7 Human Contact (Revised)
Elizabeth moved with mechanical precision after entering the endless human traffic in the shopping plaza. She picked up on the occasional looks strangers tossed her way, but as she had no inclination to interact with anyone, all her attention was placed on finding a suitable clothing store.
Looks of jealousy and envy from girls, appreciation and lust from guys; all of it was ignored. Even less attention was paid to the unwarranted comments she could faintly pick up on as her searching squint pierced the windows of the stores she passed by.
Eventually, she encountered a suitable store and entered.
"Good evening, Miss. Can I help you?" A female clerk approached Elizabeth.
For several seconds Elizabeth glared at the woman, unknowingly scaring her as the time dragged, before she said, "I need... seven sets of clothes."
After not speaking face to face with a stranger in years, Elizabeth felt it was unnatural having to suddenly talk to one.
"Certainly..." The clerk failed to hide her anxiety as her complexion slightly paled, "Do you already have some articles in mind?"
"Not really," Elizabeth drew blanks trying to recall what types of clothes she would even want.
'Let's see,' she pondered, 'I'm going to need casual clothes to keep up the facade of my transformation being a personal choice in case my family ever drops by to visit again. I also need sports-wear to cultivate in and aside from entire sets of clothes, I need new socks and underwear.'
Elizabeth said, "Can you take me to the casual-wear section first?"
"Right away," the clerk flashed a clearly fake smile as she said, "please follow me."
Less than a minute into helping Elizabeth pick clothes it became resonantly clear to the clerk that her customer did not at all care for fashion or style. Elizabeth only picked plain clothes and accessories even after leaving the area of the store with casual clothes.
She seemed less like a girl going out shopping and more like someone taking care of a chore, as she grumbled and groaned every time the clerk reminded her to first try the clothes to make sure they fit before leaving.
After ringing up all of Elizabeth's items, the clerk slightly sighed as she looked at the bill and said, "Alrighty then, that'll be eight-hundred-fifty dollars."
Looking at Elizabeth, the clerk assumed she was very young. She looked like a young adult from a physical standpoint, but after experiencing her personality, it was clear that she lacked maturity. The clerk didn't believe Elizabeth would be able to pay for such an expensive haul as she wasn't accompanied by a family member or lover, and as expected...
"Hmm, pretty expensive for clothes..." Elizabeth muttered to herself with mild annoyance evident in her tone.
Before she could reach for her wallet, the clerk took it upon herself to retort, "Well, we are a luxury apparel store, after all."
"Oh? I guess you learn something new every day," Elizabeth rolled her eyes.
As she fiddled with her wallet and pulled out her credit card, she added, "Also, I don't want to carry these all the way back home, so can you arrange for some sort of delivery? Same-day delivery would be the most convenient."
Handing over the black-hued credit card, it was obvious to all that this was the first time she was paying for something in person.
"Wh—" The store clerk was struck silly as she processed everything that had just transpired.
First, this beautifully dressed customer came into the store with the aura of a primadonna, yet behaved more like an ignorant brat with her impatience. Then said-customer insinuated that she didn't know of the store's brand before recklessly rounding up nearly a thousand dollar's worth of goods. Finally, she had handed over a centurion black credit card; the most exclusive credit card for business magnates and ridiculously wealthy individuals.
"What are you waiting for?" Elizabeth asked, "Run the card or whatever."
Awkwardly, the clerk reached over to the inserted the card chip-side into the charging terminal.
The payment was processed and Elizabeth got a notification on her phone for the charge. So, she showed her phone's screen to the clerk as she asked, "We're done here, right?"
"R-right..." The clerk stuttered.
For a second she had the slightest speculation that Elizabeth had stolen the card from someone and was just about to ask for ID, but the notification cleared any doubt.
Elizabeth asked, "It's ok to change into my new shoes before leaving, though, right?"
"S-sure." The clerk was still a bit shaken by how wealthy Elizabeth was. Despite working as a clerk for a luxury brand clothing line, she could count on her fingers the number of times she had spotted black centurion cards.
Elizabeth went on to change into the shoes she had mentioned to the clerk. But additionally, she changed to more female-intended underwear and tossed her phone and wallet into the purse she had bought alongside her new clothes.
When she left the store, a prompt from her Status Functions caused her to pause.
[Side Quest 2: Get More Clothes! (Complete)
Difficulty: F-
Objective 1) Leave your domain (house). ✔
Objective 2) Buy more sets of clothes for your new female form. ✔
Optional Objective 1) Buy at least seven sets of clothes. ✔
Afterword: Congratulations, you've completed your first Side Quest. You've taken the first step to becoming a worthy chosen of the Cataclysm and at the very least, if you fail now, you'll die looking nice.
Rewards:
1) Grimoire of Smithy: Basic Forging
2) Crafting Tree: Mortal Bullet
Cultivation Methods:
Name: Basic Forging
Grade: F
Description: A Mortal Grade forging technique with the most basic, yet broad, coverage of smithing arts. Beginner Smiths that master this technique may go on to learn even the highest of Mortal Grade forging techniques with little trouble.
Effect: Teaches the Forging Skill and guides the user up to Level 5 in Skill Proficiency.]
Looking past the intentionally-aggravating afterword of her completed Side Quest, Elizabeth quietly addressed her Sponsor Goddess, "P, I kind of understand what you meant when you mentioned I would be needing these rewards, but how exactly was going out to buy clothes worthy of such convenient information?"
With two out of her three weapons essentially worthless without ammunition, it was nice to now have access to the Forging Skill. It was almost laughable to Elizabeth as she previously thought she could make do with regular bullets.
"Before I answer your question, I suggest we carry out all our conversations telepathically. You wouldn't want to look like a maniac talking to yourself, now would you?"
Not responding verbally, Elizabeth instead thought, 'No, but how the fuck am I supposed to know do that? I'm still mostly just a normal person.'
'Exerting your will to communicate with me will establish this link,' P said. From her frigid tone, Elizabeth understood that she probably heard her thoughts.
"Um, are you alright?" A foreign voice caused Elizabeth to returned to the real world outside her mind.
Since she had received the notification of completing her Side Quest, she had been in her own little world and several of the bystanders around were looking with concern by now.
Unfortunately for Elizabeth, the brief period she had recently engaged in human contact was not enough to learn proper social etiquette. Just as she did with the store clerk initially, Elizabeth merely stared at the man that approached her.
'Why is he talking to me?' She thought, 'And why are all these random people watching?'
Before she could respond, however, an interloper chimed in, "Sophie? I didn't expect to see you here, yet."
A woman that Elizabeth had never seen, strutted over to her side with a tired sigh and began talking as if they were close freinds. "I thought your flight wasn't for another couple days or so," she continued.
Seeing Elizabeth continue to simply stare cautiously, the woman shook her head and turned to the man. She said, "Sorry about my sister, here. She's a bit of an airhead and probably didn't mean any disrespect."
She bowed to the man, a move that caused Elizabeth's eyes to narrow, before carelessly grabbing Elizabeth's hands and moving her out of the circle of spectators.
Through a long and drawn out exhale Elizabeth thought, 'How long should I play along before excusing myself? I'm not sure if this is some customary girl-thing girls do to each other, but I'd surely be telling a guy to fuck off before he could even touch me.'
'And that bow...' Elizabeth used her Status Functions and nearly went limp.
[Status
Name: Unknown
Level: 15
Rank: Martial Soldier
Description: From the woman's soft and unblemished hands it appears she is not a Practitioner that specializes in using her hands. Her Cultivation Base is neither extraordinary nor disappointing. However, her foundation is far from reaching its potential, nevermind perfection.]
'I'm not even Level One,' Elizabeth paled. 'Telling her to fuck off probably would have ended miserably...'
