The sun was just rising above the city walls when they got to the Shopping District. Others had been struck with the same idea as them, as they were not the only shoppers, but for the most part the paths were clear.

"It's going to be so strange when we get to Phase 3... we won't be able to just walk around like this anymore." Violet eyed the other Players passing them, all dressed in metal and weapons. They were their future enemies.

"Phase 3 is a long way away," Luke assured her.

The Shopping District was filled with yawning shopkeepers who were beginning to set up their shops, placing produce and fine weapons in their displays.

"Is there somewhere here where I can utilize my Silverbark Wolf Tooth?" Nikola asked, pointing her gaze at Luke.

"Oh, shit. I have one too - here, I'll show you how it's done." Luke stepped up to one of the shopkeepers with an eclectic assortment of items. A big, wooden sign was clamped to the armature of their stall; Cam's Crafting, it read.

"So you'll just go up to the shopkeeper with your Menu up, and a prompt asking you if you want to shop at Cam's Crafting will come up. Say yes. Then, you'll see all the items he has available today. You could just go up to the shopkeeper and ask him what everything costs physically, but that's for chumps with a lot of time on their hands, which we don't have. Anyway, if you go to his [Crafting] menu he'll show you all the things he can make with the items in your inventory marked as [Materials]."

Luke fingered through his menu then, so Nikola pulled up her own and joined him. As promised, there were options for the Silverbark Wolf Tooth listed: a Silverbark Dagger, a Silverbark Sword, a Silverbark Bow, a Silverbark Staff... Nikola was content with her cleaver, but the Staff intrigued her for Ven's sake.

She pulled it up in more detail.

[Item Name: Silverbark Staff

Rarity: Rare

Materials Required: Silverbark Wolf Tooth x1, Slime Glue x2, Maple Wood x3.

Item Description: A long, sturdy staff that is made of wood and bone, but it sparkles like metal in the light.

INT +2, WIS +2, enables the wielder to passively cast Silverbark Spike with no cooldown. Silverbark Spike shoots out a single spike of silver that slightly tracks the foe, but it must be aimed. Upon making contact, it inflicts 2 Damage per spike and begins inflicting Sticky Silver, weighing the opponent down. The more times they are hit, the more stuck to the floor they become, as if they've stepped in rapidly cooling metal. At max level, the spikes inflict 5 points of Damage each.]

So it carried with it the Silverbark Wolf's signature silvery bite. She hadn't experienced it personally, but the players who had entered the room before them sure had, and they hadn't made it out alive.

It would do nicely. The other components, the maple wood and slime glue, were for sale in the adjoined shop for 5 Copper per unit of Maple Wood, and 10 Copper per unit of Slime Glue.

Nikola didn't know when they would have the time to cut down a maple tree next, so she bought the materials right then and there.

"Seems like 'ya have the ingredients for a Silverbark Staff," Cam noted as she purchased them, and along with his words a prompt to Craft the Silverbark Staff popped up in her menu.

She clicked on the option, and he got to work with focus and immediacy. The Butcher was quite aware by now that her reality was fictional, but seeing Cam respond so directly to her button press when she hadn't even responded vocally was unsettling.

The Maple Wood and Slime Glue appeared before him out of thin air, and he got to work carving the wood and sticking it together with the slime glue. He made many thin lines in it, like wood grain but deeper, and when he attached the Silberbark Wolf Tooth on top it rocketed a metallic sheen down the staff. It was wooden, and yet in the light of the city's lamps, it shone.

He handed it over to her. She turned it around in her hand, watching the light glitter and bounce around on its smooth, porous surface. It didn't look like it had any right to refract light, with how dull and wooden it appeared, and yet it was so much more than the sum of its parts.

"Thank you."

"Yer welcome! Feel free to return whenever ye have the coin." The crafter rubbed his fingers together in a 'gimme coins' motion and then turned to address the next person in line, another small group of adventurers.

Nikola returned to where Ven and Violet were, and held out the staff to the Mage. She took it in her hand and looked down at it as if she could feel the surge of power from it. "The slimes will be sorry," she said gleefully.

When Luke came back from his crafting, he too had a weapon in tow; a bow. He presented it to Violet wordlessly.

Violet's mouth opened up into a tiny shocked 'o'. "You got me a bow?"

"You're still using the starter bow," Luke noted, his eyes dragging over her very plain, brown one. Much like the staff made from Silverbark Wolf Teeth, the new bow was a light-coloured, metallic affair and it shone under the streetlights.

"Thank you," Violet said wetly, as if she were on the verge of tears, taking it slowly from Luke's hand like she expected him to yell sike and pull it away. When it was securely in her hand, she pulled up her menu to read what it did.

"It sticks people to the ground like the wolves did," she chattered happily. Nikola wondered if the Archer was more happy to be less likely to die, or to have received a gift from Luke.

"We need armour for the two of you next. Nikola, mages can wear Medium Armour in this game, so it's up to you if you want the casting bonuses from Light Armour or the defense bonuses from Medium Armour. I doubt Ven's Strength stat is very high, so you'll run into sets of Medium Armour she won't be able to wear without penalties. Don't choose those ones."

Nikola looked briefly for the Armour shop before seeing a sign with some full-plate on it that read Arby's Armour. There were many more Medium Armour options that stood out, made of hide and furs, but a couple flowy, colourful robes were showcased too.

"Hello," the man who she assumed was Arby said, "we have some good things in stock today. What'll it be, little lady?"

The Butcher pulled up her Red Box. She flicked through the options; most required a Strength score higher than what she knew Ven had, but she stopped when she got to a set of Light Armour that had the same DR as the Medium Armour.

Boned Mage's Robe of the Firewielder, it called itself.

[Rarity: Uncommon

Damage Reduction: 5%

Gives the caster a 5% bonus to Damage when casting any spell that involves fire.]

It was a boned robe; it had a corset-like middle, but the rest was long and flowy, much like a dress that cinched at the waist - but it opened at the front. There were some small plates attached to the shoulders that looked like charred metal, discoloured and ashy but beautiful in their own way.

It cost 1 Gold and 3 Silver, an unspeakably steep price to pay considering her father's loaves had been 5 Copper each at their fanciest. But this, hopefully, would last longer than the .5 seconds it took her to shove the entire loaf into her mouth.

Nikola paid the price for the Boned Mage's Robe of the Firewielder, leaving her with 2 Gold, 10 Silver and 46 Copper.

Arby plucked it from his display and wrapped it up in completely unnecessary, ethereally thin paper before handing it over to her. "Thanks for yer coin, little lady. This robe was one of the best things we had in stock today, ye have good taste."

Did Nikola have a thing for being praised by older men? Normally, she would feel the urge to rip somebody's throat out for calling her 'little lady', but today she heard a damnable giggle pass her lips. She turned around and walked briskly away without replying, steeping in shame.

"This is now yours," Nikola blurted out to Ven, shoving the wrapped robe into her arms.

"I've never heard that noise come out of you before," Luke commented with an eyebrow waggle.

Nikola glared daggers at him, as if her stare could actually flay his mortal flesh.