hands together and his face took on a slightly more serious expression.
"My objective, currently, is to get strong enough to beat a noble family, a Baron. And possibly kill one." He frowned, and corrected himself, "No, it's not a possibility but a certainty. I also want to destroy the Thorn's Cult, the Occult Wanderers, and a few evil Gods here and there. What about you two?"
Milena blinked and took a long, very long second to comprehend Glenn's words. She suddenly shook her head and came back to her senses.
"Uh. Yes. So, my objective is also to get stronger and to take on difficult challenges on the Path to go back to being a noble. I already crossed a few from the list, but there's a lot I can't do by myself. Hence why I'm staying around," She leaned back and crossed her arms under her chest, frowning, "...And I think I also want to help with destroying the Occult Wanderers."
Glenn nodded, before turning toward Liara, "...Well, I know you can't speak to me, but perhaps you can tell Milena? I'll put Silence on myself and turn away, or even leave the room if needed."
Liara smiled and shook her head, while Milena cleared her throat.
"She already told me, and so far, she just wants to accompany and help you in your journey, to thank you for saving her. She has that same debt with Sahro, too," Milena explained in place of her mute friend. Glenn smiled in relief, happy to see that everyone seemed keen on staying on his team. Could he technically count Mary on his team too? No, she was more of...an ally or something. Anyway, the time came, he'll pay for everyone to go up to the Bourgeoisie. He hardly saw himself going up alone, now.
'Heh, and I'm not counting the two idiots in my head,' Glenn shook his head, while Diamanes and Nelg retorted in turn.
'Hey!'
"I didn't deserve that!"
Glenn sank into the sofa for a second as Milena and Liara served themselves another glass of soda. What did he need to do before going up a King's Rise Circle? Get Nelg his first level, wait for Redan to wake up, and for Sahro to be done with the Eastern Town. He should rank up a circle too, just to be safe. Mastering some kind of Mana sight would be cool. Oh, and he couldn't refuse more spells, of course.
But after today, Glenn couldn't help himself but take things easy. Nothing happened today, and he was more than pleased about that. But his guts were telling him that he should enjoy this rest, for it was short-lived.
So he did just that.