11 Beginnings (11)

After one day of hunting it, I was able to earn almost two thousand dollars. Plenty enough for a few days. But after yesterday, I realized that I was too confident in my ability. I will have to buy armor. And a weapon. Jackson and his team, they will take a break for five days to rest and train.

One way or another it helped me a lot, my soul grew substantially, and at this pace, it will reach the limit within less than a week. Before that, I must focus on the five transformations cycle. Manifestation was the easiest one, and I could already fully manifest my soul image, with the only limitation being the amount of my soul essence.

Transformation was next in the cycle and should be possible to do easily, but after two days the most I could do was change an area that was at most the size of a palm, and it was to only rise it about three centimeters. The only useful application for it would be to put spikes on my knuckles, fingertips or feet's.

It was not helpful. I was thinking and experimenting on how to gain more control, but nothing seemed to work. At that time all I could do is give up for now and ask Master, and so I shifted my attention to the next part of the transformations cycle, separation.

The focus of separation is to keep control of a piece of soul image while it is not connected to the body. To accomplish this, I needed to use transformation to create a 'Bubble' and put soul essence in it to be used as the fuel for it. Then when it is separated, it must stay under control.

Few hours after I started to practice, I was successful. The bubble that I created was floating two or three centimeters. And that was my limit, if I would try and move it any further, I would lose control over it, and it would blow up like a balloon. And with the limit of my transformation ability at most, it would only last a few minutes.

It took me a day to reach a limit in separation, as there were only two days left, and in three days I spent more than four hundred dollars and was banned in a few restaurants.

The expenses for food were much larger than I ever expected, the Amount that I need to consume is ridiculous to support my growing soul. Now the best choice would be to make food myself, only that the last time I tried to make sandwiches the microwave caught fire.

It frustrated me, but in the case of making food, I was worse than a dog on a skateboard. Somehow the world didn't want me to do it.

Food was now my most significant expense, many more times then rent. And after deducing all my necessary expenses, I was left with nine hundred dollars.

I took a break from training and went outside. Giving a call to Jackson, we met soon after. He and Lily came over to meet me, and with their recommendation, we went to Arnold's Armour Shop.

Jackson walked into it as if it was his one place, with a huge smile and fast steps. "Arnie! There are customers here."

From in between the shelves an old man wearing a yellow shirt with a flowery pattern. He walked up to us with a broad smile and hugged Jackson. "Jacky! Good to see you again! And Lily, how is your armor?"

"It's perfect as usual Mr. Lock."

"Good. Good. And I'm guessing this is the new customer. What's your name young man?"

"Dominque. Sir, it is nice to meet you."

"Stop with the 'Sir', I tried to get Lily here to stop with the whole 'Mr' business, but she won't budge. Now, what do you need? Mix? Full? Or something else?"

Eccentric, especially his wardrobe choice. But all the items around us looked well made and of high quality. The shop was tidy, customers were walking around looking at items, and attendants with smiles on their faces talking with them.

"Well, I need smoothing light and easy to move in. If possible something that I can wear under regular clothes."

"Hmm… what do you think about a vest made from an Orthrus leather? It is especially good against slashing and stabbing. Reinforced with Cerberus leather on the vital parts. It won't stop bullets but slow them enough to minimize the damage. So, what do you think?"

Touching the material, it felt soft and flexible. It would cover my chest and back and wouldn't restrict my movements in the least. But that will only protect my life. "I want it. But…"

"Yes, yes. This way, I have some clothes. They won't protect you as well as the vest, but is much cheaper, made from Jackalope fur and leather."

What he showed me was a pair of pants and a jacket, made from a mix of cloth and leather, it felt heavy but flexible. It shouldn't restrict my moves and give at least better protection than regular clothes.

"How much?"

"The vest five hundred, the clothes two hundred. But I will give you a fifty-dollar discount. How does that sound?"

Expensive… this leaves me with two hundred fifty dollars. Food… I will figure it out. And I still need to buy a weapon. Those two days will be harsh.

After paying for the armor we looked around town, and I ended up buying a carbon steel knife for ninety dollars.

With that done we went to All-you-can-eat restaurant, and luckily I had my fill before we were thrown out.