Lucille disabled Abigail’s flames with a glance and caught her with ease, “Stop letting your aggression override your reason. You could have just killed John.”

“You’re right, I’m sorry,” the fiery girl calmed down, the blaze around her subsiding. She turned from the elf to the smug scum sitting in front of them.

“What a situation you have found yourselves in! Now if you would kindly untie my legs, I will leave you,” he struggled against the bonds around his legs, not knowing how to untie them.

“I don’t think so,” Lucille sneered, wrapping a length of rope around his arms again before he could react. “There are plenty of ways for me to cause you pain without causing you serious injury, and John’s not conscious to feel it. Are you sure this is a game you want to play?”

“I did not think of that. A regenerative elixir you say?” His restrained hands still held the crosses, and John’s hand disappeared into the air as he grabbed a potion out of his inventory.

“Now make him drink it,” the elf lightly drew the tip of the knife over his chest, shredding the dress shirt beneath his vest.

“Hands off the new clothes!” he complained, making John drink the potion in question. At once the Gamer’s eyes shot open, eyes darting around as he was still under the puppeteer’s control. Most of his vision was blocked by a pop-up.

You have moderate potion sickness! The effects of all potions are cut in half! -10% to all stats! Each further potion consumed will deal (Number of potions consumed in the last 24 hoursx2)% damage of your remaining health.

“Release him, now!” Lucille demanded, surprised when the man shook his head in response.

“You’re going to hurt me if I do! I tried to betray you, and your friends really don’t like me. What insurance do I have that I won’t be hurt if I release him?” The man struggled in his bonds, and his eyes widened as moments before impact he saw electricity through the open doorway. A powerful bolt destroyed the entire front of the house. The shock was enough for the Puppeteer to drop his crosses, freeing John.

“What the hell!” Grace yelped, backing away from the part of the house in question. John invited them all back into his party. He felt like shit, but didn’t have time to complain as Discordance warned of incoming danger.

“We’ve made a lot of noise and a lot of smoke. Makes sense people would seek out those tired from doing real tasks to cheat a win out of,” John steadied himself against the wall as a wave of nausea ripped through him, but fought through the pain.

“I’m taking their ID cards,” John used Theft on both the Puppeteer and the Charmer. It hadn’t seen much use in a long time, but neither of them had many items that didn’t count as equipped, and so he was lucky enough to get their cards and a level up.

Theft level up! You may now select which item you steal (cannot steal equipped items).

Optional objective complete: eliminate another pair of applicants!

“Illusion guy, we did your task, so you need our ID numbers, right? Your explanation didn’t include staying the night,” he threw a Charm in as insurance, and the man nodded.

“I guess you’re right. I’m getting out of here too. Since you two had your fight because of an outside cause after your job was finished, I’ll only mark you for the damage done during your actual test,” sighing with exhaustion despite not having done much, the man listened to their ID numbers. He pulled back a sleeve to reveal a silver bracelet with a blue gem in the middle and tapped it, teleporting to safety.

Optional objective complete: Prevent the tribe of savage vampires from destroying Meul Village!

“Alright, we all have what we need, this village is headed the way of the dodo, and I have a plan. Grace, hop on my back,” John ordered, taking Abigail and Lucille’s hands in each of his.

“What’s your plan?” the elf asked, looking up at him. Surprised by the attack and used to obeying him, the Brit did as she was told.

“Run away!” John answered, putting all of his mana into a Jump as the roof above them collapsed. They landed at the edge of the village, still in danger. Despite the risks, John took a Mana Potion out of his inventory and used Move to uncork and drink it. He suffered through the resulting pain in his stomach, using a Jump with all of his mana again.

“Someone take Grace… I’m too weak,” John kneeled to let the Brit off him, spitting on the ground. The mucus was tinted a deep red.

“I can run!” the Brit complained, dropping off him. Abigail picked her up despite her complaints.

“Maybe, but not as fast as I can run with you on my back,” the brunette waited for John to get back up before taking off together. Lucille was a mere observer, watching everything happen. Together they ran into the forest, away from the deathtrap of a village they had defended.

“So, you don’t have a shirt, that’s new,” John leaned against a stump, feeling better on the soft ground. They had run for at least an hour, though they had definitely lost any pursuers far before. All exhausted, they decided to set up camp where they dropped. Since it wasn’t a clearing, Abigail and Lucille made it one as they destroyed the trees at their bases, leaving stumps behind. They made a campfire in the middle of these stumps, resting in the comfort of its heat.

“You kind of destroyed it in our fight,” the brunette explained, tossing a smoldering chunk of wood into the fire.

“Ah, sorry about that. I can probably fix it if you have the scraps. Should do the same for my duster. You sure did a number on it,” he looked at his coat, now more of a ragged vest.

“Some are tied around you, these are the rest,” Abigail took the material out of her pants, passing the shreds to him. He took out the Shroud of Shadows and the materials he had gotten from their forest barrier as supplemental material before getting all the pieces of her vest together and using Craft.

Flame-Blessed Garb
A small vest blessed by the Goddess Vesta and gifted to the Firenzia family to help them live with the curse laid on them by Cacus. Allows the clothes to morph into flame and back to solid material along with the wearer.
Cost: Blessed Scraps, 400 MP
Craft? [Y]/[N]

Flame-Blessed Leaf Blouse
Cloth blessed by Vesta woven together with leaves from an Ancient Treant. Allows the clothes to morph into flame and back along with the wearer. When struck, the material reacts by turning harder than steel. In either state the leaves are more flexible than the cloth parts of the dress. Despite being made of leaves, it’s totally immune to flame. The dark brown cloth compliments the deep green leaves in a way that makes this blouse appealing to the eye.
Cost: Blessed Scraps, 3 Iron Wood, 20 Steel Leaves, 200 MP
Craft? [Y]/[N]

Flame-Blessed Shroud
Cloth blessed by Vesta stitched into the Shroud of Shadows. Allows the Shroud to morph into flame and back along with the wearer. When even partially in the shade, the wearer becomes completely invisible. The brown patches woven into the cloak gives the wearer an impoverished look.
Cost: Blessed Scraps, Shroud of the Shadows, 200 MP
Craft? [Y]/[N]

“Okay, so I can remake your vest exactly as it was, but I have two alternatives here,” John slid over the three pop-ups to Abigail, who looked over them with an intense stare. Grace sat by, fast asleep. Lucille had left shortly after the fire got going, not saying where she was going or when she’d be back.

“I’m not supposed to mess with it… it’s a family heirloom. My sister’s outfit has half the cloth given to us, and mine has the other half. Still… it’s better, and I kinda want a wardrobe change…” She looked at the windows deep in thought, sliding over the third. “Definitely not that one. At least with the second one it’s still mostly what it was. That one makes it something completely different. Do you think you could make it back into its original form after weaving the leaves into it?”

“Probably, yeah. It’d take a lot of mana though,” he laid further back, shifting so his head could avoid the tree stump. What a day. It’s been more intense than any of the training I’ve ever had. Will it be like this when I’m a bounty hunter?

“Alright, do it!” Abigail bubbled, passing the pop-up back over to him. He tapped yes, and watched as a mass of leaves floated into the air with the fabric. The cloth unwound into string, forming a frame for the eventual blouse first. A checkered pattern of leaves and cloth filled it in, the cloth forming the lines between the boxes of leaves and lining the interior of the shirt, making it just as comfortable as her old one. The wood slowly floated toward the nearly completed clothing, taking the form of the buttons.

The top floated gently down into John’s hands, and he silently passed it to the topless pyromancer. She regarded it for a moment with shining eyes before slipping it on. She got up and settled into a few stances, shadowboxing for a few minutes to test out the feel of it.

The gunman was almost asleep when he was tacklehugged, “I love it! It feels just like my vest! Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“No problem. I am the one that destroyed it after all.” John looked up at her to see that she was already distracted again, fiddling with the leaves on it. She poked them and watched as her finger slowly sunk in, then punched herself and winced as she drew her fist away, shaking it.

Looking back down, he used Craft on his duster. He had already put the other materials away, as he had no intention of editing his duster in any way.

Instantly repair Midnight Duster for 600 mana?
[Y]/[N]

He tapped yes and sighed in relief as his coat immediately turned to pristine condition around him and his mana neared zero. Lucille returned at the same time, looking down at them, “The area around us is clear. I see you’ve covered her modesty, good job. It’d be a good idea to sleep in shifts. Since you have potion sickness, you don’t have to take a shift, John.”

“I didn’t tell you I had that,” John replied, sitting up and looking at the elf from his baggy eyes. He appreciated the offer, but wasn’t sure he could accept it. I am the most tired I’ve been since getting my powers. Maybe it’s alright.

“I’ll take first watch! I want to move around in this a little more. I’ll keep my eyes on you guys though!” Abigail exclaimed leaving no room for argument as she flexed in her blouse. The elf simply nodded gratefully, unwrapping the blanket around her neck and settling it around her.

“We can share this if you want… it can get pretty cold,” she was blushing, but John didn’t even notice as he rolled next to her, lifting the blanket. He didn’t care for personal boundaries in the moment, and was quickly asleep.