Chương 106: Chapter 103 - Suited Up

The same magic circle she remembered from the forest appeared above and around her. Thin lines of light formed in the air, rotating with precise movements while symbols arranged themselves in a pattern Chelsea still did not understand. She remembered standing with her mother and Ivy when it had happened the first time. There was a strange beauty to it. Freya stepped forward and looked up at the circle. Her expression changed with immediate understanding.

"It's a basic transfiguration spell. A very basic one. Definitely under skill lvl 5. So what does it… oh!" She stepped back. The shoulder piece and gloves Chelsea wore changed in front of them. The pieces became works of art in seconds, shaped with delicate detail and a level of craftsmanship far beyond what the original items had possessed. Freya's eyes narrowed.

"That's not something that should happen at that skill lvl. Hey Chels, don't get weirded out. Testing some things."

"Go for it." Freya dropped to one knee in front of her and leaned closer to examine the shoulder piece and the strap running across Chelsea's upper chest. Chelsea felt heat climb into her face despite herself. She had been naked in front of Freya before. The first time she met her, she had been naked. That didn't make it less strange when Freya's attention became this focused. Freya pressed down on the shoulder piece, then unstrapped it slowly while watching the effect with intense concentration. Nothing changed.

The altered metal remained exactly as it was. Freya released the pressure she had been applying.

"Warning, I'm not being gross. Just checking how this works." She leaned closer and pressed the side of her head near Chelsea's chest, close enough to listen and feel while keeping one hand on the pauldron. Chelsea went rigid. Her heart jumped. It was not attraction to Freya in the way it would have been with Ivy. It was contact. Warmth. Someone close.

Someone touching her after months of carefully managing every boundary, every accidental brush, every moment of longing she refused to aim at anyone but the woman waiting for her back home. Freya let out a laugh as she tested pulling the pauldron on and off.

"Your heart is racing. Calm down. I'm just trying to figure out how this works." She pulled her head away and studied the armor again.

"So, somehow, your body knows when the piece is in the right spot to change it but I still don't get how such a low lvl skill can send this thing to what is it, epic?"

"Yeah," Chelsea said in a meek voice. Freya looked up from the pauldron.

"You ok?" Chelsea swallowed and tried to steady herself.

"Uh, yeah I just haven't been touched in about four months. Uh… like that." Freya let out a laugh.

"I'm with Passion on this one. You have a servicer. Ride that thing's face til its head falls off."

"OK. Yeah. Maybe I will," Chelsea replied, still bright red. Her heart was still pounding, and her skin felt too warm. The brief touch had left her body reacting in ways she did not want to think about. It was not Freya. Not really. It was the reminder that Chelsea had spent months carefully avoiding that kind of contact from anyone who was not Ivy. Freya laughed.

"You and I both know you're not going to." Chelsea let out a nervous laugh and looked down at the gear still waiting in the bag.

"No. No I probably won't. Can I keep going? Need for you to set my gloves on fire." They continued. Chelsea focused on the process because focusing on anything else was humiliating. Piece by piece, she put on the broken equipment in the proper order, waited for The Perfect Outfit to recognize it, then held still while Freya burned it away with divine fire. The room filled with quick bursts of heatless flame, flashes of repaired metal, and the faint shimmer of transfiguration magic.

By the time Chelsea reached the final pieces, the bag was nearly empty. Only the four historic pieces remained. Two of which arrived in a care package months prior. They were all originally historic+1, so Chelsea was hoping she might be able to push one more upgrade out of them. Maybe even two, if the enhancement was feeling generous. She didn't want to count on that.

Experiments with Arnold, the blacksmith in Junstruce, had taught her not to expect too much from same-tier equipment, even when the classification was impressive. Still, this was the moment. If she was going to war, she wanted every possible advantage. She put on the next piece and braced herself while Freya lifted one hand. The fire came. The Perfect Outfit Effect 2: Tier 25 acquired. The Perfect Outfit Effect 3 unlocked: Transfiguration Rank 4. The magic circle appeared above her again.

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. Chelsea looked up at it, knowing this might be the last time she saw the effect for a very long while. Historic equipment was rare enough on its own. Finding better pieces, breaking them, and willingly feeding them into her enhancement was not something she expected to do casually. She had already made it much further than she thought possible. The circle turned slowly, its lines bright and precise in the air.

All of the non-historic equipment she had put on so far had changed into elaborate works of art. She wished she could take the pieces off and admire them properly. Her favorite parts were the shoulders, which had become massive glowing yellow-white crystals. They should have been awkward and restricted her movement. Instead, they felt perfectly balanced, allowing her full range of motion as though they weren't even there. That had to be The Perfect Outfit at work.

Freya watched the transformation with open fascination. She was no longer joking or pretending to be unimpressed. Her eyes followed the circle, then the armor, then the way the repaired pieces settled against Chelsea's body. Chelsea put on the next piece. Freya set it on fire at her request. The Perfect Outfit Effect 2: Tier 26 acquired. Chelsea let out the breath she had been holding.

"Alright. I think that might be as far as my equipment is able to go. I still have two pieces to put on and set fire to but I haven't had much luck getting levels out of same tiered gear with their classification." Freya gave the remaining pieces a quick glance and shrugged.

"May as well try." Chelsea reached into the bag and pulled out the boots she had admired back in Arnold's shop. Even damaged, they were beautiful. She still remembered seeing them for the first time and knowing they were far beyond anything she should have owned. Now she slipped them on carefully and waited. The Perfect Outfit Effect 2: Tier 27 acquired. Chelsea stared at the screen.

"Wait, what?" Chelsea said out loud.

"I got a tier from them!" Freya set the boots on fire, and both of them watched closely. Nothing else appeared. Chelsea waited another second. Still nothing. Freya gestured toward the final piece.

"Alright. Try the next piece." Chelsea slipped on the beautiful ivory-scaled belt. The belt repaired itself at once. The scales brightened, the damage vanished, and the clasp reshaped into something much more refined. Chelsea waited for another message. None came. Her excitement settled into nerves. One piece left.

"Alright. Here we go. Last chance," Chelsea said nervously. Freya lifted her hand. This time, fire covered Chelsea's entire body. It swept across her armor, her gloves, the crystalline shoulders, the repaired belt, and every piece of equipment she wore. Chelsea stood still in the middle of it, watching the flames move without harming her. She did not expect anything to happen. All of her experiments at Arnold's had barely gotten her even one tier, and she had already pushed further than she had any right to hope.

Then the message appeared. The Perfect Outfit Effect 2: Tier 28 acquired.

"No way!" Chelsea exclaimed, as she fistpumped.

"I got another one." Freya extinguished the fire immediately.

"Yes! Hell yeah!" Freya cheered.

"Congrats! That puts you at a full set of historic+3?"

"Yeah. Thank you so much for your help!" Chelsea crossed the room and hugged her before the excitement could fade. Freya returned it carefully this time, mindful of her strength and the newly upgraded armor between them. Chelsea pulled back with a bright smile.

"Hey, want to help me assign a new title? Maybe a certain call from a certain shield and spear?" Freya's eyes went wide.

"Really!? You're going to finally assign your Call?"

"May as well go into this thing at my fullest." Freya moved faster than Chelsea expected. One moment she was standing next to her, and the next she was sitting on the bed with paper and a quill ready in her hands. Her excitement made her look much younger than usual, or maybe just less lonely. Chelsea sat beside her and pulled up her titles. The room had gone quiet except for the faint scratch of Freya testing the quill tip against the paper.

"OK. I'm ready." Before Chelsea left, Freya pulled her in for one last hug. Freya had changed back into simple clothes at some point, while Chelsea stood in a full set of historic gear minus her helmet, shield, and weapon. Even with all that power wrapped around her, the hug reminded Chelsea exactly what she still was beneath it. A frail level one. Stronger than she had any right to be, but still small enough that Freya had to be careful.

"You be safe out there. Don't let the bloodlust make you do stupid stuff. You need to come back alive." Chelsea nodded quickly along with every word.

"Keeping Chelsea alive is Chelsea's number one priority." Freya held her for another moment, then loosened her grip enough to look down at her.

"I love you, you annoying little demon."

"Love you too." Freya bent down and kissed the top of Chelsea's head. Freya released her and Chelsea crossed the room toward the door. Her armor moved with her easily despite how elaborate it had become, and the crystalline shoulders caught the room's light with every step. She stopped before reaching the door and looked back one more time. Freya stood by the bed, watching her go. Chelsea lifted one hand and gave her a tear-filled wave. The door closed quietly behind her after she stepped into the hall.

Passion was waiting in their room when Chelsea returned. The larger woman had clearly been pacing. Her sword was ready, her armor was mostly secured, and the whetstone had been abandoned on the bed. The moment Chelsea entered, Passion stared.

"Holy shit. What classification are you at now?" Passion asked.

"Historic+3. Think I'm finally stronger than you." She said with a smile and a little victory dance. Passion looked her up and down, eyes lingering on the glowing crystal shoulders, the ivory-scaled chest piece, the refined gloves, and the way every piece seemed designed for Chelsea specifically.

"Yeah but that's because you cheat. Let's head down to the main hall to get briefed." She looked down at her armor then back at Chelsea's.

"I feel like I'm wearing beginning adventurer's equipment next to you." Chelsea spread both hands.

"Then just get summoned to another world and have the god performing it fuck up. Easy as that." She crossed to the mirror and decided to don her Pundukarack helmet for the briefing. The helmet formed over her head, completing the look in a way that made her pause. The ivory scales of her chest armor matched it perfectly. The glowing shoulders rose around her without limiting her movement, and the rest of the set made her look far more dangerous than she felt. For a moment, Chelsea stared at her reflection.

If she saw the being in the mirror approaching across a battlefield, she would be pissing herself. That was probably good.

"Hey, can you tie off my weapon cords?"

"Oh yeah." Passion moved behind her to help. They had come up with the solution after Chelsea got tired of constantly pulling weapons from her pouch and stowing them again. Freya had cut slight notches around the broken spear, shield, and axe handles. Strong cords were tied around those notches, and when the cords were tied to Chelsea, the cords upgraded with her outfit while the weapons remained broken until she actually held them. It had taken practice, but the system worked better than Chelsea expected.

When she reached for a weapon, it appeared in her grasp. When she released it, it vanished again before it could get in the way, dangling from the cord. Passion secured the cords carefully while Chelsea tested each movement. The spear remained her favorite, but she had decided to start experimenting more seriously with Vi, the axe she had received as tribute back in Junstruce. She still did not like it as much as her spear, but she could not deny its usefulness in closer ranges.

After the training drills with the instructors, she was much more aware of how dangerous it was when someone got inside the spear's reach. When Passion finished, Chelsea checked that everything moved correctly, and followed her out....... Hey guys it's Riley again. This is not to take away from the book I shouted out in the above Author's Note. Definitely Check out Sakura Saki's new book. I was obsessed with her first book.

So a writer friend of mine is doing a bit of a friendly competition with a few other writers to see who can hit certain reader lists first. His book is such a fun and amazing idea. Basically, it's a Royal Road version of choose your own adventure using the comment section. The LitRPG aspect is crazy fun and he built an amazing skill system that leads to super fun overpowered builds and very very underpowered builds. Check it out! https: //www. royalroad. com/fiction/177326/throne-of-hell-yuri-lit-rpg-strong-to-op