《Core .001》Volume 02: You are the only one who truly understands me (5)
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After about an hour of waiting in the armory, the middle aged man finally showed up. After a short inspection of the swords, he then signed off on the contract and handed me the remaining 510 gold coins. From then on he packaged all the swords together and before I knew it... they disappeared.
,
Your skill [NA][Item Box] has become Level 2
What do you know! Things get better and better! My small 1 cubic meter item box suddenly expanded to 3 cubic meters! I wish I could delay him for 5 more minutes and see if I could get him to do it again so I can get more levels, but I would not dare even try ticking off my best customer…
I thank him many times over and after he leaves, I head back to the counter and reluctantly part with 494 gold 46 silver coins… ouch…
Still… I was now left with 43 gold and 14 silver coins! I AM FREAKING RICH!!! IT’S PARTY TIME!!!
Of course it was already getting kind of late… so I had to postpone it for the next day… Well, that does not stop me from dreaming on how to spend the money though…
Thinking about for a bit, I decided to spend up to 13 gold and 21 silver coins on luxuries such as change of clothes, fancy dinner, and a nice warm bath! The remaining 30 gold coins, I will save for a later date.
So while daydreaming about my promising future, I ate dinner and retired to bed.
...
The next day, I woke up as always at 5 o’clock, but instead of like before where I would wait till breakfast, I left the Blacksmith Guild early. My first order of business is getting some decent clothing! While I personally would like to go to the tailor shop, things are complicated because they won’t let me in looking like I do now.
So instead, I head towards the leather goods shop. My goal is to buy a full set of leather gear. While I technically can make a full set of steel gear for myself. There is only one problem… wearing metal is pretty uncomfortable despite the high protection. This I found out the hard way after using my bronze helmet for quite a while. In comparison, my leather boots which are plated with bronze are very comfy!
Of course there is downside here… if I use lower quality leather, the overall item becomes worse. So this time around, I plan to just buy a full leather set of comfortable clothing, that will act as both my casual wear and also as padding underneath my combat gear.
It did not take me long to arrive at the leather goods store due to its close proximity. Once there I walk through the door.
“Hello there missy, I’ve been seein’ ya here pretty often these days. So what can I do for ya?” asked the dwarf.
“Yes, I’d like a leather shirt, pants, boots and helmet. Preferably, ones that have the best comfort and most presentable. Of course by presentable I mean in casual terms, nothing that would make me stand out too much please...” I requested.
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“Hmm… lets me see what I can do for ya missy” said the dwarf and walked into the back.
A few minutes he came back with a bunch of things in hand and showed them to me. After sorting through the stuff, I ended picking a set of light brown matte leather which had a clean modern look. It also had a hood just in case I needed to leave behind my mantle.
The total cost of the items was pretty high at 1 gold and 15 silver coins, it had no stats but the comfort and design was pretty good giving it an extra premium feel. It was also light enough to wear under my gear while being durable. Since it was near my size overall, it only took half an hour to refit it to my fit.
After putting on my new clothes, since I looked somewhat more presentable, I headed for the tailor shop. Personally I am not too fond of the place but its the only place I can get the things I need.
I arrive to the shop and open the door.
“Welcome!… You again?” said the shop owner lady while glaring at me.
Somehow I don’t feel all that welcome… but I have to endure!
“I-I would like to order s-some clothes, I have t-the money if need b-be” I replied and took out some gold coins to show.
“I don’t know where you stole that money, but we don’t serve beastkin in our shop… now get out before you get your fur on our wares!” declared the shop owner lady.
Seriously?!?! I guess it is hard to forget THESE people still exist ha… But even so, I have to swallow my pride just this once…
“P-Please… I-I did not steal the m-money, I am a r-respectable Intermediate Disciple at the B-Blacksmithing Guild... I’ll b-be willing to p-pay a premium if n-need be” I pleaded.
She took a short glance at the gold coins with a greedy glint in her eyes, then after pondering it for a bit...
“What exactly do you need made?” reluctantly inquired the shop owner lady.
“A f-few pairs of comfortable u-underwear...” I respond slightly embarrassed.
Yes, the thing I am looking for to the point of swallowing up my pride is some comfortable underwear… Wearing the same ragged underwear for about 2 months is really getting on my nerves... They had some underwear in the second hand shop, but something about that doesn’t sit well with me. I could have maybe asked Tanya to tailor it, though based on my skill level 1 and my high [PER] it tells me that it would be too difficult for her to work with any quality material.
“Hmm… alright, if you are willing to pay 4 gold coins each. Though the one making them will be my apprentice, I ain’t touching no filthy beastkin” the shop owner lady sneered.
TALK ABOUT A RIPOFF! It is like I am being overcharged 10X!
“U-Under the c-condition I get to see the p-process” I declared.
If I am going to be overcharged, might as well make something out of it! Preferably so that I don’t ever have to come to this place ever again!
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“Sure, I don’t care” declared the shop owner lady.
After some consideration, I put down 8 gold on the counter to get 2 pairs made.
“Mary, go take care of it in the back, and make sure she leaves through the back and never comes through the front door ever again. Last thing I want is my shop’s reputation to be tarnished” said the shop owner lady.
“Yes mistress, as you command” replied Mary after stopping her thread weaving by the corner.
I was then led to the back of the shop and had my measurements taken, she then began making my underwear.
Your skill [NP][Tailoring] has become Level 2
Only after seeing that box did my mood slightly improve. Of course I was pretty cautious and paid detailed attention to what she was doing. Not only was it to learn how to make the stuff myself, but also to insure I don’t get jibbed by them secretly putting in lower quality materials.
Your skill [NP][Tailoring] has become Level 3
After a total of 3 hours, she finished both pairs. Level 3 seemed to have been her limit, and she unfortunately did not have enough non-combat class levels to net me any sort of class skill…
Once I received my 2 pairs of underwear, I quietly left through the back vowing to never return.
From there, I went to the main street and off to the side I visited a bathing house. The cost of entry was 1 silver coin, though I was told I could not use the main bath and had to use the smaller side bath. The reason I was that beastkin were separated out due to their fur… It’s like everyone is on purpose trying to ruin my day?!?!
Regardless, once I washed up and got in the warm bath I was in paradise… its been so long since I had one… I made sure to wash up properly, including brushing my white furry tail to its pristine, smooth condition. You'd never know when I’ll get another chance after all.
After spending an hour enjoying the bath, I reluctantly get out, dry myself and put on my new comfortable underwear. Finally for the first time since coming to this world I feel squeaky clean!
Afterwards, I asked around the area for a good place to have lunch, and found just the spot.
It was an expensive place where it costs 3 gold to rent out a private room, where a chef makes the food right in front of you kind of like teppanyaki I would say. And it was extremely delicious!
You have acquired a new skill [NP][Cooking] Level 1
Congratulations! You have completed the class quest [Creationist: Improve your production skills]
+25 PER has been attained
Class quest [Creationist:Improve your production skills], has been reset.
In more ways than one * grin *
I specifically requested a dwarf chef of course since I couldn’t exactly eat in comfort in front of a human one… He was pretty surprised to see a Beastkin rent out a room in such an expensive place, especially one as young as myself.
He cooked for about 30 minutes getting my Cooking skill to Level 4. Though unfortunately it was not enough time to get any class based skills. But its okay, if I keep selling my wares at this rate, I’d be able to treat myself to this place at least once a month, if not sooner!
I also noticed something else. When someone with [Cooking] skill makes food, there seems to be some benefits via temporary stat buffs.
From then on, I decided to walk around town and see the sights. I was contemplating visiting the art store to see if I could get [Sculpting] but decided against it for the time being, not wanting another repeat of the tailoring shop and thus ruining my day.
On top of that, the improvements I get from [PER] increases has started to decrease in efficiency. As I learned when I got the [IPR] stat, it is more complicated than it originally seems. Unlike stats like [STR], [AGI] and etc which are more complete. Unlocked stats are often times incomplete, so you need other stats to balance them. So effectively, there was a bunch of things I was missing that was too much for me to process with my [PER]. Only with increases to my [INT], [WIS] or [IPR] will I be able to comprehend all the information my [PER] picks up.
In that sense, it was also good that I picked up [END] which helped balance the [POW] stat that I got.
After walking around and exploring the town, visiting the park and relaxing here and there. I then went to the best steak house that allowed beastkin for dinner. The cost was an astonishing 1 gold coin just for 1 steak! But the steak was the best buttered steak I have ever eaten! * drool *
It also seems like ever since I became a Catkin, my desire for meat has taken a sharp increase as well…
Now that my holiday was out of the way, time to get serious. My next order of business is 2 things. The first one is obviously to get more customers and sell more stuff. The second order of business is to attempt to make a [Holy-steel Blacksmithing Hammer]! Unlike my previous hammers which lasted me a few days to maybe a week or so at most, this one will be quite different. Considering the almost impossibility of getting my hands on mithril and the difficulty in making something out of it. The [Holy-steel Blacksmithing Hammer] will most likely be my limit for quite a long time. So I need to put in extra effort to insure it comes out well.
When I came to the blacksmithing guild, I put down 14 gold and 40 silver to get 2X [Iron Ore] and 2X [Coal Ore] with quality score of 8. Which is the best quality score available in this town.
I then cast [Light Magic: Holy Light] on the [Coal Ore] using almost all of my mana and then went to sleep for the day. With that my first holiday officially ended.
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