Chapter 153 - 153

With Cain's black leather glam style and Misha's newfound fashion, they make an adorable couple in the eyes of the other Guild members. Her style holds enough soft and feminine in it that she compliments his bad boy aura instead of contrasting against it. Lickity is the most shocked by the change, she's been encouraging her friend to be more aggressive in claiming her man, but Misha has been relationship adverse until now, preferring a more friends with benefits level of commitment. 

The biggest push that has been motivating her to change that is Nemu. The Felian views all sleeping spots on top of and beside Cain as being rightfully hers, which Misha can't help but take as a challenge, despite the Felian clearly being more territorial than amorous. Because what if she changes her mind and converts Cain to preferring his summons, like so many before him.

Vala told her about how almost all Puppet Masters who get the Ancient skill she comes from subconsciously or enthusiastically choose a Succubus. So Cain might be a rare case, but he can't be totally immune to temptation. 

The cake they picked out is a massive thing, multi tiered and looking more suited to a wedding than a random party, but there are a lot of them now and they couldn't find enough of the same cake premade otherwise. 

Misha wakes up very, very warm the next morning and worries that she's become sick, something that hasn't happened to her since arriving here in this world. Then she feels the furry arm around her and realizes that she's become the middle of a sleeping sandwich between Nemu and Cain, the heat is coming from the pair of bodies.

"What exactly are you doing?" She whispers at the furry bard cuddled tightly behind her in the big spoon position. 

"This city is cold at night, and you're warm. Especially naked." Nemu states as if it's a simple fact, stretching and draping herself on top of the overheated Healer. 

"Cut that out, it's time to get up." Misha says, activating her interface display to marvel at the fact her class really has upgraded. Turning the interface on also let's her see the status bar of the Felian in front of her, and it shows Level 106.

"How many runs did you guys do? Your level is going up so fast." She says softly, not wanting to wake Cain. 

"Maybe thirty each? It could be more, we were moving through them pretty fast when we were competing for books, and we did them for a full day and two nights straight." Misha feels Nemu shrug on top of her before curling up around her to get more comfortable. 

Now chest to chest with the Felian, Misha finds herself trapped by the tangle of limbs. When did she get so ridiculously strong? It's like trying to push a wall over to move this furry menace. A change of plans is needed, so Misha opts to tickle Nemu to get her to let go, causing her to jump up from the bed with an offended look before getting dressed with a thought and stalking away out of the bedroom. 

"I should get up too, it's been a while since anyone caught her by surprise and tickled her, she's on guard against Laura and Vala." The other Nemu says in a light tone and chases after her sister in the light silk pants and crop top version of her outfit she prefers as casual wear. 

Misha decides to go with a fairly similar look after her morning routine, a black and pink plaid skirt and a black t-shirt that gains the same strange flaming eyeball look as yesterday's crop top. A pair of black leather bracers, some fishnet stockings and the trusty combat boots compete the look and bring a big hug from Lickity when she goes down for breakfast. 

"I knew you had it in you. After all that time creating outfits for others you've finally started wearing them yourself." The Succubus coos like a proud mother. 

"Is not like I had an option before, everything I tried on was Cleric Robes. Or maybe summer Cleric Robes." Misha laughs. 

"So, is it a full time look, or can you do others?" Cixelcid asks, joining them at the breakfast table and motioning for Misha to do a twirl so he can see the whole outfit. 

"I can actually do a pretty good range of looks as a Dark Apostle, but blue, pink and black seem to be the only color options that I have."

"That's still not terrible though. You can finally do that little black dress, casual wear, even soft and frilly in pink if you want." Lickity suggests with a wink. 

"I wish I had that much range." Kone laughs, indicating her green and brown motif. Most of her looks are pants based and in Earth Tones, as would suit the wilderness. 

"Hey, we found you some nice comfy dresses, and you can go all black too if you like. But you look good in Green." Misha reassures the Spirit Folk Beast Lord. She also notices that Kone is slowly getting taller. The girl was really short when they first met, but she's grown at least 5cm since then. 

Unlike Cain who seems to be growing and filling out to suit a powerful aura, Kone is simply beginning puberty in this body. Growing from childish into preteen. Misha wonders just how tall she will grow over the next few years, Spirit Folk are usually very large compared to average humans, though slender even when athletically muscled. Seeing Kone at an adult human height would totally change the way others look at her. Right now, she seems to be taken as the loveable young daughter, but who knows how appealing she will become to men once she begins to grow out of her childish figure. 

Which brings up a second question. She transferred into the woods in a childlike body, but Misha doesn't know exactly how old she was before that. Elmira, the Pixie was a young child when she transferred, but that's not necessarily the case for the youthful looking Kone. There's really no polite way to ask a lady her age though, especially when you've known them this long. 

Cain gives Misha's outfit an appreciative look when her comes down to eat before turning the conversation to travel plans. A camel caravan takes two weeks to reach the end of the desert, but they can travel much faster than that, especially if they're using Lamia as mounts, as their snake like lower bodies move smoothly across sand. 

If they choose the Legendary Primordial Shamans, they can travel much faster than even the Lamia, and with just the three of them and their Companions going for now, it wouldn't be hard to accomplish. 

They head out into the city together to pick up provisions for the trip, needing only consumables, as Cain has a well equipped yurt style tent that is perfect for desert travel. They gather some bundles of firewood, as they have a small outdoor cooking setup already, a combination effort by Dimnys and one of the old Earth Mages from Graska. None of them is good with fire magic, though the Primordial Shaman might be capable of making a reliable cooking flame. 

They gather ingredients, trail mix, drinks and a number of tasty cooked meals to go, knowing they will keep perfectly in their inventory. 

The Companions have also ventured out into the city for their own version of necessities, gathering sweets, assorted teas and cakes to supplement their diet. None of them actually need to eat, but that's really not the point of food now is it? Food is to be enjoyed. 

The last stops of the day are for Cain to pick up inscription materials and some low rank combat skill books. They're in the school supplies section of the store, as any melee transfer that came from the valley would already have learned such basic combat skills, except for Cain, who was happy simply shooting Arrows at things while his summons killed everything. 

From these he can upgrade his inscription, plus use the copies he makes to learn the basics of melee fighting skills and increase his close combat damage output. Having merged with the Oath Breaker and Primordial Shaman puts him well above most transfers his level in damage output already, but stacked on top of a skill he should be even better.

Plus, the abilities teach the user the basics of a combat style when learned, in order to use them properly, and Cain has nearly zero sword fighting ability of his own. 

The shopkeeper hears them talking about the need to learn advanced sword styles and gives them a bit of inside information. The Schaub Empire, now buried within the Killing Sands of the desert as the locals know the huge arid region, was once renowned for its elegant sword styles. If they can find one of the scattered portals that lead into the ruined subterranean empire, they might very well find a training temple and a skill book that will give almost any class a set of advanced combat skills. 

One such book made it here when he was a child, nearly a century ago, and it gave a complete fighting style with over a dozen basic skills to the lucky winner.. Many were redundant, as he was a high level fighter, but the style was a dual wielding one, which made him a local legend in the Demon Raid for his twirling attacks and insane damage output.