As I traveled through the busy brick road of the capital I pondered on what to do for the next two days.

‘We could get something to eat. Preferably meat.’ Rye urged.

‘A snack doesn’t sound too bad right now.'

Walking to the closest food stand I could find that sold grilled meat, I ordered two servings.

After paying the stand worker a measly five coins he said, “It’ll be right out.”

He began grilling the meat over a wood fire and I walked over to stand to the side and wait. I could almost feel Rye drooling inside my mana core at the sight.

As he did that I looked at the people passing by and a duo of two men caught my eye. They looked like adventurers, both dressed in battle gear most likely suited to their fighting styles.

There was nothing interesting about them in the slightest, watching them pass by just helped me remember something.

I must’ve been gazing for a while, because I heard the stand working call out to me, “Here you are, young man. Hope you enjoy.”

Taking the two sticks of hot grilled meat off the stand worker, I asked, “Do you know of any armory shops nearby?”

The man wiped his hands with a rag, “There's a couple of them around these parts. Just keep going down this road and take a left.”

“Thank you, sir.”

As I was going where the stand worker said, I stepped to the side where there weren't a lot of civilians to let Rye out. When he hopped, out I tossed him his share of the meat.

“So what's up with the armory shop?” He asked, ask he chewed on the meat.

I had already taken a few bites myself, but I made sure my mouth wasn’t full when I spoke, “I need some new gear if I'm going to be an adventurer. I can’t just go out fighting beast in common clothes with just my dagger and magic. I’d look ridiculous.”

Looking down at my outfit, which screamed commoner, I let out a sigh.

I would’ve gone to Vorn for this type of stuff, but he’s only taking beforehand requests these days and I didn’t have time to wait.

“I guess that's true,” Rye said, finishing off his food, “Compared to the others at the introduction, you looked a little out of place.” He then hopped in body and his voice turned to that of some pillager pirate captain, ‘Onward to the armory shop.’

I went to the first armory shop I saw in sight. The door rung with chimes as I opened it and I was greeted by a store worker.

“Welcome to Ingot Armory, what can we help you with today?” The store worker asked. He was a rather old man, his voice thin.

Looking around anyone could tell this place sold more than just armor.

I saw many variations of swords spanning from broad to short displayed on the wall, along with bows, daggers, and spears. I even saw a ball and chain.

Darting my eyes around more, I noticed potions and elixirs lining shelves, these paired with beast stones and other artifacts unbeknownst to me.

“I was wondering if you sold any armor that would fit someone of my size?” I asked.

“Why, of course we do.” The old man gestured for me to follow him, “Right this way, young man.”

The old man lead me to a corner of the shop that housed armor of my size.

“Just have a look around and tell me if you like anything. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask.”

Nodding, I began rummaging through the items.

I saw plenty of full-set armors, but I wasn’t looking for anything too hefty.

I was looking for something light and easy to move around in, to complement my dagger.

After a few more minutes of looking around, I found something of interest.

It was a chest piece of black leather armor. It had a thin but durable silver-colored chest plate with similar-looking shoulder pads. It also came with a pair of black armor bracers that, after putting them on, fit like a charm.

Seeing this I was compelled to put on the rest of the armor and try some martial movements. It didn’t seem to have any drawbacks or restrict my movements.

‘What do you think, Rye?’ I asked.

‘It suits you. All the other stuff looks fit for tanks, heavy hitters, or aspiring knights.’

Taking off the armor I called to the old man, “I’ll take this one.”

He made his way over to us, “Ah I see. It comes with a pair of knee plates as well, I’ll fetch those for you.”

“Thanks,” I said.

The old man's eyes veered to my feet, “Don’t tell me you intend to train with those battered boots, young man?”

I was a little taken aback by his assumption, “Who said this was for was training?”

The old man showed a row of surprisingly white teeth, “I’ve seen many young lads come in here, after they first awakened, to get some gear so they can train to become adventures in the future. Is that not what you're doing?”

I chuckled, “Eh, something like that.”

“Well, whatever it is, you’ll need some new boots for sure. It's not going to be too long before one of your toes poke out.”

I looked down at my worn-out boots. This old coot. They don’t look that bad, do they?

‘Oh, they're bad.’ Rye teased, ‘You know, I was almost compelled to say something myself a while back, but didn’t want to hurt your feelings.’

‘Oh, shut up.’

I let out a throat-clearing cough, now a little embarrassed by my everyday footwear. “Where are the boots?”

He pointed behind me and to my right, “Right over there.”

Scanning the boots I decided to go with the regular black and they went with everything and matched my new armor.

‘Now that you got some new shoes, you should get one of those masks over there to hide your baby face. Maybe people won't bother you as much.’ Rye chimed.

‘That’s…actually not a bad idea.’ I admitted.

Heading over to the mask area, which was a little creepy in my opinion, I began searching through them.

Masks with the faces of goblins, horned pigs, orcs, and other weird beasts were displayed. I was hesitant to choose any one of them to wear around all the time. But something was placed with the masks that looked quite out of place.

Right to the left of the layout masks was a pitch-black cloak displayed on a wooden manikin.

I called to the old man once more, “What’s this cloak?”

“Found it interesting did you, lad? It's a nox cloak, made from the fur of a nox panther. It’s displayed with the masks as you see here because once you put on the hood, it covers your face in a veil of pitch-black darkness.”

Interesting.

“Can I try it on?” I asked.

“Be my guest. But if you do decide to buy it, you should know that it is one of our more expensive pieces.”

Slipping the cloak off of the manikin and putting it on, I noticed it was a little big on me. But I was sure if I was to put it over my new gear it would fit well. I put the hood over my head and used the shop windows to see my reflection.

It was true, I couldn’t see my face at all. All that the inside of the hood showed was a black shadow.

‘It's a cool look, but aren’t black cloaks Zeph’s thing?’

Ignoring Rye I instantly asked the old man how much.

“As we only have three of them and nox panthers are hard to come by, I’ll sell it for one silver.”

“Deal.”

After paying for everything the total came out to one silver and three copper coins, leaving me with one more silver and mostly iron coins.

“It was a pleasure doing business with you.” The old man said handing me all my items.

I put them all in my spatial ring and waved goodbye, “No, thank you.”

Leaving Ingot’s Armory the doors chimed once more.

‘That kept us busy for about an hour at least.’ I said, walking down the bricked road.

‘Where to now?’

I looked up and saw the sun getting ready to set. ‘There's really nothing left to do but wait. I was thinking of calling a carriage and heading home.’

Rye let out a yawn, ‘Sounds good.’

After ringing the doorbell of the manor a couple of times the door finally creaked open.

“Ah, your back,” Zeph said, welcoming me in. “Did you find out who would be assessing you?”

Walking in I responded, “Some women named, Aithne Cyrus. She’s quite interesting and apparently, she’s a Gold-rank adventurer.”

Hearing this, Zeph responded in a surprisingly serious tone, “A Cyrus? I’d be careful when taking the assessment then. They're quite ruthless, and I advise you not to show the full extent of your abilities around her if you want to stay on the down-low.”

“Do you know her or something?” I asked, curious as to why he was telling me all this.

“No, but I know her family, and they're quite influential. You don’t have to take my words to heart if you don’t want to, just some advice.” With this, he headed off.

I walked up the stairs straight to my room and got ready for bed.

“That was weird,” Rye said, getting comfortable at the end of my bed, “How strong do you think this Aithne chick is anyway?”

“Don’t know. I couldn't gauge her strength when I tried, and I think she noticed me trying to do so.” I said, laying down and rethinking the events. “I wasn’t planning on going all out at the assessment anyway, so we should be fine.”

Rye gave me a lazy, “mmhm.” And I reached to turn off my lamp.

It’ll be fine.