Norbert looked across from them, not understanding how he could have gotten here. There were people in his room, or what should have been his room.

Norbert got off the ground, looking around and seeing Obsius on the side of the bed again. Slowly moving his head, Norbert saw the pool of black sludge approaching him. Jumping to his feet, avoiding the sludge from moving, Norbert looked around again in the white room where he had the elixirs. Looking at the bed, Norbert grabbed the belt and put it on, ensuring nothing was moved.

As he placed it on a head poked around the curtain, the same woman as before appeared.

"Looks like you're a quick riser, should prove you good", she said as she stepped around the curtain. "And you even had time to change your clothes. Well, aren't you full of mysteries"

Norbert looked down at his clothes, remembering his late night at work and the issues it created. Happy that he at least got some sleep, Norbert looked at his clothes, realising he was wearing something completely different from before. Feeling around, he confirmed he had his pendant and the talisman he received in the forest.

Feeling his coat that he still had on, that thankfully had no stains, Norbert looked and smiled at her. "Had some spares lying around, and I wanted to get clean."

"Impressive," the worker said in return before opening up the curtain and exiting. Norbert followed Obsius landing on his head as he followed the woman down the hallway, continuing away from the door he had last exited.

As he passed through the rooms, the groaning still came behind some curtains. The nurses rushed around with buckets filled with the same black ooze he had previously rejected from his body. In some rooms, mops and buckets were brought in as the black ooze had started seeping under the curtain walls.

Quickly stepping around this, Norbert was once more at a metal frame, rows and rows lining up. The nurse Norbert was following turned towards him. "Card, please", she nicely requested.

Pulling out his card from his pocket, happy he still had it because that would have been awkward, Norbert handed it over.

Pressing it into a console-looking device, it flashed once before the same blue smoke filled the portal. Handing the card back, she stepped away, walking over to her next task.

As Norbert placed the card back in his pocket, Norbert swallowed, happy that he hadn't been figured out and he still had all the items he needed. As he made sure Obsius was on his shoulder, Norbert stepped through.

Once more, feeling his leg extend first, then the rest of his body stretching, until he was on the other side and looking around at the next strange room.

In front of him was a wall. Within the wall was a cutout, allowing him to see through and watch the person on the other side. Papers flying everywhere, Norbert went and looked at him. Slowly stepping up. "Excuse me I."

"Just a moment," the person behind the desk said, papers still flying everywhere.

Looking behind the flying papers, Norbert saw shelves lining the walls. Barely able to see, Norbert saw what looked to be equipment of all kinds—leather armour, cloaks, robes, full metal armour, tactical-looking armour. The list just went on. And the weapons Norbert saw more there than he ever did. Looking around at them, some seemed too bizarre to him.

Just the dimensions being wack, something more akin to a video game or a cartoon than in reality. Some of the swords he saw were his size, both in height and width, with the handle looking tiny in comparison. At the same time, others were so tiny that he could barely even hold it between two fingers. He saw a bow in the back, having purple veins spiking through the dark wood. Seeming that, the light breathed, slowly pulsing in time with his breath.

The papers finally stopped flying a voice spoke up. "Thanks for the wait. Can I have your badge, please" interrupted Norbert's train of thought; moving his eyes away from the bow, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the card, presenting it to the clerk.

Looking at him properly, now that he was sitting still and had no papers in the way, he saw a little man, almost dwarf-like. His blue shirt had a little nametag over his breast. Norbert leaned in, getting closer so he could read it. "Glomly," the words said in bright red letters, hard to read on the white background it found itself on.

"Glomly, what a strange name," Norbert said to himself.

"Well, that's no good way to start a conversation, chap. If anyone has the weird name here, it's you" Glomly pulled the card closer to his face, pretending that the light catching it properly would allow him to read it better. "Norbert doesn't follow any standard or logic at all."

Glomly shook his head, passing the card back to Norbert. "As the record suggests, you have been assigned to the scouting force; tough luck, you pulled that one. Now you'll need some equipment, which is why you're here." Thrusting his hand to the side, Glomly presented all the items behind him.

"But for you, lucky individual. You get none of this." Glomly stated, sitting out of his chair and stepping through the hole in the wall. Norbert saw that some lines were going through it, like a mesh of some sort which Glomly just passed through like it was nothing.

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Norbert reached out, placing his hand against it. Instead of feeling nothing and his hand passing through, it stopped. The lines around his fist glowed a bit brighter than the others. Moving his hand back, Norbert saw it once more fade, nearly to the point of being invisible.

"Come along now; we don't have all day", Glomly called out, heading to the side of the room that Norbert had not seen before. Passing through the room, Norbert correctly looked at it. This was solid metal on all sides instead of the stone like before or the town's wood. The lamps he had seen in the town at night were hanging from the ceiling, producing a harsh white light, bathing everything in even tones.

Looking at the ground was stone instead of metal like the walls. This, too, like in the town, was perfectly smooth. He looked more like one piece than multiple that would need to be individually placed. As he neared Glomly again, Norbert looked at what was ahead. Sitting there was a shelf sitting on one of the walls. Looking on, Norbert could see further down that there were doors ahead, unlike he would reach them.

Glomly started going through the shelf, picking up a bag he stuffed items in, grabbing leather pieces here and there. Glomly looked back, sizing Norbert up, before he nodded once more. "So, what do you know how to use?"

"What do you mean, know how to use?" Norbert asked, taken aback by the question.

"For defence, dummy."

"Don't know how to use anything", Norbert replied.

A laugh echoed throughout the corridor, originating from Glomly

"Oh I’m sorry if you're offended; you will not last long out there. Surprised you've lasted as long as you have."

As Glomly continued placing items off the shelf into the bag, he finally turned around. He was holding two daggers in his hand. With a thud, he placed the bag onto the ground, putting the items on top.

"This is your issued gear; keep it clean and well," Glomly said, a smile forming.

Norbert bent down, opening the sack up and seeing what was inside. Pulling out a pair of each item, Norbert was worried about what he saw. First, he pulled a shirt and pants made of fabric similar to his own in light green. Pulling out, the following items were a leather jacket, pants and boots.

Norbert investigated the gear he was getting, sure that it would be unique, like the equipment he had seen before. Inspecting it closely, Norbert found nothing. No unique lights, no markings, no runes, no magic circles. All he found on it were the stitches that bind the leather pieces to form clothes.

Looking up, Norbert had a questioning look on his face, pointing his head behind his back towards what they had come with all the great-looking equipment. "Why don't I get anything from there?" Norbert asked Glumly, wanting to make sure he wasn't getting screwed over and his.

"Ha, you think you would get stuff like that? When you can't even power your translation stone. What a fool."

Norbert instinctively reached for the pendant, making sure it was still there; looking down, he could faintly see the outline and the glow coming from it. "And how am I a fool to want the best I can get?"

"This is the best that you can get", Glumly replied, "You don't have enough juice to use the magic in any of those items. You would probably just get crushed under the weight of some of them." Holding his hand raised out, Norbert already had his mouth open to protest.

"Even the scouts, this is the equipment for those like you, oh almost forgot you're gonna need this as well," Glomly said, looking back through the shelves and placing bundles of items into the backpack. "You don't have any repair enchants to use, so you'll need to do it the old-fashioned way. Make sure that you don't lose anything. Well, the good thing about what you have is that it is very cheap to replace."

Norbert looked at the bundles he had been given, seeing a sewing kit, some spare patches of fabric and leather, a smooth stone, a long piece of leather and a little pouch. Opening it up, Norbert saw pieces of fabric and glowing rocks. Looking up, waving his hands around the items he was given, Norbert looked at Glomly for an answer.

"Sewing kit to repair clothes, wet stone and strop to repair the daggers, and a medical kit to repair you when out on the field. Now get out of those clothes; I want to make sure you can properly fit inside those clothes of yours."

Looking around for a place to change, Norbert could see nothing.

"Wow, I didn't know they made girls around your size; just hurry up and change here, ok? I can already feel the paper piling back on my desk,", Glomly said. Norbert, sighing, began to undress his clothes, taking the belt off and leaving it in a pile. Keeping his socks and underwear on, Norbert changed into the cloth green shirt and pants, both long sleeves and then into the leather clothes, finishing off with the boots.

Looking around, Norbert tried to find a mirror, unable to find anything. Norbert looked around, pulling out one of the daggers to use as a mirror. Seeing himself, he was at least happy it looked half decent—the shirt's green blended into the brown leather he wore. Seeing the wooden buttons, he buttoned it up, hiding the green nearly completely. Reaching for his belt, Norbert put it on. Looking, he was able to find two more places for the daggers. He had one on the left with his coin pouch and the other on the right with the dagger he received from Cossan with the belt.

Feeling all and confirming he could see it, Norbert placed his previous clothes in the backpack and slung them over his shoulder.

"Finally, you're done, and it looks like I got the correct size; yay for me; now, if you can head this way, please," Glomly said, leading him towards one of the doors, making chatter about the amount of work he would need to do and about the incompetence of people nowadays, whispering under his breath.

Looking at it was once more just the frame; the little man gave it a wack on the side before it glowed again, smoke coming off it.

"Here you go, right to your next place. Also, a final piece of advice, choose your conversations carefully cause you don't want to run out because someone who talked way too much will burn through the magic in there. Just a little piece of advice," Glomly said, laughing at the horror, thinking back to the conversation that he had, the amount of information given and comparing it to the nurse from before who said nothing.

Now realising why she said so little, probably knowing that he was on a timer. Obsius flapped his wings in Glomly's direction, irritation on its face and squawking at him

"Looks like you've got a loud one there, Norbert; now you best be off before you can't understand anything anyone says." And with a push, Norbert fell through the portal, his body once more stretching. Time seemed to slow down as he went through, and the only thought on his mind.

"How did that little man have so much strength."