That girl? Ayana Miyazaki was ranked 6? Level 8? No wonder she was stared at while I was walking with her, it must have been weird for a nobody let alone myself to walk beside her, I finally get it. And I finally get why I was being stared at, it’s weird honestly. I’m used to it but this was completely different and I finally understood why.

I stood there for awhile…

*wave wave*

*WAVE WAVE*

Ayuzawa constantly waves at my face.

*Tug*

“Fenix? Are you okay?” Kuyomi pulls onto my sleeves gently.

Due to the physical contact, I snapped back into reality.

“Y-Yeah I’m okay, sorry about that, I was just shocked at the fact that I was on the leaderboards and Ayane Miyazaki was ranked 6 on the boards.”

As I walked out of the administration center together with Ayuzawa and Kuyomi, I delayed the thought for another time. After all, we were about to go shopping for our entry into the dungeon as a party for the first time.

The Armis district was really close to Rozenburgh, so we made it there in about 15 to 20 minutes by foot. Throughout the entire journey I can hear rumors flying around about me and the looks that were foreign to me… this will take awhile to get used to.

Arriving at Armis district there was a huge arch leading in as an entrance to Armis from Rozenburgh, the arch was made from magical stones, this made it so that it lit up no matter what time of the day with a bright deep purple and blue. We didn't manage to catch it at that time as it was in the afternoon, but even in the day it looks amazing.

As we entered through the arch, it was like a new world appeared, I’ve never been to Armis by myself before, so this was a first time to me. I only ever managed to stay in Rozenburgh, there was no reason for me to travel to Armis, but I heard rumors that it was a dazzling district, I always wanted to enter it.

Through the arch, there were shops lined up all around, it looked like it was endless, and in the center of Armis, there was a skyscraper. It looked like it went up 200 stories high, it was beneath the clouds. The skyscraper was made of what looked like stainless steel? I couldn’t really tell. It looked so smooth and it shined of the environment.

The skyscraper was the famous skyscraper named “Scandelier” it was the skyscraper which held the highest end gears from the top blacksmithing guilds and traders.

But aside from that, all of the buildings by the roadside looks amazing too. There was always a feel of a bazaar at Armis. The shops were all 3 levels high on all sides. There were amazing looking stores that sold, food, clothes, armors and weapons.

As we walked through Armis. I felt a little sad, it was sad seeing all this goods such as proper clothes and armor that I could never afford. After all, I was still wearing my sew fitted clothings.

Kuyomi and Ayuzawa dragged me holding each side of my hands into a clothes shop, they had a look of happiness on their faces.

“What’s this? Why are you girls dragging me into the shop? I don’t have any money to afford this.”

“Hehehe, well you see Fenix, remember how you defeated the floor boss?”

“Yeah, I remember, why? What happened?”

“The thing is, the crystal it dropped was worth quite a sum.” Kuyomi said as she opened a small bag she was carrying.

There was 7 platinum coins inside and 9 gold ones. This was worth a total of 790,000 eliets.

“Wh...WHATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT?”

“We kept it as a surprise, after you defeated the boss, we took the crystal and went to a crystal exchange, it took awhile, but after it was appraised. They said that the crystal was worth a total of 790,000 eliets and asked if they wanted to trade it in. So obviously, we did! That’s the story of how we now hold 790k eliets.”

“With this money, we could do a lot of things. So we both agreed that the first thing we should do was buy you a new set of clothes, yours have been tattered for years now. It’s barely even a shirt if you ask me.”

“Wait, with this money, I could buy a whole new set of equipment, I could get you guys some new items too. We should go ahead and do that, no point just stacking up on potions as our original plan to head down lower, let’s get you girls some new equipment, mostly you Kuyomi.”

“Before we do that, let’s get you some new wear.” Ayuzawa said with a smile on her face.

We walked into a shop on the street that seemed like a fabric shop, a shop that sells clothes, tailor materials and custom made tailoring.

“Irasshaimase!” the shop attendee welcomed us with glee.

“Is there anything I can do for yo-....... AREN’T YOU THE INSANE ROOKIE? THE ONE THAT REACHED LEVEL 2 IN 2 DELATES?”

“Ermmm, yeah.” I responded with a disturbed smile.

It seems like word really spread, it was not even a full 24 hours since that event happened and it seemed like the whole district already knew about it.

“What can I do for you? I’m all the more interested in making business with you.”

“I’m looking for new wear? Perhaps, a new shirt and new pants? As you can tell this aren’t really in good shape.”

“New shirt and new pants, do you want tailored ones or do you want ready made ones?”

“Anything that doesn’t cost much please.”

“Hmmm, for now let’s start you out with ready made clothings, I have a ton of ideas that may go well with you. They cost roughly about 70,000 Eliets. Is that okay for you?”

“70,000 … that will be okay. Could you also get new clothes for my party member? Kuyomi,” I said that as I dragged Kuyomi by her shoulders in front of me.

“EHHHHH… I don’t need any new clothes Fenix, my clothes are fine as they are.”

“Fine? Look at all those scratches and slight holes you have in them, your clothes looks like you had been through a lot, I understand that feeling, I don’t want you to go through that. No matter what you say I’m getting you new clothes okay?”

“With that being said could you get her new clothes too? We can start out with ready made clothes. Tailored clothes might take long and cost more. Maybe in the future, how much will her clothes cost?”

“For someone with her build, the clothes will cost around 120,000 Eliets.”

....

“Th-that’s fine…” I tried my best to say without any form of emotions.

Kuyomi looked at me with guilt in her eyes.

“It’s okay Kuyomi.”

After many changes and alterations. There was 2 outfits left for Kuyomi to choose from.

The first one, Kuyomi had a beautiful blue one piece there was an opening in the center of the dress that exposed her midriff, and it scaled down her, having slits on the side of the dress which allowed her thighs to be visible. Kuyomi looked beautiful, the top was cropped, leaving her cleavage visible, her shoulders were bare, the dress also had arm rings at the side of them that was connected to the center part.

When Kuyomi came out of the dressing room at the back, it stunned me. She had beautiful dark blue hair that flowed down to her waist. And her beautiful Azure eyes. With her slender body. Absolutely…

“Beautiful…” the words came out of my mouth without me knowing it.

Kuyomi suddenly flicked her gaze of me and started glowing red.

… “Wait… did I say that out loud?....”

“I’M GOING TO GO TRY THE OTHER OUTFIT NOW.”

The other outfit, was stunning blue/red dress. It had frills on the edges and it was more girly like. In comparison to the more skimpy dress from before.

“I think this one looks better on you Kuyomi-chan.”

“I agree too. The last one was probably too uncomfortable for you to wear. When you came out, you had a pretty flustered expression you on.”

“I’ll get the last one!”

“Hmmm? Although everyone else agreed that the one you’re currently wearing looks better? You sure?” Ayuzawa was pondering.

“Yeah I’m sure.”, ‘Fenix said that I looked beautiful in that after all.’ Kuyomi had a face of pure happiness.

As for me...

“Could i just get that actually? They look like they fit me well.”

“Sure, I’ll get the items ready for you to try them out in the changing room”

*Swoooosh*

“What do you guys think?”

“Uwooooo, you look really good in that Fenix”

“Kuyomi agrees, Fenix looks cool.”

Hahahah you guys really think so?

The outfit I chose was a white bottom and white top. They had black pattern marks on them. And I wore a black/white vest above it. The vest was meant to be kept open. I already had white shoes, so this was a rather good fit. As for my looks, I had silver/cyan, I do not understand how I have cyan in my hair as I never had anyone in my family tree who did.

“Ayuzawa? You sure you do not want to get a new outfit? I wouldn’t mind.”

“I’m fine Fenix, don’t worry about me, my clothes are pretty good too, I’m not really looking to change them.”

“Alright if you say so.”

To the cashier we go then.

“Total will be 190,000 Eliets!”

“Eh? I thought you said that it would be around 70,000 for me and 130,000 for Kuyomi. Doesn’t that make it 200,000 Eliets?”

“Yup, that’s correct but in hopes for further business, I’ve decided to give you a discount of 10,000 Eliets.”

“That’s not really necessary, but since you offered, I will accept it. I will definitely come back for further business with … how do I address you?”

“My name is Hisa Fukui, calling me Hisa would do.”

“Ah okay then, Hisa, glad to do business with you, we shall return another day.”

“Thank you for your patronage, have a good day ahead.”

Hisa sent us out to the front door with our new looks.

“Okay, so next, is getting some potions, I’m not very good at this but what kind of potions do you think we should get?”

“There are a lot of different types of potions, there are potions for health, those are generally called the healing pots, but there are 5 tiers to them. The first tier, heals 99% of your injuries, those are the most expensive pots. The second tier, heals 80% of your injuries, third, 60%, fourth tier heals for 35% and the last tier heals for 10%. The mana pots also have the same 5 tiers and potency effect for them.”

“Just a question? How much do those tier 1 potions cost?”

“They cost about 1,000,000 Eliets per bottle.”

…

1………… 1 million? That’s even more than the floor boss. That’s insane. With 1 million, you could get a house in District 3-6. That’s an insane amount.

“... and the lowest tier ones?”

“Those sell for about 1,000 Eliet per piece. But I suggest we get the tier 4 potions and some tier 3 incase of emergency.”

“And how much are those?”

“Tier 4 sells for about 5,000 per piece and the tier 3 one sells for about 20,000 per piece.”

“If that’s the case, can’t we just buy low tier potions and stack them? Unless they don’t work that way, like for example, 10% is an absolute value, so that means that if your 100HP and you lose 99, you use a Tier 4 potion and you get back 10HP, so now you would have 89HP, but when you use it again, it only heals 10% of that 89hp, so that’s only 8.9HP, 9HP basically. And as it keeps getting higher, the potency of that potion becomes worse.”

“That’s absolutely correct Fenix, but that’s not all, potions have a debuff effect on them, so that means that when you use a potion, you can’t use another potion, the effect of that potion get diminished or the effects are completely wiped off. That’s why the top tier potions are worth a lot of money, not to mention the ingredients needed to create one of those are extremely rare. It takes about 5 minutes for the debuff of the potion to go away.”

“I see, if that’s the case like you said, we should get some higher tier potions just incase anything urgent comes out and we can’t wait for that 5 minutes debuff.”

“Are there any other potions?”

“Yes there are, quite a variety in fact. There are potions that rose your stats, and potions that increase your movement speed. This potions have tiers to them too. But there are 2 different types of movement potions. One that adds bass movement, and the other that add movement based on your agility points. Usually, 10 agility points = 1 movement point. As some people have lower stats, the base movement potions would be a better buy instead of the percentage of stats to increase movement points. But, as you guessed it, the percentage movement potions are more effective to the top tier people whilst the base movement is more effective for the average adventurer. Due to its demand, base movement speeds are more expensive generally in comparison to the percentage based ones.”

“Okay, so we have a remaining of 600,000 eliets after buying new clothes. We should probably stock up on some potions and get new armor.”

The three of us headed to the armor shop.

“Kuyomi, I want you to get some armor, you don’t have armor ever since the last I saw you. It doesn’t need to be heavy.”

“Armor is expensive Fenix, you need it more than I do!”

“I’m going to get my own don’t worry about it, and more like, I don’t want to see you get hurt. So don’t contest okay? Please just get some armor.”

“Ayuzawa, you’re fine right? Or do you need armor too?”

“I’m okay, I have my own armor, my cape is also a protective sheet.”

“What does that mean?”

“This cape, it blocks out low level elemental attacks and physical attacks. When physical attacks come I just have the will for the cape to defend me and it will harden like some sort of steel? And low level elemental attacks vanish upon touching the cape. So I’m good for the lower levels.”

“Oooooooo! That sounds really cool, could we get capes like that too? Do you know anyone who has that?”

“Capes like this come at quite a price, but their pretty cheap. Maybe about 200,000 eliets per piece.”

“... Pretty cheap… sureeeeeeeeeeeeee.”

*ding ding*

We opened the door to the armor shop, as usual, most of the shops had a bell aligned to the door so that when anyone opened it anyone who was attending the shop would know about it.

“Irasshai! How may I help yo------- ISN’T THAT THAT INSANE RECRUIT THAT LEVELED UP TO LEVEL 2 IN 2 DELATES?”

….

I guess it happens everywhere *Facepalm*

“Yeah, could I get some armor for this girl and me? I was searching for a kind of cape like she has.”

“Ahhh the Realis Cape.”

“Realis Cape?”

“Yup, those are the types of cape that can turn into steel at the owners will and dissolve low level elemental attacks upon contact. You looking for those? I have 2 of them.”

“That’s perfect, how much are they?”

“They each sell for 210,000 eliets. But if you buy them both I’ll sell it to you for 400,000 eliets. What do you say?”

....

600,000 minus 400,000 is 200,000………….. All the money went down so fast, we also need to save for expenses for the day. But I guess we’ll be going down later into the lower floors to get some income for daily expenses. Shouldn’t be a problem, the main focus here is to make sure everyone in my party is safe.

“Okay, deal. We’ll get both of them.”

Upon putting them on…

“Wow, they actually feel really comfy, they are so fluffy? Feathery like material.”

“Yeah, they are… this feels so comfortable.”

“So how do we change this to steel?”

“Just imagine that you’re under attack, and you want the cape to protect you, if you have a thought like that you should be able to change it to steel, or you could just imagine your cape being steel.”

“Hmmmmmmmmm…”

Steel Steel…. CAPE BE STEEL

…….

“It’s not working, am I doing something wrong? Kuyomi how’s your end?”

“It’s not working for me either.”

“Ohhh dear, I forgot, the cape has to be attuned to you.”

“Attuned to me? So as in?”

“Basically, you have to pour your energy into the cape, just focus your energy that’s around you into the cape.”

“Focus my energy huh…”

Focus my energy…

Focus…

Focus…

I had my eyes closed, but to the others seeing me, a cyan light lit up my body and entered the cape.

It was as if the cape was empowered, the cape now had a cyan shade to the cape and the guild engraved itself to the center of my cape.

“Ohhhhhh, that’s the first time I’ve seen such a soul infusion.”

“Soul infusion? Is that what I just did?”

“Yup, a soul infusion is when you infuse your soul into a certain part of your equipment. Making that equipment a soul equipment. This equipments are usually more priced to personal value, but when it comes to the market, they mean nothing. As the soul equipment only resonates with the owner. But I can’t believe I saw it with my own eyes. Soul equipment also has special functionalities, like for example, this cape was only meant to be able to dissolve low elemental attacks whilst being able to change into steel to block physical attacks. I’m sure your cape is more powerful than that now, it’ll take the shape of your soul. Attempt it, try calling forth your defensive powers of this equipment.”

Cape, I believe in you, transform into something that will protect me and my guildmates.

*Shine*

When I wished for it, my cape turned into a cyan blue crystal form.

“Cyan Blue crystal form, I’ve never seen that before. It might be similar to diamond? Those diamond capes cost around 1,000,000,000 Eliets. Their so strong that they block attacks even from floor bosses down to the 40th floor.”

I feel that this cape has more to offer. I tried swinging it around when it wasn’t in its crystal form. And when I was thinking of using it for something.

*Wave*

*Fwwoooooosh*

A giant cyan wind came out of my cape.

“WOAAHHHHHHHH, OOPS SORRY!”I apologized frantically as all of the equipments in the shop fell due to the huge wind that came out of my cape.

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it. Those are armor that won’t be broken from just dropping, if that’s the case, they would be trash.”

I said that as I helped the shop owner pick up all of the armor I dropped.

“Okay Kuyomi! Your turn.”

“Okay Fenix, I shall try my best.”

‘Powers hiding inside of me, please come out and help me’

A dark purple light came out from Kuyomi, this light engulfed Kuyomi for a second before entering her cape.

“Woahhh, was that what I looked like when I tried that?”

“Almost, but your color was Cyan.”

And just as me, Kuyomi’s cape grew a dark purple shade and the guild’s logo engraved on the center of the back of her cape.

“Kuyomi, try changing your cape to a shield.”

‘Focus…’

‘Focus…’

‘Focussss…’

‘Cape, please be a shield to protect’

*Shine*

Almost similar to mine, Kuyomi had a dark purple crystal form of her cape.

“Dark purple, I don’t know of any crystal that might be similar.”

“Kuyomi, try swinging your cape gently and a short bit while thinking it can do something else.”

Kuyomi did as I said, and when she did. A tiny black hole came out of her cape, that tiny black hole alone was already pulling us in.

“Kuyomi try to stop that please… AND FAST.”

“Errrrr, errrrrrr ERRRRRR. I DUNNO HOW TO?”

……..

The black hole was gradually growing bigger and I can start to see the weapons of the shop slowly pulling into the black hole.

I called upon my cape to change into crystal and whacked it into the black hole that was gradually growing bigger.

*Clink*

As my crystal cape hit the black hole, the black hole broke as if it was glass into tiny remnants of purple ashes and disappeared into the atmosphere.

*Phew*

“Imagine if that grew bigger”

“Another soul infusion? Soul equipments are so rare that even a big normal guild holds only 3 - 4 soul equipments. And you guys got 2 in just a flash without even knowing what it was. Who are you guys? I guess you don’t get level 2 in 2 delates just like that.”

“Hahaha, anyways thank you so much for the capes, we should head off now.”

“Thank you so much for the business. See you.”

“Alright, next to the potion store I guess, we have 200,000 Eliets remaining. I think we should save 50,000 Eliets incase, and spend the remaining 150,000 Eliets on potions. That would be a good choice I believe.”

“Alright, let’s go and do that then, I have a good potion shop to recommend you guys too.”Ayuzawa said as she lead us to the recommended shop.

*ding ding*

“Oh hello Mei-chan, you getting more potions today?”

*ding*ding*

We entered a little later than Ayuzawa, this caused the bell to ring again.

“Oh welcome guests, how may I help you?”

“Gracia-san, their with me, we are here to buy some potions today. Do you have Tier 3 and 4 potions available?”

“Oh they are with you? That’s fantastic, yes I do dear, we have more too.”

“Hello Gracia-san? Yeah, I have a total of 150,000 Eliets to trade potions for? Can you throw in a bunch of Tier 4s and some tier 3s? We’re about to head to the dungeon and we’d like to make sure we’re doing good on potions.”

“Yes of course, please give me a moment.”

Gracia walks to the back of the store to grab some potions for us.

“Ayuzawa, do you know who she is?”

“Yeah, I came here often when I was a low level adventurer, she’s been selling me potions ever since I was level 1. I frequent here a lot. She’s also helped me in times of needs.”

“I see.”

“Alright here are your potions. 5 tier 3 potions and 15 tier 4 potions.”

5 tier 3 potions and 15 tier 4 potions. That should be 100,000 and 75,000 Eliets.

“Wait Gracia, I said I only had 150,000 I cannot afford this.”

“Oh, how should I address you?”

“My name is Fenix no last name, so Fenix would do.”

“Fenix-kun then, Fenix-kun, I will give you all of this for 150,000 eliets. Don’t worry about it, young adventurers need to take care when they’re down there, I’m willing to give you this extra 5 tier 4 potions.”

“... Okay, since you said so I shall take your offer.”

Kuyomi?

“Kuyomi? Why are you staring at the potions like that.”

“Ah, Fenix, I was wondering how are we going to carry those.”

“Ohhhhhhh, I didn’t think about that.”

“Do you guys not have a potion holder? Those that are at your thighs.”

“No? What are those?”

“They are little bands that are tied to your thighs with slots to fit in potions. They are important as they make sure that you don’t waste space in your bag and they are of easy access to reach when you need them. Gracia-san sells them. You need them? They go for cheap 5,000 Eliets per piece.”

“Money again ==.......... I guess it’s not like we really have a choice, Gracia-san, could you please get 2 sets? One for me and one for Kuyomi here.”

“Okay alright, so a total of 160,000 Eliets please.”

As I paid the money to Gracia I fitted the bends, It was a set, 1 for each side of your thighs. They hold a total of 10 potions on each side.

“Alright, before we leave, let’s give the potions to you guys.”

“5 tier 4 potions, and 2 tier 3 potions for each of you.”

“HUHHHH? If we get 2 tier 3 potions doesn’t that mean there is only 1 for you?”

“Yup, that’s correct. Is there a problem?”

“OF COURSE? YOU’RE THE FRONTLINE, YOU ALWAYS TANK DAMAGE AND YOU TAKE THE LEAST AMOUNT OF POTIONS? WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?”

“It’s okay Kuyomi, Ayuzawa. I’d much rather you guys have the potions. I’ll be okay. Trust me.”

…

“Haaaaaaa, it’s not like anything we say would convince you anyways.”

“Thank you Gracia-san for your generosity, we’ll be back again another time.”

The 3 of us waved goodbye and we left for the dungeon with brand new gear.