Nathan was standing in front of the hardest choice in his life. A woman standing in front of him looked aggravated. Her arms crossed, and seemed ready to start yelling at him. Nathan glanced back down at the situation at hand and did what he always did in these situations.

“Eenie, minee, mo-” Nathan started, pointing back and forth between the two different flavors of ice cream.

“Agh! Fine! Just half half a scoop of both for I care.” The woman finally caved in. “If it gets you out of here sooner, I don’t care if you want five half scoops.” She already loaded two semi-full scoops of ice cream onto a cone and thrusted it at Nathan. “Two coppers.” She held out her hand waiting.

Nathan paid her and sheepishly walked away licking his ice cream. It felt good to eat normal comfort food. His goal today was to do some window shopping, and if he found anything interesting or worthwhile, to buy it.

One of the stalls outside the Front Hall of the Guild was serving one of his favorite desserts. How could he pass it up?

The mix of Strawberry and Chocolate was always welcomed by his taste buds. Nathan did his best to not spill any on himself. Luckily it wasn’t the middle of summer, and was able to finish it all with minimal drippage. Nathan glanced around and casted [Cleanse] on himself to remove the stickiness from his hands.

Was it irresponsible and possibly selfish? Yes. Was it worth it? Absolutely. He would get all the mana back in a couple hours anyways. It wasn’t even a quarter of his Mana anymore since his level up.

Having more mana was fantastic. Sure it took longer to fill up, but it was absolutely something he was going to invest more into. Speaking of fighting, Nathan had a small list of items he wanted to check out.

Firstly was armor. If he was going to actually fight upfront with Brawn, he will need more protection than his current basic clothing could offer. There were a few smiths in town, and one that was specifically for light armor. He was specifically a Whitesmith.

Nathan had no clue such a title was a thing. Apparently the difference is a Whitesmith deals with lighter material. While a Blacksmith deals with denser and heavier ones. Nathan knew proper heavy armor would be expensive. Several silvers if not a couple of gold pieces for a proper full set.

Nathan walked into the building and saw several mannequins with different armors on display. Most notably was several sets of armor similar to that the guard wears. A mix of chain and leather armor.

Nathan was greeted by a small human, a Halfling. “Welcome to Toot’s, how can I help you?”

“Hey, I’m a new adventurer and plan to be upfront in some fights every now and then. Was hoping you could give me something a bit stronger than my clothes to fight in. I rather not have slimes eat through my skin again.”

Toot nodded understanding. “That acidic slime will eat through cloth like warm butter. Leather will last longer, but too much will still destroy it. I have a couple half chain armor sets like the guard wears. Do you have any armor skills? Also what’s your budget looking like?”

Toot was already looking Nathan up and down, trying to figure out what to put him in. “You look like a shield guy. I have a couple Skull Shields. Strong material that is.”

Nathan shook his head. “I have [Iron Skin] that’s it. No skills for wearing armor specifically. Also, I can’t use a shield, need a spare hand to cast spells or carry my spear.”

Toot shook his head and tsk’ed. “Oof, your Guild didn’t tell you?”

“Tell me what?” Nathan asked with a raised eyebrow.

“[Iron Skin] stops working when you wear proper armor. I have absolutely no clue how it can tell, but if you wear armor, it just stops working. Several guards snag that skill thinking it will stack and end up severely disappointed when they can’t wear armor.”

Nathan felt destroyed. How was he supposed to know it didn’t work with armor? If he knew that, he would have never taken it. “What about any other skill in the tree, would those effects still work?”

Toot’s thought about it. “If it affects armor or decreases damage, then yea. I don’t know all the skills there, just that first one. You would be better off in robes or something of that sort.”

Nathan thought about robes, but knew they would be way more expensive. “Robes don’t count as armor? How much is your cheapest armor set?”

“The entire set? A silver at the lowest. Granted it’s the bare bones of Leather, and might not fit properly. I can resize it for another twenty copper. Repairs vary. If it needs full replacement, you get a 20% discount.” He spurted out as if reading lines off a card.

Nathan sighed. He didn’t even have half a silver, let along a whole one. Hopefully the next few missions will better fund him. “Thank’s Toot. I’ll be back when I have the money.”

“If you want robes, check out Silk Palace. A bit more pricey, but better worth it in the long run.”

“How can robes be better than leather or steel armor? It’s just silk or cloth.” Nathan questioned.

Toot’s chuckled. “Magic of course! Plus they don't count as actual armor. So your [Iron Skin] skill will work fine.”

Nathan soon found himself closer to the rich side of the city. Where everything was way more expensive, and he stood out like a sore thumb. Being a Doctor meant Nathan had plenty of money in his life. He would be lying if he said he didn’t miss the higher quality of clothes or other items he owned.

Heck, he really missed his watches. Two of them were from his parents, and they were like lucky charms. Nathan didn’t really believe in luck, but when he wore them, nobody ever died when he was operating or treating patients those days.

Coincidence? Yes. An actual lucky charm? More than likely not.

Nathan walked into the store and was greeted by a strong smell of perfume. He already hated this place.

An elven woman greeted him, she was wearing a pink robe like the greeks would wear in cartoons or movies. “Greetings new customer. I am Shareen. How can I dress you today?”

Nathan looked around. “I was recommended this place, was told you have robes suitable for fighting?”

“All that we have here is more than suitable for casters or those who choose not to be restrained by metal.” She looked him up and down. Unlike when Toot’s did it, Nathan could feel something crawl over his skin.

“I see, you are a mage tank? No, you can’t be over level 8. A front line healer then. Am I right?”

Nathan narrowed his eyes as he flinched back a bit. “How do you know that?”

“I have abilities to figure out which three core traits are the highest in someone. It helps to figure out what will best suit you in combat. I don’t know the numbers, but I can tell their relative levels toward mine. If I had to guess, they are around the 20’s.”

Nathan felt like his personal information was being read. He didn’t like that. “Can you not do that please? If you asked I would have said so, but this just feels wrong.”

Shareen put on an apologetic face. “I’m sorry, I’m used to customers who want speedy and perfect results. Most of them like to show off their hard earned stats. They wear them like a badge of honor!” The way she spoke made Nathan shiver. She was doing a great job of trying to please him and win him over.

“Just don’t do it again please. Now about those robes?”

“Of course! I should warn you, we are expensive here. We need to see money before we let you try anything on.”

Nathan groaned inwardly. “I don’t have much, I wanted to figure out a good item to save up for. I don’t even have a silver piece to my name right now.”

Shareen shook her head. “Then I am sorry, you won’t be trying on anything here. When you have at least three silver, come on back. If you want a piece of advice, come back with five silver. That way you can get some enchanted robes, help with that mana regeneration or increase the potency of your spells.”

Nathan didn’t even think such a thing was possible. Yet, of course it would be. Even in the games he played, it was possible. And the famous catch phrase of this world could never be wrong.

He left the store and continued his shopping. Realizing how broke he actually was in the grand scheme of things, Nathan set out to buy a couple more sets of clothes. They were a bit better in material then the ones El and Peter gave him, and would prove to last longer. On top of that, Nathan purchased a new pair of boots and some gloves.

With just under a handful of copper coins in his pocket, Nathan decided to call it quits with the spending. He decided to spend the remaining evening in the Library. A quick stop in the guild food hall for something to snack on, Nathan was sitting at the same table as last time.

He sent the floating robot to grab him books on anything to do with Vitamancy. Surprisingly there were twelve. However, after vetting through them, half were books talking about the different types of magic and barely touched on the topic.

Nathan took three of the best on the topic. He started to read through them, learning all he could. His [Knowledge (Vitamancy)] skill actually kicked in once or twice answering a question that popped up in his head every now and then.

“The magic of life is a dangerous one. For those who wield it can control the fate of those around them. From the foulest of Blood Mages to the purest of Arch Priests, those who use Vitamancy are both feared and worshiped as heroes. All users of Healing Magic must be aware of the responsibility they hold. For they are the ones looked to when people are at their worst.”

That small piece of information resonated with Nathan. It made him feel better about his choice for this world. The book further delved into the different roles Vitamancers took. It mentioned Battle Medics that took to the front lines of combat. Standing side by side with Warriors and Paladins.

The second book was more stories and bibliographies of famous users of Vitamancy. Nathan chose this book to hopefully get a glimpse of abilities he could acquire. He was saddened to read only two skills were mentioned that interested him.

One was a type of shield spell that would be available to him at Tier 2 under his healing tree. Another skill was called [Channeling]. Apparently it allowed casters to fuel spells constantly instead of casting them over and over. It was considered a Metamagic skill, a skill that slightly altered a spell.

Nathan opened up his Menu and started to scan for where such a skill could be. He saw nothing like it, and it bothered him. Everything had a skill. There was a skill for cloud watching, but nothing here was called [Metamagic] or even a play off the term.

Flipping desperately through all the books he had, Nathan failed to realize his [Knowledge (Vitamancy)] had ranked up.

Eventually the Library was closed and Nathan was forced to retire to his bunk. He went to bed early. His goal tomorrow was to go and talk to El, and if she didn’t have the answer, then Ragnork.

If both of them failed, then perhaps Ko’Nu or Parker had an idea. Parker and him didn’t quite see eye to eye, but hopefully asking for his help would appease his selfishness. Ko’Nu was a wild card, and would probably question Nathan before he revealed information of his own.