Outfitting

It was far from the first time in the past few days that John had been looked at as if he were a piece of meat, but it was arguably the most pleasant. He stood on the platform in the centre, whilst the four women in the room stood together and appraised him.

Asta was at the lectern, which turned out to be some kind of control panel, Velvet and Moira both stood beside the elegant enchantress, and Erica was slightly apart from the others, closer to the podium to the left.

“So, what is it that we’re working with? What kind of gear do you need, cutie?” It took John a few moments to realise that she was speaking to him, and a blush filled his cheeks despite his best efforts.

“Uh, I… I don’t actually know?” John frowned. It was somewhat disconcerting to have a fully fledged set of skills, yet have no idea how they worked together. Which reminded him. “Uh, actually, one second. I just remembered that I need to check my new skills before this.” He looked over at them, realising once again with a barely repressed squirm just how much he was the focus of attention right now. “I, um, I just need a minute or two?” He directed the question towards Asta. She nodded, a curious light coming to her eyes.

Putting the room full of unreasonably attractive women out of his mind for a moment - or, at least, trying to - John opened his character sheet, skimming over it quickly to see if anything had changed.

Nothing immediately stood ou- Wait, he definitely didn’t have a charisma that high before. He flicked over to his achievements menu, and opened whatever was there.

Achievement Unlocked! - I kissed a girl, just to try it.
Kiss a girl other than your mom
Honestly, I can’t give you shit for this one, you actually managed it pretty quick. Even if she was the one who kissed you, technically.
Rewards: +2 CHA, a pack of breath mints, Skill Unlock ‘Kissing’

That one was actually fairly nice. It did manage to make John curious about how having a skill would change that experience. A thought for another time.

Achievement Unlocked! - N, for Nurturing.
Kiss Velvet for the first time. A small act, yet a strong pact.
The path is chosen, do not deviate.
Rewards: +1 CHA, +0.5 inch dick size

Whereas that one was worryingly cryptic. It didn’t actually tell him anything, but the recurring format of the title was clearly spelling something. Again, something to consider another time.

At least that explained where the extra Charisma had come from, though John could honestly say he hadn’t noticed the change in his dick. A fact which made him realise that he hadn’t actually gotten off in almost three days - a feat unaccomplished since he’d hit puberty and learnt what masturbation was, more or less.

Shaking off that train of thought before the obvious conclusion happened whilst he was the centre of attention in a room full of attractive women, he refocused on his character sheet, opening each of his new skills of the past few days.

That one was exactly what he’d expected to see. What was surprising, somewhat, was the lack of any actual numbers or figures to share how much it boosted his stats, or what effects it had. Clearly, from what little he could remember when it had come over him, it had a fairly significant boosting effect. There was no way he could have had any chance against Toby and Bob, or Erica for that matter, without a major boost.

It seems he’d need to experiment to find the exact numbers he got when the skill was active.

All three of those were… simultaneously really, really fucking cool and quite underwhelming. He could see how each could be useful, but they were all so simplistic that some of the cool factor was taken. Especially considering the lacklustre descriptions. And again, it lacked any actual numbers, like how much Power Strike increased the damage by.

His consideration of how exactly to test these things was interrupted by the cheeky craftswoman, “Well, handsome? You done fiddling with the air yet, or should we leave you to it?”

John blushed again. “N-no! I, uh, I think I have it sorted. So…” He paused for a moment. “...Actually, Erica, Moira? You’ve both seen me, uh, fight, right? Did you notice anything that looked like I did an impossible jump? O-Or like I was, uh, immovable?”

Erica gave him a look. “Dude… Do you not remember?”

“....Should I be able to remember?” John cringed a little as Erica groaned and ran her fingers through her hair. “I’ve only used the whole rage thing three times, and I only remember one of them. Is that not normal?”

She frowned. “Don’t worry about it, nothing’s wrong. I just need to think about it. I’ll explain more later, ‘kay?” She waited for his slow, uncertain nod. “To answer, yeah, you had some weirdness like that. I tried to pick you up at one point and it was unreasonably difficult.”

Moira chimed in, “I also happened to notice that you leapt unusually far and powerfully for what you’re currently displaying.”

The enchantress spoke up again, “Yeah, I was sorta curious, I’ll admit. Handsome here might be a snack with two c’s, but he hardly appears to be a combatant. The fact that he’s here, not at your mansion, means that he’s not an Order prodigy or some jazz.” She turned from Moira and nodded at Erica, expression thoughtful. “You’re a hell of a bombshell, but he’s not with you, or you wouldn’t be so surprised.” She finished turning to face Velvet, a curious smile on her face. “You? It can’t be your father’s lot, or he’d be here himself to cover the cost. Whatever have you been up to that leaves him trusting cutie over there with your safety?”

The blind brunette blushed brilliantly. “Nevermind that! Just… help him with equipment!”

Whilst it filled Asta’s face with a wide smug smirk, Velvet’s request did steer her back to the topic at hand. “Alright, alright… So, what’re we looking at, buddy? What kinda outfitting we need to do? Am I looking at a spellslinger, a technomancer, maybe an archer?”

John exchanged cautious glances with the other women in the room, ending with Velvet before remembering she couldn’t actually lock eyes with him. Despite that, she quietly said“You can trust her, John. She’s… honestly, she’s my best friend. I trust her.”

John looked back to Asta. She raised one eyebrow with curiosity at the interaction. John sighed a little. “I’m a late bloomer with some weirdness about instantaneous healing, but I’m mainly a berserker.” That finally got the smug smile to drop from her face, a disbelieving shock taking its place. “And before you ask, yes, I’m sure. Now… uh, what would you suggest?” Sheepishness took over his self-assuredness at the end, but it seemed to work for Asta.

“I… uh, okay, wow. I have just so many questions, but I’ll save it. Um, well, what I’d usually offer melee fighters is some leather or manaweave armour, as well as a sturdy, if simple, weapon. The weapon would usually be of their choice, because of fight styles and such. But…” The enchantress frowned thoughtfully.

“But…?” John asked, then worked it out. “Ahh. I guess the healing thing is throwing you off for the armour?”

She nodded. “Amongst other things. Do you suppose you could show me how this healing ability works? Because, if it’s fast enough and strong enough, then armour might be pointless here when mixed with how rough and tumble ‘zerkers usually are.”

“Uh… sure?” John looked around uncertainly, then turned back to her. “Umm… How, exactly?”

Asta snapped her fingers. “Oh, of course. My bad. You’re here to get weapons and equipment, why would you already have something? Gimme one second.”

With a completely casual air, she pulled off her hat in a practised motion, then shoved her entire arm into it. She then proceeded to rummage around in the hat for a few seconds, before letting out a little ‘aha’ and pulling out a sheathed knife, which she then tossed over to John where he stood on the podium, before returning the massive hat to her head in a sweeping motion.

John caught the knife and stared at her.

She looked around, then back at him. “What?”

“Did you just… pull a knife out of… your hat?”

“Well… yes? I have a pocket space in there.”

“...In your hat?” John asked, incredulously. “Surely there are more convenient ways to access pocket spaces?”

“Well, I suppose there are, but I like the hat.”

John took a breath to continue trying to argue the point, then shook his head and blew it past his lips. There were better things to do right now.

He lifted, then unsheathed the knife and looked at it for a moment, considering. Then he placed and tugged the blade across his arm.

-5 HP

A streak of shiny red bloomed in the wake of the shining steel. John followed the bloody marking with a strange sense of detachment for a moment. Then the pain registered.

Almost instantly, muscles tightened, eyes narrowed, teeth ground against one another. Blood began to gush from the cut, pumped faster by the tensing. A growl rumbled in his chest. His jaw locked. Red filled the edges of his sight. It was all he could do to resist the unnaturally instinctive response.

And then, just as suddenly as it had happened, it stopped. A glow of red flashed along his arm, and the cut disappeared.

John rolled his neck and shoulders, releasing the tension that had built up, and gently resheathed the knife. He looked up at Asta. “Well? Get what you wanted?”

Slightly breathlessly, the enchantress replied, “And then some. This is truly remarkable…”

“What is?” John asked, a hint of worry entering his tone.

“The pad that you’re standing on, it’s more than just an outfitting stage. It’s also a sensor that I use for the hyper-specialised projects I work on for private clients. So, the magic behind what just happened to you was recorded. Or, should have been. Whatever you’ve got going on is so remarkably intricate that I couldn’t track everything, only the surface level. It’s like… It’s like looking at a tapestry. All you can see is the image it shows, not the thousands of weaves behind it which form the result. And you’re the most intricate weaving I’ve ever seen outside of lectures. Hmm…” Asta’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully.

“She’s not kidding, dude, her display thingy here went haywire ‘soon as you started,” Erica chimed in.

“So… Asta? What, uh, what’s your plan now?” John asked, pulling the cheeky craftswoman out of her thoughts.

“Huh? Oh, yeah. Hm. I can’t rightfully offer you any armour that I can make in this workshop. Realistically, my setup here is… Nevermind that. Basically, anything I could make for you is redundant compared to that super-heal you’ve got. It’d be in tatters in no time, with you being a berserker. Probably have more protection by wearing the cash itself.”

“Alright… W-what about weapons? Fair warning, I, uh… don’t really know what’ll suit me best, so… I’ll let you judge that.” John sheepishly smiled and rubbed the back of his neck.

“Hm. Well, originally, I was just gonna throw my usual entry-level craft with a personalised enchantment at you, but… I might have something better, since you don’t want any armour.” She played with one of her long twintails of shimmering purple hair as she thought. Eventually she nodded. “Velvet, I’ll need your help, I think? And obviously I’ll need you to come with, cutie.”

She turned to Moira and Erica, releasing her hair with a slight twirl that twinkled through the air. “I’m ‘fraid I’ll have to ask you both to hang around a bit. Feel free to peruse and find something you like the look of. I hear you have a fondness for warhammers, Warden. I have a fairly nice one up as a display example at the front of the shop. We’ll be back in a little while.” She nodded to both of them, then turned again and casually looped her arm through Velvet’s as she walked, leaving John to follow after the pair of women who kept teasing him in vastly different ways with similar efficiency.