The man gestured over to a door to the right of his desk, standing slightly ajar. Now looking in that direction, I was further awestruck by the long hallway that extended far past the entrance way, the length of the entire building. He coughed to break me from my stupor, and I nodded to him, embarrassed.

After just a few steps I pushed the side door open, revealing a storage room of some kind. Boxes upon boxes were stacked from floor to ceiling, with open crates filling the gaps between them. A tap on my shoulder made me jump for the second time in the last minute, turning my head once again to reveal a young brunette with a smirk on her face.

~I thought they were supposed to surprise their targets, not recruits…~

“Sorry about that, didn’t mean to scare you. Old Man Willis wants you kitted out, does he?”

“I’M NOT THAT OLD, SARAH!” The voice of the man at the desk boomed, carrying through the doorway. Sarah’s smirk only grew, and she didn’t bother to respond to him. Her eyes narrowed, and she began to pace around me, intently examining every part of my body for several seconds. I grew increasingly uncomfortable, but just as I was about to say something she took a step back, disappearing into the stacks of boxes.

~Well that was… interesting.~

I stood where I was for a minute or so, hearing occasional rustling from deeper into the storage room, along with incomprehensible mumbling from Sarah. After a while, she reappeared, two boxes stacked between her arms. Setting them down in front of me, she opened them both, speaking to me as she did so.

“Close that door behind you, will ya? You’re going to need to get changed, don’t need Old Man Willis walking in on you.”

“STOP DISPARAGING ME AROUND THE NEWBIE, SARAH!”

“NOT A CHANCE, OLD MAN!” Sarah finally deigned to reply to Willis’ shouts, just as I closed the door and slid a bolt through the handle.

“Alright, strip and put these on. The basic stuff’s not great, so make sure you’re skinning your kills. With any luck you can pick up some crafting skills along the way, if not you’ll have to find someone to do the work for you.”

I began to undress, which only took a moment thanks to the barebones clothing provided by the game. Sarah laid out my new clothing as I did, and I took stock of what I could see:

- A fitted leather chestpiece, that would probably cover most of my torso.

- Various cloth wraps to serve as undergarments and other padding uses, not ideal but you had to give them props for realism.

- A wide leather strip to belt around my hips, emulating a skirt that would likely extend most of the way down my thighs.

- Two leather bracers for my arms, pretty self-explanatory.

- Two basic shoes, nothing but hardened leather - they’d be good enough.

“Damn, girl, I’m surprised you didn’t bring in a trail of guys behind you with that body.”

Sarah stood off to the side now, grinning at me as I stood there, now fully nude. I glared at her and blushed, hurriedly donning the cloth wraps for some modicum of modesty, avoiding her surprisingly lewd gaze as I rushed to put on the rest of the gear.

“Aw, you’re no fun. Still hot though.”

She pulled a cloth off of the wall in front of me, revealing a full-body mirror. I gazed at the reflection staring back at me, surprised by what I saw. My raven black hair framed a flawless face, with wide blue eyes, long lashes, and red lips. The top segment of the cloth wrap around my chest was visible above the leather chestpiece, providing some modesty and protection but unfortunately leaving little to the imagination. The chestpiece itself extended most of the way down my torso, but exposed my stomach since maintaining flexibility in that area would be almost impossible with leather. The leather strip made an adequate skirt, extending three-fourths of the way down my thighs, but nevertheless drew attention to my mostly-exposed legs. The “Badge of the Pack Leader” had been moved to the chestpiece, a pin on the back of it carefully slid through the leather to keep it secure.

~Well, the armor’s not totally useless, but I’d better not get hit in the stomach or legs if I don’t want to instantly die…~

Sarah proceeded to hand me a bow, a dagger, and a quiver full of arrows, showing me how to strap each one to my armor for convenience’s sake. Before long I was ready to go, though still extremely embarrassed.

“Good luck out there, kid, hope to see you around.”

She winked at me, and my blush returned as I nodded politely before quickly unbolting the door and stepping outside.

As I looked out into the hall, I saw a massive line at the desk, with Willis angrily speaking to a man at the front of the line.

“Fee’s 80 copper, kid. No copper, no membership.”

The man threw up his hands in disgust, turning away.

“Next please - ah, wait just a moment.” Willis caught my eye mid-sentence, and smiled in my direction. He stepped back to the wall behind him, lined with scrolls and “Wanted” posters. Plucking three scrolls off of the wall, Willis tossed them over to me.

“Three bounties in the Eastern Forest. They’re the best I’ve got, Pack Leader, good luck.”

I returned the smile and slid the three scrolls into a pouch at my side, before making my way to the door under the hostile gazes of all those standing in line. Their stares were a mix of envy and lust, with the latter element far more disturbing to me than the former - Ambush had made me well-used to envy, but the tactical gear of such a game made sex appeal less of a priority - not to mention the fact that I had been 14 when I started Ambush. Nevertheless, I ignored them all, striding out the door. Once I had left the building, I checked my map and took off at a run for the nearest cartographer’s shop. On the way, I took the time to take an in-depth look at all my stats, since it was a reasonably long run.

[Romula - Classless, Level 1]

Titles:

: Unique title granted by item “Badge of the Pack Leader”. Effects: Relations (Hunter’s Guild) +100

: Rank granted by Hunter’s Guild, Effects: Grants ability to complete Basic-rank Hunter’s Guild assignments

Equipment:

Cloth Wraps, Basic - Level 1 Damage Resistance, Chest

Leather Chestpiece, Basic - Level 2 Damage Resistance, Torso

Leather Skirt, Basic - Level 2 Damage Resistance, Thighs + Hips

Leather Bracers, Basic - Level 2 Damage Resistance, Forearms

Leather Shoes, Basic - Level 2 Damage Resistance, Feet

Longbow, Basic - Basic Ranged Weapon

Dagger, Basic - Basic Melee Weapon

[Attention Player! Please note that non-Unique items that were not crafted by a player or NPC will not show specific stats. They will only show general descriptions, like the equipment listed above.]

~That explains what Sarah said about skinning kills…~

~Though, again, I’m eager to see what they do to balance for a pro scene…~

It was at this point that a feeling of dread began to wash over me, despite the beautiful scenery that passed swiftly by as I rushed to the cartographer’s shop. Would there even be a pro scene at all? Would the rumors prove to be false, and simply waste my time?

~No use dwelling on that for now.~

I arrived at the shop in a matter of moments, glancing up at the sign on the door before slipping inside without a second thought.