Vol 1 Chapter 11

After parting ways with that strange guy from the alley, he entered a clothing store in the shopping district. Having spent two weeks continuously practicing magic until the forced logout after fifteen hours of connection, he now had no clothes, armor, or even weapons to protect himself.

It would be arrogant to think that enemies would give a mage ample time to cast spells. He couldn't go hunting wearing the thin clothes with seemingly no defense that he had on when he first started.

As he opened the door marked "Jamie's Clothing Store" and entered, a plump woman who appeared to be the store owner greeted him with a bright smile from inside the small shop filled with stacks of fabric.

"Welcome. What kind of clothes are you looking for?"

"Do you have any clothes that are easy to move in?"

He couldn't use a sword, but he needed clothes that allowed freedom of movement instead.

At his words, the owner briefly looked him up and down.

"May I take a quick look at your size?"

"Yes."

He answered without thinking, but was startled when the owner suddenly came out from behind the counter and started touching his shoulders, waist, and ankles. No one had touched his body since the accident. It was because he had come to dislike both physical contact and dealing with others.

The owner seemed to roughly measure his dimensions by hand, then went inside and came back with a knee-length black top with open sides and black pants.

"Here, take a look. What do you think?"

The owner said, spreading the clothes neatly on the counter.

They were black clothes with red accents, giving a cool and neat impression. The collar of the top was a mandarin collar, and it somehow looked like a uniform while also appearing comfortable like something a martial artist would wear, so he immediately liked it. Of course, it wasn't high-end, but being black, it wouldn't show dirt easily.

"It's a set, top and bottom. I thought black would suit you well, so I picked this out."

Seeing his faint smile of satisfaction, the owner excitedly explained.

"As you wanted, these clothes are made for people who move a lot, so they're very flexible. What do you think?"

"I like them. How much are they?"

He currently had about 3 gold in his possession. In the early stages of the game when all users were struggling for money, this was by no means a small amount.

Normally, after two weeks of only practicing magic without going outside, he should have had no money left. But surprisingly, when he was guided to the second floor after completing the mage job change test, the assistant Zen had given him 5 gold, saying:

"Actually, Mr. Kapros is the first person to pass the Old Mage's test. Please accept this small gift sent by the Old Mage for the first person to pass his test."

Judging from those words, it seemed that those who had successfully changed to mage before him had all passed tests other than the Old Mage's. Rather than being difficult, he thought the key to that test was enduring the old man's nonsense and giving unfunny answers, so it was surprising that he was the first. But he gratefully accepted the money anyway, and after using about 2 gold to purchase 2nd and 3rd circle magic books, he had 3 gold left.

"It's 57 silver. A bit on the expensive side."

He had been worried it might be troublesome if it exceeded 3 gold, but the owner answered with a smile. That was a relief. He happily took out 1 gold from his inventory, handed it over, and received the change.

"Thank you. You'll change into them here before you go, right?"

"Yes."

"There's a changing room over there, go in and change."

A moment later, after receiving the owner's perfunctory compliments and adjusting his clothes, he went back out to the street feeling completely changed from head to toe.

He thought about buying a staff to carry, but decided it might only distract his concentration when casting spells, so he postponed it and left the city for the southern field for the first time.

After passing through the guards protecting the city gates, a green meadow soon appeared. As he looked around, enjoying the open feeling, he saw many novice users busily chasing and catching small animals scurrying about here and there.

Since his level was still 1, he should have been chasing and catching rabbits or deer like them. But he believed in the power of the magic he had been honing for two weeks. It would be a waste of his magic to catch such things. So he headed towards the forest, which was not far away and was said to have stronger monsters.

After walking across the relatively safe meadow for a while, the entrance to the forest indeed came into view not far away. Following the path worn by people walking between the dense trees, it gradually grew darker as the sunlight was blocked. If the forest had been large, one could get lost this way, but this forest was neither connected to a mountain range nor very large in area, so there was no such concern.

He took a deep breath and began to enter deeper into the forest, his senses on high alert.

But something was strange. He could hear birds chirping, and he had clearly come quite deep into the forest, yet there were no monsters to be seen. Keeping his senses on high alert was gradually becoming tiring, and he unknowingly let his guard down slightly.

The monsters didn't miss that moment. He should have understood the artificial intelligence of Mist's monsters better.

Whoosh!

"Kuwaaargh!"

It was truly a miracle that he instinctively dodged the orc that suddenly burst out of the bushes. Having barely avoided the attack, the orc, its ambush foiled, glared at him while breathing heavily.

A pig-like head, a height well over 2 meters, and a crude axe in hand.

He had heard quite a bit about how realistically scary Mist's monsters felt, but seeing one in person was still shocking.

'Damn it. I underestimated this too much.'

The problem was that he had unconsciously thought that monsters would appear that could be mowed down easily like in the games he had played before. In Mist, not only did they express pain when injured and the possibility of dying from excessive bleeding just like in reality, but they also added level down, stat down, and a temporary login ban penalty upon death to prevent users from taking their lives lightly.