"Custom Attire"
This was the last step before becoming a gentleman,
The Gentleman's Skin,
As an important medium that links the Growth System,
Its activation through the ritual allows individuals to complete their profession selection and,
It will be utilized once more, processed by the hands of tailors into the essential [Attire] for every gentleman,
The clothes made primarily from the Gentleman's Skin,
Not only provide effective "Pathological Isolation," allowing gentlemen to confront pathogens head-on and permit them to venture into the mysterious and dangerous Grey Zone to conduct various investigations and clearance activities.
It also allows for a more intuitive display of the connection between the individual and the Growth System, examining one's state.
Different qualities of skin yield correspondingly different qualities of attire...
Of course,
This is still just the initial attire, representing only a [Start].
Gentlemen who join the organization can also obtain more 'skin' by carrying out subsequent missions, and if they perform exceptionally well, they can even meet the First Gentleman.
Skin obtained later,
Can be used for completion, enhancement, or even remaking of the attire.
However,
Though the Gentleman's Skin obtained from the assessment is but a [Start], Yi Chen took this step a bit too far.
...
[Second Floor]
A spacious floor with no obstructions to the view,
The walls and ceiling were covered in large mirror panels,
More like a dance studio, in stark contrast with the first floor crammed with humanoid statues.
Customers just need to stand at the central position,
And the shopkeeper can peer through their physical information via the mirrors, using this as the base parameters for [Full Customization].
This information includes "Heart nature,"
After carefully observing Yi Chen in such a manner,
The shopkeeper let down his guard and introduced himself:
"My name is Kelor Ivan, owner of this Nameless tailor shop. I have long severed my cooperation with the organization and will not be responsible for the tailoring jobs assigned by the organization.
I only help out friends when I'm occasionally in a good mood.
I didn't expect that such a rigid creature like the owl would have exceptions, privately referring you here... But, to receive such a large piece of Initial Skin, it is indeed worth his serious attention.
Before we proceed with full customization, I have several questions for you.
Introduce yourself briefly, including your origin, important experiences, and especially your Letter Selection."
"William Behrens..."
Yi Chen began with his experiences in Seven-Day Cemetery,
When Ivan, the shopkeeper, heard that this young man had 'converted halfway,' killing patients with an ordinary body and emerging at the top during the assessment, he couldn't help but widen his eyes and look him up and down again.
As he later heard about the existence of excellent blue and black options,
And that Yi Chen, nevertheless, chose the highly uncertain Purple Letter, the shopkeeper became even more spirited.
He did not ask for the reasons,
But took a deep breath,
As if about to take on a major project.
"You... are indeed different from the others, and I fully understand the owl's reasons for choosing you now.
Given the complexity of your situation, and the special nature of the skin you brought,
[Full Customization] is expected to take 24 hours, and I'll need you to be on call during that time... Until the attire is complete, you'll sleep here."
"Here?"
"Hmm... pick a spot yourself.
You've been tagged as a 'guest,' so those stone sculptures down there won't attack you.
Lastly,
Be sure to maintain absolute silence in the tailor shop,
Unless you hear my call, you are strictly forbidden from going to the Clothing Room to disturb my work."
Ivan, the shopkeeper, took the heavy black box,
Moved with a shuffling gait toward a large mirror, pushing open a hidden door behind it.
A wave of stimulant gas immediately wafted out, causing Yi Chen, who was several meters away, to feel slightly uncomfortable.
Rather than a [Clothing Room], it seemed more like some special laboratory storing hazardous reagents.
Yi Chen instinctively wanted to sneak a peek but was rebuffed by Ivan's stern look.
Click!
The secret door locked.
With no other choice, Yi Chen could only shrug his shoulders and sit against the wall.
"Anyways, I haven't been officially assigned a place to stay, so lying here to rest for a day isn't too bad," he thought.
The mental exhaustion brought on by the professional ritual weighed heavily on his brain at this moment,
and he soon fell asleep, curled up in the corner against the wall,
However,
during his sleep, he was woken up numerous times to undergo some very strange, and even perverse, measurements.
For example:
Inserting fine needles into the joints of his fingers to measure their internal diameters,
or lifting his shirt to record the number of wrinkles around his navel, as well as the changes in rhythm that occurred when he stood, sat down, or lay flat.
Even the more private 'back door' was measured for various values.
One time, when he happened to wake up groggily, he found the store manager squatting in front of him, creepily noting something in a small book.
Of course,
there were times when it seemed more normal,
He had gone through about five fittings for trial garments halfway through, and each time the store owner's face did not look very pleased, even revealing a hint of killing intent... until the sixth time when a slightly satisfied expression finally appeared.
Like this,
Yi Chen spent the entire day in extreme unease, feeling as if at every moment he was being creepily spied upon and his body was being touched.
With the final hour remaining until the estimated custom-tailoring time,
Yi Chen still leaned against the wall, motionless, but his heart was gradually filled with anticipation, even imagining several different styles of gentleman's clothes.
Just then,
a series of sporadic footsteps came from downstairs,
It seemed that another customer had arrived at the tailor shop,
Thinking that his "clothes" were in the final stages of production, Yi Chen hurried downstairs with steps light as feathers, trying to remind the other party to keep quiet.
As he reached the stairway corner,
he coincidentally bumped head-on into the mysterious guest,
who wore a closed mask with no holes and was painted with colorful patterns.
Paired with an exaggeratedly patterned suit, it looked as though various colors of paint had accidentally been spilled onto it.
However,
this unexpected proximity also allowed Yi Chen to detect a faint, refined scent, seemingly emanating from the other person's body.
"You are..."
Yi Chen immediately recalled,
this flamboyantly dressed young man was indeed one of his co-assessees, who was placed in the same scoring tier as Edmund and the others during the assessment phase.
But he scored a [92], ranking second among the assessees, just behind Yi Chen.
And in the brief summary of his assessment experience during the evaluation phase,
this person had single-handedly killed the [Mayor] of Green Lake Town who had fully molted, and also achieved a 'thorough clearance' of the town hall... Unfortunately, due to problems in the investigative approach, he didn't manage to touch on and eliminate the giant eye at the bottom of the lake like Yi Chen did.
However,
Yi Chen's impression of 'him' was limited to just this, as he had completely failed to notice this person upon entering the city.
Suddenly, the colorful mask pressed close in an instant,
even rubbing up against Yi Chen's face, back and forth.
He could faintly hear the breathing from underneath the mask, as if it was sniffing Yi Chen's scent.
This state lasted for a full minute before the mask was lifted,
and a voice that blended both male and female tones, but leaned more towards the latter, came through:
"Hey~ man!
With a physique like yours, how did you manage to kill the [Watcher]? And your 'Emblem' isn't visibly displayed either, it seems to be hidden in a more private area.
Could you spare some time for me to thoroughly examine your body?
Of course..."
At this point,
the person slightly adjusted his patterned gloves,
placing his hands with fingers spread out on his slightly protruding chest.
"'Equal Exchange,' you can also inspect my body as you wish.
Because my Emblem is also hidden in a very mysterious place~ What do you say?"