A bell jingled overhead as the pair opened the door.

The musty air of the clothing store was so potent it reminded Maria of an old bookstore. It was quaint and lively, filled with shelves of colorful tunics, and trousers. Wooden mannequins stood before the storefront windows and between isles, an array of cloaks, robes, hats, light armor, and scarfs. One mannequin placed in front of an aisle wore a navy blue robe similar to hers and was haphazardly covered in patches. Likely a design choice. Maria brushed the clothing with her fingers. A window appeared before her.

Patterned Robe

Defense: 4

Mana Boost: 15%

Cost: 3 Gold

“Are people making the stats for all this gear?” Maria asked.

“Some do,” Chariot said. “Enchanters are given clothing and armor to augment stats onto, and fortune decides if it shall be of any use. No enchantment is guaranteed. Merchants do not bother stocking rubbish, so the quality here should be fine. The best Enchanters do not work for cheap, nor do they sell cheap. This store stocks inventory good enough for beginner finances.”

“Master Eardwulf mentioned how almost all gear like this had some perks that boosted stats.”

“Indeed. It is where most of my stats derive.” She opened her inventory and stepped aside so Maria could see.

Leather Chestplate

Defense: 120

Physical Attack Boost: +15%

Physical Health Boost: +12%

Chariot pointed. “My chest armor adds fifteen percent attack damage to whatever weapon I’m using, and it gives me twelve percent more health. The rest of my gear does the same, and it all stacks.”

“Ah. So that’s why your health is so high.”

Lightweight Scarf

Defense: 95

Physical Attack Boost: +12%

Physical Health Boost: +9%

Mana Boost: -12%

Maria raised an eyebrow. “Wait, negative twelve percent mana?”

“As I said, enchantments are down to chance. The perfect gear never exists. Not at these prices, at least. One must accept the negatives should the positives be more beneficial. You use magic primarily, correct?”

“Yeah.”

“Gear enchanted for magic users typically increases MP, but at the cost of HP and Physical Attack. Sometimes, even defense. Pick gear that enhances your strengths and do not be too concerned with losses to stats you’ll rarely use or your teammates can make up for. Budget equipment, like that robe. It doesn’t wildly alter stats. Here, look at more of mine.”

Leather Leggings

Defense: 80

Physical Attack Boost: +5%

Physical Health Boost: +5%

Leather Boots

Defense: 80

Physical Health Boost: +5%

Chariot then opened an overview of her stats again for Maria to see.

Name: Chariot Crowhaven

Lvl: 15

HP: 1042

MP: 37

Total Defense: 377

Total Attack: 43

“It adds up,” Chariot said.

Maria stared long at the stats. Her eyes darted between the numbers. “Lucky me, I’m not good with math,” she said sarcastically.

“Don’t be too hard on yourself. I can help you find something. Should you not find what you need here, we can always search dungeons and towers. What you find in the wild is just as random, though. The same sword can have different stats each time.”

Maria huffed and glanced up at the long aisles of clothing. She walked along them, running her hand against the fabrics, reading through the stat boosts that came with each one. Most of them here were very minimal. Hardly anything above five percent. Most tunics barely came with any stats at all.

“This way.” Chariot motioned for Maria. She followed Chariot to a rack of tanned leather chest pieces and brushed her hand against one.

Leather Chestpiece

Defense: 30

Physical Health Boost: +5%

Mana Boost: -3%

Cost: 40 Gold

Maria grimaced a little.

“What's wrong?” Chariot asked.

“Do all these take away my mana?”

“Enchantments are random, but odds are skewed for different types of gear. Armor is heavily skewed to penalizing mana while favoring defense and vitality.”

“Right… I can still hold out hope though that there's some armor out there that could benefit me.” Maria pursed her lips and looked over the stats again. She returned to the aisles and kept browsing. Picking out leggings and boots was easy. As long as the leggings were black, she’d be happy, and she didn’t care about the stats on boots. They just needed to be knee-highs.

Tailored Leggins

Defense: 14

Physical Health Boost: +2%

Mana Boost: +2%

Cost: 10 Gold

Knee-High Leather Boots

Defense: 12

Physical Health Boost: +5%

Cost: 10 Gold

Maria narrowed down a new robe to two options. Both robes were shorter than her current one–thankfully–only reaching halfway down below her knees. One was brown and scruffy, made from woven cotton with wide, drooping sleeves. The other was as black as the night sky, with glittering constellations and dotted stars sprinkled over it.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Tailored Robe

Defense: 20

Physical Attack Boost: +10%

Physical Health Boost: +5%

Mana Boost: +5%

Cost: 20 Gold

Constellation Robe

Defense: 10

Physical Attack Boost: -10%

Physical Health Boost: -3%

Mana Boost: +7%

Cost: 30 Gold

One gave her more defense, with a little bit added to all her stats. The other had less defense and higher mana with a penalty to Physical Attack and Health stats. A ten percent boost to physical damage didn’t seem so bad. She couldn’t rely on magic all the time. Then again, the more mana she had, the better it would be. {Flames} only drained one mana per second, and with a boatload of MP, she’d be able to cast the spell almost indefinitely. Putting a lot of points into it could turn it to a strong spell. Perhaps some clothes would boost fire magic too.

Maria held up both robes to Chariot. “Which do you think?”

Chariot crossed her arms as she looked between the robes. “The constellation one is pleasing.”

“It looks nice, but I’m losing out on physical attack.”

Chariot chuckled. “The creator chose fashion over form. Take the other one then. You need stats that will keep you alive. My gear isn’t as glorious as the Hero’s armor, but it suffices. We can worry about being chic when we’re stronger.”

“Fair enough… I really like the constellations on this one, though.”

“Should your attack penalty get too high, you can look for a weapon that deals more damage.”

“Yeah, I need something other than this.” She pulled out her short sword. It only dealt 5 damage per hit. Not very effective. She wore herself out with how many swings it took to damage anything.

“We can visit a nearby weapons shop.”

“Alright, we can stop there after this,” Maria said with a smile. “Constellations it is.” Maria went to the rack of hats. Immediately, one stuck out. Resting on a high shelf was a crooked witch's hat with a wide, drooping brim. A long, sparkling peacock feather was tucked into a blue band.

Feathered Witch Hat

Defense: 15

Physical Attack Boost: -5%

Physical Health Boost: +5%

Mana Boost: +10%

Cost: 50 Gold

A wide smile pulled at Maria's cheeks. “Screw the helmet. This is better.” She gathered the clothing and grabbed a pair of gloves on her way to try it all on.

Fingerless Woolen Gloves

Defense: 2

Physical attack Boost: +2%

Mana Boost: +2%

Cost: 2 Gold

The changing rooms offered barely enough room to move around. Maria stood before the mirror, modeling for herself. The blackness of the constellation robe melted into her trousers and knee-high leather boots. It really helped the sparkling dots and lines stand out. The only things standing out were the tanned leather chest piece and the blue band and feather on her hat. Aside from those, she was satisfied for now. There would be more to find later.

Maria stepped out of the changing room and held her arms out in front of Chariot. “Well?”

She looked Maria over, smiling. “Quite nice. What are the stats?”

Maria opened her menu.

Name: Maria Marigold

Lvl: 7

HP: 471

MP: 91

Total Defense: 83

Total Attack: 4.6

“A fine improvement,” Chariot said.

Maria frowned. “I mean, I feel a lot safer, but they didn’t go up by much.”

“You’ll need gear with bigger percentage boosts. It shall suffice for now.”

“Alright, let me pay for these real quick and we can head over to the weapons store.”

***

The scent of leather assaulted Maria's nose as she stepped into the weapons shop, along with melted iron and sweat. The walls were lined with racks of weapons and plate armor, and clanging came from the adjoining forge where the furnace bellowed heat.

“Welcome,” said the shopkeeper. He stood at a grindstone sharpening a sword. His shoulders were broad and muscles tight. Sweat rolled down his forehead and over his hairy chest only a leather apron partially covered, and he carried a heavy musk that reminded Maria of coal dust. “What can I do for you fine women today?”

“Oh, you know, just looking for a bouquet of flowers,” Maria joked and walked further into the store.

The shopkeeper simply chuckled. “If you’re looking for flowers, you came to the right place. Though I gotta say they might cut your nose if you stop and smell.” He gestured over to a basin filled with old daggers.

“Pretty, but not what we seek,” Chariot said.

The shopkeeper placed the sword down and strutted over. “There’s plenty more to look at.” He held out his hand to shake. “Name’s Jatos.”

Chariot gripped his hand firmly. “Chariot. And this is Maria.”

“Pleasure. So, what kind of weapon are you thinking of getting?” he asked Maria.

She stared back at him, groaning slightly. “I… don’t know.”

He looked Maria over. “I take it you’re not a warrior class.”

“No, not really. I want to lean more towards magic, but I need something to defend myself if I run out of mana.”

“Most spellcasters I help typically use shortswords or daggers. You never can be too careful when dealing with monsters or bandits out on the road.” Jatos led Maria over toward the wall. Various swords were mounted on it: broadswords, falchions, sabers, and shortswords, to claymores, flamberges, and longswords. Some had blades tinted gray, or black, while a few had blades tinted red, green, and even purple. What material they were made of, Maria had no clue, but it was eye-catching. It wasn’t exclusive to the swords, though. There were daggers in display cases with an array of curved and straight blades, rapiers stuck into barrels, and axes mounted across from the swords with long and short handles. Maces and spears were on display too. Near the back, Maria was even able to see a set of bagh nakh.

Jatos took a short sword with a narrow blade from the wall. Its grip had been wrapped in boar hide, and its crossguard was small and twisted, with an elaborate claw on each side. “Something like this might suit you. I personally recommend short swords. They’re suited for one-handed attacks, so you can use your other hand to cast.”

Maria took the sword and looked it over. A window appeared over it.

Short Beasts Blade

Damage: 30

Cost: 50 Gold

Jatos stepped aside, and she gave it a practice swing. It was light, and well-balanced, though she wasn’t a fan of its design. She looked over the wall of short swords and at the variety of different cross guards and the blades they came in. Some had wavy blades. Others were more traditional straight blades.

“I don’t know about this one,” Maria said.

“I think it looks nice,” Chariot said.

“If a shortsword isn’t what you're looking for, you could always use an ax. I’ve known a few spellcasters to use axes from time to time.”

“No, I want to stick with a shortsword. What about that one there?” Maria pointed to a shortsword with a twisted crossguard and a pommel of a bulky star. The fuller was colored an immaculate ocean blue that almost shimmered as sunlight reflected against it from the open window.

Jatos handed it to Maria, and she gave it a few test swings. It didn’t feel all that different from the Short Beasts Blade.

Short Star Blade

Damage: 30

Cost: 50 Gold

“I like this one more,” Maria said.

“What for?” Jatos asked. “The star?”

“Yeah. The blue also matches with my guild colors.”

“That I can’t deny. I should warn you though, a weapon's worth doesn’t come from appearance.”

“I know. Back home a wise ocelot once said ‘Engravings give you no tactical advantage whatsoever.’

Chariot smiled. “A wise creature.”

Maria giggled. “Yeah. But this sword doesn’t deal any more damage than the Beast Blade, so why not go with one that fits with the rest of me.”

Jatos smirked. “Fair enough.”

“What do you think?” Maria asked Chariot.

“It shall do.”

“Jatos!” a deep, growly voice from the forge yelled. “Come here for a second!”

“Hold on!” he yelled back, then turned to Maria. “Alright, give me a moment. Look around for anything else you might want.” He took off to the forge.

Maria browsed the other weapons, though she was pretty set on the sword.

“Perhaps some of these are enchanted by Hargrim,” said Chariot.

“Who?”

“He’s the greatest Enchanter in Mytharia. Possibly the greatest that has ever lived. The abilities that he gives to items are unlike anything else. People travel miles for his skill. I would purchase anything he enchanted in a heartbeat.”

“Have you ever gotten your stuff enchanted by him?”

“Not yet, but one day I hope to. Unfortunately, word has spread he retired. I hope it truly is just a rumor.”

“Do you have any fancy enchantments?” Maria asked.

“My sword is the most unique.”

“Oh! Is that how you were able to use that magic arch on the Hallows?”

“That? No, that was a weapon skill. {Arc Slash}.”

“Oh, that explains it. I was wondering how you did it.”

Chariot drew her blade. It didn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary. Slowly, the blade started to glow before its luminescence almost blinded Maria. “Even in the darkest of places, its light can guide me.”

“That’s neat! So it’s more of a practical use then.”

“In my short time with the Kingsguard, I was often assigned night watch. All of us were given swords enchanted to help us see and fight in the dark.”

“That’s pretty nifty,” Maria smiled.

“If my sword could also cast {Arc Slash}, that would be truly perfect. It might be smart for you to put some points into a weapon skill too.”

“Don’t they cost mana?”

“They do, but so long as you pick one that's low cost and keep leveling it up it shouldn’t be a problem unless you’re running low on mana.”

“I don’t know. I leveled up twice after everything that happened the other day, and I still haven’t done anything with those points. I don’t know what to put them into.”

“You don’t have to put them into anything yet. You can always wait and see which spells you prefer.”

“I’ve only put my points into fire magic so far, but I want to branch out to other forms of magic too.”

“Like I said, wait and see.”

Jatos returned. “Sorry to keep you two waiting. You make a decision?”

“Yeah, I’ll just be getting this sword,” Maria said. She paid him his money and stepped out of the store with a wide smile on her face. The sword hung from a black sheath on her left hip and hovered in her right equipment slot. Finally, she didn’t feel so vulnerable. Even if her stats didn’t look all that great still, it felt better having them than not at all.

Maria was finally ready to head out on her first official quest.