Page 14

Once I felt like I could semi-reliably recall the magic circles in my head it was finally time to get ready. Apparently they’re called magic circles when they’re geometric patterns, sigils when they look like hieroglyphs or symbolic designs, and runes when they look like characters, any combinations were just called magic circles because a circle at minimum would be required to hold the various parts together. Cantrips were super simple magic circles that basically anyone could cast but were apparently so inefficient that they were only somewhat useful. Clean was probably the most useful of the bunch I was shown but apparently if you tried to affect too much with such a simple circle it would collapse and the mana would be lost.

Anyway, I looked down at Bitch on the floor, she wasn’t asleep anymore but was just lying on the floor waiting for whatever was going to happen. “Bitch, we’re going to go out for a while and pick you up later. First order, don’t attempt to harm yourself or anyone else.” I pointed at the bathroom and could tell she followed my pointing hand. “Second order, you’re not to leave this room except to use that bathroom. Third, be as quiet as possible. I don’t want people to come looking to see what the noise is. Fourth, the only things you’re allowed to do to occupy your time are bathe and relieve yourself, sleep on the floor like a dog, or masturbate like a slut.” Her face flushed and her legs rubbed against each other but she didn’t say anything in response. “Do you understand me Bitch?” She nodded but I didn’t accept that. “Speak.”

Her eyes looked into mine and she replied with a defeated tone, “Yes Mistress, I understand.”

I patted her head condescendingly. “Good girl.” She bit her lip and couldn’t help but rub her legs together again but I didn’t need anything else from her.

I stood up and looked at Bella, she was fully dressed in her now loose fitting clothes. They didn’t really do her hot body any justice, but somehow even the frumpy clothes made her look cute. It was like the contrast between her face and her clothes just amplified how pretty she looked. I smiled at her as I strapped the sword on my waist. It felt odd to me how natural the weight felt now. I placed my hand on the pommel and my hand twitched as it felt like I could recall hundreds of times I cautiously took this wary position.

I held out my hand, “Are you ready to go shopping cutie?”

She beamed in response, “Yes! I’m so excited to see how I look in all sorts of clothes,” she gushed. My heart warmed a little seeing how euphoric she was in her new feminine body. For a moment it made me feel a bit hollow that I seemed to just accept the change in my new body. No elation, no revulsion, just acceptance, as if it were just natural and nothing else. Which wouldn’t have been so weird if I didn’t know I had a penis before.

I reached out and grabbed Bella’s hand. Lets get moving cutie, I’m afraid we probably have a lot to do today. We stepped out of our door and I locked it behind us. Going downstairs I waived at the waitress we had last night. She met my eyes and nodded to me before finishing up with the person she was talking to.

She walked up, “Hey there, did you need something?” She glanced at Bella with a slightly confused look but didn’t ask about it.

“Yeah, we need the room for maybe a night or two more. I’d like to pay for another night and keep the room I have, is that okay?”

“Sure, that isn’t a problem. 30 copper for two nights then. Who’s this by the way?”

I pull coins out of my pocket and start counting them out on a nearby table. “Oh, this is a close friend of mine. I had her meet up with me last night.” I wrapped my arm around Bella’s waist and pulled her close to me. She tilted her head down and blushed, shy but not complaining about it.

The waitress smirked, “You’re not the kind of person I would have assumed was into other women based on the way you were talking up your slave boy last night. What happened to him by the way?”

Bella blushed furiously at that and I chuckled at that before continuing, “Ah, I freed him from slavery last night, I doubt you’ll see him again.”

“Oh, is that so? Hmm, I’m surprised I didn’t come across him.”

I just shrug in response.

“Oh! By the way.” She starts to lower her voice a little. “There’s this scumbag in town I saw poking around here last night. He is a swordsman named Mark Williamson, I hear rumors that he’s a rapist but no one will come forward to confront him about it. Supposedly has connections in the slaver’s guild that protect him. Be careful if you come across him, the guy is an asshole and his connections might make him dangerous.”

I furrow my brow and glance at Bella before returning my eyes to the waitress. “Uh, we’ll keep an eye out then. Hopefully we won’t have to deal with someone like that.”

She nods and returns to her previous chipper attitude, “Alright then, I hope I’ll see you at dinner later tonight then. Have a good date you two.” She winked with a grin.

I laughed and lead a blushing Bella out of the inn. Once outside we walked for a little bit before I turned to her, “So, what do you say we start at a clothing shop? I bet you’re dying to try out some new clothes.” She blushes but still nods furiously. “Have you thought about what kind of clothes you’d like to wear?”

She shook her head, “I dunno, like a skirt or a dress? I’ve never really thought that hard about it. The most I was really able to do is look at the displays when I walked by stores in town or look at other people’s clothes while they were wearing them and that was a little awkward. I never had sisters and I wasn’t friends with any of the girls that lived in our small village.”

“Well, I wish I could give you more advice but I really don’t know a ton about women’s clothing either I’m afraid. This will be a pretty good learning experience for both of us. After we finish with that I’d like to visit the Adventurer’s guild. I’m apparently a decent swordswoman and you’re a fledgling healer so we should be able to do some basic stuff I’d imagine. I have a decent amount of money for now but we’ll run out pretty quick if we don’t find a source of income eventually.”

“Were you a noble in the world you traveled from?”

“No, they didn’t really have nobles where I was from. At least not really anymore. Some places technically had them I think but in general the government structure was rather different. Why do you ask?”

“Oh, well it’s just that you sound rather educated and have a certain air of nobility to you. I don’t really know how to explain it.”

“Well, I am educated. Education wasn’t nearly as difficult to attain in my world, though it could be expensive depending on the situation.”

“What kinds of things did you study?”

Hmm… I thought about it for a second. It was hard to place really, I vaguely remember a lot of classes but I think the one that I remember the most was art of all things. Who goes to college for an art degree?

“I’m not sure, I told you my memories are hazy but I’m pretty sure I primarily studied art.”

Bella smiled at me wryly. “You know, if you told anyone else that they would also just assume you were a noble.”

I laugh. “Well, it can’t really be helped then.” Just then I finally spot a building that looks like a tailor and nudge Bella towards it. “Looks like they might have something there for us.” She nods and we head over.

Inside is a decently large shop with a few mannequin looking shapes wearing jackets and dresses in a rather wide variety of shapes. In a world with magic and unique races tailors probably have a lot more work. Along one wall was several bolts of fabric of various patterns next to large worktables with measuring marks along their surface. Opposite of that and fairly close to the door is a large desk with an elf sleeping at it.

Elves in this world seem to be somewhat western fantasy style but a lot shorter than in the movies. She looks about four and a half feet tall but had the classic blond hair, green clothes, and long pointy ears. Despite being pretty short you could tell she was an adult. While she looked pretty youthful, her body had developed curves and the elf had decently large breasts, though not nearly as large as either of us. She looked like a human adult but scaled down proportionately. I walked up to the desk and took a peek at her, and… she was dead asleep. Not the most majestic first impression of an elf, that’s for sure.

I awkwardly looked at Bella. “So… what should we do? Would it be rude to wake her?”

“Maybe we should look around a little and see if she wakes up.”

“Alright, do you think there’s another shop with premade clothes or do you think we would need to commission new clothes for you?”

“I don’t think many places outside large cities or capitals would bother with premade clothes unless it’s a second-hand shop. We could ask around if there’s a secondhand shop or see if we can find some clothes in the bazaar but chances are we’d have to get them tailored after anyway. Still, it would probably be a lot cheaper if we could find a second hand store.”

“What about armor and stuff? What do healers normally wear when adventuring?”

“I have no idea. Actually I haven’t checked, I wonder if learning nature magic unlocked a class for me. Status.” She looks blankly at a wall and likely started navigating her menu again.

“Ah, that reminds me. In the class slot my class says unassigned with change class next to it. Do I need to do anything special or can I just focus on it like anything else in the status screen? I haven’t touched it because I’m afraid I’ll get locked into something too early and I wanted to ask you about it.”

“Most people can change their class once a day unless they’re cursed or something, Classes mainly give you stat bonuses and make it easier to learn related skills. Sometimes they also give you special abilities but those are pretty rare and high level usually. You can unlock new classes by meeting certain requirements but I have no idea what they might be. Oh, but I did unlock novice nature mage and novice nature healer from learning healing magic so it’s probably stuff like that.”

Knowing that it was safe I pulled up my status screen and mentally opened the [Change Class] part of the menu.

[Change Class]

[Available Classes]:

[Novice Merchant]

[Novice Prostitute]

[Black Cat]

[Novice Illusion Mage]

[Novice Light Mage]

[Novice Swordswoman]

[Apprentice Swordswoman]

[Intermediate Swordswoman]

Okay, I’m curious. I just have to look.

[Novice Prostitute] level 1

Unlock condition: Have sex with two people within one bell of each other. Doubles effective endurance during intercourse, the impact of Charisma is doubled when used for seduction. While this class is equipped gain 1 endurance per class level. Improves sex skills and abilities. Gain skills related to seduction and sex easier.

Huh… I’m… I’m really surprised there’s a prostitute class at all to be honest. Though maybe the bigger piece of info this gave me is that there apparently are sex skills which is just wild to think about. It’s also interesting to see time measured in bells despite not yet seeing any kind of clocktower or church bell yet. Anyway, how about the more relevant [Intermediate Swordswoman]?

[Intermediate Swordswoman] level 1

Unlock condition: Have the swordsmanship skill at level 20 or higher. While this class is equipped, gain 20 Speed plus 3 strength per class level. Improves sword skills and abilities. Gain skills related to wielding a sword easier.

This class is rather underwhelming to be honest, at least its base stats are. You probably get a lot more utility out of leveling up a class rather than just unlocking it at a high level of swordsmanship. The differences between classes at a glace are just that you get more stats per tier of this class, again not sure if you gain different skills on level up though. I’ll have to try to level something to be sure. Alright, lets see what this [Black Cat] class is.

[Black Cat] level 1

Unlock condition: Have the Luck stat at 400 or higher. Luck now has a greater impact on combat. While fighting you, enemies now take your luck stat as a penalty to their own luck stat. While this class is equipped, luck cannot fall below 400 and gain 5 finesse per class level. Gain skills related to luck easier.

Oh shit, if I’m understanding this correctly…

[Class changed to Black Cat]

Holy shit._My luck is now set to 400, it totally works. This class might not be as good later on if I can’t get my luck higher but considering that normally you’d have to put stat points in _nothing but luck for 40 levels to get this class it just has to be powerful.

Let’s just confirm something with Bella real quick. “Hey, what happens if you gain skills through one class but then change to another?”

“You keep any skills you gain through level ups or just by gaining them normally. The only thing you lose is the bonus stats the class gives. Also, If you have multiple classes you should probably equip each of them once while you’re safe because sometimes they unlock stat lines that you didn’t have before. Might not be necessary if you have higher tiers of swordswoman though.”

I check my status again and sure enough I now have the finesse stat unlocked. Looks like things are starting to get a little interesting.