For the time being, Ashton just had to wait. There was a lot that he wanted to do in the meantime, while the ingredients for the ink were settling. For one, he wanted to make himself some new clothes. Basically all of his clothes, besides his boots and the cloak from the quest rewards, were ripped up and unusable. He had used up the last spares that he had from the clothes he took for himself at Market Street. All that was left from any of them were scraps. Ashton kept them, just in case, so that he could potentially make something new from them.

  There were some other materials he could use too, for one, the clothes that Ashton took from his own flat when he headed out, and of course the different fabrics that he took from fabric stores that he stumbled across.

  He actually had quite a lot to work with, the only issue was that Ashton had no idea what to make. He could remember which fabric was which colour, so he shouldn't have an issue making something decent now that he could see the world through the wisp otherwise.

  But by now, he was at a point where it would make more sense for him to make himself a proper set of magical, enchanted clothes. Something with some protection, to help his agility, and maybe even increase his power a little bit. At the same time, Ashton had absolutely minimal means for that. It was one thing when he engraved the scales of the lizardman leatherjacket, but completely mundane fabric was hard to properly enchant.

  "Hm... maybe I can soak it in a mana-filled solution to make it easier to make something decent..." Ashton said to himself, feeling the fabric between his hands. The only material that he really had to make this something worthwhile was the spider silk, and while that was a decent magical material, it was still fairly weak. He could just wait, and hope that he could get some good materials from the Salesman, but he needed something to wear right now, anyway.

  "What do you think, Poppy? What kind of clothes should I make for myself?" The small pixie fluttered off from the top of his head. Her broken wing was fully healed at this point, so even if she didn't do it a lot, she was able to fly around and hover in the air.

  She floated above the fabrics, seemingly trying to think about the question. But in the end, she turned away from all of them, and in the end just stared at Ashton. With a happy smile, she tugged on the cloak that he was wearing.

  "Uh, what do you mean? Do you want me to use the cloak to make something else? I thought about that, too, but I can't. I would need to first stabilise the magic placed into this. I don't have the power for that yet, and I won't for a while," Ashton explained, but Poppy started shaking her head fast and hard. She pushed the cloak open, and pointed at Ashton's body. "Ah, you want me to make something that fits the cloak? I guess I could... If I manage to find a fairy with the power of enhancement, that wouldn't be bad to have... Clothing sets like that, enhanced by a fairy, usually give some decent additional benefits..."

  With a long sigh, he dropped onto his back. It was a weird sensation, somehow. Despite laying down, Ashton's perspective didn't change at all, since he wasn't 'seeing' through his eyes anymore.

  "You don't coincidentally have any idea of where we could find some more fairies, do you?"

  He focused on Poppy as she sat down on Ashton's chest, thinking. To Ashton's surprise, she didn't immediately say 'no'.

  "Hold on, do you know? I guess if you were here in the past, then there should be plenty of others... but I haven't seen any traces of other living fairies," Ashton pointed out. The only ones that he did find were the bones of dead pixies in the botanical gardens. "Actually, that's weird in itself... I mean, if you were some 'Elder Fairy', and you were simply powerful enough to hold out so long compared to all the rest, that would be one thing, but I doubt that's the case."

  He held his fingers over to Poppy and patted the top of her head with his finger. "Or what, have you been hiding your Elder Fairy alter-ego from me this whole time?"

  Poppy laughed, sounding like a bell being shaken around wildly, as she shook her head. "Hm, well, whatever. It doesn't sound like a bad idea to make something that fits the cloak. I've chosen the 'Path of the Magician', so I might as well go all-in. With the right materials, I should be able to move well enough for a proper fight, too. As long as I take off the cloak."

  With a slight grunt, Ashton sat up straight, putting his hand under Poppy to make sure she wouldn't fall off. "Backpacker, can you get me my new pen, the basic magic ink I made with crushed magic stones, and a bit of paper?"

  He got up and walked around Sam's desk, quickly sitting down in his chair. The spirit put down the things that Ashton asked for, and quickly plopped down on the ground next to him to play some games on their phone.

  "I've got three ideas that pop into my head that could work well with the cloak. Let's call them... the weary traveller, the rowdy aristocrat, and the bookish wizard. What do you think?"

  Poppy seemed to think about it for a while, looking down at her hands. She seemed to try and figure out how many fingers she should show. Not because she couldn't count, but because she clearly had no idea what to choose.

  "You know, I was in the mood to draw a little anyway, so let's just do all three," Ashton said, and the pixie immediately and happily nodded her head. But while he was doing this, Ashton might as well charge up the random item box. The Backpacker quickly gave him what he needed for exactly that, meaning the item box itself and an enchanting circle that could let him funnel mana into it.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  And so, while he put his left hand onto the edge of the paper, he started with the first sketch, that of himself as a 'weary traveller'.

  Frankly, it absolutely did not match this world at all. It looked more like something that a traveller from Lumia would wear. And Lumia was a weird place, to say the least. There were cities that were vastly more advanced than any place on earth. They were practically utopias. And once you travelled out just a few hours from there, the only thing strewn about were villages and hamlets that seemed to have been plucked straight out of the middle ages. Well, technologically, at least, not necessarily culturally. The hapis, the native people of Lumia, were so similar, but also so different to humans, and that had nothing to do with their appearance. There were always some things that he recognised wherever he went, whenever he was looking from afar. But the moment he took a closer look, it couldn't be any more different.

  They wore similar clothes. Their voices sounded like those of humans, even if the language didn't. Their expressions, their eyes, their hands, arms, legs... they had everything that Ashton should need. Sure, instead of two eyes, they had three. Four arms, six fingers on each hand and foot, their skin was a shade of red moving over to a dark purple rather than the varying orange hues of humans. But that was fine for Ashton. But... something about the world was weird. Uncanny. It wasn't earth, and Ashton was reminded of that every single day.

  And this sketch that he drew was the same. It really had everything he needed. Sturdy boots that were great for long hikes, pockets to carry small supplies, a messenger bag for larger things that he needed by his side and needed to have quick access to in a fight. A belt with hoops for potions or small explosives, and a mask that worked well with the hood of Ashton's cloak to hide the fact that he couldn't see.

  But it wasn't... human. It had the right number of limbs, the correct proportions, but the form, the shapes, the culture of these clothes was not of this world. They were clothes of a world that Ashton hated, and that hated Ashton just the same, for the things that they did to each other.

  He didn't know why this sketch came out. Sure, the clothes he made in Lumia sometimes had a bit more of the culture befitting that world, just so that he stuck out even a tiny bit less, despite being an abomination in the eyes of every hapi he met. But whenever he had the choice, he never made something like this. He always stuck to what he knew from Earth. But why, now that he was here... did he draw something that was from Lumia?

  Ashton stayed silent as he looked at the sketch. It seemed like Poppy could tell something was off about it too. She clearly didn't know what to think, even if she generally thought it was good.

  "Hm... let's just take bits and pieces of this, yeah? I like the belt with the parts for potions and stuff, and the cloak should take care of the other pockets... getting a messenger bag might not be a bad idea, either."

  The Backpacker snapped their head up toward Ashton, and he laughed a little, keeping his eyes on the paper while writing down some notes next to the sketch. "Don't worry, it's just so that you don't have to come out in the middle of a fight. I probably won't use it all the time anyway. But the option is nice."

  And with that, Ashton moved on. Next was the 'rowdy aristocrat'. This time, he practically forced himself to make it actually fit into earth. In the end, it really just looked like the sort of posh guy that Ashton would have absolutely fucking hated having to run into at a pub. The bad part was that Ashton weirdly liked this sort of outfit. He had worn a massive variety of styles during his time in Lumia, and this style was obviously among them.

  "Hm... I like the button-up, I can make it a pretty thin, flexible fabric that won't bother me in a fight... the vest is nice too, since it's sleeveless anyway. And another layer gives me more space for enchantments and could make the set-effect of an enhanced outfit stronger, too. And ties, cufflinks, broaches and such are great accessories for magical effects that would work well with this. Loafers aren't the best shoes for this world, though. Not sturdy enough and not great for walking too long. Plus, no space for the silent step shoelaces."

  Poppy crossed her arms and closed her eyes, nodding along approvingly to everything that Ashton was saying. He smiled and continued to take some notes, picking out things that might be good for a final outfit.

  The last one was the 'bookish wizard' outfit. Wizards weren't the sort to worry about fashion, and were more about comfort and function than anything. They had highly enchanted clothes with visible magic circles, accessories whose only use was as magical focuses and trinkets to help with spells, and anything they could to keep their tools or research on-hand.

  However... "I kind of don't like it. I mean, I like aspects. The visible magic circles are definitely interesting, and I like the idea of keeping the summoning tome by my side. Honestly, in concept, this probably works the best with the cloak, though the style does clash a bit. And I do like the wide, comfortable trousers, though, so I'll keep those for sure."

  As Ashton took notes, Poppy leaned over the page and excitedly pointed at one of the trinkets Ashton had sketched on the chest. "You like that one?"

  Poppy quickly nodded in response, and Ashton smiled a bit. "Yeah, so do I. It's actually an item I used to own." Figuring that he had gathered together a fair amount of decent pieces, Ashton started a final drawing, this time a bit more detailed, putting together all the parts that he liked about everything. "It was a gift that I got from someone in the place I used to live. They weren't from there, either. They were stuck, just in a different way than I was. When we met, I was travelling on my own, on a mission I was given to fetch something, and we went around together for a while. They were always looking for a way to get back home to their world, but I just... lost hope to ever be free at that point."

  Ashton's pen scratched over the paper as the drawing slowly came together. Poppy was silently staring at it, understanding the hurt in Ashton's voice. Not that she could say anything to really help him, anyway.

  His channelling range was compressed pretty hard right now, so Ashton could sketch properly. It didn't even reach the corner of the desk, and maybe he was too focused to hear the door open.

  "What happened to them?" Sam asked, stepping into the room. He closed the door behind himself, and Ashton stayed focused. He didn't expand his channelling range. He didn't want to see his best friend's face right now. Especially not after what he was about to say. There was no reason for him to hide it, either. Sam already knew that Ashton had done terrible things, but maybe it was time to reveal just one smidge of that.

  "The Summoner didn't like that I was happy, so I was ordered to kill them."