New Gear

Ellis could hear the grin in Droven's voice through the phone.

"Meet us in the basement in 30 minutes, I think you'll want to rethink your wardrobe."

Droven exclaimed before hanging up the phone. Ellis looked at his phone in confusion.

Okay... I'm going to be pissed if he did anything to my Halberd.

Ellis thought to himself as he huffed his way over to the elevator. Once there, he walked inside and swiped his V.I.P. card. He began the eternity long descent to the basement. Soon the elevator came to a thumping stop and the door in front of him opened.

WHOOSH!

The doors slid open and Ellis stepped out. He looked around not knowing where to go and saw, to his right, Cora scurrying her way down the hall. He quickly jogged up to her and touched her shoulder.

"Hey, do you know where..."

"AHHH!"

Cora jumped back and readied herself for a fight. After a few moments, she realized it was Ellis, and her expression drooped into a very annoyed look.

"Next time you do that, I'm punching you in the face."

She huffed as she swung her body away from Ellis and stomped off down the hall.

Ellis chuckled to himself softly before turning to catch up to her.

"I'm sorry, I thought you had heard me coming!"

Ellis shouted to her back. He caught up to her and she stopped, glaring at him with a pouty lip.

"I am sorry, I just didn't know where Droven wanted to meet us and then I saw you and I thought you would know..."

Ellis trailed off as he tried to explain himself and Cora's expression slowly softened. She gave him a slight smile.

"It's alright but remember what I said! You do it again and I'll punch you!"

She said to Ellis as she playfully put up her fists to her face.

"Okay, I'll definitely remember it!"

Ellis replied, throwing his hands up in the air to continue the joke.

They laughed and giggled with each other as Cora led them down the bright fluorescent room. They walked into a small room where they found Droven and Lyre waiting.

Droven gave both of them a slight smile as they entered and the began to address the room.

"My lab has been producing weapons and armor from monsters in the Tower to develop more advanced materials for you to use. The armor we have created using the monsters' materials are custom made to resemble your previous armor so that'd it won't inhibit your movement or change your fighting style too much. I also have personalized weapons for each of you."

He led them to the other side of the room where materials and various weapons are displayed on a fancy black table.

Droven handed Lyre a small dagger with a small with a turquoise looking gem at the end of the handle. Lyre admired the dagger as she stepped to the side. Droven then handed Cora a short sword, buckler, and bow. He also handed her a quiver filled with arrows made from what looked like monster bones. Her eyes widened as she gazed at the arrows. She brought the arrow to her hand and pricked her finger on the arrow's head.

OUCH!

She whimpered before shoving her bloody finger into her mouth.

"The arrows are almost impossible to destroy by normal means. They should be able to plunge deep into any monster you face. They're a bit sharp."

Droven said as he narrowed his eyes at Cora, visibly a bit annoyed.

Cora took the arrows and quiver from Droven and gave him a dirty look before moving to the side.

Droven then walked to the wall and gestured at a halberd almost 5 feet in height, vibrant streaks of purple lit up the blade. The blade was forged flawlessly into a perfect weapon with sharp edges. One pointing to the right, one pointing straight up, and one on the left side curved upwards. Ellis's mouth gaped open as he shuffled his way to the wall.

"I would hand this you to Ellis, but I'm afraid it's just a bit too heavy for me."

Droven said as Ellis scooped up the halberd in his hands and started playing with it.

Ellis then walked back to the table, which had three compact backpacks sitting there. They each walked up to one and examined the contents. There were various items that would help them to survive such as, throwing daggers, dried meats of monsters, a bedroll, armor and weapon repair kits, and a sharp knife for skinning and harvesting monsters. The rations of dried meats were only a couple weeks' worth at most but it was still something to start out with. Everything was neatly packed into the backpacks, even leaving some open room for new things.

Wow, Droven really went all out on this, like he expected everyone to accept.

"Now I would like all of you to try on your armor to make sure it suits your needs."

Droven said, gesturing to their armor.

They each picked up their suit and walked behind some changing stands Droven had set up.

After everyone was dressed, they walked back to Droven in the center of the room to give their opinions. Lyre had on a flowy mystical dress that went to her mid-thigh. A hood covered almost her entire face while long sleeves draped down to her wrists. She wore pink lace-up flats that went up to the middle of her calves.

She doesn't look as mean in this.

Ellis thought to himself before he looked over at Cora. She was wearing a sleeveless white furry dress that went down to about her knees with tanned leather on her wrists and her torso. Along with that, she had a black fur overcoat that laid softly across her shoulders. She also had Fur boots and tied up to the knee. She squealed in excitement.

"I love it!"

She screamed with a bright smile across her face.

Ellis's armor was mostly like his previous one, but the armor looked to be made of the Magma Demon's skin.

"Well is everyone happy with their new gear?"

Everyone nodded in agreement and collected their things to go.

Droven told Ellis that he had also brought all his weapons and armor from his apartment and that he could take whatever he thought he needed. Ellis grabbed his refilling waterskin off the table as well as a couple of other things from his previous pack.

"Did you guys not get one of these?"

Ellis asked to both Lyre and Cora, waving the waterskin around.

"No, you're lucky. I had to melt snow and Lyre found a magic spring that she used to fill up waterskins with water."

Cora replied jealously. Ellis looked down at the ground wondering why he was the only one to get such a waterskin.

Droven led them all back out of the room and down the hall and eventually into a larger room with an SUV in the middle pointed towards a long tunnel. They drove for about 20 minutes until they came up to an opening. The moon shone in the sky brightly indicating that they were outside. They were on the outskirts of town near the Tower. They all got out of the car and started to walk toward the Tower. Everyone turned around as Droven began to speak.

"This is as far as I go. The goal is to bring out items and materials that will help the development of a defensive force. We will continue making new materials from monsters here as well. Don't die in there."

Droven turned to get back into the car but quickly Ellis jogged up to catch him as he had remembered something.

"Take care of my mom and sister. And tell Solara that I will be okay and that I'll come back soon."

Ellis said with a stern look on his face, trying not to show any emotion.

Droven nodded and patted Ellis on the shoulder then got back in his car and turned around to head back.

The group made their way towards the Tower.

Ellis looked at Cora and realized there was something off. Then he realized it.

"Wait, where's your wolf? You're not going in without her, are you?"

Ellis questioned as he looked around the area.

"She's right here!"

Cora laughed as she showed Ellis her chest. The tiniest little yap came from her cleavage and then a small head poked out.

Ellis stared in awe at the little creature poking its head out of Cora's cleavage.

"During the last fight with the monsters, she gained the ability to be able to shrink things down So now I can take her everywhere!"

Cora said as this warm glow illuminated her face as she filled with memories of taking care of Luna.

As they came closer to the Tower they started seeing all kinds of materials scattered about the once green field. They were getting started trying to build the wall. They came up on Kieran who was chatting with someone about the latest monster. Lyre tapped on his shoulder and he leaped a foot off the ground and let out an embarrassing shriek.

"Baby."

Lyre said to him and Kieran gave an embarrassed look before regaining his composure.

"Hmhm."

He cleared his throat and brushed himself off.

"I'll be going in shortly after you guys. I just have to make sure this wall is working first. I do want to help, even if I'm scared. Once all of the defenses are up here, I'll catch up to guys and meet on the 5th floor. They give each other nods as a goodbye and the three headed off into the Tower. Ellis opened his TowerCard and quickly allocated his points he'd gained from the battle with the Magma Demon Before he turned to everyone else.

"Alright, see you guys on the 5th floor."

Cora threw up a thumbs up with a small smile and then stepped into her teleporter. Lyre gave Ellis a blank look and then stepped into hers. Then Ellis stepped into his.

Flash!

Bright light engulfed Ellis's vision.