Tailoring in Colonial didn''t require much actual hand use. Your tailoring skills, dexterity, quality of materials and recipe, dictate what you can make and how well. Once those items are in ce, it''s a matter of activating the skill and waiting for the progress bar to finish. dis Corp had paid a substantial amount of money to give their crafters an advantage. One of these was the ''work-for-stat'' ability. Whatever stat Nix focused his time and energy on, would start to rise. He also had the advantage of choosing a tier 3 skill right away. Bing a tailor as a regr yer required two subskills to be maxed out first, hunting and leather-making.
Nix used another stack of white canvas. White canvas was a good material for pants, gloves, and jackets. It had the advantage of being a 50 level task, so it made his skill climb into the 60s rather quickly. It didn''t hurt that he had dozens of stacks of 20 white canvas. The top row of his inventory served as his tailoring tform. The tool went in the second slot, base material in the third, thread or strings in the fourth and add-ons in the fifth. Nix didn''t know what the first slot was for, it was grayed out. There were three additional slots for misceneous items. After these were in ce, you could safely close your inventory. Your hud would give you a readout of four things. What you were making. The quantity you could currently make. Your odds of a normalpletion and your chances of a specialpletion. Nix''s hud read. [Item] Canvas Jacket, [Qty.] 25, [%] 49, [Special %] 12.
He activated the task and left his room to get some dinner. The progress bar for 25pletions barely moved.
Hyai smiled when he came down the stairs. "You going to have dinner?"
The Inn was quite crowded, from the armbands that many customers wore, he gathered that these were the Smander hunters. Nix nodded, "what''s on the menu?"
"Lamb chops or beef stew."
"I''ll take themb. Hey, what do these armbands mean?"
Hyai lowered her voice and stepped closer. "It''s their guild band. The SG band stands for Sea Gators. They are a huge guild in Escavar. There are a few other guilds, but they removed their bands in the interest of safety."
"SG would start trouble?"
Hyai nodded, "be careful if you run into them."
"No worries."
One of Hyai''s employees delivered his food a whileter. Nix assumed she was too busy cooking to mingle with customers. Themb was spiced perfectly and he enjoyed every mouth-watering bite. He tipped the waitress when he finished and headed out the door. It was fairly brisk, thest few minutes of sunlight turned the sky pink.
Nix walked aimlessly, enjoying the walk until he arrived at a familiar shop. The sign overhead read ''K''s Guns''.
K was a young woman barely out of her teens. She had red hair that she tied up in twin braids. Her freckled face seemed in, but when she greeted Nix with a smile, he decided she was pretty. "Wee to my shop! I''m K."
"Hi, Jonie rmended you. I brought a rifle today, it just doesn''t fit me well."
K gave him a warm smile. "Jonie''s name is worth a ten percent discount."
"Jonie, Jonie, Jonie, Jonie."
K''sugh made her beautiful. "Forty percent? Can I take my words back?"
Nix nodded, she reminded him of his sister. "Sure, fifty percent and I''ll forget everything."
"That''s a tough bargain." K held out her hand. "Let me see your rifle."
She clucked her tongue in approval when Nix brought it out. "Finisher is a good choice. I can customize it for you. Let''s say for three hundred credits."
"That will work."
[K has requested to add you to her friend''s list. Do you ept?]
Nix grinned at her. "Yes. Bing friends already? Am I that friendly?"
"You are actually. You need to be on my friend list so I can customize your rifle."
Nix moved toward the weapon rack while he waited. Customizing required friends. He opened his inventory, the canvas jackets were all finished. His skill had risen to 72. The first square that had once been grayed out now had a question mark over it. Clicking it showed him an image of K.
K looked up from her workbench. "Sorry, customizing takes a long time with guns."
"No worries." Nix took a seat next to the window and opened his inventory. He clicked on the first slot and added K. In the second slot, he added a ''fine silver needle''. The third slot was ''fine red silk.'' The fourth was ''red nylon thread.''
[Customer] K, [Item] Red Silk Dress, [Qty.] 1, [%] 19, [Special %] 4.
Nix activated the task and watched as the taskbar slowly wound down. It took four attempts before he was sessful.
"All done Nix." K was holding the rifle in both hands. "Please check it out."
Finisher Rifle: Unique
Description: This rifle has been
customized for Nix. uracy and
power have been increased.
Crafted by K.
Nix aimed at the wall, the feeling of awkwardness waspletely gone. "Woah... this is really nice."
K winked at him, "then I will triple my price."
"Would you take a barter?"
K nodded, "It depends on what it is. I could use some raw materials, rare woods, things like that."
"Oh... How about this?"
Red Silk Dress: Unique
Description: This beautiful
red dress has been custom
made for K. It''s knee-length,
pleated and backless.
Crafted by Nix.
K stared at the dress, her pale skin blushing. "I... let me wash my hands!"
She walked over to her sink and washed her hands carefully before rinsing them off and drying them with a new towel. "Okay, let me see it."
Nix watched her hold it up, her hands caressing the cloth. She nodded to herself a few times before finally looking up at him.
"Two thousand credits Nix, not a credit more."
Nix shook his head, "That''s way too much. The dress for the rifle."
"What? That''s crazy Nix! This is beautiful... And it''s custom made for me." K shook her head, "I''m robbing you at two thousand credits, but it''s all I can afford."
Nix put the rifle in his inventory. "Sorry, I insist and you can''t make me take it back."
She made a face at him, "now you''re being a stinker."
"Maybe so. Thanks for the rifle." Nix walked out the door, leaving a speechless K holding the dress. Stinker... that''s what his little sister Lisa would call him. The memory warmed him as he pulled up his hud and found the location of the Burly Bear.
The Burly Bear was designed simrly to the Kindled Spirit. The decor was a bit more rustic and the Inn Keeper was a fat bald man named Hooper. "I''m afraid we don''t have any rooms stranger. I can feed you though."
"He''s with me, Hoop!" S was sitting by herself at the bar nursing a pint. She smiled when she saw Nix. "So you made it, have a seat." S patted the barstool next to hers.
He nced at Hooper, "a pint for me please."
Hooper nodded, ing up."
"I was afraid the noob would get lost on the way here." S leaned closer, the sweet smell of alcohol told him that she had been drinking for a while.
Nix wasn''t bothered by the teasing, by any ounts, he was aplete noob. "Help me out a bit then."
"First questions first, you a Dub or Stasis?"
Nix shrugged, "exin those terms."
"Do you log-off at night? Or are you in a stasis pod where you can y for extended periods?"
"Oh, Stasis. Hey, how do I add friends?"
"Use your hud and key the person''s name."
Nix brought up his hud and activated the small keyboard. He slowly typed in S and then Hyai.
[S has agreed to be your friend.]
[Hyai has agreed to be your friend.]
"See that? Easy." S tipped back her mug and drained it.
Nix watched her and took a drink of his.
"S!" A voice from behind them called out.
S grimaced when she looked at the speaker. A strikingly attractive blonde with blue eyes. "Oh.. Hello bitch."
Nix coughed several times and tried to in vain to hide his amusement by taking another drink.
The blonde approached them, she ignored the woman and ced a hand on his shoulder. "What''s your name handsome?"
"I''m Noob, nice to meet you Bitch."
S spat half of her drink onto the bar. Her face turning red while she alternately coughed andughed. Hooper who had been standing behind the bar quickly turned away from them, but by the way his body was shaking, it was clear he wasughing.
The blond woman''s face showed no expression, but her eyes hinted at rage. "Why are you with a man S? Everyone knows you like women."
S threw an arm around Nix''s shoulders. "Correction. I like women and some men."
Uninvited, the blond sat on the other side of Nix. "I''m Trista."
"Pretty name, I''m Nix." Since she wasn''t being hostile, he had no issue with being polite.
"Where you been Nix?" S still had her arm around his shoulders, "I thought you''d be ready for some drinking after fighting Bulo."
Nix shrugged. "Are you good at appraising?"
S nodded, "I''m very good at appraising."
"Okay, give me a minute."
He loaded up hisst task, but switched S''s name into it and reced the Red Dress with Red Lingerie.
[Customer] S, [Item] Red Silk Lingerie, [Qty.] 1, [%] 14, [Special %] 2.
Nix activated the task and waited. It took seven tries before it was sessful. Nix pulled the lingerie out of his inventory and held it up.
Sexy Red Lingerie: Unique
Description: This sexy nightwear
as been custom made for S. It''s
low cut and very short.
Crafted by Nix.
S stared at the lingerie, her mouth opening and shutting without any wordsing out.
Trista was staring at him, "I''ll give you 5 thousand credits for one just like that. I''ll double it if you can make matching underwear."
"What? You can make women''s underwear?" S grabbed his arm and dragged him up the stairs, she pushed him into her room and mmed it behind them.
Nix grinned at her. "That was rather aggressive."
"My appraisal for the lingerie is around five thousand credits."
Nix tried to keep the greed out of his eyes. "That much?"
"Yes." S starting undressing, stopping after she removed her shirt and pants. She had an impressive body that anyone would stare at. "These are the only underwear you can buy in Colonial. They are as ufortable as hell. Always riding up and chaffing tender areas." She paused for a moment and caressed the silk with one hand. "I''ve 20k, you can have it for 2 sets of underwear and the lingerie."
Nix started setting up his queue to make custom underwear for S. He clicked on four pair, she was a friend after all. "I don''t want to take all your credits since we are friends, 4 pairs for a 10k and we are good."
She nodded and slipped her clothes back on. "Let''s go back down and drink some more. We''ll see how it goes."
"Sure."