A day after she returned to the city Ves'ra woke up in her new bed and was happy. Arvog lay cuddled up next to her and with the sun was blocked by the windows they were able to get their first restful sleep in days.

After a short breakfast she sat down in her living room and allowed herself some more time to relax. She had finally time to actually think about her plans for the future - she simply did not have time for much thoughts after evolving - the approaching summer had her too worried to take notice of the changes.

Now though, relaxing in her living room she could finally appreciate her new body. She liked her new, glorious form - it was superior to her old one in every way imaginable - but that wasn't the most significant change.

The ease her thoughts and energy flowed from one into another was astounding. She could think faster, her energy was easier to control then ever and didn't even have to leave her body for her to cast magic anymore. Creating the cavity in the middle of her heart really was one of her best ideas - nothing would be able to stop her from casting spells anymore.

There were more important things though, with the new durability and thickness of her energy-veins she’d be able to create another layer of energy-ropes once she hunted some more powerful beings to get the energy for that rope.

Right now the excess energy just flowed through her veins, anchoring the newly formed rope to the middle.

The next three months would be boring, she never really thought this far forwards before, but she wouldn't want to leave the city in summer, and just lazing around wasn't her. She’d have to find something to do!

First she’d have to find someone to finish her reading lessons and teach her how to write. That shouldn't take too long, she was confident to learn everything in two weeks at most. She’d have to see if she found a human to teach her something about magic, perhaps even one how to form a core, though she assumed that wouldn't be cheap, humans seemed to want to limit the power of their entire species.

That still boggled her mind - the world was hostile enough, why would anyone want to limit their own people?

It came down to money, as always when she was here.

Wait.

She suddenly remembered something, the merchant that helped her enter the city still owed her money. She was pretty sure he’d managed to sell the bandits belongings by now.

What would she do after summer though? She only had three months until winter came, and while it wasn't nearly as deadly as summer - she could just sleep the whole time - she really wasn't interested in that. Still, it wouldn't allow her more than one or two hunts, something she had to think about before leaving.

She had time though, three months was quite long to think about her future. And that. But Ves'ra wanted to do something now. She asked Arvog if he wanted to come with her, but her familiar was happy to sleep in their bed, so she left him there - he earned a good rest.

A few minutes later Ves'ra entered the empty streets - summer chased everyone inside. She arrived at the merchant’s guild not long after. The big doors were closed - just like every door she passed - but one could still enter through several smaller doors.

The main hall was nearly empty, with only a few people there to take care of visitors. Those few attendants were obviously bored, bored enough that three immediately moved towards her.

“Hello, I’m Eliza, how can I help you?” The human asked in a friendly tone.

“Hi. I'm Ves'ra. There should be some payment for me, a merchant named Argen of Redrisk. I also wanted to redeem a quest reward.” She answered.

“Sure, follow me please.” The woman did sound a little disappointed, though still friendly. They left the main hall and entered the hallway full of rooms again. She was led in a different room, when the human, Eliza, turned to her again.

“Please wait here, I’ll come to you in just a moment.”

Ves'ra sat down in the chair made for people with a tail and looked around. The room was quite tasteful. Two chairs, one for her and the other one of the attendant. The chairs were padded in red cloth, and quite comfortable. The walls were adorned with beautiful paintings, some of the city, others of nature. She really liked the one across her, a painting of a deep forest, deer and squirrels frozen in time.

Eliza returned as she was appreciating the painting, carrying a large ledger. She could see the symbols humans used to write on the cover, but had no time to decipher it before Eliza opened it.

“So you have outstanding payment from Argen of Redrisk? Can you tell me your name, race and date of payment please?”

“Sure, I’m Ves'ra, formerly kobold and I don't know.”

“You don't know? I can't really help you then.”

“It’s just, I can give you the date we arrived here, but he didn't have a date for me back then, and I haven't seen him since.”

“That's different, let's see. … Yes, I have something here. I take it you evolved in the last few months then?”

“Yes, just a few weeks ago.”

“Can you prove who you are?” Ves'ra didn't answer, and took her identity instead. After entering some of her energy it glowed green, confirming her claims.

“Thank you, someone will transfer the money on your account. Can I do something else for you?”

“... No, thank you, I’ll be on my way. Good day.”

“Good day.”

As she left the building Ves’ra didn't return home immediately. Something just sprang into her mind as she talked to the woman, she didn't have any armor. There was no reason not to have one and she wouldn't have to fear dying from one hit - the beasts she planned to hunt wouldn't get weaker.

She set her eyes on one of the buildings next to the merchant’s guild instead, entering it with resolute steps soon after. The entrance was completely different from any she had seen so far, her vision was heavily impaired by racks filled with all kinds of weapons.

Ves'ra wondered if she was in the right building, she didn't want a weapon. As the door slammed shut behind her she decided she would ask someone, there were a few armors in sight after all.

As she followed the wall to her right she soon came upon a group of adventurers inspecting the weapons in front of them, helped by a dwarf. They looked like they’d need quite some time, so she resumed her walk. It didn't take long before she found a free dwarf, so she walked towards him immediately.

“Greetings. Where can I ask someone about armor?” She asked.

“If you're searching for armor you're just right with Jovid. How can I help you? Repairs, a new set, something else?”

“I've never had any armor and want to fix that.”

“A new customer?Well, you'll need a custom armor, I've never seen someone looking like you. Come, we’ll talk about what you need.”

“Thanks.” They left the main hall through a cleverly disguised door. They didn't enter a hallway like in the merchant’s guild, but a series of rooms full of metal and leather. They passed one of the two doors out of the rooms into a small office.

“What do you need?” He asked.

“Something to protect me, I ran around without any armor and I really don't want to die from one hit.”

“That's a good idea. Are you a mercenary, adventurer or other?”

“I'm an adventurer. What is other?”

“Can be anything really, city or houseguard, a foreign knight, there are limitless options.

So, an adventurer, that's good, your kind are always the most interesting. What's your rank?”

“I'm a Silver-B rank.”

“That's impressive, where did you start?”

“Copper-B”

“Only one quest then? You're a smart one, most that start as powerful as you take a lot longer to get some good armor. I don't see a weapon, what do you use?”

“I don't use weapons, I'm a mage.” She answered.

“A mage, well that's even more rare. You don't look like you want to get up close and personal, so something light?”

“Yes, I don't want to be attacked if possible.”

“That’ll cost more, light and strong armor will only be useful if its enchanted, and enchanting is expensive. It’s the only thing really useful at your level though, other than some very heavy metal armor.”

“That’ll have to be it then, I really don't want to die. How much will it cost me?”

“The armor won't be that much - about two thousand silver, I don't do enchantments - you’d have to go to the enchanter’s guild for that. I can say it’d take about double that though.” Ves'ra’s eyes widened in surprise, she could afford the armor, if barely, but she’d have to kill a lot more monsters if she wanted her armor enchanted.

“I’d like the armor without enchantment for now. I can always get it enchanted later, can't I?”

“Sure thing. When would you like it?”

“I’ll stay here during summer, but I’ll return to the hunt afterwards.”

“That's no problem, now I’ll just need to take your measurements and then you can return a week before summer’s end to fetch it.”

“That's fine, thank you.”