Elli and I leave the bar and the alleyway. Our next goal is to get me equipment for our quests. At this rate, there’s no way we could complete all three quests before sundown, so we’ll just focus on the herb gathering and rat hunt quests.

The next thing I know, Elli has led us to the slums of the city. There’s a certain bad feeling in the air around us, and many seedy characters line the streets. It honestly freaks me out a little, considering that I never had to go to such places back on Earth.

“Did we take a wrong turn, Elli?”

“Not at all. We’ll have to shop at a place from here since we don't have the money to shop at the primary stores.”

We arrive at a small storefront with a picture of a sword hanging from the sign. The building is very run down, and the windows are boarded up. One couldn't be blamed for thinking this place was abandoned. I stand and pause at the door, wary of going in. Elli casually opens the door and heads in, seeing that I quickly follow.

Once inside, I see rows of swords everywhere. There are hundreds of them. However, even an amateur like me can see that their quality is lacking. Many blades are rusted, and few look like they are actually high quality. Looking at the left wall, there are many staffs lined up. They look less worn by appearance than the swords, but I’m sure with magic, a high-quality item is defined differently.

Looking straight deeper into the store, a huge man is standing behind the counter. He has bulging muscles and a beard. He seems a little scary as his facial expression is just a dark glare directly at us. This is a state-of-the-art security system. Just have a terrifying guy stand there and glare at possible intruders.

“Alright, Kazuki, let’s check out the staffs. Over here is the pile that costs less than one silver.”

“Let’s take a look.”

We walk over to the pile of staffs. To be honest, here I don't really know what I’m looking for at all. They all pretty much look the same to me. Elli tries to give me some guidance.

“Just go ahead and touch one that you like, let your mana flow into it, and you’ll know if you’re compatible.”

This is just like the dungeon seed; it will be a good practice run of controlling mana. I reach out and touch the staff that looks best to me, but I don't feel anything from it. I look at Elli. She’s looking at my hands with a very interested look on her face.

“Alright, MAGIC GO!”

I shout out some stupid words while picking up the staff, but of course, nothing happens. Elli looks at me and then bursts out laughing.

“Pfft-hahaha, what are you doing? That’s not how you use mana at all! What even was that!”

She’s laughing so hard that she’s actually crouching down.

“I’m just having some fun. It’s good to see you laugh. You look the cutest when you’re happy!”

Hearing me say that her face turns red, seems I embarrassed her a little bit. I'm not going to apologize for it, though. I’m not the kind of man who would be afraid to tell a girl how I feel!

“Y-you really think so?”

“Of course,”

“You s-should find a staff. To release your mana, just focus on the flow of energy. It’s actually just like when you use [Display Status].”

I take the staff and begin to really focus on energy flowing into it. It feels as though there is some resistance, but it is otherwise somewhat stable.

“What am I looking for?”

“A staff that you’re compatible with will have very little resistance to your mana. After all, a good staff will be usable as soon as you need it.”

I try several staffs. The next staff that I try has a lot of resistance. I’m barely able to send my mana into it. The third staff has much less resistance, but it’s still quite noticeable. After trying multiple digits of staffs, I finally choose one. It’s a simple wooden staff made of reddish colored wood, it’s very smooth to the touch, and at the end of the staff, there is a small crystal embedded in the end.

“This is the one.”

“Alright, now we need to get you a secondary weapon. I recommend a knife or dagger; they tend to work best with a staff since they’re lightweight and easy to carry. If you need to, you can even use it at the same time as your staff.”

“I’ll take a dagger then.”

We walk over to a section of the store with daggers. I try to find a relatively high-quality one. Soon I find the dagger that I want, the blade is a clean metal, and the handle is smooth wood. There is no intricacy to the dagger. It’s as simple as you can get. That makes sense. Decorations don’t help in battle.

We take the products up to the man at the counter. He looks at us with a deep glare before talking.

“Two silver.”

Elli quickly takes out two silver and hands it to the man. The man looks at the silver coins, closely examining them before putting them away. I’m a little taken back by the straightforwardness of his response.

“Get out of here.”

The man says coldly for us to get out. Oh yeah, this is precisely the kind of service I expect from a business that’s entirely within the slums.

After leaving the weapon shop, we decide to search for some new clothes for me. I’m sure that I am attracting a lot of attention dressed as I am. We continue to walk through the slums when we reach a relatively large building. Something about the building makes me feel very uncomfortable. The building isn't in disrepair like most others that are in the slums. Instead, the building could actually be called quite lovely. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I’m sure that there is something off about this. I voice my concerns to Elli.

“Elli, you’ve been here before, right? This place makes me feel a little uneasy.”

“It’s probably just your imagination. I’ve been here once before. It went perfectly fine.”

“Alright, I’ll trust you then.”

We walk through the door of the sizeable incoherent building. Once we get inside, it seems to be an average store. There’s a lot of clothing options all around. Despite the building having multiple stories, the store doesn't extend to those floors. We quickly begin to look around at mage robes. While we’re busy looking at all of the different options, a shopkeeper approaches us.

“Is there anything at all that I can help you with?”

For some reason, his voice gives me the heebie-jeebies; there’s definitely something off about this store. I glance over at Elli, but she just has a smile on her face. Oh, Elli, I am nowhere near as brave as you. Maybe this is to be expected from the slums. Elli answers the guy's attempt to help us.

“I’m looking for a nice robe for my friend here. Our budget is one silver.”

“I see. For a man like this, I have just the thing.”

The man walks away, and I take a deep sigh. That guy really freaks me out. I’m not equipped to deal with this. Well, interestingly enough, despite feeling uncomfortable, I don't actually feel any fear. Actually, I haven't felt any fear since I died. Maybe because once you’ve experienced death, nothing else lives up to it? It’s odd

The man finally returns with a beautiful robe with red accents on it. It is actually really cool and I’m excited to wear it. Elli looks on in disbelief. How could such a nice robe be under one silver?

“Are you sure this is one silver?”

“Well, of course. Consider it a gift for your friend. He clearly isn't from around here.”

Elli was right about my current outfit; I probably do look quite weird to everyone around me. Maybe I misjudged the shopkeeper. After all, this robe is pretty cool. It’s not a good idea to look a gift horse in the mouth.

We’re taken up to the counter, and Elli hands the shopkeeper the money. He then bows, and we go ahead and leave the store. Turns out, I misjudged the slums; they aren’t so bad after all. I mean, this is my first time going to a place like this.

After gathering my equipment, we decide to finally set out on our quests, our target for the day is three giant rats. Apparently, they’re commonly found in the west of the city. Unfortunately, the slums are on the west side of the city, and there is no gate in the slums. We’ll have to walk around to the north or south to get to where we’re going.