After the Duchess whisked my girlfriend away, she didn’t return for the next two days.
And since I was suspended, I had nothing to do with the Magisterium and didn’t have much to do.
So in the meantime, I spent most of my day working on the new advancement formation and searching through my dimension for any cool weapons.
I didn’t find any, mainly because higher dimensions were deeper and much more difficult to search unless my Psyka became powerful enough to Project further into it. So it would take time to scour and find new or exotic weapons within.
But I couldn’t stay cooped up in my room all day, so since I had free time, I decided to take on some jobs.
Of course, when Plex heard that I wanted some work, he sent me straight to the Trenches, the petty bastard. So I had my work cut out for me, but it wasn’t like the money wasn't good so I didn’t complain that much. My weapons were also better so I had a much easier time.
The only thing that could pull me away from those two things was when a friend wanted to hangout. Feiden often talked to me and invited me out, and Vetsmon would usually tag along.
Speaking of the big guy, Vetsmon seemed to have come to terms with what I did after a day or two of thought. At the very least, we were able to interact normally. He didn’t seem to have any issues with it, or maybe just not an issue with me doing it. He might not like it but it wasn’t like I could just tell all those after my head to leave me alone.
Besides, the big lug was constantly worried about courting Tana. Sure enough, she was denser than lead. Vetsmon had actually managed to plan a date, but she didn’t take it as a date at all from what he told me.
I wished him luck in his endeavors.
10 days of no school was nice besides the fact that I didn’t get to practice any scenarios. While I didn’t technically need it, my squad was supposed to be working on our coordination. 10 days worth of scenarios and hunting was a lot to miss out on.
The Puppet Master worked around it, I heard. Scenarios like protecting a stationary target from an onslaught seemed to be the favorite right now. He wanted them to know how to protect me, the most fragile person in the squad, so that’s all they worked on.
Well, it wasn’t like I didn’t get practice in the Trenches, so I wasn’t that worried.
The day before we were supposed to leave for the next trip was the end of my suspension, so I just waited until then.
Besides the occasional scare from an unwelcome hunter, my life for that week and a half was uneventful. Even when Umara came back, our time together was largely spent talking about science. I was right. She wanted to know everything I did.
It was good that my memory was becoming better. I could remember the science and math better from all of my highschool and college classes. Those days of slogging through chemistry, physics, and engineering work for my degree was actually being utilized, albeit only conceptually. All the math like calculus was close to worthless for Umara.
But since she only needed conceptual knowledge, all those thousands of hours I’d spent looking through articles about obscure scientific topics I found interesting on the internet or in videos came in really handy. Falling down those rabbit holes of intellectual curiosity was too easy, much to the dismay of my sleep schedule back then. So I was armed with a wide array of knowledge about dozens of topics that might help her. The only hard part was remembering specific details, which my strong mind was helping with. Otherwise I'd be screwed.
So I didn’t know everything, but I did know plenty to help Umara. Right now, her biggest focus was everything related to the Fire element, or in other words, thermal energy, plasma, and combustion.
It was a good thing that I found joy in spilling all this knowledge, yet sometimes it could still be a bit of a chore. Mainly because I had to explain the most basic scientific concepts about the world around us for her to begin understanding the more complex ones, which took hours.
At least she knew how to reward me for all the hard work. Those hours late into the night were always fun.
……
…
3 days before leave…
As per our discussion from the night before, Umara and I went out shopping. Not to prepare for the upcoming trip, but to buy an essential item.
So long as I wore my coat properly, it would protect everything from my neck down to my shins. So the only vulnerable parts of my body were my feet and head.
I had tough boots and in general, my feet weren’t much of a concern, though Umara still insisted that I buy another pair.
So I bought a jet black pair of combat boots. They were shockingly comfortable, completely immune to the elements, slightly temperature regulated, had some features to enhance grip on all kinds of surfaces, and most importantly, durable.
The leather it was made out of was known for its durability without sacrificing flexibility. It was made in such a way that I could maneuver and run all I wanted yet was rigid enough to survive the crushing attacks from an Authority 8 beast, preventing my lower legs from becoming paste. And if I encountered something stronger than that, I would have bigger problems than protecting my feet.
Those boots cost me 170 thousand coin, taking another chunk out of my savings.
I didn’t actually believe I needed such good boots, but Umara insisted that I get them. And she insisted pretty hard, which had me a bit confused.
She didn’t want me to save money on them, going for something rather overkill. And I agreed that I needed to keep myself safe, but her attitude toward it threw me off a bit. Like she was planning something.
I threw that to the back of my mind as we arrived at another shop.
It was a place that specialized in helmets and hats to protect the head, something I needed right now.
But there were a few issues I had with anything that covered my head.
For one, it could reduce my field of view. That was significantly detrimental to my ability to shoot and maintain awareness.
But apparently, that was only an issue with cheaper helmets. Most helmets beyond a certain price point had features to fix that problem. After all, knights couldn’t get tunnel vision either.
With that in mind, we entered the store and immediately saw several items on display.
I looked between several shelves, but I didn’t find anything that looked familiar. There were hats similar to bowler hats, even top hats. But the selection of hats in general was rather slim.
I could imagine why. Protecting the head was nothing to be half assed with, and fabric or leather hats simply didn’t offer good protection against claws, crushing, or projectiles.
Or, it didn’t seem like there were many hats that were built with that in mind.
“Welcome, sir and misses. How can I assist you today?”
“We’re looking for head protection. For a summoner.”
“A summoner? I see.”
The clerk seemed a bit surprised but ran with it anyway. I could imagine they didn’t get many summoners in general.
“Well, a piece for a summoner immediately narrows down the selection. Come, let me show you.”
He waved us along, the two of us following to the back of the store where he showed off a single shelf with some mannequin heads wearing various pieces of headgear.
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“Knights have heads hard enough to wear solid metal helmets. But put a summoner inside the same helmet, and his brain would be turned to soup with a single blow. For warlocks, and summoners, we choose to utilize softer means of protection. We do in fact have rigid headgear with pure impact reduction in mind, but at the higher price range, we offer hybrid pieces that are rigid yet flexible, mitigating impacts like a helmet without delivering it all to the head inside. This piece right here is one of our best.”
He grabbed a head with a hood on it. It certainly was flexible like a fabric, but I could also tell from the way he moved it that it didn’t simply bend when told to.
Seeing that Umara was interested, he described it.
“This hood protects everything except the face. We offer pieces that are meant to be paired with this hood, like a mask. As you can imagine, different pieces need to be built in different ways. Anyway, the hood is capable of mitigating the impact of a piercing arrow shot by an Authority 5 knight and preventing all trauma to the head. That might not seem like much, but you have to keep in mind the piercing aspect. If it’s a blunt object, like a rock or a bludgeoning blow from a Scourge beast, then this can mitigate far more, up to Authority 7.”
“...What do you think of a hood?”
Umara suddenly asked me, making me ponder.
“Besides the fact that it needs a mask, it seems good. Better than a metal can.”
“Don’t you have that one air mask? How good is it?”
“Not sure.”
I brought out the air mask, showing it to the clerk.
“This thing gives the wearer greater stamina and filters air.”
“Ah, I’ve seen similar functions. But this mask isn't built for much protection. The leather looks basic. Its value is in its enchantments and Crystal.”
“Alright. Would you be able to upgrade this mask? Keep the filtering and stamina properties but make it stronger?”
“I could, but if you’re looking to pair it with this hood, then it’ll be a significant change. This only covers half the face, and you surely don’t want to leave the rest of your face exposed. I can already see you’ve had some experience in that regard.”
“Heh.”
I chuckled when he pointed out my scars. By now everything had healed over, but they still looked gnarly and were unmistakable.
He inspected the mask a bit more before rubbing his chin.
“How about this? You buy the hood and I’ll give you a discount on a custom made mask. I’ll strip this one for its materials and reuse them, giving you something similar to our masks but retaining the functions within this one.”
“That sounds good.”
“Very well. Come see our selection of masks.”
He brought us over to another shelf, showing some masks off.
The ones that were meant to be worn with the hood were all semi-rigid. If hit with a projectile, it would focus on deflecting it using the curves of the face. So it was more rigid than the hood but not on the level of a metal helmet.
I pondered for a while before Umara tapped my shoulder.
“Hm?”
“Keep looking and come over to the counter when you decide. I’m going to talk to the clerk.”
“Why?”
“About your hood. Just some of the details like the materials and fit. Or do you know about all the different types of materials?”
“...Fine.”
“Hehe.”
She chuckled and tiptoed, giving me a kiss on the cheek before walking away with the clerk.
I looked around a bit more before choosing one particular type of mask. It was one that integrated with the hood well yet didn’t cover anything above the cheeks. It was more flush against the face and protected two thirds of the face instead of just half.
I chose it for less intrusiveness, keeping my field of view unobstructed. Besides, the hood would come down to just above my eyebrows anyway, so technically everything but a thin area for my eyes would be covered.
There were full face coverings, but those were far more expensive due to the complex enchantments that retained sight through the mask. I didn’t feel like paying that much.
So after I chose the mask, I went back to the clerk where Umara seemed to have finished her discussion.
I handed it to him.
“This one.”
“Ah, good choice. Your partner also said that this hood would be worn with the coat you’re wearing?”
“That’s right.”
“Very well. It will be built to accommodate that. On top of all this, the two items will come stored in the form of a neck band for easy deployment. Now, if you don’t mind holding still for a moment…”
He spoke while waving his hand, a measurement spell appearing around my head and neck.
Once he got those measurements it disappeared.
“Alright, with the mask, I have everything I need.”
“Okay. So how much is the order?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
Umara answered for him, causing my brows to raise.
“What?”
“Don’t worry about the price. I’m paying.”
“...A moment, please.”
I grabbed my girlfriend and pulled her the the back room where we got some privacy.
And I narrowed my eyes at her.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m paying for this piece of gear. Look, you spent all that money on a suit because of me. And I don’t want you spending any more. So I’m taking care of it.”
“You know I can’t let you do that. I can already tell this is going to come out to a few hundred thousand coin. So just let me pay.”
“No!”
Just as I turned to go back to the clerk, Umara grabbed my arm with a shockingly strong grip. It seemed her tempering brought her rather close to my own level of strength.
She spoke in a dead serious tone.
“You’re letting me do this, John. I’m not asking.”
“No, I’m not. I should be paying for myself, and I can, so I will.”
“Then consider this a gift from me, because you’re not taking out a single coin. Think of it as repayment for the enlightenment you gave me.”
“You would’ve done it yourself anyway. It’s nothing to repay me for.”
“You’re obviously not realizing how big of a deal an enlightenment is if you’re saying that. But besides that, why are you so reluctant? You’ve already spent close to half of your savings. I just want to help you.”
She pulled me back toward her, looking me in the eye.
I felt myself frowning, my mood darkening.
Was I money insecure? No. I could spend money rather easily, mainly because I didn’t spend it on stupid crap. If there was something I needed or wanted with good reason, I got it.
But that didn’t apply to others. If there was one thing I didn’t like about my time in this world…
It was all the charity I had to receive from everyone.
I looked at Umara’s concerned eyes and sighed.
“I can’t take any more. I’ve already been given too much. It feels like I’m not doing anything for anyone else despite being taken care of so well. And now I finally have the money to at least take care of myself. So unless I have no choice, I won’t ask anyone for help. There’s no reason I shouldn’t be able to take care of everything myself.”
“...I didn’t realize you felt that way. So you’re fine if you’re the one that’s going broke, but as soon as anyone else wants to help you, you get defensive.”
“I-”
“Look John, allow me to explain what makes an Enlightenment so valuable.”
She looked me in the eyes, not allowing room to refute.
“For one, Enlightenments can’t be paid for. And if they could be, my mother would spend hundreds of millions of coin if it meant I could get one, especially this early in my life. Yes, I would have gotten my enlightenment eventually, but it would have been within the next decade. What you’ve done has brought me incalculable benefits and advantages for the future. So buying a mere hood that might preserve the life of my boyfriend is a worthwhile exchange. To deny me this is an insult to my generosity. Do you understand that?”
“...”
I didn’t respond, the two of us staring at each other and neither willing to stand down.
I understood it, but I didn’t like it.
Yet another thing being given to me. A home at the nicest hotel in the city, given for free. A coat that’s saved my life more than once, given for free. The best Summoner Call and an entirely new advancement path capable of bringing me to heights never before seen by summoners, given for free. A job that allowed me to make substantial amounts of money and brought vast connections with people who have opened doors and given me opportunities for betterment, all for free.
How much more did I have to take before I could finally start giving back?
Or maybe it was just my pride getting in the way.
Perhaps both points were valid.
I closed my eyes, feeling the conflict within my mind and unwillingness to come to a conclusion.
When I opened them, I didn’t see Umara before me. Turning, I could hear her conversation with the clerk as she undoubtedly took care of the bill.
How pathetic. I can’t even get my own armor.
I sighed and walked out. She wrapped up the sale as I did so, and soon, we left the store.
She took my arm as we took to the streets of the Founder’s Market. We headed out and back toward the Hotel.
As we crossed the city, I bounced between ideas, rectifying the issue in my mind.
And the conclusion I came to was that I needed to get better.
If I didn’t want to rely on others and instead help them, then I need to get better than I am now. I need to get to the level of all those who have supported me all this time if I wanted to give them the help I received.
Whether it was making a lot more money than I ever have, or being able to utilize power far greater than I could currently imagine.
It would take time, but damn if I got lazy while living on someone else’s dime.
“Let’s go train.”
I pulled Umara along, deciding that there was no time to waste.