An Unbound Soul

The same woman who conducted my armour measurements last season was on duty again at the delvers' guild store, and came bustling over as soon as she saw us.

"Well well, if it isn't Peter and Lucy. I've been looking forward to you showing up. Let's hurry and see how this looks on you."

Again, I wasn't really concerned how it looked... Armour was supposed to serve as protection, not fashion!

Before we could even respond, she bustled off into the back of the shop. Bustling appeared to be her ground state of being, walking normally not even considered an option. At least she was enthusiastic. She returned quickly, carrying a small pile of black leather with a helmet balanced on top. She pushed it into my arms and pointed me towards one of a pair of changing rooms.

"Well, go on then. Don't keep me waiting."

"Umm... How do I put it on?"

"Ah, right, you've not seen this sort of armour before. Don't worry, the comfort enchantment takes care of everything. Just slip it on, and hook the chest plate over the top afterwards."

Okay... that sounded a little weird, but she didn't seem concerned at all that I wouldn't be able to work it out, or that I'd need help, so it couldn't be too complicated. I stepped into the changing room where all thoughts of changing were immediately wiped from my mind by the presence of a full-length mirror. It was the first mirror I'd seen since my birth in this world. For the very first time, I could see a clear reflection of my face.

I already knew I shared the same dark brown hair and green eyes as my parents, my skin a little tanned from my time spent outdoors but not so much as Dad, who spent all day in the fields. Mum always told me I was beautiful, but she was my mother and was therefore expected to say that sort of thing regardless of any actual evidence to the contrary, and no amount of brainwashing would ever fix that. Dad had never really said anything either way. In fact, I looked pretty average. My face wasn't going to be launching any ships, but neither was there anything so bad about it that I felt it needed changing. I could see more of Mum in my face than Dad, but I definitely had his prominent ears. I smiled at the reflection, and for a moment I saw Mum's smile reflected back at me as clear as day. That made me feel weird; she was waiting for me right outside, so why did I need to get emotional at a mirror?

I shook my head and turned back to the pile of armour, which I'd left on a bench. The top piece was a helmet, and I could leave that till last. The next piece was a large and stiff plate. My best guess was that it was a breastplate, looking like it would cover from my neck down to my ribs. Any further down and it would restrict my flexibility. I wasn't certain that my guess was correct, though, despite it being one of the bigger pieces. This was going to be a serious jigsaw puzzle given the size of the pile...

The clerk's optimism was explained when I picked up the next piece, which turned out to be the entire remainder of the pile. I realised with equal horror and fascination that I was holding a full bodysuit, with even boots and gauntlets built in. There was a slit at the front from the neck down to the ribs, appropriately enough matching the breastplate which was obviously there to protect the weakness, but surely it was nowhere near enough for me to 'slip it on' as the clerk had worded it. It wasn't as if leather was stretchy. Or was it? I didn't know the exact effect of the comfort enchantment, or maybe dire wolves just had naturally stretchy skin somehow.

I couldn't just stand there staring all day, so I stripped off my regular clothes and stepped into the armour. It was weird, expanding around me just enough to squeeze myself in. It turned out that I really could just slip it on. No way was that natural; it must have been an effect of the enchantment.

There were eyelets around the entrance slit to tie it on—zips apparently not having been invented here—then there were clasps to hook on the breastplate afterwards. I looked in the mirror again and I had to admit, I really did look cute. There was a thin and flexible suit of leather underneath with thicker, rigid reinforcing plates attached in places that didn't need to bend. Several along my back, a couple on my arms, more on my legs. There were hooks of various shapes at the waist, obviously designed for the attachment of specific equipment of some sort. Everything was a clean matt black. Along with my small size, it made me look far more like some sort of cosplay assassin than any sort of mage.

While I looked cute, I felt something completely different. Supple black leather was pushing up against every millimetre of my skin, and I couldn't help but feel that back on Earth you'd get locked up for dressing a kid up like this. It was blatant fetish-wear! Shrink down the plates a bit to make them more ornamental than functional, maybe add some definition to the breastplate for a female version, and it would sell like hot-cakes on Earth for reasons completely divorced from protection. And now I had to wear it in front of people?!

"You okay in there? Need any help?"

Oops. I needed to drag my mind back out of the gutter and get back to the people waiting for me. It wasn't even as if I'd hit puberty yet... "I'm fine, just got distracted by seeing a mirror for the first time. Coming out now."

I grabbed my helmet and stepped out, causing Mrs Bustle to immediately squeal with delight. Actually, I should probably get her real name...

Adele, Human, Expert Tailor (6/36)

Oh? A third rank tailor? So someone else must have done the enchantment, but she probably made the armour herself. No wonder she was so proud of it. I gave them a twirl to show it off. As long as I ignored exactly what I was wearing, it really was very comfortable and didn't restrict movement at all, despite my fears when I ordered it. The comfort enchantment obviously had a welcome side effect of improved flexibility around the joints, because I could tell just by watching its movement that leather wasn't supposed to stretch and bend in that way.

Then Adele went and made things even worse by showing me which other plates detached, thereby permitting me to relieve myself in dangerous locations without needing to remove my armour. So not only was I wearing a full body leather suit, but it had easy access down there... And back in the winter, I was in a pub with a couple of dozen people wearing this same style of armour without noticing a thing... That was going to prove distracting now that I knew...

Next she made me don the helmet. It was a single rigid piece which nonetheless squeezed on easily with the aid of the enchantment, covering the back and top of my head, with flaps wrapping around the sides and covering my cheeks and chin. My eyes, nose and mouth were completely exposed, which was handy for such important activities as seeing and breathing, but did seem to be a major point of vulnerability.

Finally, she brought out a backpack. It was a sling style rather than fitting over both shoulders, which she said was to give me space to holster my staff. I'd be able to wear it diagonally across my back, sitting above the pack. Speaking of which, now that we were done with the armour, it was time to go and pick up my new staff. I stepped towards the changing rooms to switch my clothes back, but Adele interrupted me.

"You're heading straight to the guild from here, aren't you? You might as well keep your armour on then."

I blinked. I was going to have to go outdoors in this? Well, of course I was going to have to eventually, but now? I shivered slightly, feeling only slightly better than I would have if she told me to go out naked. Maybe I should have gone for chain mail or plate armour after all... No, however weird this was, it wasn't as bad as nappies. I coped with that, so I could do this too! I smiled and nodded and popped into the changing room to pick up my regular clothes, which I stashed in my new pack. Clad in my protective fetish-wear, I moved onwards to pick up my new weapon.

Unlike Adele, the clerk handling armaments didn't immediately recognise me, but it didn't take much explaining for them to realise who I was. There wasn't much call for child sized weaponry, after all. The staff turned out to be less interesting than the armour, but the skill involved in its creation was obviously far above my own. The wooden part of the staff was completely smooth, but still had enough friction to it that I didn't need to worry about my grip. There were no bands of metal reinforcement, but rather there was a narrow core of steel running the whole length, attached to caps of steel at both ends. The length was a tad longer than I was tall, so mounting it slightly diagonally on my back kept it a safe distance from the floor without sticking out too far in any other direction. In Earth units, it was about three centimetres in diameter and somewhere over a metre long.

The weight enchantment was cool. The whole thing seemed to weigh somewhere around ten kilos to start with, which wasn't an unbearable amount but would no doubt get annoying to carry around all day. With little more than a thought, I could halve that, making it far more comfortable to carry. With a thought in the other direction, I could raise it to somewhere around twenty. The speed with which it reacted was impressive, and with a bit of practice I could probably manage to start a swing while it was lightweight and increase its mass before impact, letting me combine the fast swing of a lightweight weapon with the momentum of a heavy one. I could probably do something similar with [Far Reach], letting me hit harder than the spell could normally support.

ding

Skill [Mana Control] advanced to level 10

Huh? Manipulating the weight involved [Mana Control]? Then my high level there combined with [Greater Mana Finesse] was probably the reason why the enchantment responded so fast. That gave me even more confidence that I could learn to manipulate the weight mid swing; buying the freshly unlocked [Greater Mana Control] would undoubtedly make it react even faster. Despite my combo of [Researcher] and [Jack of All Trades], I was in desperate need of more soul points; I had at almost twenty points' worth of unlocked skills now that I wanted to buy as soon as possible.

The final stop was at the delvers' general store, where my pack was stocked with miscellaneous magical crystals and other equipment. There was also a knife and a couple of potions that slotted into some of the grips at my waist.

It was my first time seeing a potion, and it was a lot smaller than I was expecting. They came in small metal vials rather than the bulbous glass potion bottles from a stereotypical fantasy. They were, however, the stereotypical fantasy colour of bright red, so Earth had got some things right at least. They were also apparently quite expensive at a couple of silvers each, unlike the crystals, which were dirt cheap at a couple of coppers apiece. No wonder everyone in the village used crystals in their day-to-day lives, but that I'd never seen a potion before. Apparently potions were made with alchemy skills, something else I'd have to tack to the end of my already extensive to-do list.

We were assured everything had already been paid for, so gave our thanks and set off for the delvers' guild.