Living Life As A Game: Through And Through 7 Shopping For Clothes, Completing The Side Ques

Elizabeth moved with mechanical precision after she entered the nonstop traffic of the shopping plaza. She hoped to get to the clothing store with as little exposure to the rest of the world as possible. Elizabeth was ever grateful to the "gods" for apparently listening to her wish, as she managed to make it to the clothing store with no one stopping her.

She was completely oblivious to the fact that her lack of interaction had less to do with the intervention of the gods, than that cold look which had not left her face since the time she was cursing throughout her journey. The message her expression sent out was definitely not "friendly" in any capacity.

Unfortunately, that all changed when she actually entered the clothing store… After she entered, for a slight moment, her "hateful scowl" changed into neutral, almost happy-looking, state. To the predatory clerks within the shop, that was enough to warrant approaching Elizabeth, in an effort to help her pick out clothes.

"Hello Miss!!! Welcome to Ducci, home of the latest fashion trends. But you already know that! Hahahaha… Anyways, do you already have in mind what you would be looking for today? Or might you require my assistance?" The clerk had developed quite the skill for handling customers as Elizabeth's ensuing antisocial behavior barely made an impact.

"Mhmm… Need seven sets..." Elizabeth muttered, she had never been treated like this before. Though was it obvious that the treatment was meant to placate general customers, even though the clerk seemed genuine, Elizabeth deemed her attitude to be fake.

"Sorry? Seven sets of what? We have shirts, blouses, jeans, jackets, boots, shoes, hoodies, purses..." The clerk would have gone on for a bit longer, but Elizabeth cut her short.

"Need seven different outfits. Um… like shirt and jeans, or blouse and pants or shorts… And! Uh… do you have clothes I can clean easily?" P had trouble comprehending how her chosen could speak with her like a normal person, but then became a bumbling idiot when faced with another person.

"OK! We most certainly have what you're looking for, but have you already picked out the clothes or do you need me to help you?"

"Haven't picked… Just pick randomly..."

The clerk deduced that she was the one asked to pick out the clothes, which was an odd request, but easily accomplished. Thus, she motioned for Elizabeth to follow her and the two went around the store picking out various articles of clothing. Though it could best be described as damnation to Elizabeth, as the clerk would ask her opinion for every item she chose…

In the end, Elizabeth managed to find her seven sets of clothes, each pair being different so as to satisfy the optional objective of the side quest. Additionally, now that she was a girl she required a purse as well as a change to her wallet, so she also purchased one of each. The clerk that had haunted her for half an hour now stood at the register to process her clothes, as Elizabeth fumbled with her phone's case to bring out her debit card.

She paid for the new accessories and merrily left the dreaded Ducci Store. The moment Elizabeth's foot crossed over the store's boundaries, the quest functions detected her not being focused and gave her a notification for the completion of the side quest.

[Side Quest Alert!

Side Quest 2: Get More Clothes! (Complete!)

Difficulty: F<

Objective One) Leave your Domain (house). ✔

Objective Two) Buy more sets of clothes for your new female form. ✔

Optional Objective 1) Buy at least seven sets of clothes. ✔

Description: P has given you a quest to resolve your most immediate problem, as well as to get you accustomed to behaving less reclusively. You better learn to deal with others, both intelligent and unintelligent, quickly as your encounters will lead to more interactions throughout your ascension to power!

Rewards:

*Grimoire of Smithy: Basic Forging

Description: Teaches the user the utter basics of crafting armaments to the user. Builds up a perfect foundation up to Level 5 in the Forging Skill.

*Crafting Tree: Mortal Bullet (Requires Forging)]

"Wow, that sure is convenient… Hey P, shouldn't I like not be able to learn Forging? I mean, my Talent is in the field of Medicine, right?" Elizabeth was glad to see one of the questions on her mind — how she was going to be able to support her gun armaments — somewhat resolved, but the convenience of the rewards of this quest were baffling to her.

"It sure is convenient, isn't it? But not to the level you are imagining. First and foremost, while you have been turned into a game character, the fact still remains that you are able to learn any and all professions; your talent for medicine only makes it easier for you to understand that profession above all others."

As Elizabeth conversed with P and checked through the rewards, her corporeal body stood frozen in the outside world. Though she could process all the information carried within the interface and talk with P in seconds of real time, Elizabeth sunk into her thoughts about Forging which left the mall-goers around her in wonder of what was happening.

To the normal person, finding a beauty just standing unmoving might be a sight to behold. But, after that peek reveals the beauty stand frozen for a quarter minute, half a minute, minute and a half, and so on, people start to wonder if something might be wrong. And one courageous fellow, followed through with asking Elizabeth if she was alright.

"Excuse me miss, are you alright?" He got no response from just asking … So, the man walked up closer and closer to her while asking the same question over and over again. When he finally got closer enough to Elizabeth to touch her, a small crowd of people had formed wondering what was going down.

Seeing Elizabeth still standing unresponsive, the man that approached her did a series of "tests" to check her well being. He was either a certified EMT (Emergency Medical Technician), or a doctor as all his actions were seamless and practiced. He put his hands near Elizabeth's face and moved it slowly up and down, confirming that she was breathing fine, but her eyes were unresponsive.

So far, he had confirmed that she couldn't see or hear him, so the next thing he did was check for her sense of touch. But, just as his hands approached her neck — he was going to check her pulse too — Elizabeth woke up from her pondering about the Forging Skill.

One's imagination would fail them when trying to express Elizabeth's current state of being, now that she was confronted with not just one stranger trying to touch her, but also waking up to find a crowd of "undesirables" watching her plight.

Naturally thought, instead of the usual girl like screech of death one would expect from her, Elizabeth's reaction came out of left field. She intended to just avoid the hand that was reaching for her neck and "confront" the man afterwards, but due to the high pressure nature of the situation — at least in her eyes, this was a life or death tribulation — Elizabeth unconsciously made use of the 21 Speed Stat for the first time.

The man's hand seemed to slow down as the strain in Elizabeth's mind peaked and with uncanny ease, she both avoided the hand and stepped backwards by a whole meter. Before Elizabeth even had time to hatefully glare down everyone around her, the man which had previously sought to check her well being said "Miss are you alright?"

Elizabeth was confused by his words until she realized her critical mistake. When had she become so stupid, forgetting how dangerous the place she had thrown herself upon was, ignoring the world for long enough to get a crowd to form… She cursed herself for forgetting that the world would go on even if she used her interface to check the game-like traits her world had now become.

But now that she was in this situation, no easy resolution could be found, and every second that passed with everyone looking at her only made the madness present in her heart rage harder. Not five seconds later, Elizabeth could feel spirit start breaking from social anxiety.

Before she could crumble completely though, an interloper arrived. "Sophie! What have you done now!" A woman Elizabeth had never seen before came out of nowhere and started talking about a Sophie she had also never heard of, but the interloping woman seemed to be insinuating that she was Sophie.

The new woman turned to the man that previous tried helping Elizabeth when she was unresponsive, her tone naturally changing from disciplinary to apologetic. She said "I'm so sorry kind sir. My sister here is an airhead and didn't mean any disrespect." She gave a short bow in expression of her apology, before grabbing and forcing Elizabeth to bow with her.

Elizabeth tried to escape being seized, but the woman's hand snaked along with her attempt at dodging. Then, almost as like magic, the crowd that had formed around her along with the kind man that once tried helping her, just went along with the story this interloping woman concocted and everyone dispersed!

If this wasn't a gift from the gods, what could it be?! This stranger lady came out of nowhere and dealt with her problem with effortless ease, and though Elizabeth still had to deal with her, now instead of being surrounded by dozens of people, she just had to deal with one.

Chapter end