“Wear it?” Guin asked. “How do I do that? I’ve already got a cloak...” Guin pulled up her character window and looked at the cloak made of Amikavi’s pelt.
<<>>
<<[ Guise of the Tailed]>>
<< Bound - Armor - Robe - Rank -- >>
<< Armor +5 >>
<< A cloak made from the skin of powerful fox spirits.
This cloak contains the skin of the Lady Amikavi, who once ruled over the White Fox Forest. Legend portrays her as a great trickster and fierce protector of the Veil. Hers is a skin filled with powerful magic to summon storms, ride the wind, and beguile creatures great and small.
This item can be upgraded.
This is a class item. See [Tatterskin Settings].>>
<< Required Level: -- - Rarity: -- - Class Requirements: Tatterskin - Fox Spirit Focus >>
<<>>
“What the hell is this,” she muttered, clicking the [Tatterskin Settings] button at the bottom of the flavor text button. It opened to a class screen with a four-ability chart, each with two sockets attached. There were three locked abilities, one that was unlocked and one with a fox head shape on it. She went through and looked at each one, but the locked skills only told her that she needed to unlock the abilities before she could gain more information. The unlocked skill was considerably more enlightening:
<<>>
<<[Form: Tatterskin - Fox Spirit Focus]>>
<
<
<< You are but a person wearing a fox’s skin. How appalling. >>
<< All stats are reduced by 40%. Running Speed is reduced by 40%. Damage Reduction 40%. Health and Mana Reduction 40%. Players inspecting your character window will be met with false stats and character information. You are restricted to Tatterskin specific or cloth armor. Crafting and Gathering abilities have an extra 40% bonus success rate. Crafting and Gathering abilities have a 40% bonus experience rate. From this form, all shapeshifting forms become instants.>>
<< Cast Time: -- seconds - Duration: -- Seconds - Cooldown: -- Seconds >>
<<>>
Filled with a new sense of dread, Guin exclaimed, “What the hell is this?”
Liorax chuckled as he floated around upside down. “Are you shocked? You are, aren’t you? Look at you! Your face!”
“How am I supposed to fight with a class like this?” she demanded to know as she reread the details. “This is a laborer-type class, not a combat or even adventure-type class!”
“Hmm,” the two-tailed cat went. “If it is a combat class you seek, then you must simply dress more appropriately! ...After you make such attire yourself, of course. So long as you gather the materials yourself, your pretty little constructions should be... viable, at the least. Don’t get me wrong, little princess, I’ll not be your fairy godfather and do all the work for you?.”
Guin stared at him. “I sincerely hope that’s all code for dropping this pelt of yours into one of these slots here.”
“Hmm, something like that, I suppose,” he considered, then shrugged. “But not really.”
“Liorax...” Guin growled.
“It’s quite simple. You’ll see! You must attach my pelt to the lady Amikavi’s,” he told her. “You can drop it into the slot after that, you see? Look, there should be an area where you can see the lady Amikavi’s pelt appears on your class screen—but it takes two pelts to give yourself a new dress and, therefore, form.”
A new form? With Liorax’s words, she returned to the chart with new eyes. The warnings had said that the Tatterskin class was a shapeshifting class... Was each of the locked abilities a new form? But in that case, does that mean that the Tatterskin class is one with only three actual class abilities?
It was hard to know what was normal in this game. She knew that, for the most part, abilities were locked only by the amount of work a player put into gaining them. Classes, as they were, generally served to help build certain skills faster in addition to having a few select skills that masters would only teach to those specific tracks. You could find ways to discover them, of course, but this was considered more work than it was worth for the most part.
Looking at the details of the current form available to her, this Tatterskin class reduced her to a crafting and gathering class. This was the base form, and it was the only thing she really had to go off of to know what this class was.
But if the other forms are like the base form with a different set of bonuses... If that were the case, and one of the three forms was a combat form after all, then this base form would be far more important and powerful than her initial reaction after seeing the ability.
Guin sucked on her lower lip, then made a loud pop! sound as she breathed out, she said, “All right. Well, I guess I’m stuck now, so let’s do this. How do I attach your cloak to Amikavi’s?”
Liorax grinned his special grin that was somehow far more creepy and unsettling in his new form. “The half-Che must sew her own dresses. I’m the godfather, not the godmother. I don’t sew. There is more worth in you doing it yourself, anyway, don’t you think, Lady?” Liorax rolled around to face Amikavi, whose face twisted in displeasure as she glared at him.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
“The dark lander speaks correctly,” Amikavi said. “Unfortunately, this is something we cannot help you with; it is something you must build on your own. Your Tatterskin form should help you in building the skills that you need in order to construct your coat of skins. An apprentice leatherworker can suffice, but as you grow in skill, you can rework the seams to make them stronger, giving your forms more power. Each of the spirit skins you gather and attach should be of powerful spirits and can, therefore, each hold a different enchantment to increase their power. Take care with the skins you use, however, for if you damage them, the spirits who use their power to aid you will lose trust in you, weakening both bond and power. Should you destroy a skin, you shall lose a great amount of reputation amongst the Veil.”
“I see...” Guin looked down at Liorax’s pelt in her hands. “So, the first thing I should do is gain a crafting skill?”
Amikavi nodded. “I shall assign you a quest,” she told her. “First, gain the crafting skills [Skinning] and [Tanning], and the crafting skill [Leatherworking]. When you have achieved [Leatherworking - Intermediate], sew Liorax’s pelt onto mine. At that point, return to me here, and I shall explain more about your job and your abilities as a Tatterskin.”
<<>>
[To Sew a Dress of Fur and Leather (Class Quest)]
< You have become a Tatterskin, but you are still like a baby. In order to use your class to its full potential, you must learn how to use it. The first step is to learn the basics: sewing!
Quest Dialogue: “First, gain the crafting skill [Skinning] and the crafting skill [Leatherworking]. When you have achieved [Leatherworking - Apprentice], sew Liorax’s pelt onto mine. At this point, return to me here, and I shall explain more about your job and ability as a Tatterskin.”>
This quest is optional. It can be skipped. (Difficulty: C)>>
<<>>
This class is so weird, Guin grimaced as she sent the quest window away, trying not to regret what she had agreed to.
“How should I find you after I have done these things? I was only able to get here because the foxes led me to you,” Guin asked.
“My foxes shall lead you once they sense your arrival,” Amikavi said, flipping her tails.
Guin nodded. “All right. So... how do I get out of here and back into town?” Amikavi nodded to one of the small pink-eyed foxes that had been waiting in the room. “You’ll show me out, then?” Guin asked it, but it only tilted its head at her cutely. It reminded her of Tik-Tak, and she smiled as she reached down and pat it on the head. That she might have the chance to meet Tik-Tak again made the whole thing worth it. Turning back to Amikavi, she bowed. “I thank you again, my Lady.”
“Take care, Tatterskin,” the fox spirit bowed her head slightly. “You do not know what you mean to us, who have already passed. There is much ahead for you, but to us who have waited for what seems like forever, you need not rush in your quest to become what you truly are.”
Uncertain about what to make of the words, Guin nodded curtly and turned towards the hall again.
“Shall I buff you?” Liorax asked as he floated.
“Please,” Guin said, and he disappeared in a flash of light.
Looking at how late it was, she would be better off starting the quest tomorrow, even though she was eager to see what the Tatterskin class was capable of. Even though she had such horrible stats in this form, she should still have no problem dealing with smaller creatures like the Moarbits to skin. Still, it was bound to take quite some time to level her skills high enough to be worth anything, and it was already eleven o’clock at night. Should I call up some friends tomorrow? Elric and Stella have been wanting to help for a while. Bahena too... But now that she had even more positive experiences with the garuli, she felt a lot more confident about working with them. It was even possible that she could call Tea up for help. She was sure he’d be excited to do just about anything he could.
The little white fox led her out uneventfully as if it were somehow enchanted to have no enemies appear in its presence, and with that, she logged out.
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Dassah stretched as she took her gear off. She was more tired than she had thought she was, but she was pleased with the progress that she had made. After storing her equipment in its place, she checked her phone.
Ah... she went, seeing that Stella had spammed her KiT Talk with messages about the date she wanted to send her on. Her friend Elric had also sent messages about wanting to join up in ThierWorld. Other than that, though, the world seemed quiet and peaceful.
Dassah walked into the kitchen where Bahena and Stella were sitting at the breakfast bar munching on takeout from the sandwich shop down the way.
“Oh, she is alive,” Stella said through a mouthful of sandwich. “You’ve been in the pod for so long Hena, and I were starting to take bets.”
“Who won?” Dassah asked.
“Hena.”
Bahena chuckled. “It wasn’t exactly a fair bet. Here, we got you a seafood sandwich,” she said and handed her a package.
“Thanks,” Dassah said and sat down with them.
“I just feel like you forget that the real world needs you just as much as the game world does,” said Stella, passing her a soda and a pack of seaweed chips.
Food on Yidar was fascinating. She had to be careful using Earthian terms for things, but the sandwich she got was closer to a tuna sandwich than a seafood sandwich—but it was definitely not tuna. As she chewed, Stella’s eyes bore into her.
“What?” Dassah asked after she swallowed. “I promise, I’m just about ready to meet up...”
“You haven’t answered me yet,” Stella said.
“About?”
“The guy! I sent you like a dozen messages! You seriously need to set your game up to receive app notifications.”
“What’s this about now?” Behena asked.
“Stella’s trying to get me to date someone,” Dassah told her.
Behena rose a brow. “Oh? Who?”
“Finally, at least someone asked!” Stella exclaimed and pulled her phone out. Dassah cringed as her WristComp started to ding. “His name is Jake, and you’ve actually met him.”
“I’ve... what?”
“He lives down the way,” Stella said. “Him and his roommate Onyx. They’re valkyrians. Remember?”
Dassah blinked. “I’m sorry, I don’t think I’m following. You are sending me on a date with a neighbor who could have asked me himself but didn’t?”
“I mean, he could have,” Stella said, chewing, then pointed at her. “If you ever came out of your pod at a convenient time.”
“I got out with you guys all the time!”
“Which is not the time he’s around. Don’t worry about it,” she said, swallowing. “I got it all set for you.”
“Stella!”
“It’s at the Perch. You know, the cafe with the cranky bat man? Figured he’d be a good conversation starter if he’s there. Plus, coffee motivation!”
“Would you listen to me?” Dassah growled, glaring.
“I would, but, see, you don’t need to speak when I already know what you’re going to say!”
“Stella!”
“I,” Stella started, “Am going to bed! Have a good night, ladies!”
Dassah gaped as Stella sauntered up to her room. On the other side of the countertop, Bahena chuckled.
“She’s got your number, doesn’t she?” Bahena said.
“She’s impossible!” Dassah exclaimed. “What am I even supposed to do with that?”
“Need backup?”
“I just might take you up on that!” said Dassah, exasperated. Then she sighed. “No... It’s all right. I can handle it, it’s just... What the hell.”
Bahena shrugged and cleaned her space up. “You don’t have to go, you know.”
“I know,” she said sourly. “But at the same time, I do. What are the chances he flakes?”
“I wouldn’t know, but you can always shoot me a message if you need something.”
“Thanks, Bahena.”
“See you tomorrow.”
At the very least, there were worse things in life than meeting someone for coffee.