In Bonol's forge, they laid out all the crystals they were going to have him work with. Level-6 and up only required one crystal. The lioant crystals could be used for weapons or armor with a fire attribute. Armor would get protection against fire and the weapons would have an active skill of some kind that was fire related. Lana insisted the level-7 lioant crystal be made into armor for Blaine. The level-6 lioant crystals were to be made into weapons to upgrade the teams. Blaine wanted to argue about the armor but Lana had a great argument.
"You have a healing ability. If you go down, we lose that. You are too important. We need to keep you on your feet."
"As for the level-6 fire attribute weapons, may I propose a sai for Duff, a bow for Rene, and swords for Dobin, Sean, Tobias, and Sam?"
The others thought for a second. It was two for each team and it seemed fair. They agreed.
"As for the bebarac, it will take 2 crystals to create armor and 10,000 credits each," Bonol stated
Lana nodded, "How about Kattie, Sean and Sam? Kattie's treant armor can go to Marie since they are similar builds. It will give us one treant armor to sell but everyone who can wear armor will be set."
"I'll sell the armor at the market and reduce that from the total due if you'd like?" Bonol suggested.
They nodded. Paul sent a text to Sean and Sam to get measured. Bonol already had Kattie and Blaine's measurements.
"As for the gristlehair, this should make a weapon with an ice attribute of some kind."
"Duff should get a sai to go with his fire attribute one. Give Marie a new crossbow and Jessy an ice spear?"
"The level-6 requires 12,000 credits and level-7 require 14,000 credits," Bonol added on.
Blaine looked at Lana, "I never got you back for the things you paid for before, so I have your things this time around. Also, based on the weapons we are replacing, we also need to sell a level-5 crossbow, level-5 spear, level-4 bow, and a pair of level-4 sai."
Lana nodded. "Sounds fair. We will contact all those we are replacing gear for and have them bring their old things to you, Bonol, to have those items sold. Blaine will pay the remainder of the cost after the items are sold."
Bonol smiled, "sounds great! I also think I should inform you the prices may seem high but they are, in fact low. Since we are students, the school provides forging materials for us at a significantly reduced price."
The trio nodded that they understood.
Paul paid for the gear for his team then went back to his room. He needed to practice with his laser and make a lot more rockets for his rocket launcher.
Blaine escorted Lana to her room, "when are you going to get some gear. I see you getting way too tired in combat. You need to do something."
Lana smiled as they walked. "I have a plan. Kattie said she had money left over from selling that gear. There is a seamstress in the student market that makes beast clothing. I should be able to get armored clothing that doesn't restrict my movement. That will reduce the drain on my Qi from having to bolster my armor."
Blaine smiled back, "glad you have a plan. I was prepared to fight you on getting you armor and making you wear it."
Lana chuckled, "I can't have that much weight and restriction. It will get me killed. I'll find the seamstress. It will be fine. I just need to have it before the next outing. Just like you guys need your stuff before then as well."
As they entered the DFAC to head toward her room, they noticed a lot of looks in Lana's direction. She then remembered Kent was on her shoulder and this was the first time her fellow classmates saw him. She reached up to her shoulder and pet her little friend and he started purring. Soon, they were through the room and in the hallway on the way to her room.
"Do you think we can get away with me going in with you?" Blaine asked.
Lana chuckled, "technically, curfew is not for a few hours. We can go to my tree if you want?"
"I just want to lay down and cuddle, if that's okay?"
Lana smiled, "in that case, let's head to your room rather than walking that far away."
Karlen and Chekof had already been there. Chekof was sitting on his bed with yet another book, having finished his last one while on the outing. The cover of this one had a man and a woman seated; he had a bare chest. Her back was to him with his hands strategically placed over specific regions of the female body.
Lana chuckled, "do you ever read anything that will broaden your mind?"
Chekof looked at her with a serious expression, "this is plenty broadening for my tastes."
Lana laughed, "if you say so! We are just going to cuddle for a while if that's okay? Kyle monopolized their body these last few days and Blaine misses me."
Chekof had already returned to his book with a thoughtful expression and just waved at her.
They cuddled until it was time for her to return to her room, having already fed Kent his dinner.
The next day was Saturday. Blaine decided to accompany Lana in her search for a seamstress who could do the work she needed.
She found one, oddly right next to Bonol's stall. This girl looked rather plain which was a bonus to Lana. It meant the idiots would never give her a chance because those who won popularity contests in beauty were the ones who got the business.
"Excuse me, do you make custom clothes out of beast crystals? I'm looking for the protection of armor but I need the flexibility of clothing. Armor is too bulky."
Lana handed the girl a few thoughts and designs she had sketched rather poorly on a sheet of paper.
"Two pants outfits, one with a jacket, and one dress."
The girl looked at the thoughts Lana had drawn, "This looks pretty simple to do. I'm Dilly Threadbare, by the way. What level are you looking for these in?"
"I was looking for level-7 beast crystals if possible," Lana nodded, "I used all the ones I had on my teammates. Can I give you credits to buy what is needed?"
"Of course, it will be a month for these and I will need your measurements."
"I'm Lana Plantwell and that sounds good. My team and I are hoping to get selected for that bonus outing at the end of next month so I will need better gear by then."
As Dilly was taking her measurements she chuckled, "I can't imagine why anyone would want to fight beasts. Clothing is the life! Oh, I should ask, what colors do you like and what attributes other than defense are you looking for?"
"I like blue, some reds and pinks, black would be useful if it's a night thing. A way to have light so that I don't have to hold it would be perfect. Elemental protection if possible, speed, of course. I honestly don't know what I'll be facing. Maybe something that helps me dodge?"
By the time Lana got done speaking, Dilly was done measuring. Dilly held out her watch, "600,000 credits please."
Lana paused. She only had 209,516 credits. Blaine, however, handed the credits over without batting an eye.
They then exchanged contact information so they could meet once the order was done.
Since the market opened at lunch time and Blaine just spent a lot of money on her new clothes, Lana decided to buy lunch for everyone and bring it to her tree.
Paul's team was going to continue doing their own thing for the most part. Sam was studying the deflection book while Paul decided to purchase up to level-8 in the abilities of his other teammates. This meant Jessy was given a level 8 book for strength, Sean was given books 5-8 in ice and Marie was given books 4-8 in the phase ability. Hers were the most expensive because they needed to be purchased on the black market. This ability belonged to an original family that she was not part of. She learned it from a friend who was. Paul also hoped his friends could learn that high because often the body had a limit of how much energy they could hold.
Blaine did the same thing with Tobias and Rene but he didn't go as high. He bought Tobias levels 6 and 7 in wind and Rene levels 6 and 7 in healing.
Lana purchased a level 4 and 5 stat swap book each for Duff while Blaine purchased level 7 books in water and metal for Alto and Almin, respectively since Lana was unable to purchase that much. The two she bought were 80,000 combined and just one of the level 7 books was 150,000 credits.
The next week went uneventful, though Lana still saw the invisible person following her when classes were not in session. All her devices were still in place to prevent electronic surveillance. She also discovered after over a week of sharing her bed with Blaine, she missed it but knew they'd get to enjoy such company again on the next outing. For now, she was borrowing Kyle every moment she got to work on her studies in her lab. Her work was coming along nicely with Kyle as the perfect assistant.
Lana realized the 29th was coming and they needed to prepare for Chekof's birthday. They all got together two days before to determine location, presents and such. Since he spent so much time in his room and didn't seem like going out was fun for him, they decided his room would be it, nothing fancy. A nice meal. Blaine would arrange takeout so Lana could work that much longer in her lab. Saturday, Baine took her shopping for gifts.