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“Relax there,” the dwarf said with a calming smile. “Young masters like that like to treat their girlfriends nicely, so you better take advantage while you can.”

“I… he doesn’t think of me like that,” Meira denied, embarrassed. He had made that clear when they had gone to that other shop. She was mad at herself for thinking that Lord Thayne had taken her there with those kinds of intentions. Nearly as mad as she was for feeling dejected that he hadn’t.

“Really?” the dwarf asked. “Well, color me surprised. Either way, he gave me the heebie-jeebies, so there is no way he is average, and people who aren’t average got money to treat those they care about. And he does care about you. Any damn idiot can see that. So stop dilly-dallying, and let’s get you a proper set, alright?”

Meira looked at the dwarf for a moment, considering her words. It was true that Lord Thayne didn’t think of her “that way,” but it was also true he had always been very nice to her, so maybe he did care? Just in another way? And if he did that, it should be fine to get some equipment if he asked her, right?

“Okay,” Meira said with a smile as the dwarf got to work, and the two discussed what kind of equipment would suit Meira best. They spent a good while going over everything, and the dwarf even showed her different pieces of jewelry she had in stock that would go well with what Meira needed. It was all a bit overwhelming as many of the items were probably more expensive than Meira would have been if the Order had just decided to just sell her to someone over giving her to Lord Thayne.

Yet it also felt oddly liberating – a feeling she thought she would never feel – to be there alone. Buying things for herself. She hoped to make Lord Thayne proud and to want to keep her around, which was the primary reason she worked so hard. But after the entire incident with Nella and Utmal, she had been thinking if maybe it was okay if she did some more things for herself? Izil also tried to convince her she should be more selfish, or at least not as selfless.

Maybe she could begin to get stronger for herself? If Lord Thayne wanted her to no longer be his slave but instead be a full member of the Order by her own merits, she would need to be more independent. She would need to make her own choices and be a member because she wanted to. But she was afraid that becoming a member would mean that Lord Thayne would have her leave. Have her get her own residence or enter the dorms or something. Meira desperately didn’t want that to happen, so she would have to selfishly find a way to make Lord Thayne want to keep her around even after she was no longer bound by a slave contract.

She wanted to stay no matter what she had to do to make that happen. It was selfish of her to want more from him than what he had already given and promised to give her… but he did want her to make her own choices and do what she wanted. And what Meira wanted more than anything was to stay, so this selfish wish of hers was okay… right?

--

Jake walked out of the castle-like building wearing his new cool gloves. On the way out, he had already done a bit of experimenting and found that they were actually very similar to his old gloves. He could instinctively use Scales of the Malefic Viper only on the gloves, and he instantly felt the scales already sewn into the gloves be filled with energy and strengthened to an insane level. The gloves stayed flexible like before, but he felt like his hands had become near-impenetrable. Of course, any blunt force would still hurt like hell, and if he tried to block a sword, he would find his fingers broken, but for anything magical, it would be insane. He could also use it to grab sharp edges and whatnot, as he had already done with his old gloves.

The stat effect was also interesting. Whenever Jake used Scales of the Malefic Viper, he felt a slight increase in power based on how big a part of his body he covered. It was super small when he used it only in local areas, but Jake reckoned that if his entire body was covered, he would get what would amount to roughly 100 more in each of the five stats the armor gave. It was small, but there, and frankly, the biggest thing about the gloves was the insane amount of stats they offered to begin with, along with their sheer level of durability when Scales were used.

He considered if making an entire set of armor like the gloves would be a good idea but discovered that maybe it wasn’t the best as the mana drain when he infused the gloves was rather intense. A full set of armor would be able to drain dry even Jake and his anomalously large mana pool at an alarming speed.

Feeling good about himself, Jake saw no need to delay as he headed back towards the shop Meira was in. His Mark worked as a guide after he went through the teleportation gate to the same area she was in, allowing him to quickly make it there. She was still inside the shop, and Jake decided to wait outside until she was done.

He leaned against the wall of the building and closed his eyes as his mind sank into his soul. Once inside, he was met with the sight of an almost exact copy of himself who was, for some reason, repeatedly hitting the ground as dark pulses of energy were released from him, blasting him into the air.

Sim-Jake had changed to look even more like Jake than before. Looking at him felt a bit weird to the real Jake as he knew his other version was slowly disappearing. His personality had become more and more like Jake’s own over the last few months. It had already been similar, but now they barely talked anymore as there was no need to. They now only discussed two things: melee combat and Shadow Vault. And melee combat had become less and less as of late as Jake quickly picked up on sim-Jake’s teachings the more assimilated he became.

Jake looked at his simulacrum, who was naturally aware he was there. His other version stopped his practice and turned to Jake. “Don’t look glum like I am dying or something; we both knew this was the ideal outcome.”

“Still,” Jake sighed.

“It is what it is,” sim-Jake shrugged. The next moment a katar appeared in both of his hands, and Jake mimicked his motion as they charged each other. Their weapons clashed as if mirrored with two katar tips perfectly impacting each other, sending both of them stumbling back.

Sim-Jake moved faster for the follow-up, but Jake was ready as he countered, getting the upper hand. He managed to land a minor wound but was pushed in return when he tried to capitalize on the one hit he got in.

Their fight continued for about twenty minutes, with both of them slowly taking damage. It looked very even until Jake made a minor slip-up and was cornered. He had slowly been losing ground, and after a combo more than a hundred hits long had found himself unable to respond before a katar penetrated his skull.

“Fuck,” Jake muttered, thinking he was gonna win this one. Both their wounds had also already healed. They weren’t real wounds anyway.

“Still improving,” sim-Jake smiled.

True, Jake thought as the simulacrum turned around and continued whatever he was doing before. Jake had no idea what it was doing but knew that the simulacrum focused nearly one hundred percent of its time on Vault now. He had to, as his memories of the simulated world were slowly fading, and continuing to improve the fighting style was now meaningless. Now all he had to do was pass down the final pieces before fully handing the mantle to Jake.

He stayed a bit longer to look at his simulacrum, genuinely having no idea what he was doing. It was like all the Records pertaining to Shadow Vault had been integrated into sim-Jake for him to perfect. It was to the level of the real version of Jake feeling unsure about even using the skill. He got the sense that he was lacking some of the instinctual knowledge the skill gave about how to use it but naturally couldn’t know what he didn’t know. However, what he was sure of was that the day sim-Jake ceased to be would be the day his Basic Shadow Vault of Umbra upgraded, and in the same way, then the day Shadow Vault upgraded, sim-Jake would lose his remaining basis of existence that kept him separate from Jake.

“Keep up the good work,” Jake muttered with a sigh before he left his Soulspace, having felt Meira and the dwarf exit the back room within the store.

Jake opened his eyes and went inside the store just in time. He saw Meira carrying a whole bunch of things, all placed in separate boxes. They also saw him enter the store as Meira looked somewhat nervous. “Lord Thayne! Please inspect the items and let me know if these are acceptable.”

“You are the one shopping here, not me. Whatever you picked is fine as long as you didn’t get a full set of legendary gear in an attempt to bankrupt me,” Jake joked.

“I would never do that!” Meira semi-yelled with indignation before finally realizing it was a joke, making her blush in embarrassment. She clenched one of the boxes and asked in a nearly whispering voice: “Please look at them a little, please?”

Jake resigned himself and nodded. Meira took out a white dress from one of the boxes and proudly showed it off. It didn’t look that much different from the usual dress she wore, at least not in design, but the item was clearly far superior. Identifying it, he actually felt a little proud of her.

[Sorcerer’s Dress of Merciful Intent (Epic)] – A dress crafted from the silk of a juvenile Ethspawn Spider, further enhanced by a talented crafter. Grants impressive resistance to most magical attacks and dissipates a portion of the physical force of all blows made against the wearer. Passively absorbs a portion of all attacks, be they magical or physical in nature. This energy can then be infused into a healing spell to empower it. Enchantments: +250 Wisdom, +100 Intelligence, +100 Willpower. Merciful Intent.Requirements: lvl 140+ in any humanoid race.

He had to admit that when he had left Meira alone to shop, he had feared he would have returned to her having selected a full set of common rarity equipment with a few inferior rarity items mixed in. Jake was happy to see she had selected equipment of proper value. It wasn’t overly extravagant either. One had to remember that Meira was not a monster like Jake and needed far fewer stats than he did from his equipment. In many ways, then a full epic set of gear would be just as good for her as a full legendary set. Sure, the legendary gear would be better overall and have better special effects, but the difference wasn’t massive, and there was also the fear of making Meira a target if she had too good stuff.

“Looking good,” Jake approved with a thumbs up.

“Should get the little lassie all settled for a good while,” the dwarf said with a smile. “Gives above her total stat limit, leaving some room for her to grow into. The rings are both purely defensive, too, so don’t worry about her getting targeted as a healer. They will all find themselves dead before getting to kill her. And if all else goes wrong, the earrings have an enchantment to automatically teleport a distance away if she is in mortal danger. Limited uses with recharge time, but a real lifesaver.”

Jake nodded and thanked the shopkeeper. He did not doubt she had done her job to try and convince Meira to get better stuff. Okay, sure, it was her actual job to make Meira spend as much as possible, and it was a bit weird for Jake to be grateful to her for making him spend more, but such was life.

“How much for everything?” Jake asked.

“Full set of epic armor, an ancient ring, epic ring, and a set of ancient rarity linked earrings with emergency-teleportation ability… comes down to roughly one-point-nine billion Credits for the entire thing. If we cut the most expensive item in the earrings, it will only be-“

“Nah, it’s good; we’ll take it,” Jake smiled as he paid the shopkeeper. The dwarf looked a bit surprised at how fast he had just paid’ without any comments. Not that Jake thought much about it. He had spent nearly that much on alchemy items earlier that day, and this was a full set for Meira that she could use for a long time. Totally worth it.

He saw the shopkeeper lean in and whisper something to Meira Jake couldn’t hear as the C-grade dwarf hid it. Meira turned entirely red in her face before quickly backing away, making Jake wonder what the dwarf had said, but looking at Meira, she didn’t look like she had any intentions of sharing. She didn’t even dare look at him for some reason.

“Thanks for your patronage,” the dwarf said with a big smile. “And do come again. I love big spenders.”

Jake chuckled a bit at the shamelessness as he said his goodbyes and headed out of the shop. Meira put all of the boxes in her spatial storage, intending to take them on once they got home. Something they did right away as neither of them had any more business in the city for now.

The two of them headed back to one of the gateway pillars and teleported straight home to the mansion. Jake went to the living room as Meira went off to her personal residence to change into her new clothes. That was also when Jake learned that Meira had never learned how to rapidly use a spatial storage to switch equipment or even equip a weapon. He should definitely teach her that.

With some time to spare, Jake took inventory and began making some plans for his next period of crafting with all of these new materials. He also now had ingredients for some ritual stuff with Duskleaf, and he was ready to begin the initial parts of the ritual for the Pollendust Bee Queen. There would be several stages to the ritual, and this first part was pretty much just about filling the creature with energy and Records to further build upon.

After thinking about his plans for a while, Meira returned to the main house. Jake saw her in his sphere long before she reached the living room, but he was still taken aback when he saw her with his eyes. She wore the white dress she had shown him along with the jewelry he had been told about. Before, she had only been wearing her simple clothes, but now she truly looked like a young elven mistress from an influential clan.

“Does it look okay?” Meira asked shyly.

“Yeah, you look great,” Jake smiled as he gave her not one but two thumbs-ups, only making her blush more. It was clear she wasn’t used to compliments from her reaction, and Jake had to admit it was kind of cute.

Nonetheless, Meira seemed happy. Jake was just happy she was happy, and the two of them once more dove into their routine of alchemy and practice. Everything was going smoothly, and Jake felt relaxed during this time until one day… something felt wrong.

Very wrong.