[NanoPhase Helmet has been activated]
[Standby mode disengaged to due User activity]
After what felt like an instant to Dags, he was already back awake. No time seemed to have passed at all, and he wasn't even able to dream. Dags slowly opened his eyes and looked around in confusion.
"Is it morning already? I just activated Standby mode didn't I?" As he asked the questions he checked the time. It was mid-morning according to the system clock. He rubbed his head, mildly disappointed that it was so fast. Though, it wasn't like he actually needed the rest since he was an AI.
[User Cynthia is logging in]
Dags saw Cynthia's virtual body briefly as she logged in. She always appeared in the space below him for a moment as her consciousness was moved into MagiTech Online. She looked well rested and ready for a new day of playing the game. In the game, about 1 full day had passed since she had last been online. Shortly afterwards, he saw through the eyes of Cynthia as she spawned back into the world in the breakroom.
"Oh my!" Remia's voice rang out next to Cynthia. She had just spawned right in front of her and scared her with the intrusion.
"Ah, Miss Remia, sorry about that! I guess I should've found a hotel before logging out last night." Cynthia spun around, also startled by Remia's sudden outburst, and apologized.
"It's nothing to apologize for, you're free to use this room if you want to. Besides, I could do with some company every now and then." The woman hastened to alleviate her concern.
"Well, if you say so Miss Remia." Cynthia said, feeling relieved.
"By the way, I think you should head to a clothing store. Your current attire is looking rather more like rags than clothes at this point…" Remia was quite blunt with her words as she waved her hand up and down towards Cynthia's clothes. Her beginner's outfit was torn in several places, and her shorts were barely hanging on after having all those stones damaging her outfit.
"Ah, you're right! Um… is there a way to do it remotely? Being outside while looking like this is a bit…" She didn't finish the sentence, clearly embarrassed at the thought of being seen like this by others.
"But you walked all the way back here like that… Also, good morning." Dags butted in with his unnecessary commentary while greeting her. He didn't really have a chance to say anything before now since Remia immediately engaged her in conversation when she logged in.
This made Cynthia go even more red as she hadn't realized that before, and shame filled her mind as she crouched down covering herself. Remia looked at her in concern and was quick to reply.
"Yes, you can, but you need a [Datalink Watch]. I have one myself, so you can borrow it for now. It's quite a useful tool when you're inside a city. Out in the wilderness though, it has pretty limited functions." She kneeled down and patted Cynthia's head before handing her the [Datalink Watch] for her to use.
"Oh, ah, t-thank you Miss Remia…" She then sat on the couch in the room and activated the watch by simply tapping on the top of it when she was figuring out how to use it. A large holoscreen burst up before her eyes, giving her many options to choose from. She ignored everything except the option that was for deliveries. There were delivery options for food, clothes, groceries, weapons, armor, and all sorts of other things. What she needed right now was clothes though, so she went ahead and clicked that option. What appeared before her was everything from casual to formal to tactical, there was nearly nothing that wasn't there.
"I recommend getting something tactical along with a spare, plus some casual clothes if you don't want to wear such things in the city." As Cynthia was scrolling through the menu, Dags saw her stopping to look at a lot of the more cutesy clothes that didn't really serve a purpose other than fashion. That was fine and all, but it wasn't what Cynthia needed right now. What she needed was some functional clothing and to save her money for the essentials. Even if she received a large sum of money from the quest, he had a feeling that amount could disappear in an instant.
"But… sigh, alright." She looked longingly at several cute outfits that caught her attention before she made her way to the tactical section. With a dispirited gaze, she just added a couple of green camo basic reinforced cargo pants with built in knee pads, one each of a gray t-shirt and crop top, multiple pairs of socks, and a new pair of combat boots to her shopping cart. Her eyes looked soulless as she bought these in silence, lamenting at how uncute they are. Dags noticed her despondency, and sighed internally. Why must girls be like this?
"You can get something cute for your casual wear at least. No need to be too professional looking with that if you aren't going into action. Just one or two outfits though, don't go crazy with the spending." He felt like if he didn't give her a little leeway, she would be depressed the whole day. Sometimes, you just have to compromise. Having heard those words, she regained some of her vigor. Cynthia happily made her way to the normal outfits section again browsing all of the clothing options.
Her eyes danced across the screen as she scrolled, looking for the perfect combination. Eventually she made her decision. She found a cute pink blouse that she matched with a white pleated skirt, followed by some white thigh-high socks and pink Mary Janes. She felt like just one outfit would do for now, and her total came out to be 9,150 credits. Dags facepalmed at the expensive price of all the clothes, especially since the casual wear took up half of that number. It's not like it was his money, but it still pained him. He was never really one to go for fashion in games, just whatever had the best stats.
The transaction went through and a progress bar for her delivery came up, saying it should arrive no more than 10 minutes later via a delivery drone. Cynthia smiled and gave the watch back to Remia.
"Thank you for allowing me to use that watch Miss Remia, you're a lifesaver. I'll need to get myself one of those watches some time." Cynthia wondered how much it would cost. Her current amount of money could surely buy it, right?
"Ah, you might need to save up some more. Even the most basic version of the [Datalink Watch] sits at 500,000 credits… I only got this after working here for 5 years as a gift from the boss." Remia's words instantly crushed Cynthia's dreams. It looked like 100,000 credits was nothing in this world after all.
"Looks like you'll have to work even harder to become a real wealthy person huh? Don't worry, I'm sure you can make that much in no time." Dags comforted her briefly. This girl was going through quite the emotional roller coaster today, and the day had barely even begun!
Cynthia sighed, devastated by the knowledge that she was no better than a pauper still. She took some deep breaths and went back to normal after purging the thoughts from her mind.
"Ah, remember to get your Iron rank mercenary card too. You hadn't done that last night." Dags reminded her of this matter. He wondered what benefits such a card would bring.
"I'll get there eventually, but thank you again Miss Remia. By the way, I still need to get my Iron rank card. Mine is still Copper rank since I haven't had the chance to go to the front desk yet. Do we need to head down there?" Cynthia nodded at Dags' words and went ahead and asked Remia about it. She too wondered what the difference was between cards.
"I can just do that up here, it's not a difficult thing. Just give me your card for a second and I'll change it." Remia put out her hand for Cynthia to put her card, which she swiftly pulled out and did. Remia then went to a cabinet and brought out a sort of scanner looking device, and used it on the card. The card started shimmering with a gray light as it got scanned, turning the entire card a metallic gray like iron.
"There we go, easy enough, right?" Remia was done in only a few seconds, and handed the card back to her. Everything about the card was the same except for that.
"That's all? Well that's… underwhelming. This is two ranks above Copper right? What does the higher rank give me?" Cynthia hadn't been told much about the rank system, so she went ahead and asked.
"Ah, that's my bad. I should've told you before when you got the card. I'll start from the beginning." Remia rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment at the failure to do her job properly before.
"The ranks go as follows. Copper, Bronze, Iron, Durasteel, Beskar, Mythril, Orichalcum, and Adamantium. Each higher rank grants you more perks when interacting with some places, as well as allowing you to go on certain missions deemed too difficult for those of a lower rank. It could either be discounts at affiliated stores, or access to areas that you couldn't go to previously. At Iron rank, you can take on up to three level 15-25 mission requests at a time, and you get a 5% discount at some weapon and equipment stores. Of course, there's even more perks for the highest ranking members, but you'll find those out if you ever reach such heights." Remia listed everything a mercenary would need to know.
"That's not bad. I need some more equipment, so that discount would be nice. I'll have to take a look at the mission postings later when I'm ready as well. I've really only done two missions, and they were both related to the rats…" Cynthia shivered when she imagined those gross creatures once again. She really didn't want to have to deal with more of them.
Just then, a knock on the window was heard along with a buzzing noise. Outside the window was a small palm sized drone carrying a tiny box. "[Delivery for Formless Mist has arrived. Please take the package from the drone.]"
The automated delivery drone spoke to Cynthia as she opened the window. With a raised eyebrow she took the miniature box.
"[Thank you for shopping with Infinity Mall.]" It spoke one last time before it zoomed away into the sky. Cynthia watched it go away and looked at the box, unsure of why it was so small.
"It's a type of space compression tech. Just hit the button on the top and it'll pop out your clothes." Remia chimed in, seeing Cynthia's confused look.
She gave a thankful look and pressed the button. Just like that, her clothes popped out neatly folded in front of her. She went ahead and stored the tactical clothes in her inventory and held the casual wear.
"Wow, that's quite impressive. I wonder how it does it…" Dags was quite intrigued by the technology. It could just be a game system, but what if it was something that could actually be utilized for other things in the game?
"Um, Miss Remia, is it ok if I have a bit of privacy to change?" Feeling a little hesitant to change under the gaze of someone else, she politely asked Remia for privacy.
"Haha, sure, sure. My break is pretty much over anyway, so I'll just go to the front desk. See you later Formless Mist." Remia chuckled at Cynthia's apparent abashedness. She left the room and let Cynthia change.
"You too, Dags. No peeking." When Remia was gone, Cynthia warned him too.
"I can't even see you from this perspective…" he mumbled to himself before answering.
"Yes,yes, I'm closing them." He did just as he said and waited for her to change. She didn't take too long, and was finally free of her beginner clothes-turned-rags.
"Alright, you can open your eyes. How do I look?" She said as she stood in front of a mirror admiring her choice of outfit. He had to admit, it suited her. It was definitely charming and adorably cute. It was quite a stunning sight, and a good change from the boring beginner clothes.
"You look absolutely resplendent Cynthia. Stunningly beautiful in that outfit." He gave a short and honest opinion.
She lightly blushed and had on a silly smile from the compliment, happy with Dags' assessment.
"Alright, time to go out! There's lots to do today." She changed gears and went out the door with a smile on her face. She had a feeling today would be a good day.