Kyle had been planning to spend a few days experimenting with his new artifact before doing anything else. He was still reveling in the freedom of being home after all. It was a stark contrast to how he had spent the last two years in the secret training area. But he only got one night to play around with his new toy as other plans were brought up during breakfast the next day.

Kyle, Sarah, and Mickey were eating pancakes at the kitchen table while Lisa continued cooking up more for the people who were yet to come down for breakfast. They had been having pancakes a lot recently. Mickey had somehow learned that Pancakes were Kyle’s favorite breakfast food, and consequently refused to eat anything else. While the breakfast scene was eminently ordinary, Kyle still found himself basking in that normalcy.

I would have considered this kind of thing a bother before, Kyle thought. I mean, I used to think Mickey was cute, but taking care of him was never my number one priority. Far from it. I remember I used to make all kinds of excuses to not have him sit on my lap. Although to be fair he spills a lot less food on you now than he used to.

Kyle was just finishing up his pancakes, which were drowned in nearly twice their mass in syrup thanks to Mickey, when Carl came into the kitchen in a rush.

“What’s the matter, dear?” said Lisa. “Did you forget the time again?”

Carl quickly sat down at the table and helped himself to some of the already made pancakes.

“Yeah, I thought I could bust through some paperwork before I left. You know how it is.”

“Are you still working on the aftermath of the battle in the second city?” Sarah chimed in.

“Yep,” Carl grunted in between mouthfuls. “Alyona somehow roped me into dealing with the ranking information. I knew I never should have asked for a favor from her back then.”

After finishing his current pancake Carl then turned to Kyle.

“Speaking of, you should really get out for some hunting soon. You’ve been back for long enough, and despite your wealth and power you still shouldn’t get into the habit of slacking off.”

Sarah had been waiting for this moment for days and excitedly jumped in.

“Yeah, you have been slacking off long enough. Slow and steady wins the race after all, and even a constipated turtle is better than a lazy hare.” [Referencing events of chapter seven]

Kyle groaned internally. It had been over two years ago and Sarah still didn’t forget about it. He was profusely grateful that he had not shown off the skill firing prowess he had obtained in the secret training area. Some things were better kept to himself.

“You can join the team that Li, Walt and I are on,” Sarah continued enthusiastically. “You need to get some experience in the normal dungeon, and joining our team will let you learn the ropes. Teamwork is important after all.”

Kyle had a feeling that he was not winning this one based on Sarah’s expectant stare. He knew his aunt and uncle would never force him into going dungeon diving in so many words, but their gazes made their thoughts clear. And, truthfully, Kyle wasn’t actually so against the idea himself. He never would have escaped the secret training area if he had decided to take any breaks, and while he was in a much safer spot currently, Humanity was not.

“Okay, okay, there’s no need to look at me like that,” Kyle replied to Sarah. “We can go dungeoneering.”

“Me too! Me too! Take me too Kyle!” Mickey almost knocked Kyle’s plate off the table in his enthusiasm.

“Sorry Mickey, you need to wait until you’re a big boy. Exploring the dungeon is dangerous”

“Mickey is a big boy! Take me too!”

“Alright Mickey,” Lisa said, momentarily stopping her cooking and coming over to the table. “I know you’re happy to have Kyle back, but you remember our conversation about the dungeon, right?”

Mickey slowly and unwillingly nodded his head.

“What did I say?”

“That if Mickey works hard I can go on an adventure with Kyle, but I have to finish basic training.”

“That’s right. Don’t worry, you’ll start basic training soon enough. And Kyle will be back in a few days. He won’t be gone forever.”

“That’s right,” Kyle said. “And when I come back we can go to the park to play, okay Mickey?”

“Okay!”

Carl soon rushed out the door while Sarah gave Kyle a brief rundown of the various area that their group usually farmed in. Li soon came down and joined the conversation, and Sarah eventually ended up waking Walt up because he was “taking too damn long keeping his lazy ass in bed”.

As it turned out, the three other members of the group that Sarah, Li, and Walt partied with were scheduled to meet up today for a dungeon excursion. Originally Sarah was planning to stay home with Kyle, but now the plan was for Kyle to join the regular six person team to give him a taste of what dungeon diving now entailed in its standardized form. While everyone was confident in Kyle’s strength after coming out of the secret training area, exploring the dungeon was still dangerous and teamwork trumped individual power every single time.

The group’s normal meeting time accounted for Walt’s sleeping habits, so the prearranged meetup time wasn’t until one o’ clock. Kyle and the others left a good bit before that though to make sure they had everything they needed for the dungeon exploration and to educate Kyle on exactly what those things were. Almost immediately they ran into problems.

“What do you mean you don’t need food!?” Sarah yelled, attracting more attention to their group of four than Kyle was comfortable with.

“I mean exactly what I said: I don’t need food,” Kyle exasperatingly replied. “I showed you my skills. I can absorb mana directly to sustain myself. Eating is really only superfluous, although it’s still enjoyable.”

“But, but…” Sarah eventually threw her hands up. “Fine. Have it your way. Just know that normal people need food, and the more the better. Not everyone can eat monsters all the time or subsist off of mana.”

This wasn’t the only problems they ran into. In fact, for almost everything they tried to tell Kyle he needed to bring, he had a reason why he didn’t need it or already had it in his storage space. It didn’t help that, unlike other people, he had a storage space that wasn’t a wearable item, so therefore he couldn’t ever lose it or break it.

Part of the common reasoning for stocking up on certain things was the rational that something could always happen to your storage device so everyone needed everything. Sarah was incredibly frustrated that this argument didn’t apply to Kyle, as he literally couldn’t lose his storage space and, based on his explanations, could practically create what he needed from thin air. She WAS happy that it technically made him safer, but not being able to tell him I told you so was ruining any satisfaction she would have gained from his increased safety.

The whole supplies run, which was supposed to educate Kyle on what he needed for a dungeon exploration, instead served to demonstrate exactly why he didn’t need those supplies.

The final stop on their supplies run was an armory. Sarah, Li, and Walt all had on specific dungeoneering armor while Kyle had on the clothes he had arrived in.

“Okay,” Sarah said. “I know Tom’s Tinnery doesn’t sound like a reputable store, but Tom sells some of the best armor around. He sold us all of the armor that we are currently wearing.”

Kyle went to open his mouth but was overridden.

“No excuses,” Sarah said as she practically dragged Kyle into the shop much to the amusement of Li and Walt, who were having fun laughing at Kyle’s discomfort.

The other three had clearly been to the shop multiple times, but it was a first for Kyle and it took his breath away as soon as he entered.

The first thing that stood out was the size. This was the first store that Kyle had been in that was clearly larger on the inside than the outside. While spatial magic wasn’t uncommon, seeing it in action like this was truly spectacular. But while the size was impressive, it had nothing on what filled the humongous space.

Damn, Kyle thought. I thought I had a lot of stuff in my storage. How many reagents did it take to make all this? There has to be at least a hundred thousand suits of armor in here. I think I might have been underestimating the industrial process once Humanity applied it to the dungeon.

Kyle looked around in wonder at the myriad armors that adorned the walls and racks as Sarah led him by the hand through the store. From the name, he had assumed the store would be primarily full plate, but armors of all shapes, sizes, and materials filled his view.

This looks like a cosplayer’s wet dream. And is that an honest to god furry suit? How could anyone actually make all of these?

Kyle personally thought that Li and Walt should have better things to do in a store this size than follow him and Sarah around, but based on their expectant gazes he assumed they must be waiting for Sarah to inevitably start henpecking him. He would have been more annoyed if he wasn’t actually glad Sarah acted the way she did. So much had changed since the Change, but Sarah still remained the same: overly critical, obnoxiously loud and attention grabbing, and firmly focused on pointing out every single one of Kyle’s faults and flaws.

It took them a few minutes to get where they were going thanks to the sheer size of the store. But after weaving in and out of a plethora of clothing racks they finally arrived at a door that read “Tom’s Fitting Room”.

“Tom will get you fitted right up with the right suit of armor,” Sarah said, as she led Kyle into the room. “The store is named after him not because he made all of these armors, but because of his unique skill in recommending the best armor for his clients.”

Kyle wasn’t sure just ‘armor’ covered what was sold in the shop, but wasn’t about to argue with Sarah and just resigned himself for what was sure to be a pain in the ass dress-up session.

Through the doorway was a rather standard looking waiting room, and after taking a number the group sat down to wait. It didn’t take long and soon enough their number was called and the four of them traipsed through another doorway into the fitting room proper.

It was a fairly large room, all things considered, and it was occupied but a rather overweight man, what appeared to be a moving dais of some sort, and a large, and empty, cloths rack.

“Ah Sarah,” Said the person who Kyle presumed was Tom, “it’s good to have you back. Did you need anything in particular? Or actually it looks like you have a new party member there.”

“Hi Tom. This is Kyle who I mentioned to you before. He partied with us before we entered the Dungeon and just recently escaped from a secret training area.”

“I see. It’s nice to meet you Kyle. The name’s Tom Armon. It’s a pleasure,” Tom said as he held out his hand for Kyle to shake.

“Er, Kyle Anders. Likewise,” Kyle said, a bit overwhelmed by the presence Tom emitted. It had been a long time since he had been in a clothing store with Sarah, and the memories weren’t exactly pleasant.

“So what’ll it be?” Tom said, turning to Sarah. He clearly didn’t need to be told that she was in charge.

“Let’s start out with the top twenty matches,” Sarah replied after thinking for a bit. “We can then go from there. Price isn’t a concern”

Tom’s eyes clearly took on a new light at the mention of price. While he enjoyed outfitting people with the perfect set of armor for their needs, he was still a businessman at heart.

He then turned to Kyle. “Step right over here and we can get started.”

Kyle followed the instructions and stepped onto the dais in the middle of the room, fully prepared for what would follow. He had been clothes shopping with Sarah before, and it was never a quick experience.

The other three stepped out of the way while Tom moved forward, clearly preparing to activate some type of skill. His whole body glowed briefly, followed by a period of stillness, the whole room seemingly waiting on the results of his skill.

After about thirty seconds of nothing happening Li was the first one to break the silence.

“Well? What’s wrong? Shouldn’t the armors have appeared by now?”

Tom was facing him, so Kyle had a clear view of Tom’s confused face. He didn’t think anything of it though, as it was his first time experiencing whatever skill this was. The other three had been through this multiple times though, and generally it only took a few seconds before Tom had results.

“I’m not sure,” Tom said, turning away from Kyle to face the other three. “Normally I get a list of armors that fit my specified criteria, but now? Nothing. I can’t think of anything that could cause… Unless…”

He then turned back to Kyle with an almost predatory gleam in his eyes.

“Excuse me, but would you mind if I take a closer look at the clothing you are wearing?”

Despite it being his first time here, Kyle started to have an inkling of what was going on. He had tried to say something to Sarah earlier on, but had ended up humoring her in coming here. Dissuading her wasn’t a realistic option anyway.

“Sure,” Kyle said, taking off his jacket and handing it over to Tom for him to inspect.

Tom took Kyle’s jacket and hung it up on the clothes rack before proceeding to thoroughly examine it. Kyle suspected that the only way Tom could have looked at it more closely was if he had actually taken it apart. The other three had no clue what was going on and were patiently, or impatiently, waiting on Tom for more information.

You could practically cut the tension in the room when Tom finished inspecting the jacket. Before he spoke, he turned and gave Kyle a thorough look over, or rather, the rest of Kyle’s outfit, which clearly matched the jacket Tom had just inspected.

“Did you know?” Tom asked Kyle.

Kyle nodded. “I suspected, but Sarah insisted I come to get some armor anyway.”

Tom gave Kyle’s clothes another look before turning to the other three, all of which were dying to get in on the secret. Tom gave a brief cough before launching into an explanation.

“Ahem, well there is a first time for everything, although I had suspected that something like this would happen eventually. I could go into a more in-depth explanation, but that’s not really necessary. The short of it is this. The armor Kyle is currently wearing is better suited for him and more powerful than anything I have in my store.”

Sarah, Li, and Walt just stared at him, before Walt busted out laughing, soon joined by Li. Sarah couldn’t seem to process what she had just heard, and it took her a minute to respond.

“So you’re saying that those clothes that he’s wearing are better than anything in the shop? How is that even possible!? I refuse to believe that there isn’t anything better here!”

Kyle snorted internally. Of course you don’t believe it. I tried to tell you earlier that my clothes were sufficient. But nooooo, we had to go and have Kyle play dress up. Well not this time!

“Calm down Sarah,” Li said, overcoming her giggles. “I’m sure Tom has an explanation. Let’s let him explain.”

Walt had almost doubled over and had a harder time getting over his laughter than Li did. “I knew it would be good, but better than the whole store, ha!” Walt had been enjoying Kyle’s rebuttals to their supply run the whole trip, but this one really took the cake.

Sarah took a deep breath, slowly letting it out before turning to her gaze on Tom, clearly asking him for further explanation.

“Let me explain further,” Tom continued. “While Kyle’s set of armor is certainly powerful, it is not unreasonably so. From my brief examination, not only do the materials seem to be top notch, but its synergy with the wearer makes it far more suitable than anything my store has in stock. I suspect you would need to have a suit specifically crafted for him with high end materials to beat what he has on.”

Tom then turned to Kyle.

“That all being said, it is still the first time this has happened. Where exactly did you get the armor? It clearly is a set.”

“I made it,” Kyle replied.

Tom was shocked. The other three knew that Kyle had item creation skills and had made his armor, so it wasn’t as big a shock to them. Tom on the other hand had no clue exactly what Kyle was capable of. He was immensely interested though.

“Would you care to elaborate? For instance what did you make it out of?”

Kyle thought for a moment. “I don’t remember everything I used, but the base for everything was the hide of an elder sphinx.”

“That’s… and elder sphinx?” Tom mumbled to himself “Not a regular sphinx? No wonder it’s such high quality…” Tom had heard of regular sphinx hide, and it was already a very powerful reagent. He could only imagine what elder sphinx hide was like.

Tom had more questions for Kyle, and Kyle eventually had to promise to come back and talk to Tom later, as it was nearing their prearranged meetup time with their other team members.

The whole way over Sarah did nothing but pout, annoyed that her plan to educate Kyle and prepare him for dungeoneering has failed so spectacularly. She had planned to tell him about the three people they were going to meet, but Walt ended up with that job which Kyle was actually grateful for, as Sarah’s explanations almost always came with color commentary, most of which Kyle could do without.

As they neared their destination, Kyle couldn’t help feel a sense of anticipation. For the last two years he had been pressured to succeed. It was that or die. Now, it was finally time to explore the dungeon at large, and the idea of doing so not under the threat of death had Kyle looking forward to the experience. It was time to dungeon dive.